Niece and then some

My niece and her husband are on their way home...they've probably arrived by now. We had a great time with them yesterday and today...nothing special going on, just odds & ends & errands but it was great fun. They're interesting and intelligent people.

While they were here, they taught us a bit about how to select, prepare, and use mandioca, otherwise known as Manihot utilissima, yuca, or Manioc. Watching the root being peeled and prepared made me realize how little I know about the real world. I have lived a protected life.

Besides the lesson in purchasing and preparing mandioca, we learned more about his father's experience last summer...awakening to the sound of something dreadfully wrong next door, getting up, and then finding himself on the wrong end of a gun. He was shot in the tip of the nose and the bullet zipped down and broke his jawbone and cheekbone. This occured in a small village in Paraguay, where my niece's husband is from and and where his parents still live. We saw photos of their home and of the poor man laying in a hospital. The bullet remains lodged in his head...where it will remain unless an urgent needs develops to remove it.

Looking at photos of the family...father, mother, twin brother, sisters, in-laws, et al, made me want to go to Paraguay and become acquainted. I do not speak Guarani, nor do I speak Spanish...their languages...nor do they speak English. What a problem with communication!

Ignacio, my niece's husband, is slowly learning more and more English and will, one day, become fluent. In the interim, I'll learn more and more Spanish, his second language, and be able to communicate better with him. I enjoy them. A couple of intelligent people who can see through me when I'm full of it...and I like that! And, of course, my wife loves having them around! What fun!

I wish I could retire and help them create a great new life for themselves, allowing them to do what the want, and still have plenty of time for familial socializing. I guess I better look after myself and my wife, first.