After weeks of yard cleaning, painting, sweeping, dusting, organizing and paying large amounts of money for furniture and repairs, I can finally sing, dance, cook, sleep and play in my own house!
SIN VERGUENZA!!
(without embarrassment)
During my first four months in my community I lived with five wonderfully different families. In some houses I shared a room with one, two or three different people, while in others I had the luxury of my own room. However, that did not mean I had privacy! Living with anyone under the age of 12 meant hours of questions about all the interesting things they could find in my bags, such as headlamps and books in English, and of course they touch everything without permission. I know this is not culture; this is just kids being curious. But now I no longer have to eat the endless amounts of meat focused meals piled on my plate, which caused me to gain about 10 pounds, I now have my food freedom and any other freedom I want inside my house! While I am excited for the experience of living on my own, I am also nervous. I have never actually lived alone, alone before. And for Paraguayans this is almost unheard of. However, because I lived with families for my first three months in Ayolas, I am not short on houses to visit to drink some terere or mate to pass the hours.
Here is a little tour of my house. I have been living here for the past three months so I have a comfortable home for the few pieces of furniture I have acquired. I am living next door to the last family I lived with in Ayolas. They own the house and are letting me stay here for the next two years until the Grandma who currently lives in Spain returns. I am paying my rent through fix ups and electric bills.
Kitchen
Thank you Mandi for the oven and Liam for the beautiful blue fridge. Before I moved in I had to pay to get the entire plumbing in the kitchen reinstalled, replace the tile floor and buy and new sink.
Living Room
This is the first time I have ever been able to paint whatever I want on my walls, so I decided to bring a little bit of nature inside with me.
Paraguayans love to look at my photos, so I decided to put my favorite ones on display both for them and for me to enjoy.
This is my kitchen table made out of an old door left in my house.
Bathroom
Every Paraguayan bathroom seems to have a bidet that doesn't work. Thankfully! So they are more commonly used for holding the toilet paper and your clothes while showering.
The showers are also very different. There are no shower curtains to divide the space. You just shower in the bathroom and squeegee the floor when you are done. I also had to pay to replace the plumbing and floor tiles in the bathroom as well.
Bedroom
My first big purchase for my house was a bed. Instead of sizes like twin, double or queen, they use the term plazas. I bought a 1 1/2 plaza bed, a few inches wider than a twin in the states. I took it one step up from my college days!
Yard
Most of my backyard is taken up by the clothes lines, but I have been able to create a small herb garden and a rotating compost pile for my food scraps.
My Puppies
Yes I said it, "PUPPIES!" And yes that does mean that I have two dogs currently living with me in Ayolas.
Introducing Che Rubia Pora (My Pretty Blonde Girl)
So after 23 years of waiting I finally have my puppy. When my first puppy was stolen in February from my host family's house, I didn't know when or where I would find a puppy. Well it just so happens that sometimes the clapping at your gate is in fact two 9 year old girls carrying a tiny puppy in a plastic grocery bag that they found abandoned in the school yard earlier that day. That is how I got my first dog.
She was absolutely covered in fleas when I got her that day and luckily I had a friend visiting that could help me bath her for the first time.
She soon started to grow, or at least her stomach did.
The only problem was that she was a tiny puppy of only a month and a half that needed more attention than I could give her as she grew. After a month she started biting/playing really aggressive because she didn't have anyone else to play with besides my feet and I had been training her wrong, who knew you aren't actually supposed to play 'tug' with puppies! So after reading a few websites I decided another dog might be the best option. And it just so happened that the very same day I confessed this idea to my friend Maggie who was visiting from the states, we found him.
Introducing Che Chico'i (My Little Boyfriend)
While visiting the local community garden that day we came across my second and my last (I promise mom) puppy. He was the runt of a litter that the employees were trying to give away before they grew up too old to learn how to live with people or died from lack of vaccinations. Of course he as well was covered in fleas, luckily Liam carried him home that day. Thanks Tio Liam!
Of course he got his flea bath as well.
This is their dog house where they sleep together every night. I am waiting until a nice spring day comes along to paint the house a bright yellow with some of the neighborhood kids.
So now I have my little family in Ayolas. That is not to say that I have the world's best dogs. Rubia is still completely jealous if I give any attention to Chico'i and Chico'i is still working on the potty training issues. But they got each other for warmth during the nights and playmates during the day. And I now have two extra very hungry mouths to feed!
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