United States – Page 9

Eurasia: Leaving America

This is the first installment of a story chronicling my travels in 1994 as a college student. The six-month journey took me to 20 countries in Europe and Asia.

Those who travel overseas know how challenging it can be. Not only do you have to do a gazillion things to get ready for your trip, but you also have to prepare yourself psychologically for the paradigm shift that happens whenever you immerse yourself in a new and different culture. It can be emotionally draining to move overseas and be away from home. This is particularly true when you travel abroad for the first time. Sometimes it’s downright frightening to leave behind familiar surroundings, family, and friends for a strange new place where you know hardly anyone.

I faced these challenges and more when I moved overseas for the first time in 1994. I lived in Graz, Austria as an exchange student from February to June; toured Western Europe in March and April; and visited Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation, and the People’s Republic of China in July and August. An International Studies (IS) major, I enjoyed traveling and learning about foreign cultures, although my international experience outside the United States at that time was limited to brief trips to Canada and Mexico. I assumed that as a fourth-year IS student I was prepared to live abroad; however, I soon realized that academic exercises were no substitute for firsthand experience.

My journey from the United States to Graz was filled with fun, excitement, pain, and frustration. As a proverbially starving college student, I decided that the most economical way to get to Austria’s second largest city was to fly to Frankfurt, Germany, and then take the train to Graz. A rail pass cost at that time cost much less than paying for a connecting flight to Graz, so it seemed logical in theory. In reality, it would have been much less of a headache to fly.

I kicked off my trip from my then-home in Idaho. Driving home from college in February 1994, I stashed most of my belongings at my parents’ house and stuffed the rest of my life into one suitcase and two large duffle bags. These were my constant and burdensome companions all the way to Graz.

My parents drove me to the airport early on a Sunday morning. After a fond farewell and a cheerful reminder that I would finish school when I returned home, I hugged them goodbye and boarded a small puddle-jumper-of-a-plane bound for Seattle. I waited four long hours in Sea-Tac International Airport for my connecting flight. In the days before electronic gadgets like media players and ultra-portable laptops, I had few options to entertain myself and spent the first of many monotonous hours sitting idle in transit.

The flight from Seattle to Vancouver, B.C. was on an even smaller commuter jet. I chanted prayers for a safe journey. The propeller-driven plane had only three seats per aisle, but the 45-minute flight was so short that I did not have time to fear for my life. It’s still the smallest aircraft I have ever flown overseas, even though I’ve logged hundreds of thousands of miles since then. There’s a small comfort in flying in a large commercial airplane, in spite of the fact that large planes can crash as fatally as small ones. Perhaps it’s the added turbulence you feel when you’re flying in a prop plane.

Elvis in Africa

One day not long ago, I first encountered what I thought was a bust of Elvis Presley. His image was unsettling, as if his face had been surgically removed a la the movie “Face/Off.” I soon realized that it was a handmade ceremonial mask of “The King” made in the Chewa tradition. I thought it odd that the Chewa people of central and southern Africa would fashion a mask honoring a 1950s American music icon. What I initially found creepy – to be honest – has now become an intriguing fixture in my life. “Elvis” now pops up in mysterious places at odd times as if possessed by a ghost or repositioned by a trickster. One never knows when Elvis will be sitting in front of a podium ready to deliver a speech or at the water fountain waiting for a drink.

No one knows when the mask was made or who made it. It was most likely made by a Chewa artist. Their masks have been an important part of performances of the secretive Nyau society. Information on Nyau dancing indicates that: “Masquerade is a complex art form involving many parts: costumes and masks, music, choreography, lyrics, and the ambient situation (location, weather, time of day, etc.) Masquerade has apparently existed in Africa for millennia, and it is still actively practiced today. Dances and masks have different meanings for different audiences: some are secret, and some public, with layers of meaning for different audiences.’ The Chewa Elvis masquerade of Zambia and Malawi developed after the American singer became well known in Africa in the 1950s and 1960s. All Elvis masks include certain elements: a thick, pompadour wig, long lamb-chop sideburns, bright, pale skin, a narrow upturned nose, and thick, slightly parted lips. The dancers, always young males, perform a provocative, gyrating choreography mimicking Elvis Presley’s famous hip movements. The masquerade is an example of how African traditional art forms have evolved over time, with interesting changes in the last century, particularly with the advent of international communications.”

