A Lot Like Christmas

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The Insfran Christmas Gang!

Another difference: Christmas is completely celebrated on the 24th of December. I awoke at 3 pm on the 24th to a quiet house, the pitter patter of rain and mini explosions: it almost felt like Christmastime at home, well minus the humidity and mosquitos. My sister and I had been out at one of the graduation parties until sunrise and my feet still ached from the heals. Yes people, the heals stay on ALL night. It's not like prom where it's just for the pictures and then we're liberated from these fashionable torture devices. So with aching feet I walked to the bathroom to do the usual morning, well afternoon, routine but to my despair the water wasn't running. So I hobbled back to my room to watch some TV and again to my despair the power was out. So I was left with no choice but to stimulate my dormant brain by reading the New Yorker. It was actually quite nice and the tranquility of the gloomy day lifted awoke my Christmas cheer. My host sister and I helped my mom wrap presents, one for each family member under 20, and we mostly just sat around until around 8 when the real celebrating began. A cousin from the capital of Paraguay called Asuncion came in and we all sat in the yard drinking and eating bocadillos, little snacks, hearing explosions every couple of minutes.

The fat American got up the wall!

Fireworks are a large part of Christmas. Not the multi-colored, sky-filling explosions we're used to on 4th of July or New Years but smaller do-it-yourself-goodluck-not-blowing-yourself-up ones. My cousins had a bunch of them and I even got to try and light one but failed. I believe my cousin said, "Ana you really just messed up on lighting a firework." Unfortunately I haven't had much practice with these terrifying things but it was really cool to watch them and it really made me realize this was a totally different culture. At 12 midnight a slew of bigger fireworks went off from neighboring houses and my slender cousins easily hopped up on the roof. However, I have put on a little padding for the--well I guess I can't use winter as an excuse-so I've just but on a bit of padding at climbing up a wall was not so easy for me. Thankfully my cousins were able to awkwardly pull me up the wall, it was not one of my most gracefull moments.

After we watched all the fireworks it was present time! Christmas here is not full of Santa Clause wrapping paper and decorative stockings. Rather one or two gifts and a lot of hugging. My mother gave me some flip flops with straps decorated with plastic pink flowers; it's a very Paraguayan fashion. After presents the parents go to sleep and the youth go out and party till the sun comes out! Which is exactly what I did. The 25th is just a family lunch and Christmas is over. And that was my Christmas experience in Paraguay.

My little cousin Oliver a bit overwhelmed by all the comotion. He's being held by my host mother's boyfriend, Jochen, who is very much part of the family.

My host mother, Nora, and Jochen.

Our "family portrait."  My mom Nora, host sister Betsabe, Jochen, and me.

Family Lunch on the 25th! There is never any lack of food at the Insfran household.



The forgotten boys. No presents for these gentlemen so we sent them outside.



I really should devote an entire entry about Oliver. The first time he saw me he came running, arms open screaming "chica linda, chica linda!" Translation: "pretty girl, pretty girl." He is the family entertainment and one of my best friends here in Paraguay. Here he is playinng with his Christmas present, which I believe was a bike.



Why Paraguay?

If only I got a nickel for everytime I was asked this, damn I would be rolling in the nickels. The truth is I don't really remember. My mom went to Brasil the summer after she graduated high school and before she went to college. Although she was there for only a summer she refers to it often and is clearly an experience that forever changed her life and contributed to growth as a person and future. She always said this was the best time for a year abroad. A time when I didn't have heavy responsibilities like a family or paying the bills and I could enjoy the culture. A time when I still had the energy and desire to try new things and the resilience to overcome the inevitable difficulties. Then there was the question of college. Originally I thought I would apply to colleges and see where I got in and if there was one I liked right off the bat I would go. However, I couldn't help but feel that if I passed up the opportunity to go abroad I would regret it for the rest of my life. I was blessed and got into my first choice school but chose to defer and come to Paraguay and although I have sometimes questioned that decision, there will be no regret at the end of my time here. So that is my decision to go abroad, now why Paraguay? Well, I wanted to do community service in South America. My father is from Ecuador and although I've had the great fortune to visit many times the only way to fully explore a culture is to live in it. When in Ecuador I observe my father and actually see quite a great deal of myself in him. His youthful humor and outgoing personality when he was comfortable were aspects I especially identified with. College years are supposed to be about finding yourself so I figured I may as well start with where half of who I am comes from. That narrowed down the continents and I was left with the options of Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Paraguay. I talked to returnees from the Dominican Republic and Paraguay. Initally I was more interested in the Dominican Republic but the guy I talked to was not so enthusiastic and the girl who had gone to Paraguay was full of energy and excitement and was already getting money together to back and visit. At that point I knew nothing more than what she had told me about Paraguay and I liked that. It was completely unknown and with that came no expectations so I chose to apply to Paraguay.

Deck the Halls with Bows of Grapes and Sunscreen

My house all dressed up for Christmas!

