First of all, shout out to my friend Travis Ray Petersheim. As of December 23 (more or less) is engaged to Allison May Stafford (May is a guess).

As the first decade of the new millennium draws to a close I feel like I need to make some sort of covenant, some sort of pact to make these a great ten years, better myself. I know it comes down to me to make the decision, but I'd appreciate suggestions, comments, ideas, whatever you feel led to do. I'd like to make this an interactive blog, and maybe this is one way to do that.

Some thoughts on my Paraguayan christmas:

I felt awkward at times (normal, don't worry), I felt strangely comfortable in other times. I suppose this represents my comfort level with the culture as well as my extended family. It was more comfort than awkward, which is surprised me, because my family/extended family speaks German. With this its easy for me to feel left out, but the fact that I didn't most of the time speaks to how my family worked to include me.

I think the German Mennonite Christmas is closer to an American Christmas than a Latin American Christmas. For example, Christmas trees aren't that common here, but we for sure had one. It was a must.

I got my first December sunburn. Translation: it's very hot here. Right now it's raining, but it gets up above 100 degrees with alarming frequency and consistency. It's supposed to stay like this all of January, drop off a little in February and March, and then April it gets cooler (or más purete... bad joke. sorry. cuz it means cool in Paraguayan spanish. But cool like James Dean cool).

For Christmas I received a thermos and guampa to go any which way in Paraguay with tereré. This is a big get. Here is what it looks like.

Little ostentatious, but I like it loud... this also helps people sound out Penner correctly... double win.

If you keep tabs on my Facebook profile, you might already know this, but my parents (bless their hearts) sent me a Christmas package. Unfortunately, it is currently in South Africa. Or in transit. Hopefully on its way. Apparently the clerk saw Paraguay, South A. and thought South Africa. In the future, to lower confusion, maybe the best thing to do is fully spell out South America. So if you're thinking of sending me anything (I mean, it might've crossed your mind...) it would go something like this:

Anton Harder
(Para Daniel Penner)
cdc 166, Asunción
Paraguay, South America

I gave away Julian (toy dinosaur that I made in the field museum of Chicago) to my 3 year old host brother. As of 9:37 yesterday morning Julian is decapitated. We are waiting on the super glue.

I definitely appreciate all those who have thought about me and prayed for me these past 3 months. I'm having a really positive experience, but its not always easy. Thanks for supporting me.

Daniel

Greetings and Salutations.

The time is flying and its weird to think about things about how things are progressing outside what is now my bubble of life which is Asunción.

My bro Lucas had his 1st grade promotion on Wednesday. (They end the school year in November and they'll start back up in February) It was an event. Music, awards, costumes, lights, three lions and lots of food. It was a different in a lot of ways, but it brought back a lot of memories. The excited buzz during the presenting of awards, the restlessness of students ready for the liberation that comes with summer. As I left I heard a girl say, "por fin, somos libre!" ("finally, we're free!") as they scampered across the wet grass for food and drink. It made me happy.

Yesterday, Decisiones had it's end of the year party at La Parque de la Familia (The Family Park... yeah, I think it sounds cooler in Spanish too) that lasted all day. They know how to party. But it was full of lots of exciting stuff like asado, futbol, swimming, volleyball, ice cream, presents. I got this neat leather-bound daily planner that makes me look a lot more professional. Mainly it was great to just hang out with my co-workers outside the work setting. We have fun at work, joke around, make coffee, go to Burger King for lunch (ok, that was just once. and it was weird. I could probably write a whole blog entry about that.). But yeah, it was definitely different outside the work setting, with everyone's families, and everyone in the mood to party. And I got pushed into the pool. Fully clothed. Maybe it was some sort of initiation. Romina... shoot. Everyone that I work with is a lot of fun. I'm blessed by this.

I bought a map of Asunción the other day. This was a big get for me. I've done some exploring, but it kinda feels like my daily activities keep me in a small part of the city. So let this be a warning to Asunción, here I come this weekend.

Oh, No Shave November Fail.  I guess I didn't shave, so success.  But this and only this is the fruit of 30 days.

Here is my backyard. It is also where I sleep.                 No, that's just my fort.

This is where I work

 

And this is me, full of Christmas Spirit

I hope this gives you a picture, pun unintended... really, of what my life looks like.  And this way you don't have to click on another link.

dp

Hey stranger.

It's been a while since I've written, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten about you. I'm just busy.

Things are going well here in Paraguay. Things are settling into a routine, which is nice, but I like the unexpected too. I guess you have to grow when you're not comfortable. Today is hot, but Gabriel tells me it's gonna rain this afternoon. I don't believe it, but Gabriel knows a lot about everything so I didn't contradict him. We'll see.

