Sometime s in site you have extra time to be creative. As many of you know I love the show How I Met Your Mother. Here is my take on A story in Paraguay as if I was Ted.
Kids, as you know, my time in Paraguay with the Peace Corps changed my life. I met your Uncle Brad there, Aunt Natasha, and of course your Uncle Andy. In fact it was your Uncle Andy who helped me through some of my worst days in Peace Corps. This is the story of how I met Andy Golub. It may not look it but believe it or not, your Uncle Andy wasn't always so , well, put together. He was a bit of a nonsequiter as he likes to say. He had lived as a street kid in Spain, stolen pants and been subsequently beaten by the Spanish police, squatted in an abandoned mansion and sold mushroom.. uh .. sandwiches back in Salt Lake. Oh and been deported from Russia but those kids, are stories you need to ask him to tell. Anyway, I first heard of Andy as he was to be my closest neighboring volunteer. He was an education volunteer who had been in service for a year. Like Brad's, Andy's picture did'nt look so promising and I was prepared for the worst. Then again Brad had turned out great so I was excited to meet Andy. During my first week in site I was getting to know my community when I got a call from Andy inviting me to his house. When I arrived, I opened the door to find Andy suited up, smoking a cigar and sipping on fine whiskey.
“ So you're the new kid huh?” He swiveled his chair around to face me. “Andy Golub, nice to meet you and welcome to Peace Corps.” Okay, okay, okay that wasn't how I met your Uncle Andy but we thought it would be cool to meet that way. Here's how it actually happened. Like I said I was getting to know my community by walking around house to house when I noticed someone with blondish hair standing in front of a wall at my elementary school. As I approached I knew he was definitely American, baseball cap turned backwards, Ipod earphones in, drawing a grid on the wall. I walked up right beside hi and said, “Whats up?”
He turned slightly and said, Que tal?” and went back to work. It took him a second before he turned, laughed and said, “ Sorry man, I thought you were one of those Asian Paraguayans. How you doing?”
Over the next few weeks I visited Andy frequently. He was an 8 minute bike ride away. We drank beer and cana and he told me the craziest stories I have ever heard. Having Andy's carefree and Carpe Diem attitude, gracious hospitality and valuable advice really kept me going those first days and that kids was just the beginning.
No comments:
Post a Comment