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Published: October 15th 2008
Hola, hola, hola, I hope I am finding you all well at this moment. I am presently sitting in my family room in my extra comfortable shoulder brace that smells like absolute death (part of that was true, I’ll let you decide which part) enjoying a little playoff baseball before my weekly dose of Monday Night Football. I guess you could say that I experienced my first real “summer day” today as the temperature climbed above 100 oF. I won’t lie, I did not see it coming when I woke up this morning and if it was any indication of how the next 7 months are going to be, I am done complaining about cold showers. I slacked off a little bit between posts number 3 and 4 as it has been about 2 and a half weeks now, so I’ll try to make this post extra enthralling to make up for my tardiness (although in the Paraguayan sense of time, I probably wouldn’t post for about another week). As always, thank you for all of the emails/messages/comments/thoughts/prayers…the time you take to keep me “in the know” means a lot to me. Since my last post I have done all sorts
of exciting things (maybe an overstatement, but I guess you could say I have kept busy).
Summary of this week’s post
-More birthday parties
-Expo Villeta
-My life as a Paraguayan rockstar
-Vocational retreats
-Shoulder update
-Spanish language update
-Wrapup
-Spanish Vocabulary
If you are a betting man/woman/Mike Engerman or Jimmy Voxman (check out that political correctness there), how much would you bet that I have attended at least 2 birthday parties in the past few weeks? If you read my last post, you would know that this would be a pretty safe bet. I have in fact attended 2 birthday parties in 2 weeks, which in comparison to other weeks could be considered a bit below average (although I am pretty sure my host parents have been to a couple more without me). On Sunday, October 12, I attended the fourteenth birthday party of my host brother Juan. We hosted a cookout at my host family’s other house for a number of friends and family that I am now more familiar with. Although the number of birthday parties still never fails to amaze me, I do enjoy them for the most part as there is always delicious
food and cold beer (let’s be serious, if there is beer, it can’t be all bad). Also, I often get to talk to people in small groups or one on one, something I enjoy because I not only feel more confident in these situations but also actually get to know people on a more personal level. I still have no idea what to expect my birthday party to be like, so I guess you could say that, in a way, it will be my first surprise party (yeah, I realize that may have been stretching it on the joke front). On September 26, I attended the birthday party of Julian, my closest friend in Paraguay. At this party I tried Asada for the first time, the staple meat at every Paraguayan cookout. Basically, Asada is various cuts of beef seasoned with a bit of salt and cooked in a large smoker/grill. For those of you familiar with Taco Bell’s carne asada options (I am not as I am a Cheesy Gordita Crunch kind of guy), I wouldn’t call their version of this South American specialty authentic. Asada is really good but I kind of wonder why people don’t use any
other seasonings or sauces/marinades. Also served at most cookouts is Soupa Paraguayo, rice, mandioca, various salads, cake, and a variety of pop (soda) and beer. It is always great to overeat at all of these gatherings and not feel bad about it as it kind of makes up for the under eating parts of the week.
Friday, September 26th, was also the first night of Expo Villeta 2008. The Expo is a yearly 10-day festival in Villeta that showcases the work of a variety of local companies, schools, and bands, as well as a number of out of town vendors and bands. It is held in the city plaza, the center of Villeta social life. Starting on about Monday, vendors and carnies (carnival folk who run rides) began arriving in the city and setting up shop. It was quite interesting as the carnies pretty much set up rides wherever there was the slightest amount of space, often in places that didn’t seem to be what one would call "safe." Then again, I am no expert on carnival work/life as a carnie (if you are looking for someone who is, talk to Mr. Kopetsky), who am I to judge the
safeness of traveling carnival rides? I can gladly say that the rides withstood the rigors of the 10 days without any disasters, so I guess they showed me. There was also a large stage set up in the middle of the plaza where a variety of live entertainment took place throughout the festival. The first act (band, dance group, etc.) of each night began around 8:30 and was usually followed by about 2 or 3 more acts that continued until at least 12:30 A.M., sometimes lasting as late as 3:00 in the morning. Almost every night I would have dinner at the Expo and then hang around and drink and watch the bands. The last band of each night was usually pretty famous, by Paraguayan standards, and many of them were very enjoyable to listen to. Some of them specialized in songs in English and, for the most part, did a pretty good job with these songs. One band sang “Hound Dog” by Elvis, and I must say, they were not quite as good as my famous Karaoke Kid or Vegas renditions of the song. By the end of the Expo I had eaten enough carnival food and ice cream
that I was happy to see it come to an end, but it was a fun 10 days. Many other cities in Paraguay host similar festivals throughout the year as they are a wonderful expression of the importance of community life and hospitality that is so important to South American culture.
