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Published: September 9th 2008
Greetings from far off Paraguayland (a term Jimmy Voxman coined in a recent email). It has been about two weeks since my last post and I have heard from many of my friends and family members in that time. Your emails/messages/comments have been much appreciated and have been bright spots in my days when I have felt a little lonely or frustrated. Also, the questions/feedback that I have received about this blog are very helpful as I contemplate ways to improve both the presentation and content. New to this week’s post is a summarized bullet point list of the content for those of you who are light readers or may not have the time to get through the whole thing. Again, if there is anything that you are interested about and would like me to talk about/take pictures of, let me know.
Summary of this weeks post
-Intro/reflection
-Climate/Cold showers
-Schedules/Concept of time
-Food and Nutrition
-Technology
-The language
-My work/Wrap up
-Spanish Vocabulary
I am now three and a half weeks into my nine month emersion experience and, I must say, it is very challenging. I expected to have to deal with things such as culture shock and
language frustration, so I can not say I was completely unprepared, but everyday is still a bit eye opening and shocking. Everything is different here, including people’s daily schedules, the ways of communicating, the food and peoples notions of balanced diets, many of the health problems, attitudes about cold weather, the technology, and many other things. Although I expected many of the things that I have encountered, that does not mean they are easy for me to accept and deal with. Throughout my time here there have definitely been instances where I found myself saying, “This is something that I miss” or, “I’m really craving ________ (insert almost any American food, because odds are, they don’t have it here). However, although there are many things I miss, it is good to experience life without many of the things that we in the United States consider necessities, because, in reality, most of these things are luxuries.
I will not lie, I was absolutely not prepared for cold weather. I figured I was going to South America and, therefore, packed mostly clothes for warm weather (as my sister who lived in Brazil for a year told me, “good luck staying cool,
because it’s going to be really hot all the time”). This was partly true, as we have experienced quite a temperature swing this week. On Tuesday September 2 it got up to 37 degrees Celsius, which, using my handy conversion equation, TF = (9/5) x TC + 32, translates to 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Expecting to deal with temperatures in this range and higher for most of my time here, I was prepared and dealt with it. Then something unexpected, for me, happened. On Thursday and Friday the temperature was in the range of 5 and 10 degrees Celsius and it was rainy. This translates to a range of about 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. I know most of you are thinking, that does not seem very cold, and until this point of my life, I would have agreed with you. Although these temperatures are a far cry from the frigid winters of Minnesota and Wisconsin that I am accustomed to, I have still been freezing my you know what off for about a week. There were a few reasons for this. The first and most frustrating reason is that I left the majority of my extended cold-weather wardrobe at home.
I brought 2 long sleeved t-shirts, one hooded sweatshirt, one light fleece jacket, and a few pairs of pants. As a result, my everyday outfit consists of a t-shirt, a long sleeved t-shirt, a sweatshirt, a fleece, and a pair of jeans. Yeah, I’m stuck wearing the same thing everyday, which I’m sure people are beginning to think is a little strange. I’m probably going to need to buy a different jacket or something, although I’m guessing the moment I do that the temperature will swing and I will no longer need it. Another reason the cold weather is more noticeable is that there is absolutely no heat in any of the buildings. Therefore, the temperature outside and inside is exactly the same. I figured my days of living in a drafty house with little or no warmth had passed with my college years (shout out to the Milton Street Brewery boys), but, alas, they haven’t. Finally, my electric shower, which opens directly to the outside, rarely works and, if it does, reaches a scalding temperature of luke warm. Therefore, any chance of warming up in a hot shower is completely shot. As a result, I have gotten really good
at the three minute wash my hair and body before I freeze shower. As of now, a hot shower is maybe the thing that I miss most of all, but I expect that to change with the approach of the intensely hot summer. But enough about the cold weather (which I am not at all bitter about).
In terms of people’s daily schedules and the way they handle the whole concept of timeliness, there is a huge difference in Paraguay. I am accustomed to how things run in the United States, meaning, for the most part, on a schedule and in a timely manner. In Paraguay, everyone has their own schedule, and if it happens to include other people, this does not really concern anyone. Therefore, when I make plans with someone to do something at a given time, it could possibly happen before this time, after this time, or not at all. This is somewhat frustrating to me as, even if I want to plan my day, I am not really able to if it involves plans with other people. As an example, I wanted to go for a run the other day and was planning on going
by myself around eleven in the morning. My friend Julian texted me and said he wanted to run but was not free until one in the afternoon. Although I did not want to wait, I agreed to it and waited for him. A little after one I had not heard from him and texted him. He said he would meet me at the park at 1:30. When he arrived to meet me he was not wearing running clothes or shoes. He told me he had just eaten a little while ago and had decided to watch me run instead of actually running. I thought to myself, “awesome, I just waited two and a half hours for someone to watch me run.” Things like this bother me a little bit because there are many things I would rather do by myself, but, as of now, people feel they need to do everything with me because I am new. Also, regarding a daily schedule, there is much more time for relaxation during the work day. From what I have gathered, I am only expected to work for about 5 of the 9 hours I am at work. In the other time I
am supposed to eat, take rests, have free time, play ping pong, and do whatever else I want. I realize that this sounds nice, but it makes me feel kind of useless, like I should be accomplishing more than I am able to in the time that I am at work. You can only spend so much time on gmail, facebook, espn.com…(insert favorite website that consumes way more of your time than is probably healthy) before you actually feel completely useless and WANT to work. I am definitely going to try not to get too used to this lifestyle as I do plan on getting a job as a “real” person when I get back to the United States.
