Apologetically Late Update

I had a dream last night that included a strange woman who gave me what-for because I’ve not updated my blog in a very long time.  I don’t know who the woman was, but she was right for startling me into a nervous awakeness.  I owe it to you—the people who helped me get here and who are reading this faithfully even though I’ve been totally irresponsible about writing it regularly—to keep you updated on my life and experiences.  I’m sorry.  I’m hoping that you will be able to find some patience, tolerance, and grace within you and then extend some of it to me.  Truly, I’m sorry.

In the last long while a lot of things have happened.  I’ll do my best to include the most important bits.

• My best friend, Erin, came to visit me for a week.  Even though I was fairly sick most of the time, we managed to make a party out of it.
• Roxanne, the wonderful Canadian volunteer who arrived here just the day before Sam and I, went back to Canada and has been greatly missed.  She was replaced by her cousin, Chantelle, another wonderful Canadian volunteer who will be leaving the same day and Sam and I.  
• My family and a family friend, Mel, came to visit for two weeks.  We visited all kinds of cool places including but not limited to a nature reserve, Iguazu Falls, and the ruins of the Jesuit missions.  It was a wonderful trip for all 5 of us, and a wonderfully timed break for me.
• Martin stuck around for 2 weeks before his May term class (which was in Paraguay) and then 1 week afterwards, which provided some fabulous bonding time.  
• The Paraguay Radical Journey team and Chantelle took a trip to Argentina to see Iguazu Falls where we saw amazing, breathtaking, heart stopping views, had a wonderful time goofing around in the city, and were burglarized.  Someone broke into our hotel rooms while we were away and took all of our valuable electronics which included two computers, two digital cameras, two iPods, some gadgets from Sam’s computer, and cash.  I’m down a computer and a camera, meaning that I’m updating this blog on a computer that’s not mine, and it won’t be including photos.  

My term here is almost up.  In just two short weeks I’ll be boarding a plane that will take me back to the US.  I have very mixed feelings about going back.   I’m excited to be home for a while, to see family and friends, and to start college at Goshen.  I’m thrilled and grateful to have the opportunity to live out new experiences, but as we all know, change is scary.

Honestly, I don’t want to leave this place yet.  I’ve made Paraguay my home.  This neighborhood has become my community, and I don’t want to have to say goodbye already.   In my experience, people here care deeply about each other and support each other in ways that I’ve never seen in my culture.  I don’t want to leave that.  I don’t want to have to break relationships that I’ve worked so hard to build.  I don’t want to have to think about whether or not I’ll ever come back.  

I realize that this is all part of the deal, but it’s really snuck up on me.  I’m trying my best to make these last two weeks count and stay positive about what’s to come.  I’ll do better about blogging again.  Thanks for your prayers and your patience.  

Sarah

Mellow Yellow

I continue with colors.  Here's yellow.

This is my very favorite yellow flower in the Jardín Botanico.

Pretty pretty flowers.

Flowers are the sweetest things that God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into.   -- Henry Ward Beecher

Even the trees grow pretty flowers.

I think sometimes that our Creator points to the most beautiful things ever made with a giant flashlight that we refer to as the sun.

Color is the ultimate in art. It is still and will always remain a mystery to us, we can only apprehend it intuitively in flowers.   -- Philipp Otto Runge

My pictures don't do this flower justice, but as I took these pictures I thought about how great the gift of sight is.  God's creation takes my breath away.

Even the leaves like to show off their beauty.

This is a painting that can be found on the wall of the public school in my neighborhood.  The whole wall is a mural dedicated to HIV awareness.  What we're seeing here is a colorful condom with part of the phrase "It's our right to use a condom"  scrolled above.  Three cheers for HIV awareness!!

While walking through the Jardín Botanico (as I was taking these pictures) I was hit with the realization that creation was meant to be adored.  God so very obviously is manifested through nature.  We should look around and be in awe of the miracle that is the beauty that surrounds us.  We should worship the Divine by appreciating the way that God's face shines through creation.

Take a moment.  Look around.  Be amazed.

Love,
Sarah

Terribly Overdue Update

I’m really disappointed in myself and the lack of responsibility I’ve shown in not keeping my blog up to date.  I hope all of you are willing to forgive me.

