Cutting the cord...

Although the title may make some people cringe, it´s happend. For five weeks we were comfortable in the house of Maria, her wonderful meals, surrounded by people who have once been in our shoes and learned a language other than their own, and encouraged by their slow talk. ¨Snip¨goes the sissors, and off we go. This past Monday, we were scattered to our assignments for the next 9 months, to learn from the people, and teach English.

It´s always a shift when you hear different people speak Spanish, it´s an adjustment. The different speeds at which people speak a language is obviously another setback. Craig and I are now living in San Lorenzo, just a 10 minute walk to the Mennonite Seminary (CEMTA) here. We live with a very livly, and talkative Reberta, or ¨Berta¨as she likes to be called. 

Now she´s a sweetheart, she really is, however, she loves shortened names, and really so does much of Paraguay. So only naturally to her, she says, "Oh Krista, we´ll shorten that to Kris. That's how everyone does it in Paraguay." Now, I like to think that I´m a flexible person, and many of you know how I feel about Kris. But Kris!!? I suppose if my group member Scott, can handle Escott, since Spanish speakers have a hard time saying "S" without an "e" sound preceding, I can handle "Kris" for 9 months. I guess.  

Besides adjusting to my new name, things are going well. Once my new host mother found out how much Craig and I love mangos, we went on a hunt to find some. Not to a supermarket, and sadly not to her backyard, but to the streets! Many people have mango trees, and when the ripe mangoes fall from the street and into the road, other people stop by an snatch them up. I have to admit, I felt a little timid taking other people´s fruit, but she did it first! :) They were so good I could have eaten them until I was sick! Berta told me one time when they were just coming into season, which is actually in December, she collected and ate 20 mangos in one sitting! My new comfort food. Love it.