I know I’m a naughty girl because I haven’t written in over a month and a half, but things have been wild around here! I’ll update on the happenings in a minute, but first I want to share the theme of my Tuesday: black magic.
Do people practice it? Are there conventions? I would say “sí” to both of those questions if we were in America, and now I can agree that its prevalent down here in Paraguay too. My host mom’s family thinks people in their house are acting extra weird these days. One brother (who is mentally challenged) was talking “crazy” as he would describe his dreams to leave home and pursue a career as a professional mariachi singer. Another sister (who, pardon my French, is kind of a wench) was being a wench to everyone all the time. Another sister, who is 20 and completely in love with her boyfriend, is thinking about getting hitched this spring and won’t let anything or anyone stand in her way. Clearly, all of these elements only lead to one conclusion: SOMEONE PUT A CURSE ON THE HOUSE AND ITS INHABITANTS!
So they called in what I would call a witch doctor. She only works with natural remedies and her favorite pastime is looking at picturess and saying something creepy/harmful/mean about that person. (p.s. she hasn’t inspected my picture… who knows the combination of adjectives she’d use!!) So this woman came over Saturday and succeeded in freaking out everyone in the family. Between two mattresses she found a skeleton doll with a black sash around it and a little piece of paper that named the husband and wife of the house (yes, their real names were on it apparently) and said that they will die. The woman dug up out of the broken concrete floor in another room a little man and woman hugging (with black sashes of course) and a candle in the middle. She cracked open the base of the candle and found another little piece of paper that said everyone in the house that marries should never be happy with their partners. Then, on top of the giant meat freezer… lots of little papers with bad wishes written on them.
So my host mom’s family doesn’t know what to think. Did someone put a hex on the house and the people that live there? And by putting said hex little weird trophies all of the sudden appeared? In my opinion, hell no but what do you say? I told my host mom… Toti (her mentally retarded brother) had parasites (fact) that were cutting off oxygen to the brain. Nuni is a wench, has been and will continue to be. And Lamia is crazy in love and people do and say silly things when they’re that passionate for someone. No little dolly will change who these people are or how they treat others. On top of that, their mom died just a few months ago. Everyone is trying to figure out how to live his or her lives without that very important person in it.
But it gets better… My host mom claims that her mother-in-law (my extremely evil, rumor spreading neighbor) has a big old book on black magic that she’s studied. This book even convinced her to try to kill her own father and her kids found out and stopped her. Who even knows if that one’s true or just her mother-in-law lying like she always does.
In summary, black magic is a friend to some (i.e. me) because it can give a little humor to sometimes dull/slow life out here.
Other happenings…
CATHERINE LYNN GABLE WILL BE HERE IN 2 DAYS!! She, at this moment in time, hasn’t received her visa to actually enter Paraguay but those of the consulate swear it will get there before her evening flight tomorrow. Let’s hope that’s true! We’ll be spending 4 days here in Paraguay, a couple days in Argentina and then some more beach time in Uruguay. It’s basically the only thing that I’ve been looking forward to for about 3 months, so I’m ready to go!!
Over the weekend (when I sadly missed the black magic scavenger hunt) I want down south to Encarnación, Paraguay for our annual Thanksgiving weekend of mayhem. Its basically the one time of year when the majority of the volunteers (180 in the country and about 150 attended) can get to know one another, share a drink or two, and do what a lot of us don’t get to do enough of: RELAX. Volunteers cook the Friday night Thanksgiving meal so we had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie and even cranberry sauce. I’m not sure how they get the ingredients down here for some of it, but all that matters is we all love eating it! We have an Olympics among the different groups of volunteers and even a talent show. Needless to say its like I’m back at West Virginia Association of Student Councils conference so I’m happy as a clam.
Around here, projects are numerous and time consuming. I’m currently drawing/painting a 2m x 4m (6.5 ft x 13ft) map of the world at the school, writing a grant for $5,000 for my handmade clothing group so they can build a space to work, teach and grow in, (They’re doing great by the way and look for a website about them soon!) continuing to loathe the women’s committee (but luckily we’re taking a month hiatus for the holidays), and still teaching computer classes 10 hours a week. Some days I can’t sleep because there is so much I still want to do and fitting it in seems nearly impossible at times. But again, I’m happy to busy rather than bored.
In personal news, I finally dropped the lbs that I put on during training. As Juan kindly (he’s really not mean… he claimed later that I say that so he thought he could say that and not offend me. Little does he understand how complicated our statements regarding weight are!) told me yesterday “Realmente estuviste gigante cuando llegaste.” Which roughly translates to “when you got here you were massively overweight like a beached whale.” I had to laugh, and then punch him of course. Also, my hair is really long. You all wouldn’t even recognize me! I must admit that I miss the bob-ish style I’ve always kept but letting the hair grow is like a little experiment. We’ll see how long I can hold out before chopping it all off.
In Peace Corps news I was invited to go on an overnight trip with our Director to check out a project with the American-Paraguayan Chamber of Commerce and figure out how and when PC can be incorporated. The project is teaching groups of men and women to read and I really enjoyed myself, plus I got to see a little more of the country! The ladies we were with are half-European and half-Paraguayan and totally loaded. We spent the night on the 7,700 hectare (19,000+ acre) ranch of one of the ladies and I was so star struck. I just haven’t been in contact with Paraguayans that are filthy rich like that. She even called her brother, and he flew in on their personal plane!! They do mostly cattle and reforestation (which if you have patience, like 15 years, you can make a fortune on) and on top of that, they have 4 other ridiculously impressive ranches in Paraguay. Totally not what I thought I’d ever experience in Peace Corps!
I was also the only volunteer from my sector to participate in interviews for our new boss. We interviewed 6 extremely impressive people on paper, but in the end I only liked 1. We should have a new Director of my sector by January. Then I can start my campaign for another year in the Peace Corps Asunción office. We’ll see how that one works out.
What all is going on there? Congrats to all the democrats out there because now I don’t have to fear returning to the states (whenever that time comes), but I do continue to worry about (one day) getting a job. What is UP with the economy? A happy belated Thanksgiving to all friends and family, and an advanced Merry Christmas as well. I think of you all often and look forward to hearing updates from everyone.
P.S. I FINALLY have Internet at the coop and its wireless so as the queen of all things technology related in these parts, I also have access to it at home. Hopefully that will make blog writing more frequent and it will definitely make email writing more rapid.
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