Life continues to move forward, here in Paraguay, as I’m sure it has for all of you at home.  I’m still working at La Amistad, although I’ve not been helping to teach English in the last few months, but rather have become the cook’s assistant.  I spend all morning in the kitchen with my very favorite Paraguayan cook, Vidalina, and we cook and laugh and wash dishes together.  Summer break has ended and school has started again, which means that there’s much more work and many more kids.  

I’m continuing to attend La Amistad church, and have felt more and more part of the community here as the year goes on.  I was even thrown into a pool by some of the members of the young adult group and I’m fairly sure that that solidifies me as part of the group.  Every Sunday evening I join the young adults for volleyball games at the school, which continues to be a highlight of the week for me.  

I’m feeling ever more comfortable in Spanish.  Although I’m not nearly done learning, I’m able to communicate well, and it gets better all the time.  I’m fluent enough to be able to have phone conversations without thinking about it too hard, which is really exciting.  However, with fluency in the language or without, communication is different in this culture.  People are gracefully candid and sometimes confusingly unclear for a girl who grew up in central Kansas.

It’s cooled down significantly since my last update.  I almost forget the feeling of falling asleep in a pool of sweat.  Daytime temperatures have been around 90˚ which is really quite comfortable.  

I’ve had two visitors since I last blogged about my life.  The first was Radical Journey’s director, Darrell.  It was really great to have him around.  He challenged and encouraged me in all of the right ways.  We also did some cooking and exploring together which was a lot of fun.   The second visitor was my best friend, Erin, who just left this past week.  She was able to come down for her spring break.  We had a lot of fun until I got sick on the third day of her visit.  I wasn’t able to leave the house very much or do very much exploring, which was not optimal for having a visitor.  (I got better the day after she left.) 

I can’t believe how time has flown.  It’s already Easter and I’ll only be here for 3 and a half more months.  Feliz Pascua (Happy Easter) one and all!  Christ is alive!

Love,

Sarah 

Where the Green Grass Grows

Green.

The pastor's family got a new pet!  It's name is Pancho, which means hot dog.  What a pretty little hot dog. 

This was a birthday present from my family.  It's a thermos, guampa, and bombilla for drinking tereré.   Tereré is like yerba mate, but cold.  It has a flavor that resembles green tea, and is enjoyed by every Paraguayan I have ever met.  On a hot day, this cold drink really hits the spot.  Click here to read more about tereré. 

The following pictures are taken in the Jardín Botanico, a botanical garden that is just a 3 minute walk from my house.  It's a wonderful place with an abundance of beautiful, majestic trees.  My picture taking skills really don't do them justice.

So beautiful.

This is the entrance of the gardens.

So far, my favorite tree in the Botanico.  It's bigger than it seems here.

This is one of the plants that grows on the branches of trees and on electric wires.  This one fell, and gave me the chance to see it close up.

This is my very favorite view in the Jardín.  You can see Sam patiently waiting for me in the yellow. 

I don't take enough time to look up trunks of trees.

I took this so that you might see some of the vines and other plants that grow on trees here.  They're so, very beautiful.

Much love,
Sarah

Out of a Clear Blue Sky

I've decided (because I seem to be at a loss for things to blog about) to do a few picture blogs based on color.  He're's blue:

This is the door to the kitchen: the place where all the magic happens.

This is the sky.  I don't know whether or not you take time to look at the sky and by amazed by it, but if you don't you should start.  It's a wonderful way to rejuvenate one's spirit.

This is the thing I plug in every night to ward of mosquitoes.  The little blue part goes into the little white part and that goes into the wall and omits mosquito repellent.  I'm really grateful to have it, because there have been a few cases of dengue fever around, and I don't want any part of that.

This is my good friend Sam.  I said "hey Sam, do something silly!" and he did this.  He's a wonderful companion and  I'm so happy to have had the opportunity to get to know him.  In this picture we're out for a walk in the Jardín Botanico.

These are my new flip flops.  My other's decided that they'd had enough of this life, and I was forced to invest in some new ones.

