It’s been almost 2 months since my last update, oops!! As most of you probably already know, I had surgery the last week of October. I’ll spare you of all the unpleasant details because I’m okay now and feeling much better! To sum it up, I had what’s called a Dermoid Cyst and the doc says it’s probably been growing for about 2-3 years now. It was pretty large and they ended up having to take out my left ovary and part of the fallopian tube, but luckily everything on my other side is fine and dandy! I do have tons of pictures from the surgery and of the cyst if anyone is up for seeing the nastiness of it, let me know haha. I was in the hospital for about a week between San Ignacio and Asuncion, and then I stayed at my boss’s house in Asuncion for a week after to recover. They are one of the nicest families I have ever met and they were so generous while I was there. I got back to site about 3 weeks ago, and everything’s been going smoothly! When I got back, my 7 year old best friend greeted me when I got off the bus and helped me carry my bags back. He’s absolutely adorable and I’m really worried about what I’m going to do when I have to leave him after 2 years. His name is Abran and he basically lives at my house. He comes with me everywhere and everyone here calls him my son. Love! Anyway, my friend Sarah stayed with me a couple days after I got back to help me buy groceries, clean my house, and get situated again. Since then, I honestly haven’t been doing much. We had a health workshop in Asunción last week. I brought my 15 year old friend and I think she got a lot out of it. It was her first time leaving our community, so that’s kind of cool. Then all the volunteers went to Encarnacion to celebrate thanksgiving American style! We ate turkey and mashed potatoes and all the goodies...super rico. There was also an amazing pool so we spent thanksgiving working on our tans . School ended today for summer vacation, so lessons in the school have wrapped up. I’m planning a 3 week summer camp including sports, arts and crafts, and health topics for January and February. Speaking of summer, it’s been HOT! Yesterday it reached 103 degrees and I had to shower 4 times to stop sweating. Can’t wait for the heat of January to roll around…
I come home in 2 weeks for Christmas and new years! It’s almost incomprehensible knowing I’ll be back home so soon. The differences between Paraguay and Jamison, PA are absolutely ridiculous. I’ll get to see what reverse culture shock feels like, that’s for sure! I can’t wait to see all your beautiful faces!! you’ll have to call my house line or something because I’ll be cell phone-less, but let’s hang out! See you soooooooon!
Friday, December 3, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Survival of the tormenta.... oky tuicha
At about 7pm on Thursday night, the sky began to turn ugly as the sun went down. Within 20 minutes, after a day full of sunshine, the winds picked up, the sky became black with sporadic lightning bolts right on top of us, and the thunder seemed as though we were being bombed. The windows of my house were actually shuddering with each thunder clap. I prepared for the rain by putting the bucket in the kitchen where it normally drips, locking my doors, and finding my flashlights. With a huge clap of thunder, the electricity went out for what would be about 40 hours. I tried going to bed,as there is not much else to do without electricity, but the wind was blowing so hard, I was afraid for my kitchen, where the roof is a bit less than secure. I got up to peer into the kitchen only to find the gutter between the kitchen and my bedroom roofs overflowing with rain water, producing a mini waterfall. The refrigerator was getting poured on, as well as all the recycled materials I had been collecting to teach about how one can reuse trash. There was nothing I could do at that hour, so I shut the kitchen windows and pretended like it wasn't happening. I sat back down on my bed and realized it was all wet from water blowing through my bedroom window because of the wind. I moved my bed, shined my flashlight on the floor and saw a huge growing puddle in front of the door. The wind was blowing so hard, it blew all the rain water from my front patio into my room, wetting all my didactic materials for dental health. I called Jacob and Steph in a panic, complaining about my situation and asking for their advice. I went to bed with my headphones on to block out all the noise and hoped for the best.
The next morning, I was woken up my a knock on my door at 6:30am. It was my little 6 year old neighbor coming over to make sure I was okay. He helped me clean up my kitchen a little bit and went on his way to go play in the mud. There were trees down all over the avenida. I saw tons of people going out to the road with their machetes, thinking what the heck is everyone doing?! People started walking by with tons of chopped wood being pulled behind them on ropes or on the backs of their horses or cows. I thought they were just cleaning up the road, but then realized that everyone was racing out there to get the best firewood used for cooking.
