My First Week:
Today I befriended a puppy. The neighbors found him on their doorstep and then told Jason to watch it. I named him Chico because here chico means boy, and it also means “small”. He is indeed very small. I’d say he’s “chiquitito” (really small), but it’s too long for a name. I don’t know what the neighbors will call him.
Right now I’m sitting in a delicious hammock. They tell me it’s a Paraguayan variety that is more swinging-blanket-chair than swinging-blanket-bed. It’s quite cozy, like a big hug.
It’s been an interesting week. I have not been the friendly person I usually am, and I don’t like the way it makes me feel. It’s not that I don’t want to be, but it’s really hard to when I can’t understand anyone. Well, I suppose that’s not true. I can understand about half. What’s frustrating is when I’m following a conversation pretty well and then suddenly my ears forget how to work and I can’t pick out anything anymore. It’s like I’m in linguistic limbo – I understand enough not to be able to get away with appearing oblivious but not enough to really know what’s going on all the time. They know I speak Spanish; the first day I was here, I was presented to the church and I said a few words in Spanish. They all say “Oh, your Spanish is very good.” And then I get nothing.
Today has been a good day, though, finally. Jason, the teacher I’m replacing, had to go downtown today, so I took his classes alone. It wasn’t much…in most of the classes we watched Babar. But I guess because I was alone I had to step out. Also, I think without realizing it, I began to accept the fact that I can’t understand everything and I would tell people when we were talking, “Sorry, I didn’t catch any of that. Can you say it slower or differently?” The best was in one of the classes when they were all talking to me at once about a cell phone I confiscated. Finally I counted to 3 until they were quiet and said “Because I can’t figure out why I have this phone with all of you shouting at me, I’ll give it to your teacher and let her sort it out.” I don’t *have* to understand the kids if I don’t want to. 
I'm Jason, and I like to write.
Keep going, Jason, it’s hard to merge into another culture with all eyes on you! I think you’re doing GREAT!
i know, aren’t the hammocks amazing??? i’ll be praying for you about the language thing. That’s gotta be tough. I can definitely relate. Take care!
HAHA That picture of you is funny….you’ve got a “I have a secret” look about you. You don’t have a Chica in that swing with you, do you?? Haaa
Why are you upset about learning and speaking Spanish? Aren’t you down there to teach them english?:) Make them all catch up.
oh god such an adorable puppy!!
Oh man… I know EXACTLY how you feel with the whole language thing and not being able to be your friendly self. I felt really anti-social and unable to fit in at first solely because of the whole language barrier. It’s really sad at the beginning; especially when people A. forget you aren’t completely fluent and speak soooo quickly or B. completely give up on you when you ask them to repeat something. I faked it a TON when people told me stories. But don’t worry, you’ll get better (and used to it) before you know it. It’s so awesome to see your pics cuz i totally know that hammock on the back of the caballero’s porch and i’m pretty sure that puppy was on jason’s floor. but keep posting!! i miss PG so much and now that i have discovered this blog of yours, i’m gonna be loving all of the pics and stories!!