More Animal Stories
Trip Start
Dec 17, 2005
1
8
38
Trip End
Apr 30, 2008
Pilar,
Paraguay
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
I´ve received a few emails requesting more animal stories. Here´s a doozy! Guess what I had for dinner last night? It´s something that I´m pretty scared of normally. It shows up in a few childrens´storybooks. It´s green and has really big teeth and a huge chomping mouth... Give up? CROCODILE!!! It was really good actually. I had to keep telling myself that it was fun to eat something so unique. Nausea did begin, but I fought hard and won. It wasn´t technically crocodile, but cayman- like the islands I guess.
ANYway, I spent the last few days and nights with two volunteers who are in their second year of service. Each of us trainees was put on a bus to some other location so that we could see how real volunteers live and work (and remain sane!). I lucked out because my volunteers were fabulous- a sweet married couple from Michigan. Perhaps one of the highlights was the hammock on their front patio- I spent lots of time just hanging out doing nothing. Big difference from the last two weeks of training. By the way, it was 46· Celsius for the past two days... I believe that is about 115·Fahrenheit, but I´m not sure. The heat is pretty overwhelming. I FULLY understand the concept of ´siestas´now...
Another request one or two of you made was a photo of me in front of the horno actually cooking... in my striped pants. Cute. It´s a little too hot, and well, I haven´t really learned to cook-bake anything yet (in either country!!)
(responses to some of your questions)
Okay, a typical day for me during training is as follows:
5a.m. wake up and think about throttling all of the roosters, cows and dogs that are my Paraguayan alarm clock.
6a.m. get out of bed
7a.m. eat breakfast while mom or one of the sisters watches and asks questions
7:40a.m. realize that once again I´m late for school and rush out the door
7;45a.m Guarani' class begins and goes until lunchtime
11:45a.m walk back home for the biggest and hottest meal of the day at the hottest time of the day
1:oop.m. afternoon session begins- this is the grueling part because I´m pretty tired and hot and wanting a beer or something.
5p.m. walk home or to the park to hang out with the kids for awhile. Sometimes I visit a friend´s house, especially if I want a particular afterschool snack.
8:30p.m. or sometime after we eat dinner- usually me, mom, granny, both sisters and their boyfriends.
shower and bed
Money for luxuries- non-existent
I feel extremely safe here. I got a little nervous on the bus the other night because it was two days before the elections. We passed another bus coming in the opposite direction full of Nicanor supporters... Did I already tell this story? Anyway, it was fine and completely safe.
Other animal story- tiny frog hanging onto the inner rim of the toilet until my host volunteer removed it. Another- their dog bringing home hide of cow to play with. Another-small bird flying straight for my face and veering onto my shoulder just avoiding my eyes- neighbor´s pet. Another- horrid squealing sound coming from a bag this morning on the 4a.m. bus- I asked the little boy next to me, ´gallina?´ ´si´he said. So the mom took the bag and well, I thought she was going to kill the chicken, but instead put it under the bus in the storage compartment. Another- extremely vile story by the way... I was walking through the little town with Julia (volunteer) about ready to board the bus to her house when we came across a friend of hers with a package. Could we bring the package to her boss in the same neighborhood? Of course! Long story short- actually, it´s not possible. So, bear with me... We were on a hot bus on a dirt road for 60 kilometers and then we were in Julia´s warm house for another few hours before we noticed a rancid smell... I told her we had to open the package because we didn´t know what we were dealing with. Well, I´m surprised that I just bought a few slices of cheese just now because, inside that nasty stanky box was the small intestine of a cow! Cheese connection, well, it´s used to pasteurize the milk of something. I´d prefer not to think about it... like a LOT of things down here.
Gotta go catch a bus,
Carole
Comments
Crocodile/Cayman
Wow, I'm the first to post a comment. I feel as if I've won a prize! OK, I'm REALLY impressed that you actually ate cayman. It may have tasted OK, but the concept is a little creepy. I often feel I live in a foreign country, having been transplanted from the Bay Area to North Idaho (teachers casually talk about butchering animals during the lunch hour!). But you're REALLY in a foreign country! Cheers, Kathleen