Part of my tree fell on my power lines, but luckily didn't tear them down. I had to ask my neighbor to come over with his machete to help me get it off the cables and he happily came to my rescue. Next thing I have to do, is fix my gutter in order to rainproof my house a bit more.
The next 24 hours was spent rearranging my room to get everything off the floors so nothing will get wet in the next rain storm. I cleaned up all around my house, sweeping all the leaves and sticks up to put in my abono (compost) pile. Without the computer, a cell phone (my battery died within a few hours of the electricity going out), light, or water, I laid around reading my book, eating peanut butter because I had no water to cook with, and hanging out with neighbors, enjoying the fact that I had survived the big storm! If my house can survive a storm like that, I'm pretty sure it can survive anything. hooray!
mom- i didn't write this blog to worry you, just to share my experience.. DON'T WORRY about me. i'm fine :) love you darling
The next morning, I was woken up my a knock on my door at 6:30am. It was my little 6 year old neighbor coming over to make sure I was okay. He helped me clean up my kitchen a little bit and went on his way to go play in the mud. There were trees down all over the avenida. I saw tons of people going out to the road with their machetes, thinking what the heck is everyone doing?! People started walking by with tons of chopped wood being pulled behind them on ropes or on the backs of their horses or cows. I thought they were just cleaning up the road, but then realized that everyone was racing out there to get the best firewood used for cooking.
Part of my tree fell on my power lines, but luckily didn't tear them down. I had to ask my neighbor to come over with his machete to help me get it off the cables and he happily came to my rescue. Next thing I have to do, is fix my gutter in order to rainproof my house a bit more.
The next 24 hours was spent rearranging my room to get everything off the floors so nothing will get wet in the next rain storm. I cleaned up all around my house, sweeping all the leaves and sticks up to put in my abono (compost) pile. Without the computer, a cell phone (my battery died within a few hours of the electricity going out), light, or water, I laid around reading my book, eating peanut butter because I had no water to cook with, and hanging out with neighbors, enjoying the fact that I had survived the big storm! If my house can survive a storm like that, I'm pretty sure it can survive anything. hooray!
mom- i didn't write this blog to worry you, just to share my experience.. DON'T WORRY about me. i'm fine :) love you darling
Sunday, October 3, 2010
an update from my hammock :)
i'm in one of my really super hyper moods right now.. monica/ roommates, where are you??
to get all my jitters out, i decided to hop in my hammock and write you all a blog update. spring has arrived, which means beautiful weather. im laying on my hammock on my outdoor patio right now enjoying the breeze and sunny blue sky. i have a nice view of my really AWESOME garden which has onions, lettuce, squash, spinach, broccoli, parsely, basil, carrots, and peppers sprouting up. i'm also admiring my hand-washed clothes hanging on the line to dry and am grateful that i got that out of the way yesterday. if you're wondering, hand washing clothes is a tiny bit more difficult than having a washing machine! first you have to fill up a bucket with soap and water, put in a small quantity of clothes, let them soak, hand scrub them and then scrub the dirty parts with a brush, and then rinse them 3 times in a separate bucket to rinse the soap out. i will forever appreciate a washing machine and dryer.
