Learning to Live Again

Hey Party People!  It's been a while...and since it's 1:00 in the afternoon and I haven't done much except sleep and make a delicious lunch of roasted squash and cauliflower, I decided to make myself feel slightly more productive and fill you all in on my life.  So why have I been such a bum today?  Well, there are several reasons 1) I don't have to work on Mondays until 3:00 pm.  2) It was raining cats and dogs this morning which automatically means "go back to bed" in this country.  3) I went to Asuncion for "Ahendu" yesterday.  Ahendu means "I hear" in Guarani, and it is a music show that volunteers/and their Paraguayan friends put on every 3-4 months when a new group of volunteers arrives and swears in.  Also, yesterday there was a date auction, and I was one of the girls being auctioned so I had to go.  There was a bidding war for me between my future site mate, Jaime, and my PC wife, Lyn.  Jaime won so we'll have a free dinner at a rico restaurant one of these days!  I went in to the capital just for the day yesterday....an afternoon of dancing and sangria pitchers sandwiched between two 4 hour bus rides...hence why I was a lazy bum this morning!

But let's talk about last weekend...my 24 birthday weekend!  Some of my Paraguayan friends came over to my house on Friday night for the "previa" to my birthday.  They walked in with the sound system and a bottle of vodka because "they know I like the strong stuff."  At midnight they brought in a cake complete with a candle and they all sang to me, and then we had a major cake fight.  They left around 3:30am because I'm the grandma of the group and I was all tuckered out.  These people party until 7 or 8 in the morning, and I just can't do it...still.  I blame it on the language barrier still.  I understand what's going on, and I love hanging out with my friends, but it just tires me out more when I'm constantly thinking/interacting in my second and third languages.  Saturday, my actual birthday, my friend came and picked me up to go to another friends' house for lunch.  They made me Tallarin which is my favorite Paraguayan dish.  I napped and got ready that afternoon and everyone came over to start again around 8:00pm Saturday night.  My usual Paraguayan party team was over, and my PC wives Lyn and Julia also came over to celebrate with me.  We made caiprinhas (a drink originating from Brazil), and I introduced Paraguayans to the fabulous-ness of peppermint patty shots.  They were a little hesitant at first, because they had no idea what the chocolate sauce I was telling them to pour in their mouth was...but they all liked it after they tried it.  Then around 10:00 we headed to a dinner show that was the 13th Anniversary of something medically related.  There were all the head honchos from the hospital and a bunch of doctors and nursers and what not.  I brought a pitcher of caiprinhas in my purse because I'm classy like that.  No one said a thing to us.  That's one of the things I love about this country.  My friend Nolber is a professional dancer so I feel exceptionally "special" when I'm dancing with him, but we started the dance party and soon we had the whole place dancing with us!  There was a band playing on stage and I was chosen to go up on stage and dance with them.  The lead singer asked me my name and I said "Casey y hoy es mi cumple!" haha.  So then the whole dinner party sang Happy Birthday to me while I danced on stage so that was AWESOME.  Then we headed to the club around 3:00am, and I only made it an hour longer.  Fran drove me home around 4am, and I dove in to bed.  Overall, VERY successful birthday.  I felt very special and loved, and that's how everyone should feel on their birthday!

Work-wise I'm still doing the same things as last time...but I also started working at the "Hogar" in town.  Its right next door to the hospital, and its a home for 10 rehabilitated mental patients.  There are 6 men and 4 women who are live in patients at the home, and there are 2 couples who are the "parents" who switch of staying at the house/caring for the "kids" every week.  The patients know each other as brothers and sisters although they are not related and they refer to the couples as mom and dad.  They all (minus the moms and dads) spent long periods of time internado (what is that in English...?) in the mental hospital in Asuncion and were basically forgotten by their friends/family. They are rehabilitated in that they don't need to stay in the mental hospital anymore, but they are not well enough to live on their own either. They are all older people..the youngest one is about 31 I believe.  I LOVE spending time with them.  They are a great bunch of people.  They are all special in their own way, and they always put me in a good mood.  I generally spend more time with the women because of culture norms and because the women are more lively.  Erna calls me "la muñeca" which means doll and she reads my palm.  According to her, I'm going to live to be 100 years old, I'm going to have lots of men, I'm going to be a millionaire, I'm going to have 9 children, and a lot of cows, chickens, pigs etcs. haha.  Iso is always smiling.  She just looks at me and laughs and then she says something to me in Guarani which I can never understand and then we both just laugh.  She always gives me really big hugs at really odd times...aka in the middle of aerobics.  Elba is the youngest one and she is one of the most functional.  She sells things in the hospital in the mornings so I always see her and chat with her in the hospital, and she works in the afternoons.  And then there is Teresa.  Watch out mom, Teresa, is SUPER jealous over me.  Whenever she sees me she gets really angry if I just say hello and wave...I have to go over and give her a hug and the kiss kiss.  And then she usually grabs my hand and walks around with me haha.  Apparently, I remind her of her daughter (who she is still in contact with and is able to see pretty frequently).  Teresa is always out wandering around so I always run into her and we chat.  Last time I saw her she told me I was pregnant (after she told me I also had heart problems) and literally sat there pressing my stomach for at least 5 minutes.  I said Teresa I'm not pregnant.  And she's like yes you are...see I can feel it.  And I said No I'm not honey, unless I'm carry the next baby Jesus it's not possible...and then she was like ohh well you just have an ugly body then.  I love you too, Teresa haha.  She's such a character.  But I go to the hogar on Mondays to dance an aerobics video with them, and I teach them Yoga on Wednesdays.

I have just about 8 months left in country!  Can you guys believe I've already been here for 19 months?!  I can't believe how fast the time has flown.  My going away party in the states feels like a life time ago, but like yesterday at the same time.

The new group swore in this weekend, and there will be 2 new volunteers living in San Ignacio with me which I'm really excited about!  A girl named Sara and a boy named Jaime.  And my wife, Lyn, is leaving me in September :(  I'm so sad.  She's literally probably the only reason I'm still in this country, and we talk as much, if not more, than your average married couple.  She actually told me one day, "Casey, you've proven to me that I am capable of being in a long-term, serious relationship?" I said oh really, why?  And she said well I always wondered what couples talked about for so long after seeing each other all day...I thought it would get boring.  But after being friends with you, I get it.  I spend all weekend with you and then you call me on your bus ride home with something new to tell me. haha.

Well, I have to go get ready to dance with my patients!  Have a wonderful day.  Love and miss you all oodles!