One Month in Paraguay

It has been one month since my arrival in Paraguay and of course I have two contradictory thoughts the first being that I can’t believe it has already been a month and the second that I can’t believe that it has only been a month. To celebrate the other Urban Youth Development (UYD) trainees came over to my house and we hung out on my front porch drinking boxed red wine with Fanta. Not exactly the ideal celebration in the States but hey we do what we can! This brings me to the social life of a Paraguayan.

The machisma culture here dictates what is acceptable for men and women in all aspects of life, including the social scene, although things are becoming more progressive and women are gaining ground. The typical young adult male has much more freedom then a female. This independence may start as early as childhood. Boys are much more likely to be running around freely coming and going as they please while girls shouldn’t be out past dark and should never go anywhere alone. This may just sound like the over-protectiveness that is necessary in a dangerous culture, but I assure you that while bad things do happen, they are not likely going to happen to a 23 year old female in the middle of the day just because she is walking alone for a few blocks. I am pretty lucky though because my family gives me tons of freedom.

In terms of dating traditional Paraguayan culture has some strict guidelines. Young men visit the home of their girlfriends on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings. The other days are for the secondary girlfriend or the girl that the guy doesn’t like as much. At parties, which are held Saturday nights at the soccer clubs, which are basically soccer fields that double as a meeting/party place, a guy will ask a girl to dance and then if she dances with him for more than two or three songs it means she likes him and they will soon be boyfriend/girlfriend. The parties are interesting because they start around 10 and last until about 6 in the morning. I went to one last week and there weren’t very many people there but Laura has convinced me that it was because people don’t really go during Lent. She claims they will be much better after Easter. The parties cost about 10,000 to get in and the beers are 5000 each. In Paraguay it is very rare for people to order and drink their own alcoholic beverage. Usually a group will have one or two drinks that they pass around taking a few sips each. The first time we went out in town I heard later that same night about the Americans who were each drinking their own beer. We quickly learned to share. Not a good thing for germ phobics!

By spending most of my time with the family I have learned many of the Paraguayan norms and customs. It is amazing how there are such distinct differences between their culture and that of the United States. I feel like I am learning new thing everyday! Oh yeah and by the way I pretty much witnessed my host mom killing a chicken today, I am guessing that´s dinner.

Also want to let you know that Jill sent me a letter using only one stamp and it made it here. I don´t know if that was a fluke but it got here!