the clock skipped ahead an hour today and not one person in my community told me about it until about 12 o clock this afternoon; that's how much time doesn't matter here. i know what time it is by the type of activity going on. for example, i wake up at about 5:30 every morning to the sound of birds chirping, roosters cockle-doodle-do-ing, the outdoor water spigots of my neighbors filling up their tea kettles for their morning mate, cows being herded past my window to the pasture, and men getting ready to go work in the fields and yelling guarani phrases at each other as they pass by. i have learned to roll over and go back to sleep until about 7:00 or 7:30 when the children show up at my door anxiously waiting to play. i constantly have kids at my house, which makes for good company, but sometimes i get so overwhelmed by their energy that i have to tell them to please... GO HOME! i make myself some coffee with the fresh cow milk my neighbor gives me daily and eat yogurt with granola and banana for breakfast. on weds and fris, my english class starts at 8:30 and we play fun games and learn new vocabulary, using the side of my house as the chalkboard. then, i have class again at 1pm for the older kids. my students are learning rapidly and there are a few super dedicated and intelligent kids that i know for a fact will speak english by the time i leave here. on the other days, i clean my house, work in the garden, go to the school and do lessons, or visit my neighbors and have terere. i know it's just about lunch time when the pre-lunch terere break rolls around. after lunch (i've been cooking up a storm!), i chill out in my hammock, drink some more terere, or go for a bike ride or walk around the community. i usually play cards once a day with the kids (thanks mo and neerav for the UNO cards!), visit my best friend sandra, and make my afternoon coffee or mate. at about 6:30, (now 7:30), i sit on my front porch reading and watching the sun go down. after dark, i finally get my alone time and watch a movie on my computer, listen to music, plan my lessons, or just sit and stare at the wall thinking, holy crap... i still can't believe i live in paraguay and am doing what i'm doing. it still amazes me that i've been here for 8 months and that in just 2 months, ill be zapped back to the states to celebrate christmas the good way. my life is 1000000% different; everything here is "tranquilopa" which basically means "everything is super chill".
today i had the ultimate paraguayan experience. my friend, Luci, invited me to her house to kill a chicken. i woke up this morning SUPER excited because i've been waiting and waiting to do it. i have had many previous invites to partake in a chicken killing, but it took me this long to build up the guts to actually do it. i arrived to her house on my bike, with my 2 biggest fans, 8 year olds laura and suzi running along beside me. We ran after the chicken, I grabbed it by it's neck and feet and pulled, pulled, pulled. i felt it's neck breaking and when it stopped moving, i assumed i had done it... chao chicken. but 3 seconds later, it started flapping around again and Luci had to lay it on the floor, put a broom on its neck and pull it's feet until it's head actually came off. we dunked it in boiling water, pulled out all it's feathers and finger nails, and cut it open only to find a bunch of little eggs inside that it was preparing to lay. we cooked the parts in water, including it's claws (they say they taste really good... YUCK), added vegetables, and sat down to an awesome home-cooked meal. can't say i ever would have imagined myself doing this a year ago, but things are a little different here.
i also wanted to take the time to thank everyone who sent me a package for my birthday. i received more than i could ask for and am so appreciative for everything. i'm organizing all the arts and crafts supplies to have a summer camp for the children, and i've been savoring every american food item i get. you'll never know how much it means to me to know that you took the time and money to send something. you're all the best and i miss you very much! thank you.
love you all, peace homes
to get all my jitters out, i decided to hop in my hammock and write you all a blog update. spring has arrived, which means beautiful weather. im laying on my hammock on my outdoor patio right now enjoying the breeze and sunny blue sky. i have a nice view of my really AWESOME garden which has onions, lettuce, squash, spinach, broccoli, parsely, basil, carrots, and peppers sprouting up. i'm also admiring my hand-washed clothes hanging on the line to dry and am grateful that i got that out of the way yesterday. if you're wondering, hand washing clothes is a tiny bit more difficult than having a washing machine! first you have to fill up a bucket with soap and water, put in a small quantity of clothes, let them soak, hand scrub them and then scrub the dirty parts with a brush, and then rinse them 3 times in a separate bucket to rinse the soap out. i will forever appreciate a washing machine and dryer.
