I learned something profound today. I was talking with my host father, Dario, about a Guarani word that I learned earlier in the day, kaigue. Background info the Guarani people – they are the largest indigenous group in the country that essentially forms the culture of Paraguay, making the country 95% mestizo and bilingual, with Spanish and the Guarani language as official and spoken everyone. The language here is many times a combination of the two, called Japare (spelling?), where you’ll say something like “esa cosa es muy guazu” (esa cosa es muy grande = that thing is really big). When I was originally here learning Spanish before it was really confusing to have this mix, but now it is just plain cool.
Anyways, Dario invited me and one of my host sisters (Silvia) to go see a Mexican art exhibit downtown. Silvia wasn’t really feeling it, and she said “ah, me siento kaigue”, meaning I feel lazy (kaigue instead of perezoso). So I learned how to say I am not lazy, which is “che ndai che kaigue” (pronounced “shay, nuh dah aye, shay, kah goo ehh”, try saying that three times fast!). So Dario said, “Great!” and explained to me that the word enthusiasm comes from the Latin root of “theus” (God) and “en” (inside), meaning if one is enthusiastic, it means God is inside them! So cool!!! If someone lacking enthustiasm, che ndai che kaigue, it means lacking God inside. Interesting!
Earlier in the day I went to visit the Japanese-Paraguayan Cultural Center in the neighborhood.
Paraguay-Japan Cultural Center. And yes, there are Asian people in Latin America.
Inside the Center, a mixture of Japanese and Paraguayan architecture
A really interesting sign I saw was the following, in Spanish, Japanese, and Guarani:
Sign in Spanish, Japanese, and Guarani at the Japanese-Paraguayan Cultural Center = we respect the academic environment here
What an interesting place! I am disappointed to only be here until Saturday, but excited to return later in August. By the way, I have so many more posts to write!
