Activities of Junio

I've been busy the past few weeks, but I also just haven't been motivated to write. I've really been missingmy American life. More specifically, I miss havingfriends. The nuns are amazing, don't get me wrong, and the young people I've met are very open and friendly, but I miss having people that understand me. Not in the"my friends just get me" way, but I mean literally I miss havingpeople that fully understand the words and ideas that come out of my mouth. Word to the wise, when you're alone in foreign country don't look at your friends'/family's Facebook albums...especially during summer. Seeing people having fun in the sun together while you're bundled up using a space heater (that I'm so grateful to have) has a way of wearing on you. But,enough negativity. I'm feeling better now, so here's what I've been up to during my somewhat emotional Debbie Downer stint...

Retreat with JOMICA

As I've mentioned before, JOMICA is the young adult faith group in our neighborhood that the sisters helped start. Two weeks ago we had a weekend retreat with about 20 people attending. I"ve mentioned before that retreats tend to overwhelm me, but with the small group, it was a great experience and opportunity to get to know and create stronger bonds with the young adults.

Activity where we had to write down something for another person in the group to do. It turned out we had to do it instead. Luckily mine was for Aldo to speak in English with me, so I won either way!

The JOMICA boat. Each little bottle had a message inside that said: Remember that I am always with you, Jesus.

Inside our chapel for the weekend retreat.

Girls' sleeping quarters.

Playing peteî or Uno.

On our way home with all the stuff.

Pastelitos

In August, we'll be attending the Congresso for all of the youth that work with the Canossian sisters in Paraguay and parts of Argentina. It's in Posadas this year, so because the journey won't be expensive (we only have to drive across the bridge) JOMICA is planning on spending the money they usually raise for the trip to visit the falls at Iguazú since many of them haven't been before. One of their annual fundraisers is making pastelitos, which are fried sweets with a fruity marmalade filling (two tapas used for empanadas filled with dulce de membrillo, fried, dipped in hot sugar water and sprinkled with powdered sugar). We had Tuesday the 12th free to celebrate the Peace of the Chaco (click here for more info.) and spent the whole day making pastelitos to sell. Literally, the whole day 8:30 to 7! I was tired by the end, but it was fun to help out and to learn about another sweet of Paraguay--I joke with the sisters that my unofficial goal (which I'm well on target of hitting) is to be an expert in all things sweet of Paraguay.

Cutting the dulce de membrillo that goes inside.

First try a success!

Finished product! We sold these in bundles of 10 for 10 mil Gs. (equivalency of a little over $2 for those of you wondering)

I cooked!

At the end of May I had an evaluation with Hna. María José just to talk about how my time here has been so far. I asked if it would be OK if I cooked some of my favorite foods to share with the sisters sometimes, so this past Saturday night was my first meal for the sisters. I made pasta (Sr. Angela's recipe, which became my favorite in Albuquerque) and parmesan potatoes along with our usual lettuce, tomatoes, bread, carrots, etc. It was fun to cook and the sisters genuinely seemed to think it tasted good. SUCCESS! They even joked that maybe I should get thrown into the weekly rotation for cooking meals. Not sure what's up on the menu next, but I'm excited to bring a little bit of Missouri and my other homes to Paraguay.

Baptisms

Last weekend we celebrated two baptisms in our Canossian family--Delma's nephew (even though she decided to move back to her house for the time being and isn't sure that being a sister is her calling, she's still part of the family and always will be) and Hna. Ylse's niece. It was cool to be able to see the celebration of the sacraments in another culture, and to visit Fram, another city/town in Paraguay, where Hna. Ylse is from.

Delma's nephew, Oscar, being baptized.

Baptism of Hna. Ylse's niece, Jazmin Araceli.

Hermana Ylse with her niece.

Celebration food--Asado and mandioca

More celebration food-- Asado (meat) and Sopa Paraguaya (corn bread looking thing)

There's a large immigrant population from Ukraine in Fram and the Orthodox church is gorgeous. We stopped in to take a look.

Outside of the Orthodox Church.

Prayers for Paraguay

I'm not sure how much the U.S. news is following this, but the political situation here is getting more interesting with the impeachment trial for the president getting underway.  Here's a link to the Associated Press story. I like to think that you guys are always praying for me, but please add some extra prayers for the people of Paraguay.

La Misa en el Barrio

As I think I’ve mentioned before, rain in Paraguay pretty much stops everything and cancels all plans. Since March, the priest of our parish (San Isidro) has been trying to visit the barrio under the bridge (Barrio Sagrada Familia) each fourth Wednesday of the month to get to know the people and to celebrate a Mass. However, each fourth Wednesday of every month since I’ve been here, it’s rained. So, you can imagine our happiness this past Sunday morning when we were finally able to celebrate the Mass.

Since there is not a chapel, or any larger building for that matter, the Mass was held on the volleyball court, with people from the neighborhood bringing together chairs, benches, a table for an altar, crosses and other images to decorate. The priest carried his necessities in a briefcase and answered the questions of the curious children as he put on his vestments. Although Paraguay is nearly 90% Catholic and the people have strong devotion to the saints and Mary they don’t always go to Mass. This is truer than ever in the barrio. Nearly all the kids can recite the Hail Mary, Our Father and Glory Be, but have no idea about things during the Mass and hardly any are baptized. It wasn’t the most quiet Mass, but in spite of all the distractions—the crying babies, talking children, someone actually answering their cell phone, and the wandering neighborhood dogs (which people not so carefully shooed away causing loud yelps),—it was completely amazing. There were probably 40 or so people (almost half of them my students from clases de apoyo and jardín), and to be celebrating the Mass while taking in all of Paraguay was just what I needed for the day and to start off my week. It might not be glamorous, and I might cry more than I want to because I miss my family and friends, but I really do love my life and where God’s taken me.  