the clock skipped ahead an hour today and not one person in my community told me about it until about 12 o clock this afternoon; that's how much time doesn't matter here. i know what time it is by the type of activity going on. for example, i wake up at about 5:30 every morning to the sound of birds chirping, roosters cockle-doodle-do-ing, the outdoor water spigots of my neighbors filling up their tea kettles for their morning mate, cows being herded past my window to the pasture, and men getting ready to go work in the fields and yelling guarani phrases at each other as they pass by. i have learned to roll over and go back to sleep until about 7:00 or 7:30 when the children show up at my door anxiously waiting to play. i constantly have kids at my house, which makes for good company, but sometimes i get so overwhelmed by their energy that i have to tell them to please... GO HOME! i make myself some coffee with the fresh cow milk my neighbor gives me daily and eat yogurt with granola and banana for breakfast. on weds and fris, my english class starts at 8:30 and we play fun games and learn new vocabulary, using the side of my house as the chalkboard. then, i have class again at 1pm for the older kids. my students are learning rapidly and there are a few super dedicated and intelligent kids that i know for a fact will speak english by the time i leave here. on the other days, i clean my house, work in the garden, go to the school and do lessons, or visit my neighbors and have terere. i know it's just about lunch time when the pre-lunch terere break rolls around. after lunch (i've been cooking up a storm!), i chill out in my hammock, drink some more terere, or go for a bike ride or walk around the community. i usually play cards once a day with the kids (thanks mo and neerav for the UNO cards!), visit my best friend sandra, and make my afternoon coffee or mate. at about 6:30, (now 7:30), i sit on my front porch reading and watching the sun go down. after dark, i finally get my alone time and watch a movie on my computer, listen to music, plan my lessons, or just sit and stare at the wall thinking, holy crap... i still can't believe i live in paraguay and am doing what i'm doing. it still amazes me that i've been here for 8 months and that in just 2 months, ill be zapped back to the states to celebrate christmas the good way. my life is 1000000% different; everything here is "tranquilopa" which basically means "everything is super chill".
today i had the ultimate paraguayan experience. my friend, Luci, invited me to her house to kill a chicken. i woke up this morning SUPER excited because i've been waiting and waiting to do it. i have had many previous invites to partake in a chicken killing, but it took me this long to build up the guts to actually do it. i arrived to her house on my bike, with my 2 biggest fans, 8 year olds laura and suzi running along beside me. We ran after the chicken, I grabbed it by it's neck and feet and pulled, pulled, pulled. i felt it's neck breaking and when it stopped moving, i assumed i had done it... chao chicken. but 3 seconds later, it started flapping around again and Luci had to lay it on the floor, put a broom on its neck and pull it's feet until it's head actually came off. we dunked it in boiling water, pulled out all it's feathers and finger nails, and cut it open only to find a bunch of little eggs inside that it was preparing to lay. we cooked the parts in water, including it's claws (they say they taste really good... YUCK), added vegetables, and sat down to an awesome home-cooked meal. can't say i ever would have imagined myself doing this a year ago, but things are a little different here.
i also wanted to take the time to thank everyone who sent me a package for my birthday. i received more than i could ask for and am so appreciative for everything. i'm organizing all the arts and crafts supplies to have a summer camp for the children, and i've been savoring every american food item i get. you'll never know how much it means to me to know that you took the time and money to send something. you're all the best and i miss you very much! thank you.
love you all, peace homes
Monday, September 13, 2010
aiko iporaterei
As the title of this entry says in guarani, "I'm living the good life". I just completed my 4 month work report that gets sent to Washington DC to assure them that I am not just chillin out in my hammock all day. Reflecting on the last 4 months made me realize that I really have accomplished a lot. Granted, the majority of that time was spent trying to integrate into my community, but that in itself is no easy feat. I would say it's probably the hardest part of being a peace corps volunteer. To me, successfully integrating means that I have adopted enough of their culture to be considered normal. I'm still that crazy blonde who has no family here, cooks weird food, talks funny, and who has bruises all over her body because she attempts to do man's work. BUT, I think I have gained my community's trust and I really do have a lot of people who care about me. I attempt to speak Guarani whenever I can, and they respect that. My old host mom now speaks to me only in guarani which means a lot to me because in the beginning she said to me, "You don't know any guarani. If you can't speak our language, how are we going to work together?" And now she is the president of my Fogon Comission and we are working together just fine. :)
I have been a very busy bee these days. I just finished a 4 week charla series about nutrition with all the high school students. We learned about the importance of a balanced diet by analyzing the food pyramid, about vitamin and mineral deficiencies in paraguay, basic nutrition facts (like you must eat fruit to maintain your health), and how to make milk from soy beans. Almost all of this was brand new material for the students. They've never heard of Spinach before and had no idea which foods contain calcium, let alone the other vitamins and minerals we talked about. I think they enjoyed my lessons and I hope they learned something. I had some issues with classroom management (as this is my first time teaching), but I had a few tricks up my sleeve to deal with the trouble makers. I also have issues with the 15-18 year old boys in my classes. They're completely obnoxious and inappropriate, but i guess that's what you get for being the only blonde haired person nearby. On the other hand, the elementary school kids are amazing. I walk in the classroom, and everyone stops what they're doing to listen to what I have to say. It's really a pleasure teaching them and I know they're learning new things for sure. This week I will be finishing up 4 weeks of dental health charlas. We covered why teeth are important, how to brush properly, how to use floss (because none of these kids have ever used it before), foods that are good and bad for your teeth, how a cavity forms, and this week we'll start fluoride treatments. All 84 students now have their own labeled toothbrush with a sample toothpaste tube in their classrooms and they brush every single day at school. They also each got a dental floss and I constantly see kids using it. A big thanks goes to Dr. Stone, who donated all of these materials.
