Cultural Differences

The mission of the Peace Corps has three main goals:

1)      Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.

2)      Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.

3)      Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

During this post, I’m going to begin tackling goal number 3…introducing you all to the lifestyle of the Paraguayans.  Paraguayans are probably the nicest, most giving people I’ve ever encountered in my life, thus far, and if I had to use one word to describe the lifestyle here I would choose “tranquilo.”  It’s a very calm, slow paced, relaxing lifestyle (well, for the locals not the PCTs…PC is keeping our days jammed packed).  Besides the pace of life, there are some other main differences I have found between Paraguay and the United States so here goes…

Terere

                The Paraguayans love them some Terere…and I also love me some terere!  I seem to have lost my handout on Terere within the library of information Peace Corps has given me so my explanation won’t be from an expert, but you’ll get the point.  So Terere is a cold tea made with Yerba Mate…it’s simply Mate when you drink it warm (I have yet to drink Mate).  An equipo is necessary for drinking Terere and consists of:  a guampa (the cup, usually made from plastic sometimes covered with leather, or bull horns), a bombilla (a metal straw with a spoon like strainer at the bottom), and a thermos for the water.  You fill the guampa with Yerba Mate then you pour the water in.  Before you drink Terere you need Terere rupa…some food in your stomach.  The first time you pour water in the guampa over the yerba mate, it’s a sacrifice for Saint Thomas…you have to wait until he “drinks” (wait for the water to soak into the Yerba Mate) before you or anyone else can drink it. 

                Also, Paraguay is blessed with a rich tradition in medicinal herb use.  Use of medicinal herbs for the treatment of mild disease conditions is very common.  They refer to herbs as “yuyos” and they can be either medicinal or non medicinal.  The yuyos are placed in the water in the thermos, and then the water is poured over the yerba mate.  We have TONS of yuyos growing around our house.  Generally, yuyos medicinales are drank in the morning and yuyos without medicinal benefit are drunk in the afternoon.

                Ok, how it works!  Pretty much whenever there is a group of people sitting around talking (aka all the time) terere is present.  One person is the designated Terere server (not a technical term).  They pour the water from the thermos into the guampa (over the Yerba Mate) and they drink all the water from the guampa (after St. Thomas, of course).  The guampas are relatively small and there is enough for about two straw sucks.  After he/she drinks, he/she refills the guampa and passes it to the next person, always to the right.  Once this person finishes, he passes it back to the server, then it is refilled and passed to the next person and so on.

                I’m hoping to have my very own equipo sometime soon!

Siestas!

                Lunch is the biggest meal of the day here, and families all eat lunch together (unless someone works really far away from home).  We get done with our morning training at 11:30 and we don’t have to be back until 1:00pm.  I live right next door so I have an hour and a half break.  I usually come home eat lunch and rest for a little while until I have to go back to class.  My uncle takes a nap in the backyard on a wood pile every day.  It was pretty funny the first time I saw him.  On the weekends, I take siesta a little over board and sometimes sleep for several hours. 

Sharing is Caring

                Along the same lines of Terere, Paraguayans share EVERYTHING.  Whenever we eat a meal, there are only a couple of drink glasses and they are passed around to everyone.  I usually have my own, but everyone else shares.  When we drink a beer, we pass it around the circle, when we drank vodka we passed the glass around the circle, when we ate ice cream we passed the carton around the circle.  I think you get the point.  Even in the bars, a group of friends will buy one beer and pass it around instead of each person having his/her own drink.

                Speaking of meal time, they use the tablecloth as their napkin.  I think this is a genius idea, but they also put a stack of napkins in front of me so I’m nervous to start using the tablecloth.

Can I Get a Clap Clap?

                There are no such things as doorbells and knocking doesn’t exist either.  And oh yea, Dad, the houses here are made of wood, cement, and bricks.  But instead of knocking on a front door (or any door), when you arrive at someone’s house, you stand in their front yard and clap until they come outside.

Dàme Màs Gasolina

                I found out this weekend that my house is a gas station.  I’m not sure how I missed this before, but there are constantly people stopping by to fill up their motos with gas.  They pay my family (I’m not sure what the price is) and someone brings out gas in liter soda bottles.  I’m not sure of any of the details…like where we get the gas, or if my family is making a profit, but my house is the neighborhood gas station.  Last night there was someone clapping outside the house super late, I’m assuming they needed to fill up with gas.