 

 

Quinceañera

Last week Gladys (my head teacher) invited me to her niece’s Quinceañera or 15^th birthday party. She said there were more than 200 people invited to the event, so I was excited to experience it. When I asked what I should wear, Gladys first said, “Oh a little dress to about here,” and pointed slightly below her butt. I thought she was kidding (she later said pants were fine), but when I got to the party, which was basically the equivalency of a wedding reception (think Super Sweet 16), I realized she was completely serious. The hall was decorated from floor to ceiling including a huge table filled with candy, and everyone was decked out in their best as I was rocking my olive pants, long sleeved fitted-T and Sperry Topsiders.

The party started an hour and a half late due to problems with lights (they shut off for a good hour), but there was plenty for me to see and plenty of people watching. Gladys told everyone that I could understand some things really well, just not everything , but that pretty much stopped people from asking me questions, which was actually perfectly fine. I’m more of a listener anyway, so not having the pressure to speak was quite nice.

When the birthday girl finally entered, she greeted her friends waiting for her at the door and began to dance first with her dad, and then all the other boys and men that came up. Next we ate—two plates (one with meat and veggies the other with chicken and potatoes), rolls and little desserts with dulce de leche (which happens to be in just about every sweet that exists here). After playing a video/slideshow of pictures of the birthday girl the dancing began. We left a little after 2:45 a.m. and much to my disappointment they still hadn’t cut the cake. Regardless, it was a great experience even if I just sat and watched. It was great to go out and interesting to see this different, more luxurious side of Paraguay even if I do prefer the more laid back, casual side.

The hall.

 

 

Getting ready to blow out the candles.

Alejandra with her parents.

Pentecost

I’ll be honest, before this experience I don’t know that I truly knew what Pentecost was. I’m positive I learned about it in PSR and confirmation, but through all of the distractions of life I seemed to have forgotten. In the U.S., or at least at my church, I can only remember having a Mass for Pentecost and nothing else. Here, it seems like every Holy Day is celebrated to the max, and young people from different parishes from Encarnación and the surrounding area joined together to celebrate the vigil of Pentecost.

We left our house at 3 o’clock in the afternoon to meet up with everyone to carpool, and we arrived at the hosting church sometime around 4:30 or 5. I arrived home the following morning at 4 a.m. Retreats in Spanish are not my favorite thing, especially when they last 12 hours. My mind is exhausted by the end, and I’m usually more than ready to be back in my little English speaking haven (my room). This retreat was no different, but I’m so glad I went for quite a few reasons, even if I didn’t always enjoy it.

Generally at retreats Caitlin and I always seemed to be partners, no matter how hard we tried to avoid each other and talk to other people to make friends. So, not having my partner made this retreat even more difficult. We started off with prayer and songs (luckily no dancing yet) and a short presentation by some of the JOMICA (my young adult group) members. We also had a lecture with one of the area priests about receiving the Holy Spirit and being open to God’s call. All good things.

And then things got a little dicey…Speaking in front of people in a language other than your first is scary. For the most part though, I’ve pretty much gotten over my fear with people that I know (AKA the sisters, kindergarteners and parents, my tutoring students, JOMICA, etc.), but with new people it’s still a little frightening. In an icebreaker, I was paired with three girls I didn’t know. We warned them my Spanish wasn’t that great, but when I couldn’t understand the questions we were supposed to be answering and they girls’ way of helping me was to repeat the exact same words over and over again, frustration crept in…as did the tears. I cry a lot so it’s not a huge surprise this happened, but up until this point I hadn’t cried in public yet. Something I was actually pretty proud of. So, as I quickly tried to wipe the tears off my face before anyone could see, one of the girls swooped in with a huge hug and “what’s wrong?” (which many of you know is the worst possible thing you can do when a Smith girl is crying!). As I tried to simultaneously tell them that I’m ok, I’m just frustrated and I cry a lot, and quickly wipe the tears away, there’s a good chance that I pushed the girl off me. Oops! After I got the water works put on hold and we abandoned the questions, we actually had a nice conversation; however, I didn’t run into them again (and as Matt later told me, probably not by accident. You win some you lose some). Gracias a Dios no one in my group noticed my tears, because their questions would have only got them going again. Only Nelson, who is extra friendly despite having a girlfriend, seemed to see that something was a little off, first asking, “Are you hot. Your face and nose are really red.” And then, “And, your eyes are really shiny. Do you want to cry?!” No, no I don’t. 

It’s a shame that I was so emotional and on the brink of tears for the rest of the retreat because I really did enjoy the activities and reflection on the Holy Spirit and vocation, but it really made me grateful for the friendliness of the people here. When my fellow group members noticed when I was quiet and by myself, they did a great job of asking me questions and trying include me. It’s not easy to make your way into a group when you can’t really express yourself, let alone barely communicate, so I appreciate their questions more than they’ll probably ever know. Overall, I’m writing the retreat off as a success. It was nice to have a big event for Pentecost because it actually got me to pay attention to the importance of what we’re actually celebrating, and as with anything here, it was a growing experience.

Some of our JOMICA members performing a dance.

Padre Aldo getting us into the spirit with song (note: outside of the Mass priests pretty much look like your average guy off the street.)

One of the other groups performing a really cool interpretive dance thing.

San Isidro Parish: Young Missionaries and Servants of Christ