Nothing too new with the Fogon (brick oven) commission. We just had another meeting yesterday, and we finalized the paperwork to hand in to the municipality. There are 20 people on the commission who will eventually get fogones. This Saturday, the commission is hosting a party to raise money for the cause.
My favorite project thus far has been teaching english. I was so hesitant to start classes because quite frankly, I was not at all interested. However, a few persistent kids got me to give in and thank god I did. I started with 2 students and now have 45. I teach 2 classes every Wed and Fri for an hour each. We have class right at my house and I use the side of my house as a chalkboard and it erases perfectly! We've learned greetings, a couple verbs, some adjectives, numbers, and animals so far. The kids are between the ages of 7-16 and the 10-11 year old age group is definitely learning the fastest which I found interesting. There's some who are learning rapidly; I can already have a conversation with them, and others much slower. However, everyone is so interested and really putting in a lot of effort. In my opinion, it's also boosting their self-esteem because I'm all about positive reinforcement, and giving them a different perspective on how one can learn. Their classes in the school are ridiculous. If the teacher shows up, she or he usually writes a million words on the chalkboard, and leaves while the students are told to copy what it says in their notebooks. Literally, that is what school is here. At least in the english class, we play games and have a lot of active participation which they are responding really well to.
I also went to a Peace Corps sponsored HIV/AIDS workshop with one of the nurses, Lourdes, from my community health post. My boss had to call them up and get her permission to come, but I am SO thankful he did. The doctor at my health post had previously told me that they don't want me to teach about sexuality or anything regarding sex in the high school because the parents will get mad. He said that since homosexual marriage was legalized in argentina, the parents have been worried that it'll happen here and so they're way of dealing with it is to not talk about it at all. First of all, I don't really see the relationship between homosexuality and teaching about safe-sex, hiv/aids, and STIs. Early teen pregnancy and the spread of STIs is a mojor problem in my community and instead of educating about prevention, they want to just forget about talking about it altogether??? That's ridiculous! Anyway, at the workshop we learned about how to teach about it using didactic materials, statistics in paraguay, discrimination, transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS. Two people living with HIV came and told us their story which I think was extremely eye-opening to all the paraguayans in attendance. When we got back from the workshop, Lourdes sent me a text that said, "Come to the health post, we're going to plan a charla to give to the parents." I went and had a meeting with the 3 nurses and doctor and we discussed that we will first present all the information we learned at the workshop to the parents, see what they have to say about it, and then begin charlas in the high school about less controversial topics such as self-esteem, values, and gender equality. Later on in my service, I will hopefully have the permission of the parents to start teaching about sex. We'll see how everything turns out!
Well, this is getting extremely long, so I will stop for now. Sorry it's been so long since I last updated. In general, things here are great and I feel like I am right where I need to be. I love my work here, even though I have some days where I'd much rather be at home spending time with my family and friends, and NEW NEWPHEW!!!!, but I know that these people really need me and I need them. I am learning so much about another culture, different people, and about myself. This is the only experience I will ever have like this and I fully intend to make the most of it.
chaocito!
