Pondering in Paraguay

Pondering in Paraguay
Questions, Comments, and Connections on my crazy new life abroad

Saturday, July 24, 2010

I used to talk about classes at the university, the snow conditions on the mountain, the lastest gossip, celebrity news, obamas latest accomplishments, and so forth, but recently that has been replaced with home-improvement themed converstations. All the schools in Paraguay have been on winter vacation for the past two weeks. Just yesterday that vacation got extended to three weeks because of bad weather headed our way. Therefore with the lack of activities and work to be done in the schools, many volunteers, including myself have turned to projects in the house...or more correctly our houses to be. My conversations now revolve around paint brands and price comparisons for labor.
Me: So, I heard that Opal is significanly better than Cal, but there´s a ninty mill quaranie difference, is it really worth it?
Andy(another volunteer): Oh yeah you don´t want that Cal crap, that´ll flake off by the end of the week. But what I want to know is it really necessary to use fixor before I apply my paint.
Sam: Oh yeah, I definitely would, and then make sure you put two coats of the Opal.
Andy: Yeah for sure, but you know that you should then put a coat of a tar based layer to protect from humidity.
Me: Really? Okay, well I also heard that you should scrape off all the old paint to, to ensure that the fixor sticks.

I have been in the process of painting my house now for three weeks. Everytime someone gets wind of this they asked, well, why on earth is it taking so long? Umm, I´m not sure, maybe because I have to apply a zillion layers, and every other day I´m informed that I need to purchase some other new material. Then there´s always the unforseen obstacles that get in the way. I had officially completed the bedroom and moved onto the kitchen, when disaster struck