Coolness
I’ve finally gotten my fridge now. It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen since my last plane ride. After three months of 40 °C (around 105 °F) days, a glass of ice water is more appealing than a bottle of the vintner’s finest.
Not that that stops my Paraguayan friends from enjoying wine in their own style. Most of the year, very sweet box wine is served over ice and mixed with equal parts of Coca-Cola or whichever local brand is available. But since it’s Christmas and nobody in his right mind would drink egg nog in this climate, we make the vino a little more festive by adding fruit and juice, or just using pineapple soda in place of the Coke. Ah, tradition.
The local radio stations have been playing “Feliz Navidad” remixes for weeks, the corner stores are well-stocked with pan dulce (which is basically the PY take on fruitcake), and light poles over the sweltering streets of Asunción are decorated with incongruous leaping reindeer. But for all that, I have an enormous amount of trouble believing that the holidays are upon us. The kids are on summer vacation, for heaven’s sake, I get sunburned if I stay outside past 9 AM, and my laundry goes from dripping wet to bone dry in two hours’ time.
The Guaraní word of the day is páila, meaning skillet. I found a really nice one, cast iron, in Asunción. It’s heavy with a solid wooden handle, and as one of my classmates commented, you could probably kill someone with it if you were properly motivated. But all the same, I’m in love and prepared to leave behind more than a few pairs of socks to give it suitcase space sometime around August 2009.
December 16th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
MK~ Glad to hear assorted beverages can now be enjoyed at a respectable temperature. It’s been a crazy winter in Maine so far. We had our first dusting a couple of days before Thanksgiving, and have about 14 inches of the white stuff right now. The weather guys are saying another 8″ today, and then more on Wednesday and Friday. I’ve got my fingers crossed for my Friday flight back home for Christmas and to WV for Tyler’s wedding.
It looks like I’ll be in Plainville, CT for my 3rd rotation. I’ll be ‘pitching’ the transfer of work to the catching plant, Vega Baja, PR. It seems like a big assignment with a fair bit of challenge. About half of the remaining 60 employees are welcoming the plant shut down, but the other 30 or so are going to need to get new jobs to support themselves after the doors close. I anticipate a good deal of travel to engineer work solutions in the new plant, so that’s a perk! We think about you all the time. Keep up the good work and best of wishes!
December 19th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
So my care package will probably find you in the New Year rather than at the holidays. I wanted you to know that I have been thinking of you even if communication has been lacking. I am headed home this Friday for Christmas. Hopefully if our flights work out I will be meeting Bill at the airport in Knox Vegas. Ski season is in full swing in the mountains. I have progressed to sking the blue squares and hope to be black diamond material in the next month. It is one of the funnest work outs I have ever had. Sending you warm holiday wishes and lots of Love.