counterclockwise

This past week, my mother and her sister (my aunt) came to visit. That was wonderful on many different levels - wonderful to see them, wonderful to show off some of the fascinating parts of the life I’m living, and wonderful what they did for me while I was here. I have an elaborate new drainage system on my front patio now, a hammer, and a mind-boggling assortment of plastic bags and second-hand capri pants.

You have to have lived in Paraguay for a little while to understand how exciting some of this is. But take my word for it, I’m enormously grateful. And I’m especially grateful for their patience and flexibility. We had some hold ups in our travel arrangements. Nothing completely devastating, but some definite frustrations. I’ve known people who would have melted down in the face of being stranded by a broken bus, 20 kilometers from anything. But not these cool chicks.

The Guaraní word of the day is for giving commands. If you want to make an imperative statement to one person, you prefix the verb with the sound e. For two or more people, you use pe. There are various suffixes you can add to make a request more or less forceful. So if you wanted to politely request for people to come visit any time, the verb form would be pejumi.

I’m in Asunción for a few days. There’s always a lot to do when I’m here. Groceries and supplies to be bought, library books to exchange, e-mail to read, air to be conditioned, and green vegetables to be consumed.

This time, I’ve also got a ton of photos to be developed. My landlady’s oldest daughter (who’s also one of my computer students) recently had her fifteenth birthday party. So this month, in lieu of rent, I’m developing about a hundred different shots of friends, family, and frilly dresses.

Digital cameras are getting more popular in Paraguay, in much the same way that cell phones are. We seem to have by-passed film cameras and land lines completely. But cameras still aren’t quite ubiquitous yet, so I offer to take pictures when I get invited to events. And looking over the photos after the fact is a good way to get to put names to faces.

The Guaraní word of the day is the suffix -hape, meaning one’s presence at an event or party. Jahata fiestahape? Yes, thanks.

The good people of Tacuati have (correctly) figured me for a sucker. Yes, I’ve taken another step down the road to dying a crazy, old maid cat lady and accepted a second kitten.

I couldn’t not do it. The whole sordid story involves half a dozen sad-eyed children, a dead mother stray, two piteously mewling fuzz balls, and the cool, drenching rain of a Paraguayan autumn. And now (The shame! The horror!) I’m a single woman writing about her two cats on her website.

The new one is female, white with a few spots, possibly a distant relative of Mimosa’s. She’s a wretched little beast, an incessant screamer and an inveterate clawer. I’d finally gotten Mimosa 100% litterbox trained and coming when called. Now this newcomer has me starting over from square one with spoon feedings and urine mopping.

The kids who found her suggested the name Margarita, which means daisy in this part of the world. I’m going to treat that word’s English meaning (along with that of Mimosa) as entirely irrelevant and coincidental. You can’t buy tequila and triple sec in Tacuati, nor champagne. Or even real orange juice, as far as that goes.

The good news is, I should be getting passionfruit this year. In the five months that I´ve been in my house, my vine has gone from a little 10-leafed twig to a 20 foot long monster plant. There are plenty of things that don´t grow well in my part of the country (green vegetables, for example), but when it works, it really works.

The Guaraní word of the day is -kuera, which is the suffix used to make plurals. Che mbaracaja’i has become che mbaracaja’ikuera.