I am sitting in a hostel in
Asunción, drinking beers with a few of my friends, and in complete disbelief
that I just said goodbye to my community and in 2 days I will be back
in the States. I have found that for me, saying goodbye is often easier when
written in a poem (and performed as a rap – obviously). I did it for the Top
Shelf when leaving the dorms freshman year of college, for Illini Water Polo my
senior year, and for the volunteers in my training community at the end of
training. I never write artistically outside of goodbyes, so I’m not sure what
that means…. But when trying to figure out how to write my last blog post from
Paraguay, my mind went yet again to prose. Here is my goodbye to Paraguay, my
amazing community of San Pedro, and the incredible people I met along the way.
The other poems were easier. This one was nearly impossible, and doesn’t do it
justice. I mention only a fraction of the people who touched my life over the
past 27 months. But I hope this will help you all understand just a little bit
about how much this experience has meant to me.
I remember that feeling I felt on
the plane
Knowing that once I landed
nothing would ever be the same
27 months I dedicated myself to
live
In a distant country with so much
to give
27 seemed to be my lucky number
Because that same day I met 27
others
They became my family, the ones I
depended on
G38 - what we have created is an
incredible bond
The first 10 weeks were spent in
a bubble
Language and culture training,
giving us time to stumble
But at the end it was time for us
to go our own ways
And in San Pedro, Misiones I was
to spend the rest of my days
My first host family was the
craziest of all
With 10 people in and out, time
never stalled
I then lived with 4 families more
Each one after the next opened
their door
The generosity didn’t stop when I
moved on my own
And I came to realize that the
people here were home grown
They didn’t have gadgets and
gizmos to share
But they knew that a smile would
show that they cared
The sunsets were the most
beautiful I’ve seen
While the grass and the trees
were the greenest of green
The campo landscape of wide open
spaces
Who knew this country had such
beautiful places
I grew to love my hammock and the
tranquilopa style
Drinking tereré with families for quite awhile
Making chipa and enjoying all their amazing traditions
And getting myself into some awkward
situations
Attempting to speak Guaraní at
family parties
Dancing with drunk uncles, and
creating stories
Playing pool in the evenings with
some of my friends
Or coloring parties at my house
that seemed like they’d never end
I was invited to birthdays and asados galore
All of which left me smiling deep
down in my core
The people of Paraguay showed me
what it means to be
Kind and generous and loving
endlessly
My ‘job’ was just a small part of
my story
Summer camps, charlas, and trying not to be boring
I like to think I made a tiny
little dent
But what meant the most were
times with families spent
Esperanza and Fatima were my
go-to gals
With undying support, they became
my best pals
Sixta was my second mom and
always had my back
I knew I could go to her when I
needed a good laugh
Auxi and Erika participated in
everything I did
My absolute best students, some
amazing kids
And Silvia, she was my partner in
crime
Going on crazy adventures with me
at the drop of a dime
Thiago gave the best high-fives
around
While Jesica was the cutest 5
year old I found
Dulci was asking questions, ever
curious
And when I wouldn’t let Dana
color she would get all furious
Then there was Nancy who taught
me how to cook
And her son, Angel, who could
kill me with his looks
Ana Liz and Alfonsina were quiet
and kind
While Nelson, Hector and Rodrigo
were pranksters all the time
And who can forget my pup, la loquita Negri
Proving that 3rd
time’s the charm, happy as can be
And Matias, my Godson, perfect in
every way you can
I can’t wait to watch him grow up
into an incredible man
Those people are really just the
beginning
If I were to list them all I
would never stop writing
Each one of them made my service
one-of-a-kind
Truly, the experience of a
lifetime
While I don’t know when exactly
I’ll visit again
Be it in 1 year, 5 years, or
maybe 10
San Pedro has been my home from
the start
This place and those people are
forever in my heart
~~~~~~~~~
Here are some pictures from the
going away party I had in my site last Saturday:
The Paraguayan band I hired to play |
Dancing with Armin, my first host dad in site |
Me and my favorites of San Pedro! |
My neighbor volunteers and I with the band |
My last sunset in site! I'm going to miss the incredible beauty of my home. |
What a ride it has been! In the
words of Dr. Seuss, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened”.
See you all soon!