I have been a very busy bee these days. I just finished a 4 week charla series about nutrition with all the high school students. We learned about the importance of a balanced diet by analyzing the food pyramid, about vitamin and mineral deficiencies in paraguay, basic nutrition facts (like you must eat fruit to maintain your health), and how to make milk from soy beans. Almost all of this was brand new material for the students. They've never heard of Spinach before and had no idea which foods contain calcium, let alone the other vitamins and minerals we talked about. I think they enjoyed my lessons and I hope they learned something. I had some issues with classroom management (as this is my first time teaching), but I had a few tricks up my sleeve to deal with the trouble makers. I also have issues with the 15-18 year old boys in my classes. They're completely obnoxious and inappropriate, but i guess that's what you get for being the only blonde haired person nearby. On the other hand, the elementary school kids are amazing. I walk in the classroom, and everyone stops what they're doing to listen to what I have to say. It's really a pleasure teaching them and I know they're learning new things for sure. This week I will be finishing up 4 weeks of dental health charlas. We covered why teeth are important, how to brush properly, how to use floss (because none of these kids have ever used it before), foods that are good and bad for your teeth, how a cavity forms, and this week we'll start fluoride treatments. All 84 students now have their own labeled toothbrush with a sample toothpaste tube in their classrooms and they brush every single day at school. They also each got a dental floss and I constantly see kids using it. A big thanks goes to Dr. Stone, who donated all of these materials.
Nothing too new with the Fogon (brick oven) commission. We just had another meeting yesterday, and we finalized the paperwork to hand in to the municipality. There are 20 people on the commission who will eventually get fogones. This Saturday, the commission is hosting a party to raise money for the cause.
My favorite project thus far has been teaching english. I was so hesitant to start classes because quite frankly, I was not at all interested. However, a few persistent kids got me to give in and thank god I did. I started with 2 students and now have 45. I teach 2 classes every Wed and Fri for an hour each. We have class right at my house and I use the side of my house as a chalkboard and it erases perfectly! We've learned greetings, a couple verbs, some adjectives, numbers, and animals so far. The kids are between the ages of 7-16 and the 10-11 year old age group is definitely learning the fastest which I found interesting. There's some who are learning rapidly; I can already have a conversation with them, and others much slower. However, everyone is so interested and really putting in a lot of effort. In my opinion, it's also boosting their self-esteem because I'm all about positive reinforcement, and giving them a different perspective on how one can learn. Their classes in the school are ridiculous. If the teacher shows up, she or he usually writes a million words on the chalkboard, and leaves while the students are told to copy what it says in their notebooks. Literally, that is what school is here. At least in the english class, we play games and have a lot of active participation which they are responding really well to.
I also went to a Peace Corps sponsored HIV/AIDS workshop with one of the nurses, Lourdes, from my community health post. My boss had to call them up and get her permission to come, but I am SO thankful he did. The doctor at my health post had previously told me that they don't want me to teach about sexuality or anything regarding sex in the high school because the parents will get mad. He said that since homosexual marriage was legalized in argentina, the parents have been worried that it'll happen here and so they're way of dealing with it is to not talk about it at all. First of all, I don't really see the relationship between homosexuality and teaching about safe-sex, hiv/aids, and STIs. Early teen pregnancy and the spread of STIs is a mojor problem in my community and instead of educating about prevention, they want to just forget about talking about it altogether??? That's ridiculous! Anyway, at the workshop we learned about how to teach about it using didactic materials, statistics in paraguay, discrimination, transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS. Two people living with HIV came and told us their story which I think was extremely eye-opening to all the paraguayans in attendance. When we got back from the workshop, Lourdes sent me a text that said, "Come to the health post, we're going to plan a charla to give to the parents." I went and had a meeting with the 3 nurses and doctor and we discussed that we will first present all the information we learned at the workshop to the parents, see what they have to say about it, and then begin charlas in the high school about less controversial topics such as self-esteem, values, and gender equality. Later on in my service, I will hopefully have the permission of the parents to start teaching about sex. We'll see how everything turns out!