Oh yeah, I failed to mention one thing. The newly christened Paraguayan rockstar that is me was one of the performers at the Expo. As I may have mentioned in past blog entries, my two host brothers are part of a band called MTH, which is short for the Biblical word Maranatha. Their group of two electric guitarists, bass player, drummer, acoustic guitarist, and keyboard player/lead singer has been playing together for about 6 years. They are pretty talented and often play at festivals in Villeta and surrounding cities. About a month ago they told me that they had been working on songs in English, but as none of them speak English, they needed someone to sing them. Although my performance experience has been limited to musical theater productions, choir performances, and most importantly, frequent appearances at the Karaoke Kid in Madison, I thought, why not, it could
be fun. I put a list of about 12 songs together that I thought I could sing pretty well and asked the band which they would like to learn. “In My Place” by Coldplay was not one I was particularly excited about singing as it is a very high song, but they had already learned it, so we decided that this would be one of the songs for the show. My other final proposals were “Down on the Corner” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash, and “Fly Away” by Lenny Kravitz. I am no musician, but I figured that it takes a bit of time to learn a new song. In the case of my brothers’ band, this proved to be false. I played them “Fly Away” one time on my computer and just like that they were playing it without any problems. They seemed to really like the song and I thought it would be a fun song to perform, so we chose this as the second song for the show. We practiced for about 4 nights before our show on Thursday, September 2, and I really felt pretty good about how the songs sounded.
I was not very nervous because I was having a lot of fun and also realized that the majority of people wouldn’t even realize if I made any mistakes as very few people in the city understand English.
The night of the show we arrived and set up the equipment about an hour before the start of the show. As I walked around the stage complete with light and smoke effects I was really excited as it was going to be the biggest crowd I had ever performed in front of. I can not say exactly how many people were there, but if I had to guess there were more than a thousand people. Also, the concerts were broadcast over the local radio station every night, so an even wider range of people probably heard my “amazing” voice. MTH went on around 9:00 P.M. and played about 3 songs before my songs came up. As I was waiting to go on, it hit me that I needed to say something to the crowd when I was introduced. Julian gave me a very nice introduction and I appeared on the stage in front of thousands of foreign eyes. I really
had no idea what to say as addressing a large crowd of people in another language is a bit of a daunting task, but I just kind of went with it. I asked them if they were having fun and when I got a half-hearted response, I asked again and received a stronger response. Then I told them that we were really excited to do a few songs in English and that I hoped they enjoyed them. I introduced “In My Place” by Coldplay and we were off. Luckily I had a wireless microphone, so I was able to move around the stage a lot and felt I had somewhat of a good stage presence. Although I was a little unsure of how good we sounded, the crowd seemed to like the first song. “Fly Away” by Lenny Kravitz was much more fun to perform as I was able to do a lot more dancing/jumping around. It was a little awkward at the end as the people of Villeta are very apathetic when it comes to showing their appreciation, so they really didn’t clap that much, but they didn’t really clap much for any of the bands throughout the whole
festival. All in all, it was a lot of fun and I was happy to have participated in a signature event of my town.
