It's Raining, It's Pouring

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But the old man is definitely not snoring as this is the first rain in Concepcion in about 5 months. The river is about half full, it's scary to look at. Lots of people, in the Chaco particularly, don't have food and water, the government is on the verge of declaring a national emergency. Annoyingly, it rains quite frequently in the capital Asuncion, but we're just that bit further north and so don't get it so often. Even though it rained today the country still needs a lot more, as it only rained for a few hours this morning, it's all sunny again now. I just looked at a weather website that says Concepcion is in the middle of a thunderstorm, which is just a complete lie!

Last night was Bishop John and Judy's despedida. That's a leaving party to you. The whole church had dinner together, it was lovely. I of course ended up sat with all the children, but I don't mind, I find them so much easier to talk to in Spanish. But I had a good chat with Lorena, who is my age. So that was good. I think my spanish has definitely improved but I still have a long way to go yet.

This is the first week that has felt like a week. That probably makes no sense. I mean it feels like a really long time ago that I was in Asuncion, but it was only last Monday. Normally I feel like I blink and week has past. So this is the first week that's felt like a long time. No idea why. Claire had to go to Asuncion again today with Romina, so I'm home alone again. But I really don't mind, in fact I rather enjoy it.

Oh gross. I just squished a mosquito who was well and truly full of my blood. I wonder where he just bit me. I watched a really bad American cheerleader film (probably Bring it On 2 or something) in Spanish the other day. Sadly, I rather enjoyed it.

You will all be surprised to know that I have been learning to cook here! Since there is not a lot available to buy here other than basic foodstuffs, Claire has been teaching me how to make all the things that as an English person I took for granted come in jars and tins and packets... It's a revelation. I now know how to make a pizza base, sweet and sour sauce, white sauce for lasagne, curry, and chocolate cake. All from scratch. Go me! I want to attempt to make chocolate brownies but I am lacking a rather fundamental ingredient, chocolate.

I am attempting to psych myself up in order to walk to the shop on my own to purchase said chocolate. I don't know why this has become such a big thing for me but I really don't want to go places, especially shops, on my own. I suppose it's because Claire is like my linguistic comfort blanket, in that it's reassuring to know that if I ever didn't understand something important then she'd be there to make sure it all worked out OK in the end... I suppose I should just go for it, after all I can't possibly make as big a mistake as Judy did when she was first new to the country. She went to a shop and asked for urine (urina) instead of flour (harina)... Easy mistake to make eh?

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Comments

[Dan]

Thats funny
When I went to Munich and asked for beer, they gave me urine! Language is a strange thing. Besides, surely chocolate is worth getting into trouble for?

[Charlotte]

language
That reminds me of a guy I use to work with - he had spent time working for the Royal HongKong police. They taught him useful phrases in Chinese such as "put your hands up or I'll open fire". Chinese is a tonal langiuage and in hot pursuit of a crook, he yelled what he thought was "put your hands up or I'll open fire" but it came out as "put your hands up or I'll open the window"