Work's been a little slow. All the people I work with are awesome, just lots of fun, but the past week and a half has consisted of putting questionnaire after questionnaire in Excel. Kinda lame, but it keeps me busy. I guess while I do stuff like this I have to get fulfillment out of my relationships with co-workers and soaking myself up in the culture. After today I should have a change of job description (I think this will happen with regularity... vamos a ver) which is much anticipated. I am also going to be working with MEDA some, for about a month, maybe in January. I'm excited about this.

Yesterday was busy. After work I successfully managed break my key off in the gate in front of our house... I could explain exactly how it happened but it would take several pages, various graphs and... its not worth it. But then I ran to the grocery store (literally. I jog occassionally. But then I get red in the face, and then my grandma warns me about the dangers of heat stroke. I try to explain my face gets red easy, its just my complexion, but it only ends with me solemnly promising to never run in the heat of the Paraguay sun) to get Chocolate chips to make cookies. Then I mowed the lawn and made a couple batches of cookies. My host dad exclaimed, "wow! A Chef and a gardener." Yeah, you know me, just a regualar 'ol rennaissance man. But it was good to show my appreciation to my family through chores and baked goods.

Oh, here are a couple pics of Paraguay. I could put them here... but why not visit my Flickr page?! Disfrute. that's imperative.

A day in the life of...

So, I’m writing this blog Tuesday night I’m slowly making my way through my extensive rap collection (If you’re not sure, that was slight sarcasm). I just finished It’s Tricky by Run DMC and now 2Pac’s talking about Changes. You just get in those moods sometimes. Yeah…

My workdays have been good. These two weeks I go from school to school spreading the news about the program Sin Excusas by Decisiones (the place I work). In general terms it’s a program to teach teachers, its ultimate goal being to improve the character of kids, steering them away from alcohol, drugs and premarital sex, among other things. Let me break down my by taking you through how today (a typical day) went. Note: times are estimates.

6:54 a.m. I walk the two seemingly insurmountable blocks to work and press the doorbell. I wait a minute or two. Surprising cuz Sergio (secretary/anything else you need) is normally there to greet me. No Sergio today. Laura says hi (but in Spanish. don’t worry, I’ll translate when I can).

7:14 a.m. We prepare the fliers and invitations for the principals of all the different schools. Gabriel (fellow delivery, I won’t say boy, he’s very much a man, a former security guard/former/current (not sure which) boxer, but it’d probably take 3 me for it to be a fair fight) makes a comment how I’m like a maturing apple with my green polo. I’m confused. Things are slowly explained.

7:32 a.m. Fernando and I roll out in our sweet ’96 Toyota Camry. We say a prayer. He likes to make me pray in Spanish. I do, but poorly. I imagine God can fix my poor conjugation. (Yeah, praying in another language. That’s an interesting dynamic).

10:13 a.m. We visit our sixth school for the day. The directora is very excited to have us. She calls an emergency staff meeting so we can present directly to the teachers. Fernando tells me I can talk to them while he waits in the car. I politely decline.

11:29 a.m. We head to a local joint in Luque, a city just outside of Asuncion. I have my usual: ¼ chicken, yucca, salad and 350 mL of Coca-Cola. Delicious.

12:47 Fernando tells me that I’m going to present the program to the principal. I do, awkwardly stumbling through several of the key points before both the principal and I give a pleading looks to Fernando. He obliges.

1:19 We drink terere. This happens a lot. If you’re not familiar, you should get familiar. Link.

2:17 Some kid calls me rubio. This also happens a lot. It means blondie.

3:15 Fernando says, “let’s go, ho!” (in English, he likes to use a few words here and there) I laugh, and then ask him if he knows what he just said. He thinks ho is just a nonsense word or something that Santa Claus says (“you know,” he says, “like Santa Claus, Ho, Ho, Ho). I tell him otherwise. We head back to Decisiones.

3:35 We get back, and head home for the day. This is a bit earlier than normal but it we got to plenty of schools today, so it’s all good.

In other news, I’m pressing through my reading material, and I’m ready for more. I’ve read just about all that I’ve brought. Right now the only fresh meat on my bookshelf is the Politics of Jesus, and after slogging through the first chapter I remember I’m not a fan of John Howard Yoder’s sentence structure. Not good nighttime reading.

I’m having questions about my impact here too, I guess. What does me being here do for the people I come in contact with? Well, not lots. But that might change, and maybe I have made some sort of difference, I can’t answer with any sort of clear answer. I could meander more but this is so very public and I don’t think all of you are as quite as attentive as my mother would be. Good night.

dp

Dear reader,

It's been awhile. I hope you are all doing well wherever your are whether it be Indiana or Iowa, Kansas or Canberra. I've been doing well. I'm getting ready to hear to our last day of orientation, leaving the comfort of not really being expected to do much and entering the excitement of a new job.

