Chistes/Gossip

2-13-2011
Paraguayans love to make and hear jokes, a quality I share with them. I love laughter period. Whether I am participate or the subject, it doesn´t really matter. My host mom for example, loves it when I mess up sometimes AND correcting me when I use the wrong word during conversations with her. The reason I always know I´ve said something wrong was because she laughs at me....hard.
Examples of my incorrect word usage-
mejor-better, I said mujer-woman
libre-free, I said libro-book
companero-classmate, I said ¨I would like you to meet my cuaderno-notebook, Rosa¨
AND MY HOST MOM´S PERSONAL FAVORITE-
trasero patio-backyard, I said ¨We have a big trasero here, right¿¨ trasero-butt
I still get words mixed up sometimes, but now that I can talk a little better I was able to tell a joke rather than be the ¨trasero¨of one lol. I told my host mom that I can´t function without something sweet. I told her my heart and my blood need sugar or I will die....she thought this was hilarious and the next afternoon she told me to come into the kitchen because she had a surprise for me. I was a little skeptical, but it turned out she made me a huge bowl of flan-like pudding or ¨crema¨and told me ¨it was for my heart, so I could live.¨


Whatever you´ve heard about Paraguayans gossiping, it´s true. Everybody knows everybody...and everything, literally. ¨The oriental lives there¨....¨The fat girl speaks good Spanish¨....or in my case ¨The brown girl got lost yesterday¨. It´s a both a blessing and a curse. It´s a blessing because you´ll never TRULY get lost, somebody knows something about your family and-or your house. Yet it´s a curse because if you get lost before dinner, everyone in your barrio- community will know by breakfast the next day. Unfortunately, you are remembered here most for your wrongdoings, not for your accomplishments. It´s also a curse because if you need to vent or you make a new observation- like I´m pretty sure my 14 year old neighbor has a little crush-crush for example... all you have is your host family and if you say something, more than likely at least one person will get told. I´m still getting used to biting my tongue at times, so my 3 new journals are very helpful at times like these...so special thanks for those!

Another Ejemplo- Example of volunteers´ first meeting- ¨Hey mom this is my friend So and So¨...Hello So and So, Nice to meet you. ¨She lives in this neighborhood too¨...I know she lives with Fancy and her 3 sons. ¨We go to the same school¨.....About 4 blocks from here near the cornfield. ¨We aren´t in the same class¨¨....Hmm mm but Paula is her teacher. I have some pororo-popcorn for you since I know you like it....¨Yes, thank you I would love some, how did you know that¿¨ Oh it´s nothing! My cousin´s neighbor sells you some in the Super every week.

I might be exaggerating a little bit, but I´m really not and of course it´s said in a much nicer way. I only said it like this to get the point across, but Paraguayans are very blunt and it´s also true that somebody is always somebody else´s uncle´s goddaughter´s grandfather´s cousin´s niece lol. My new favorite game is def Six Degrees of Random Gente-people lol