B.Y.O. Sunshine
During our two-day staging event in
A pessimist says the glass is half empty.
An optimist says it’s half full.
A Peace Corps Volunteer says, “Hey, I could take a bath with that!”
This past week was an outstanding example of the phenomenon. Volunteers in each region of the country get together on a monthly basis at something called a VAC meeting. We get announcements from HQ, do a little student-government type work, solicit each other’s help on projects, and take the opportunity to laugh and gripe a bit in English. This month’s VAC meeting was held in Tacuatí. Lori, the other Volunteer in Tacuatí, and I were going to split the crowd between our two houses.
But then it rained and a tree fell on the power lines near my house. The whole pueblo lost both power and water for about a day. Out here, everything shuts down when that happens. People lock their doors and don’t peek out again until the radio starts back up. So it ended up that all eleven of us stayed overnight at Lori’s house (all 100 square meters and one waterless bathroom of it). We boiled pasta with rainwater, roasted marshmallows over her stove, and drank warm beer by candlelight. And everybody was up and ready for the bus without so much as a word of complaint or a misplaced toothbrush. We’ve got a really awesome group of people down here.
The Guaraní word of the day is the verb (a)reko, meaning “to have”. To say “We (exclusive) have rain” is oreko ama. To say “We (exclusive) do not have power” is ndorekoi energia.