So my little bro Marcos (2 1/2 yrs old) is pretty ridiculous. He likes breaking into my room and hiding in my closet, terrorizing the family turtles or blazing around the house pushing his cars trying to run into me. Last night after his bath he broke into the fridge (naked, of course), grabbed the Nutella (ok, its not really Nutella. but its chocolate you can spread), grabbed a spoon and looked for a spot to sit (still naked). After deciding none of the chairs in the house would suffice, he took his 2 1/2 year old naked self and awkwardly crawled to the top of the table. He proceeded to sit cross-legged and swallow three large spoonfuls of Nutellaish before being scolded by mother and being sat in a more appropriate place. I really think he's going to do great things with his life.

Fun things are happening and I'm meeting lots of cool people.

More coming soon...
Daniel

Another post.

Hello again. Things are relaxed. Work hasn’t been started, but we continue with our methodical 3 times a week lessons. Every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Monday we went to Laura’s house for lunch. Laura’s our teacher and I found out that day not only does she teach but she has an amazing family. And this cool old mauve Fiat that looks like it might be a Volkswagen Beetle but is really so much cooler. But her family’s great. I felt definitely and definitively welcomed walking past the curtains and into the kitchen where our feast was being prepared. A sister, mom and random neighbor girl (Moni, who enjoyed corrected my Spanish, dominated Naomi at whatever game they played, and practiced Kung Fu) greeted me and offered me something to drink, the bathroom, or a hammock (which is a verb in Spanish. to hammock. all right.). But their attitude with which they gave this genuine hospitality was memorable. They made me feel special and important.

After our morning lesson, terere and feast we watched Kung Fu Panda. Great Movie. Man, I don’t remember the last movie that made me giggle quite like that. It was good to sit back and watch a movie like that, because, well, the last movie I saw was Scarface and that’s no Kung Fu Panda. Yeah, Scarface isn’t the chuckle every other line kind of movie. At least it wasn’t for me and I hope it wasn’t for you.

It was hot too. 40 degrees celsius. I’ll let you do the math. Old Spice kind of failed me on my 20 minute walk home.

I’m enjoying it here. I haven’t settled into a definite role, because I’m not working at my job yet. I think this is where I’m supposed to be, but its hard to say, because so much of this first month has been structured to help us get comfortable, but right now it feels like its just delaying that process. My expectations weren’t the reality, which I was told was going to happen, but I somehow didn’t believe. Silly me. But I’m excited. Excited for this year. And ready to start working.

I'm here.

It’s been a week since I first landed on Paraguay soil, and it has been enjoyable. The people have been friendly and the schedule was kind enough to make so we arrived on the first day of spring (though yesterday was incredibly cold). I guess like anything incredibly new, it has come with a few surprises. The neatly-packaged two sentence description of what I’d be doing for the better part of a year was not in fact correct. I will not be working with MEDA Paraguay for the coming year.

I'm gonna be working with Desiciones a sex ed program. It took me a little bit to recover from this blow, as my mind was set on helping out with MEDA, I was very excited to work with economic development. Even for someone who adjusts to changes of plans well, this was a change that made me step back and say what? I reacted very negatively in my head, but I continued to listen. I needed to figure out what I was doing there. They told me that I’d be working with databases of high school students, maybe some photography and design work for their magazine as well as possibly updating the website. And this has helped me cope with the change. It’s not stuff I was trained to do, but I think I have enough of a base to learn as I go along. It’s work that will make me feel good and challenge me (I hope).

But yeah, the past week and a half has been overall enjoyable, meeting people, trying to communicate, sometimes succeeding, other times failing miserably, but I’m ready for this year here away from the comfort of my home and language.

Oh, and the other night I got lost. But its ok, because I only was lost for an hour and it wasn’t that dark when my host dad found me (curled up by the side of the road sucking my thumb). When you have general directions like go past the skinny park, turn right where there is a tall house, and you lose the telephone number of your destination and lack the address… It’s hard to get places. My family made me memorize our address and home phone number before I left the house the next morning.

Sometimes when I feel down I have one of those Dove Chocolates with the inspirational sort of quotes on them. They say cool things like, “Buy flowers for yourself today.” I did not do that, but the thought of maybe having flowers put a smile on my face.

So here’s the first post, I don’t know if I was very informative or descriptive, if you want more information e-mail me or comment saying “tell me more!” or something like that.

Daniel H. P.