Nyau traditions of the Chewa people may be shrouded in mystery, but one thing is certain: Elvis is alive and well in Africa.

Special thanks to Janet Peterson for contributing information used in this posting.

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One Month

Yesterday marked the end of our first month in Paraguay. I am shocked and dismayed when I think of how quickly it passed! I can’t believe how fast the time passed. What’s happened here in the past month? Here’s a snapshot for posterity:

The weather has been schizophrenic, as befits the middle of winter. We weathered a huge lightning and thunderstorm our second weekend here as well as a cold front that brought snow to Buenos Aires for the first time in 80 years. The weather now is cold and wet. I’ve been told that the winter season this year is colder than is typical for Paraguay. Right now the weather is cold and wet. Our house exacerbates the situation, because the floors are tile throughout, keeping it cool in the hot summer–and freezing in winter! We put down some rugs but they don’t cover much floor space. The room-by-room heating system is running full bore in the rooms we occupy. Thank goodness we haven’t been through a power outage yet. I hear that they are quite common in Asuncion.
We haven’t used the swimming pool yet, but we’re enjoying the bananas. We have a small pool — maybe 9′ x 12′. It will be a godsend in the hot summer, we’re told, but right now it’s sitting unused. Pool care and maintenance reminds me of cleaning a large fish tank. We don’t drain it because the weather usually stays warm enough to enjoy it year round, but it still needs to be maintained. Thank goodness we finally hired a gardener to upkeep the yard, the pool, and the banana tree. Ah, the banana tree, my pride and joy. The previous owner, who brought the tree in from Venezuela, planted it about five years ago. It’s large and has/had six stalks with bananas, about 600 bananas in total. I e-mailed him, and he instructed me on banana tree care and harvesting techniques. We’ve started a queue whereby we cut a “hand” of green bananas from the tree (a bunch), wrap it in newspaper, store it in a dark place to let it cure naturally, and eat them when ready. There are so many that some have turned brown, so those become the ingredients for smoothies and banana bread. I plan to bring bunches of bananas to work as well. I think we’ll get really tired of bananas.
Our son is now in school. We visited several schools and decided to put him into the American school here. School started last Monday. He’s having a bit of trouble adjusting, because he’s the only foreign student in his class. The others are Paraguayan. A couple of his peers are Chinese- or Korean-Paraguayan, but they are Paraguayan in all but ethnicity. I think he’ll be fine in the long run; he’s just shy for now. A Paraguayan nanny/maid will soon starting working for us full time and will take care of him after school, so between his fellow Paraguayan students and the nanny, he should adapt to the local culture and language (Spanish and Guarani) in no time.
My wife stays at home, although she may be close to finding a great full-time job. I can’t comment any more than that because I don’t want to jinx her chances, but we’re optimistic that she will find work in the next six months or so. In a place like Paraguay, where jobs are scarce, that is quite a feat indeed. In the meantime, she has been a trooper getting us settled in at home. She’s more than ready for the maid to start so that she doesn’t have to domesticate so much. It doesn’t help that our home is prone to collecting dust (e.g. tile floors) and that we don’t have a dishwasher (not common in Paraguay).
I’m as busy as ever, spending more time at work than I expected. I was surprised to find how busy it is here in Asuncion. Life here is typically described as “sleepy, boring, slow-paced, relaxing.” That has not been our experience thus far. You can see it in the fact that I’ve hardly blogged since I arrived. Right now, I probably should do other things, including some evaluations I need to write for work, but I need a break. Still, I do sense that life has slowed down a bit since we first arrived. We’ve set up all our basic needs–Internet, international calling (Skype), getting our car, finding a church home, getting our son in school, arranging our personal effects in the home. We still have a lot to do, but it’s getting done, slowly but surely. I really do hope that life will be more relaxing here than it’s been so far.
We set aside the next few holidays between now and the end of the year to do some traveling. We made the mistake in Korea of not traveling outside Korea as much as we could. We’re not going to make the same mistake in Paraguay. We’re tentatively planning trips in the next three months to the Amazon (Manaus, Brazil), Macchu Pichu, Peru, and Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. We won’t travel much between next December and May, so we want to do it now. We have the time–we need to save the money. The trips won’t be cheap! Still, it will be nice to travel again, because I haven’t been further than 45 kilometers outside Asuncion along the Trans-Chaco Highway. I’ve barely seen this huge continent (yet).