Hello everyone,
I apologize for the infrequency of my blog posts. The slowness of the internet connection here is painful, and, for that, I often avoid doing too many ambitious things online since it can take sometimes minutes to open an email or sometimes just doesn't work altogether. Nevertheless, I am finally sitting down and writing tonight.
Tomorrow, I will have been in site for three weeks. I'm not sure if I feel that time has gone by fast or slow. I think more fast because I've been busy. Also, I feel very welcomed, comfortable, and happy here. This town is a good fit for me. It's small, tight-knit, but it has enough resources to work with as well. I've met a bunch of great people here as well, including several very impressive, inspiring students that are very dedicated to their studies and the progress of their town. I'm not saying that there aren't many obstacles for me and the people here to overcome, but I have a good support group here starting with the wonderful family with whom I'm staying first and foremost. I'm living close to the center of town in the house of a couple that has one daughter, who stays and studies in a bigger city a few hours away, and one pair of parents. They own a little convenience store out of their home like most store owners here in rural Paraguay. They are all very warm and welcoming and make me feel like family. The grandmother and mother cook very well, and the husband makes a great Brazilian dish of beans and some vegetables with rice called feixão.
I have collaborated often in these past few weeks with a student here. He worked and studied English with two former volunteers that were assigned here. He speaks English quite well (though still he has much to learn just as I have much to learn of Guarani), is a great student and community leader, and has a great spirit and character in general. We are already becoming good friends. He went to the United States through a program of the United States Embassy in Paraguay that provides leadership opportunities for deserved and underprivileged Paraguayan youth. He visited and stayed with a family in Montana for a few weeks, and, now that he is back in Paraguay, he is required to do community projects in his town, projects that he would be involved in whether or not he did this program with the U.S. Embassy.
I have gotten to explore the community a lot as well in the past few weeks. There are quite a few places to play soccer and volleyball in the town, which is quite nice. I've gotten to play with some of the youth here. They're probably surprised that an american can play soccer well. haha. I get along with them. I see some of myself in them, and I think they feel comfortable with me because they feel they can relate to me as I am not yet so old!
In terms of my activities since having moved here, I have been mostly meeting a lot of people, exploring the community by foot, visiting the schools here, working with a youth group focused on environmental issues and youth development, and assisting my friend, and sometimes filling in, with English classes here in the town's small community center. We are doing our first fundraising event this weekend, which will be a movie showing in the community center for the youth in the community. I'll let you all know how it goes. I might also be spearing a pig tomorrow as a past volunteer who lived in a community outside of town has come to visit and, for that reason, they're killing a pig for a nice dinner. I'm not sure why he wants me to do it, but we'll see if it actually happens. other than all this, I have been learning more Guarani, learning more about my community, and planning for projects and possible work for the project. I also went to the high school's olympic day inauguration of sorts. It was an event during which all the classes parade around and present their queens among which one is picked to be the queen of the school. Also recognition is given to outstanding athletes or students. It was an interesting experience to say the least, but I want cry if I don't get to see one for a while. Anyway, to be honest, I've been quite busy. I cannot complain about being bored as of right now because here's always something productive that I can be doing since there is so much to learn, figure out, and plan for. I feel like by the time I leave here, I will still be learning so much about the culture, people, language, and way of life here.
That brings me to my next point: Jopara. What is it? Well, that's exactly the issue on which I wish to expound based on my experiences thus far here in Paraguay. Firstly, Paraguay is a very unique country. It is the only Latin American country, as far as I know, where practically all its citizens speak, or at least understand well, the indigenous language that prevailed in the country before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. There is a great sense of solidarity among the Paraguayan people in this respect, and they pride themselves on conserving the Guarani language and culture which I believe is quite a feat given that Native American culture in the United States is more or less unheard of in popular American culture. However, inevitably things change over time. Countries feel forced to move ahead. With the arrival of the Spanish language and new and "advanced" things, There came a necessity to use Spanish to be able to express such things since the indigenous language didn't have use for outside terms until outsiders came in to the picture.
Jopara means "mix" in Guarani. One can say that most people speak Jopara in Paraguay, which is a mix of Spanish and Guarani. I understand it best as Guarani that borrows Spanish words, terms, and expressions to explain things for which there are no equivalents in Guarani, whether it concerns technology, modern day issues, or simply foreign ideas or objects brought here. The amount of Spanish mixed in the Guarani, for me, depends on how much someone grows learning the language and also where they live and their ancestry. I would say that people living in more rural areas, though most of Paraguay is comprised of rural zones, and those that have more pure Guarani lineage, tend to speak more Guarani and mix less with Spanish. I'm told there are still many areas where indigenous peoples still have, and that the people utilize little if any Spanish. However, if one is living in a bigger town or city, it is more likely that they speak a Jopara with a lot of Spanish and Guarani mixed together in, what seems to me at least, a random way that is not really formalized nor abounds of grammar rules or structure on how the two languages are mixed together, if any at all.
Say what you want, but I think it's pretty impressive that the people are 1) arguably fluent in 2 languages and 2) conscious of the value in conserving the language of the indigenous population to which Paraguay owes so much of its culture. Some Latin Americans scoff at the Spanish that Paraguayans speak claiming that is impure and ugly. While many speak an impure form of Spanish since it is mixed with Guarani, they still speak Spanish well while also knowing another language as well. I think it's ridiculous and shameful that people would speak badly of and minimize a nation's ability to conserve its roots while also adapting to the world that continues to race forward. Pheww. Hope that didn't sound too much like a formal discourse, but I wanted to share with you all that very important aspect of life here. I think I've written enough for now!
Love and, until next time, Peace!
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