Another way to say ´Hello!´

As Justin (one of the bees) always says the Guarani language is really deep - the example is their combinations of words that then later mean another thing. For example - nothing - mba´ve - when broken down means -mba - things - ve - more, so nothing literally means more things. The other words - no where - moo´ve - moo - where + ve ie - more where - and the last example no one - mava´ve - more who...the ancient Guaranis must have been very philosphical. I think it strikes a chord in the PC where having nothing might be very similar to have more. My final language class and interview approach on Wed, and I am amazed at the speed of my language comprehension. I definitely, with a month or two, will speak better Guarani then Spanish, though I will have to improve my Spanish as well. There are very few people in Paraguay that do not understand or speak Guarani. In Asunción, Spanish is more prevalent but since most of the population has moved there from the campo they understand Guarani. In the campo, generally Guarani is spoken but Spanish is widely understood either from school or more likely watching TV. I actually have to at least improve my Spanish as well because one of the beekeepers in my site only speaks Spanish.

Like many languages Guarani is not a written language and has taken many advanced and modern words from Spanish. The ease that Paraguayans can transition between the languages is amazing. At a meeting for example, the conversation is conducted in Guarani but the minutes are written in Spanish without hesitation or thought - in the end with all of my classes - I will write better Guarani then most of the population. Note - I will never speak pure Guarani, since my site is pretty large and semi-urban - my language will be Jópara- the mix of Spanish and Guarani.

I will try to get out an email about my site but I am running out of time right now.

MISS YOU ALL!!!
Marcy