The Plant Moto

                On Sundays, there is a man that drives his moto around with all these plants in a shaded trailer pulling behind him.  The past two Sundays, my family has bought plants from him.  And this past Sunday we also bought some Piggy Banks from him.  Well, actually two toad banks and a strawberry bank.  They are super cute, and they are the kind that you have to break open with a hammer when you want to get to the money.  We usually buy Mango trees.  I’m not really sure where we are planting them, but we are definitely buying them.  The mangoes here are so delicious.  I’m spoiled because my mom always peels and cuts them up for me to take as a snack to class.  All the other kids have to peel their own mangoes.  It really is a funny sight to see all of us together in the PC training center.  We all have bags of snacks and will randomly pull out bananas, mangoes and knives and start snacking on our fruit.  The other day, Danielle (one of the other PC girls in my community) brought an entire bag full of Guavas her mom gave her for a snack.  We all laughed at her when she showed up, but it captured perfectly the generosity of our families.

                It is also VERY common for families to have gardens.  We have all kinds of things growing in our back yard.  We have mandioca (the staple starch here) plants, corn, green peppers, and actually I don’t even know what else.  But  my family is pretty self sufficient off of the land and their animals.

Sugar High

                There is so much sugar in everything.  When I first arrived I was super impressed by how good the fruit juices were.  I saw them put pineapple and water in a blender and blend it up, and it was the most delicious juice I’ve ever had in my entire life.  I soon realized they added half a jar of sugar to the juice.  I’ve stopped drinking so much.  They are constantly drinking sodas, juices filled with sugar, and eating simple carbohydrates.  Kids here are on a constant sugar high!  Bread and starches are the main food group. 

                Also, most of what we eat is deep fried.  After a long day of training, I came home to find we were having tortilla sandwiches for dinner.  I may have already described the tortillas here, but they are different from the states.  They are basically deep fried batter and cheese (if you’re lucky there will be some kind of vegetables in the batter…).  Needless to say I was surprised when we were having bread in between two pieces of bread for dinner, but I ate it.

                Mandioca is the staple food here.  It’s a starchy vegetable kind of similar to a potato.  It’s served with everything, kind of like how silver wear is always on the table in the United States.

Rain

                Everything shuts down when it rains.  They treat rainy days like snow days in the states.  People don’t go to work and kids don’t go to school; however, Peace Corps trainees are Americans and are therefore required to show up to training.  It’s fun walking down a 5km dirt road in the rain.

Motos

                1 in 4 Paraguayans owns a Motorcycle.  They are everywhere.  There are constantly motos driving down our road.  It’s also impressive how many people can fit on a moto.  I’ve seen families of four riding down the street.  It’s pretty rare to see a car driving down my road.  Motorcycle accidents are also the leading cause of death in Paraguay…hence why Peace Corps forbids us to ride them.  If we are caught riding a moto we are immediately sent home and Peace Corps is like big brother…they are always watching.

Animals

                I’m starting to get used to all the different animals.  I had two toads in my dresser drawer earlier today, and I took them outside all by myself…I’m still having issues not screaming when I see them and they hop around!  They pooped in my drawers though; toad poop has an awful odor.  Also, there are always frogs in the bathroom.  I’m not sure how the frogs and toads get in the house, but they have their ways.

                There are so many insects…flies and mosquitos and God only knows what else.  Every bug loves me.  I woke up with 45 new bug bites this morning…somehow they got through my mosquito net. Ughhh.. I’m not a fan of the bugs.

                There are constantly cows, chickens, dogs, goats you name it crossing the road.  I especially love when the animals cross paved roads.  It’s not uncommon to see cows walking down the middle of a paved street in a semi-major city.

                Pets are treated very differently here than in the United States.  For one, none of the dogs are spayed or neutered…I’m not gonna lie it’s kind of strange seeing all these dogs with balls.  Secondly, they roam freely, and I have yet to see a dog with a collar.  Dogs are definitely used as tools, herding animals and watch dogs, more so than human companions.  My family treats our dog, Gustovia, a lot better than I’ve seen other families treat their dogs.  They actually pet her.  She is an awesome dog, so smart…and she is ridiculously smart. 

                I’m pretty sure I mentioned before, but we currently have 4 pregnant pigs.  All I have to say is…4 female pigs, 1 male pig, and 1 day.  He impregnated them all in one day.  I’m pretty sure that’s the definition of stud if I’ve ever heard it.  Also, I found out the other day that if you rub a pig’s belly while he’s standing up he grunts and flops over on his back.  It’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.

These are just a few differences I’ve noticed thus far.  It’s really funny how easy it is to adapt.  Most things don’t even seem strange until I take a step back and look at it through my “American eyes.”   Things are still going well.  I go through random bouts of homesickness/culture shock/frustration/nervousness of two years, but luckily they don’t last very long.  Even though I can’t understand my family well, they are super nice and very good company.   Peace Corps is keeping us ridiculous busy.  I’m sorry my communication has been slow and short and maybe even nonexistent for some of you.  I’m trying my best, but I only have internet access for a short period of time once a week.  I know it’s a long time, but after training my days won’t be so busy, and I’m almost positive PC gives us an internet stick so I’ll have internet access in my house!  Please stay with me, I love hearing from all of you!