One More Step in the Right Direction

This is Vidalina. She works in the kitchen at the school.  She's one of the most wonderful women I've ever met.  She lights up my day without trying.  I've learned so much from her and will miss her very much when it's time to return. 

......

The following is my walk to school. It's a short one, taking about 3 minutes in all.  I took the pictures in the morning on my way to work so that it would be like you all were coming to school with me.  So, let's take a walk, shall we? 

This is right outside the gate. The house to the right is ours.  The tree you see right inside the blue fence is a guayaba  tree and it's fruit is just now ripening.  Yummy.

The next picture is taken at the part of the road that sort of narrows up there.

Here we are, just a few paces from my house.  There is often a fair bit of litter on the left side, as you can see. Once there was even a litter of kitties.  They were all gone by the time I came back from work.  I'm hoping they were picked up by people who wanted cats, not by dogs who wanted snacks.

The next picture is taken at the turn right up there where the road ends. 

See the man at the end of the way, there?  We always greet each other as I walk by. Always. He's usually inside the gate of his house, though.  It's rare to see him out for a stroll.

The next picture is taken about two feet to the right of where he's standing.

Directly ahead is a school that was built by Mennonites from the Chaco, but is now the neighborhood's public school. We're looking at it from the back, and only a very small part of it.  There's a little drainage flow to the left that always has a foul odor.  I usually try to hold my breath as I walk by.

The next picture is taken standing on top of the small cement bridge.

To the right is the school still, and we're about to turn onto a more busy street than the ones we've been on. There's a trash drop off up ahead and to the right that you can see, which is another point at which I try not to inhale too deeply.

The next picture is taken right in front of that trash.

If you walk straight here you will reach both the bus stop and the botanical gardens.  The brick wall to the right is that of the public school.  I'm not sure if you can really see the papers on it, but they're propaganda for a political party that supporters put up late at night.  There were recent elections.  The store to the left is the one I go to if I have a hankering for some fruit or something sweet or am in need of baking supplies.  It's a nice place.

The next picture is taken about at the next cross street about halfway down before it seems like the the street completely disappears. 

We've just turned left.  The blue fence to the left is that of the church and the school (they share a fence). The school is located about halfway down the block.  There's a trash holder up there (a metal cage thing that holds trash up too high for the dogs to rummage around in it) and it has some black trash bags in it.  The door to the school is about 3 feet ahead of that. 

This is the door to the school.  I opened the gate, but the door is propped open as always in the heat of summer.  We don't have air conditioning, but we have fans and windows.

And that's what one sees when he or she walks to school on an average day at around 7 am on a weekday.

Love, 
Sarah

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone!  I’m sorry for being absent minded enough to not have kept up to date with my blogs. I’d like to say that I’ll do better, but that may be an empty promise.  The holidays have been wonderful for me here and I hope that they have been for you all as well.

I was able to spend about a week in the Chaco for Christmas.  The Chaco is what they call the part of Paraguay north and west of the Paraguay River.  Mennonites were the first ones to develop the area and there are three large colonies which flourish there.  It contains 60% of Paraguay’s total area, and only holds 2% of Paraguay’s total population.  It’s flat, usually dry, and hot; much like Kansas in the summer.  The air smelled like home and I was thrilled to stick my head out the window as we were finishing up the four hour drive on our way out there.

I spent time with the pastor’s families and with a family who allowed Aly (Sam’s fiancé who’s spent the last few weeks here with him) and me stay in a spare bedroom.  We spent time playing in water, talking and learning about the indigenous population in the Chaco, riding horses, and attending Christmas services at the town’s biggest church as well as a few Christmas family gatherings.  It was a fulfilling few days and we were graciously hosted and made to feel a part of the goings on.

The song “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” has turned into a joke for Roxanne, Sam and I in the heat and humidity of Paraguayan Christmas time.  People always told me before I left The States that Christmas would be the toughest time of year being away from home, family, and friends.  They were right, but I think I’m managing okay.  Top of FormParaguay continues to feel more like home, I continue to feel more comfortable speaking Spanish, and I’m mostly content where I am.

Thanks for your presence in my life, even from afar.  Once again, sorry for the delayed post. 

Love and blessings,

Sarah