As the afternoon sun beat down on my back I couldn’t help but think, “Wow I’m going to get ugly tan lines in December.” Then I took a step back from my superficial though and realized “Wow, I can’t believe I am hanging up Christmas lights on a palm tree in 90 degree weather.” Ah, Christmastime in Paraguay. Mosquitos buzz around while families sit outside drinking terere and chatting. The streets in el centro are uncommonly vacant because of the nearly unbearable heat as has everyone taken refuge in the air conditioned supermarkets or more upscale shops. But the main difference between these two very distinct cultures is that Christmas in Paraguay is not a commercial holiday. In the US we spotting Christmas in early/mid November and once Thanksgiving comes it is fullfledged Christmas marketing: commercials for myriad holiday offers, sparkling Christmas trees in public centers, Santa Clauses, candy canes, stockings, elves and the endless stream of Christmas jingles. Perhaps it is because is there is no chance of a white Christmas and Papa Noel can’t afford to bring presents to many of Paraguay’s youth but the holiday spirit is driven much more by the excitement of seeing family from faraway places and eating fruit salad on Christmas day. Live Christmas trees aren’t an option so those who choose have plastic trees to admire. My family has a miniature tree with blue lights that lights up the little coffee table it sits on.




My host sister Betsabe ready to get her party on.  

 

 My mom is getting decorated flip flops as a little present for all the women of the family and I think that is as far as presents go. Traditional foods for this time period are pan dulce, fruit salad with wine(similar to Sangria), sopa paraguaya, and pig. My abuela told me that we will have an entire pig to feed the whole family who will be dining at our house. A lot of my family lives on the same block as us so their travel time will be short but we also have family coming in from Buenos Aires, Argentina coming in. Their visit is much anticipated and I have to say I’m starting to get excited to meet them too.



Christmastime here is also known as fiesta time. Because the seasons are reversed, so is the school calander. In Paraguay the senior classes throw a huge party called a colacion. It is like prom on steriods. Each graduating class has a party so it's the season of all sorts of festivities and there is never a boring weekend! My host sister starts her weekend on Thursdays, sometimes even Wednesdays, and ends Sunday, actually early Monday morning by the time she comes home, and somehow still has the energy to go out with friends the next morning! Oh the joys of adolescence! I, however, cannot keep up with this Paraguayan partying lifestyle and stick to one party, possibly two, a weekend. I know, I'm getting old.




Our beautiful arbolito de navidid.

 

We were told that the holiday season would be one of the hardest times in our stay but without the constant jolly holiday music and winter jackets it doesn't feel much like Christmas. Without the reminders I'm taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity to observe a completely different celebration of an international holiday and starting to find a different Christmas spirit; one that doesn't include colorful presents under a real live tree. So for now I think I'll be ok with the palm trees and fruit salad. May everyone have a wonderful, blessed Christmas and a New Year full of promise and joy wherever you may be!

Con mucho amor y besos,
Ana

Welcome to Paraguay

For the sake of this post please pretend it is October 27th, 2011:

Sunrise on the flight from Miami to Sao Paulo, Brasil.

Three months on this day I sat a plane taking me far away from the world I’d known for the past 18 years. Taking me away from the life I had created. Taking me away from the family that watched me grow and loved me no matter what. Taking me away from the friends that got me through everything and made even college applications bearable. Taking me away from my boyfriend who knew everything and still liked me despite all my eccentricities and faults. Taking me away from my small town that had watched my chubby five year old self play Cootie Tag on the Marin School Yard and 13 years later watched me graduate high school. Taking me away from a country that recognizes me as one of its kin, a small part of something much greater but nonetheless one of them. It was taking me away from the security of everything I have ever known, the identity I didn’t realize I had built and relied on. It took me to a place where everything was unknown, I was unknown, and anything goes.

Buenos Dias! Brasil and Paraguay AFSers after the red eye flight to Sao Paulo.

Sometimes I hate that plane so much, I want to take it all back and wake up in my pale green bedroom, go down stairs and just watch Keeping Up With the Kardashians . Sometimes I know that although it’s hard, that plane is the best decision I have ever made. And sometimes I can’t believe there ever was a plane. AFS, American Field Service is the intercultural organization I came with, has a theory that the first three months are the hardest and I couldn’t wait to get over that hump. Well I am standing on that hump and I can’t tell if the hardest part is over but there has been a definite shift in my mentality. It finally hit me: I am going to be in Paraguay for quite some time, so it’s time I start living here. Here in this moment when life happening. Feel emotions instead of analyzing and trying to change them. For the past four years my mind was supposed to be on the future, I acted in the present to benefit the future. I am all for planning, organization and delayed gratification, but somewhere in between the AP classes and college essays I forgot how to live in the present. I only knew how to act in the moment, but my mind was always on the past or the future. In the first few weeks it became apparent that the future was bleak, for various reasons I will explain later, and the past was just depressing, so after about two months of myriad amounts of sulking, tears, Gossip Girl, loneliness, and sadness I began to feel a little better. The culture shock was over. And now at three months, I am ready accept that I will spend eight more months here and I intend every second of those eight months in the present. So this is me officially saying hasta luego to the family, friends, aquaintences, enemies, frenemies, teachers, and everyone else I love and saying hello to life in Paraguay. Wish me luck!