Visité San Juan Bautista y ví un voluntario en su sitio

I visited San Juan Bautista and I saw a volunteer in his site. (That´s the translation of the title.)

We went on our "technical overnight" to check out another site. We attended a "charla" given by the volunteer, Leo, about civic education and we had dinner with the Intendente (Mayor). After that we drank beers and hung out with both Americans and Paraguayans. The next day, we went to a meeting of a women´s neighborhood comission (they first built a bunch of fagons (which are outdoor ovens) and now they are working on getting some modern bathrooms with septic tanks built). We also visited the Casa de Cultural and the Biblioteca (Culture House and the Library) before we left. It was a cool visit and a good change of pace to get out of Itá.

I got a "Intermediate Mid" on my language test. That´s the level I have to be at before they will let me go to site, so that´s good, since I have 6 more weeks. It´s also the level you have to be at when you start studying Guarani, so now I am. It´s hard and intimidating. There are 12 vowels. a, e, i, o, u pronounced the same as in spanish and y, said like a gutteral sound you would make when you poop. Then there´s a, e, i, o, u and y which are all nasal. Say a short a sound through your nose. That´s it. Every word in Guarani ends in a vowel. Apparently I won´t need it much, depending, but it does a world of good to know some.

¿Que mas? We figured out that we get $3 a day for stuff. We are obviously fed and housed, but for everything else, that´s what we get. It´s enough, but not enough to go around buying stuff. I have to be careful.

As I get better at speaking Spanish, my host mom has kicked it up a notch, so it still feels like I don´t understand anything. I guess if someone learning English was all of a sudden speaking in the past participle, I´d use it more and it´d be hard for them, too. I still love my family, though. We talk forever some nights.

Did I mention there´s a housekeeper/childcare woman in the house? She cooks and cleans and takes care of both girls while Malú is at work. She left this week to go back home to take care of her ailing parents since she´s the only single one of 14 kids. I´m not sorry to see her go. I didn´t like her. She poked me a lot and I couldn´t understand anything she said (Malú said she can´t understand her sometimes, too.) She also tried to exhort some money from me for doing laundry. Long story. Anyway, now there´s a new girl who´s 21 and can´t cook anything. So Malú is teaching her. She cleans like a demon, though, so Malú likes her so far. It´s weird to have a maid in the house, but I´m getting used to it, too.

Nada mas. Ojala que el español que estoy aprendiendo ayudará en el futuro en los estados unidos. Hay muchas palabras specifica a Paraguay. (I hope the spanish I am learning will help me in the future in the U.S. There are many words that are specific to Paraguay.)

Love and missing.