Every performance of the Expo was video and audio recorded, which made me happy because I had hoped to be able to share my performance with all of you. Unfortunately, the one night the equipment did not work correctly was, you guessed it, the night we performed. Therefore, there is a video of our performance but it lacks audio, so that’s just great. We are still trying to figure out a way to get the audio to work, but I’m not too optimistic about this happening. I plan on performing with MTH throughout my time here, so hopefully at some point I will be able to post a recording or a video of our shows. That being said, just know that I am absolutely awesome and am now a Paraguayan heartthrob for countless teenage girls throughout the city (that may or may not be true, but I like to think it is ;-)
Over the past few weeks I have also helped lead a series of vocational retreats for teenagers that we hosted at the
Obra Social. As I may have mentioned before, the Obra Social is the Salesian center where I work in Villeta. The focus of the day-long retreats was to shed some light on the ideas of serving others and following God’s plan for each of us. Each retreat, with the theme of “Live your Dreams,” consisted of a variety of games, a viewing of a movie called Flatliners, a powerpoint presentation, snacks and lunch, lots of singing, a time for self-reflection and confession if so desired, and a Holy Mass with a Salesian priest. The retreats were led by myself, my co-workers, a few of the Salesian sisters, and a few other members of the church community. As the beginning of the first retreat I was asked to address the young people and explain to them exactly why I am in Paraguay and what it is like to be a volunteer. I really had no idea what to say and may have seemed a little shell-shocked at the time, but I just kind of started rambling as I developed my thoughts in English and translated them while I was trying to get my points across. I wouldn’t call myself the best
public speaker in English, so being placed in these types of situations in a foreign language is definitely challenging, but I just try to be confident and roll with the punches. I also helped with leading much of the music (I was often singing into a microphone even though I had never heard some of the songs), leading of small discussion groups after the movie, and just kind of coordinating recreation activities for the young people during break times. Overall I really enjoyed the experience of working with teenagers and was really happy to be put in this type of situation as I feel I do fairly well in leadership roles. It was great to have some time away from research and writing to serve the community and get to know young people. Oh yeah, my favorite part of the retreats were when we created a heart out of sand and outlined the border with candles representing the dreams of each one of us.
If any of you were wondering about the situation with my separated shoulder, I can happily say that it is about time to shed the immobilizing brace. After more than 4 weeks of immobilization (3 with the brace, 1 with makeshift bandages) I believe my shoulder has healed to the point where I can begin rehabilitation. I am pain free for the most part and have full range of motion. It is definitely obvious that I need to work on rebuilding muscle now as there is a stark contrast between the size of my left and right shoulder/back muscles. I will initially begin a little slowly with the rehab (which will be very challenging for me) and plan on easing back into weightlifting. I will, however, be able to pick up running at full speed now, which I am extremely excited about. The experience has obviously been a challenge, but I can be thankful that it has passed before the arrival of the extremely hot weather.
In terms of my Spanish language progress, I guess you could say I’m getting there. Although it is still obvious I lack knowledge of the language, I am definitely becoming more comfortable with its use. I am still continuing with my flashcards and am fitting in reading when I have time, so I am making progress slowly but surely. I have specifically received comments from co-workers that they think I did great interacting with the young people at the retreats, so this made me feel good. It is nice to get positive feedback when it requires so much effort to speak what I would call poor to average Spanish. I am confident that it will come more easily eventually, but as of now it still requires a lot of thought and effort.
It is now time for me to leave you now, but I promise I will be back with more exciting Paraguasian news in the coming weeks. I am very excited as I purchased a Paraguay National team fútbol (soccer) jersey last night and will be attending my first international soccer game tonight. I hope to have lots of fun accounts and pictures from this experience, so do check back for my next post if this intrigues you. The pictures included in this weeks post are from birthday parties, Expo Villeta, my concert experience, and the vocational retreats. Oh, and there was a request for a few pictures of me, so I suppose I will include those as well. Thanks for taking the time to read about my life and I will talk to you again soon.
Suerte,
-MWC
This week’s Spanish vocabulary
-el sostén - the bra (what my friends have taken to calling my shoulder brace)
-compartir - to share
-la apuesta - the bet
-el peso - the weight
-mojado - wet
-desmayarse - to faint
-la valla - the fence
-el cantante - the singer (yo soy el mejor cantante en Villeta ;-)
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MJ
non-member comment
I'm the BEST tenor
If MTH ever needs an amazing tenor just let me know.