Friday, November 5, 2010
Back in Good Ol' Corvallis
Wow. It has been almost 3 months since I got back from Paraguay - longer than I was there for, but definitely the time seemed oh so much slower. I truly miss so much about Paraguay. And I never thought that it would be so hard to leave my home down south. I miss the kids at Santa Teresita, and I miss my family. I miss speaking,dreaming, and thinking in Spanish everyday, and waking up to that feeling that I knew I had dreamed in another language the night before. I miss eating chipa, and drinking cocido en la guarderia. I miss chocolate caliente y pan for merienda, and my favorite juice in the world, which I now know is passion fruit. Literally, I think of Paraguay every day, if not every hour.
It was hard when I first got back. Not everyone understood how much I had gained from those short two months in the opposite hemisphere. I couldn't have the same type of conversations with my AFS friends about their experiences. And after a few days, the excitement for being home wore off, and I realized que me faltó era Paraguay (what I was laking was Paraguay).
It's kinda funny how I seem to slip little things about Paraguay and my life there into all of my classes. It gives me a different perspective on things in International Lit/Studies, and I now understand better what it is like to have lived in a developing country. I think back to the beginning when it took me two or three tries to completely understand what everyone was telling me, and I compare it to now and when I left. The ease of being fluent made my last few weeks so enjoyable, and in that time I know I learned so much. I'm pretty sure I haven't lost much, if not any, of my Spanish. I prefer to think things in my head in Spanish, and I'm still reading Harry Potter (though that is because I have no time to finish it because of school work).
Actually, it seems that my Spanish may be getting better because I have Spanish 4 right now, and even though it is a breeze, I'm solidifying all that I learned over the summer. I'm never going to forget Paraguay, my family, all the little niñitos, and all the wonderful people I met. Paraguay es un parte de mi alma - ahora y para siempre. Nunca la voy a olvidar. Espera para mi - yo regresaré.
It was hard when I first got back. Not everyone understood how much I had gained from those short two months in the opposite hemisphere. I couldn't have the same type of conversations with my AFS friends about their experiences. And after a few days, the excitement for being home wore off, and I realized que me faltó era Paraguay (what I was laking was Paraguay).
It's kinda funny how I seem to slip little things about Paraguay and my life there into all of my classes. It gives me a different perspective on things in International Lit/Studies, and I now understand better what it is like to have lived in a developing country. I think back to the beginning when it took me two or three tries to completely understand what everyone was telling me, and I compare it to now and when I left. The ease of being fluent made my last few weeks so enjoyable, and in that time I know I learned so much. I'm pretty sure I haven't lost much, if not any, of my Spanish. I prefer to think things in my head in Spanish, and I'm still reading Harry Potter (though that is because I have no time to finish it because of school work).
Actually, it seems that my Spanish may be getting better because I have Spanish 4 right now, and even though it is a breeze, I'm solidifying all that I learned over the summer. I'm never going to forget Paraguay, my family, all the little niñitos, and all the wonderful people I met. Paraguay es un parte de mi alma - ahora y para siempre. Nunca la voy a olvidar. Espera para mi - yo regresaré.
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