THINGS I'M GOING TO MISS DEARLY ABOUT PARAGUAY:
- All the wonderful people who have taken care of me during my time here: my community contacts, my students at the schools, fellow volunteers, and my amazing boyfriend of 2 years
- The unhurried and tranquil pace of life
- Sitting around for hours with random neighbors for random reasons
- How everybody always has time to sit down and talk for a while
- How there is always something to laugh about and something is always hilarious
- The drink-sharing traditions that slow people down and bring people together: Terere & Mate
- The traditional foods that initially I hated but now I loooove: Chipa, sopa, asado, tallarin, gallina casera, giso de arroz, jopara, & more
- Eating food that comes almost entirely from my yard or my neighbors' yards
- Never having to take a snack with me because there are fruit trees everywhere I go
- How everybody listens to and knows all the words to all the same music
- Paraguayan music & dancing (which I originally hated but now love)
- How Paraguayans party HARD, including baby and grandma, 'til the sun comes up
- Speaking Spanish & Guarani 24/7
- Telenovelas
- Cheap concerts (okay, cheap everything)
- Dogs that run free
- Flocks of parrots randomly flying by my window
- Hora Paraguaya... (that rule that makes it OK for you to arrive anywhere 15 minutes late)
- Havings bugs as pets, roommates, and sleeping companions
- Sharing my bathroom with frogs, toads, tarantulas, & other critters
- Gossip
- Subtle racism and misogyny
- Deep-fried things
- Everybody telling me that I'm fat (but then getting so angry when I pass on their deep-fried tortillas that they don't speak to me for an hour)
- Dirt roads & cement floors
- Dogs covered in fleas
- That one neighbor who is a complete bitch
- Weird tropical diseases
- How reading a book is a totally foreign concept and considered to be vaguely rude and anti-social
- Rhinestones & neon spandex
- Being with my family!
- Getting a job (i.e. having money)
- Salsa dancing
- Shopping
- Running
- Going to the gym
- Clean feet. Pedicures. Cleanliness in general. Clean things.
- Acrylic nails
- Deep intellectual conversations
- Reading a book
- The Daily Show/ Colbert Report
- Cheese
- Dishwashers. Washing machines. Dryers. Hair dryers. Curling irons. Expensive hair straighteners.
- Heating. Air conditioning. Running water. Water pressure.
- Asphalt
- Cars
- English
- Ingredients
I invite any other PCVs to include their own additions to these lists in the comments section! (Also, I may update it as I think of more things.)
Love & Peace.