The food/eating situation here is much different and, at times, extremely puzzling. Lunch is considered the main meal of the day and dinner is often eaten at 9:00 or 10:00 pm. Most people’s diets are very high in carbohydrates, eggs, salt, and lots of pop (soda for those of you who don’t understand what it is really called). There seems to be a lack of knowledge of what constitutes a balanced diet, something I actually spent a good amount of
time outlining in the nutrition handout I put together. Also, there seems to be a lack of variety in most people’s diets as they often eat the same thing for certain meals everyday. To highlight what I mean, here is an example of my typical daily diet:
Breakfast - 2 or 3 pieces of toast with mermelada (jam) (there are no toasters but are somehow hot sandwich makers, so that is what I use) and an orange
Lunch - some sort of vegetable soup that I can’t identify, rice or pasta (or many times, both), salad, usually another vegetable, vegetable juice, oranges, and if I am lucky some sort of meat for protein (about 2 times a week)
Dinner - Pasta or rice, a little bit of meat that I usually can’t identify, possibly salad, juice or pop
*Many of the dishes are cooked with eggs and all of the meat dishes are extremely salty
*I have had meals that included rice, pasta, mandioca (a starchy like vegetable), and potatoes all at once (a far cry from what my dad has always said is a complete meal - meat, salad, a starch (rice, pasta, potato, and at least
one cooked vegetable)
*Snack food is pretty much nonexistent here
Because this eating schedule is very different from what I am used to, I often find that I am hungry. The other problem that I have faced is that there is not a lot I can do about this. There is very little food around my house, so even when I want to prepare something, I do not really have the resources. I know you are probably thinking, man up and go to the store and deal with it. I would agree with you, and I have done that, but the grocery store here is also very different. There is basically no refrigerated food section (milk is in boxes and is warm, so I haven’t had any milk since I got here), there is no snack food section, there is an extensive olive oil section, there is no peanut butter… Because of the strange nutritional situation I find myself in, I have developed a few strategies (you may call them bad habits) that I hope will not carry over when I get back to the United States (I’m losing weight fast and need to deal with this, wow, never
thought I’d say that):
1) I am taking a protein supplement (not for muscle building, because I am huge anyway) to simply try and get enough protein in my diet.
2) At meals I eat even if I am not hungry and I often eat more than I want to, because I am sometimes really unsure when I will eat again.
3) I have found one store around here that has potato chips and I often pass by there on my way home from work.
4) I eat about 3 or 4 oranges a day as it is really the only “snack” food in the house
5) When I go to Asuncion to do something I always eat fast food (they do have McDonalds), something I very rarely do in the United States.
6) I have eaten about half of the candy I brought for the children because it has sometimes gotten me through hungry times (whoops).
7) I have grown a really patchy beard that would absolutely not fly in the United States…actually, that has absolutely nothing to do with my diet, just thought you’d like to know that.
I realize that this strategy sounds kind of
strange/pathetic, (I would agree) but it is how I’m dealing with my situation right now. I am sure that with time I will find other ways of coping, and if not, I am coming back to the United States a whole lot skinnier. Any nutritional advice to maintain weight would be greatly appreciated.
On the technology front, I feel pretty spoiled when I compare what I have to the products here. I headed south with a new laptop (for work and communication purposes of course, hence this amazing blog), a new digital camera (also being used for above mentioned amazing blog), and a new 80 GB Ipod (to replace my old one that just died). Since being here I have not seen another laptop, not even one. All of the computers here are PCs with, often times, very outdated monitors. There seem to be some digital cameras, but these are also scarce. In terms of MP3 players, I have seen nothing bigger than 2 GB. My brothers and friends are still amazed that it is possible to have something with 80 GB of space (I have not mentioned to them that there are 160 GB Ipods, because I am
still trying to comprehend why these exist). Because products from the United States are quite a bit more advanced, my host father and friends often tell me that I need to be very careful with my stuff and not bring it with me to certain places. Therefore, I have become a little protective of my stuff and often wonder if it is safe in certain places (something that rarely crosses my mind at home). I guess that is just something that comes with living in a foreign place.
In terms of my feelings about the whole Spanish language thing, it is still a constant battle, but there are certain times when I feel somewhat comfortable now (still many awkward, uncomfortable situations as well). I find I am most successful with the language when I engage myself in one on one conversation with someone that I know personally. It is in these situations that I am the most at ease because I know the other person knows me and understands that I am trying to learn a new language. Therefore, although I know I am making mistakes, I am more comfortable because I do not feel really dumb (only sort
of dumb). That being said, everyday is still very humbling as I know there is so much I still have to learn.
I guess I should probably note that my work, although frustrating at times because of a slow internet connection, is going well. I have finished my first topic of nutrition/food contaminants/keys to safer food and am now moving on to either drug addiction or hygiene (whichever seems easier to get a start on). Although there have been times of loneliness and frustration, I have made it through almost a month and can say things seem to be getting a little easier. With each day that passes I learn new things about the language, the culture, the people, and myself. Although I would love to keep writing, (actually, not really) I think this post has gotten a little long and some of you have probably not made it to this point. For those of you that have, thank you again for taking the time to learn about my life abroad. I had been asked by someone to include some pictures of Villeta, the city I am living in. I wasn’t able to get pictures everywhere in the city,
but here is a random sampling of some of the sights of the city. Also, a few pictures from a family birthday party for my host grandpa. I hope you enjoy them. That is all I have right now, check back for more in a week or two.
-MWC
Spanish vocabulary to pepper your English conversations with to make them slightly more interesting
- Extrañar = to miss
- tranquilo = calm
- Probar = to test or try out
- soledad = privacy
- una carpeta = a folder
- una vuelta = a lap
- el ambiente = the environment
- cariño = affection
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Emily
non-member comment
Hurrah!
Glad you are surviving ok, Matt. I know how hard it can be to move somewhere you don't know anyone! Let me know if there is anything we can help with back here. (Research maybe?)