Well, this is getting extremely long, so I will stop for now. Sorry it's been so long since I last updated. In general, things here are great and I feel like I am right where I need to be. I love my work here, even though I have some days where I'd much rather be at home spending time with my family and friends, and NEW NEWPHEW!!!!, but I know that these people really need me and I need them. I am learning so much about another culture, different people, and about myself. This is the only experience I will ever have like this and I fully intend to make the most of it.
chaocito!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
feelin the paraguayan love
17/8/2010
I just found this saved in “my documents”. My host sister must have done this one time while she was using my laptop. ----
Laura, Ever , Daniela y María Inés siempre serán amigos aunque estén lejos unos de otros, siempre se llevaran en el corazón
Con amor……………
Maria ines
In English: Laura,Ever, Danielle, and Mari Ines will always be friends even though we may be far away from each other; we will always carry each other in our hearts. With love, mari ines
I love these people. They’re so sweet. Another example of Paraguayan love is that I went to the elementary school yesterday to celebrate “Paraguay childrens’ day”. I just played some games with them like duck duck, rooster, red light green light, and a game of soccer… boys vs girls. I brought some chalk (thanks mom) so that they could draw on the concrete outside. I walked over there to see what they had drawn and ALL over the school yard it said “Daniela, te quiero mucho”…. Danielle, I love you so much. How ADORABLE! Then, today, I made some chocolate cake (for dinner, sh don’t judge) and brought some over to my new neighbors. Instead of just accepting it as a small gift, this cute little old lady had to offer me something of hers… 4 home-produced chicken eggs.
This past week, I’ve accomplished A LOT. I wish my busy-ness would be spread out more, because I know in a couple weeks, I’ll be back to not having much to do. But, I had my first brick oven commission meeting on Saturday. I went house to house to personally invite everyone and of course, only 10 people showed up. However, I was content with that because I feel it’ll be better for me to start out small and then later if more people are interested, we can form another commission. So, I presented the benefits of having a fogon, our peace corps model of the fogon, and what we need in order to construct it. Then, we voted on who will be pres, vp, teasurer, and secretary and sat down to write out the Acta that needs to be presented to the mayor in order to be recognized by the government so we can eventually petition for money for the project. WHEW. It was a very productive meeting, and I’m very excited about this project. One dude, named Alder was a god-send at the meeting. He explained everything I wanted to say much better that I could in guarani and patiently explained to the members about my mission, why I am here, and to please make me feel welcome in the community. He works at the municipality and he knew how to write up the official document which was a HUGE help. So, we’re going to wait about a week or so to see if anyone else shows interest, and then we’ll move forward in the very slow process of getting money.
On Monday, I started my nutrition lessons with the high school. There are only 50 or so students in the high school, so we broke them up into 2 groups and I taught both for about 45 minutes. We went over the food pyramid (but in Paraguay, it’s a food cauldron), then we planned a daily nutritious diet based off of a chart I presented them with. At the end of one class, we had a little extra time, so the student I took to the leadership camp in Pilar presented one of the games we played and did a very successful job at taking initiative and explaining the game. Yay! Tomorrow, I’m doing dental health lessons with four classes in the elementary school (wish me luck because pre-school and 1st grade only understand guarani…) and we’re making and selling detergent with one of the high school classes.
Lots of work, but I’m loving it.
On a different note, Briggie and Gabe will be having their baby any day now. I’m thinking about you guys always and GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!! I love you and am so proud and happy for you both
I just found this saved in “my documents”. My host sister must have done this one time while she was using my laptop. ----
Laura, Ever , Daniela y María Inés siempre serán amigos aunque estén lejos unos de otros, siempre se llevaran en el corazón
Con amor……………
Maria ines
In English: Laura,Ever, Danielle, and Mari Ines will always be friends even though we may be far away from each other; we will always carry each other in our hearts. With love, mari ines
I love these people. They’re so sweet. Another example of Paraguayan love is that I went to the elementary school yesterday to celebrate “Paraguay childrens’ day”. I just played some games with them like duck duck, rooster, red light green light, and a game of soccer… boys vs girls. I brought some chalk (thanks mom) so that they could draw on the concrete outside. I walked over there to see what they had drawn and ALL over the school yard it said “Daniela, te quiero mucho”…. Danielle, I love you so much. How ADORABLE! Then, today, I made some chocolate cake (for dinner, sh don’t judge) and brought some over to my new neighbors. Instead of just accepting it as a small gift, this cute little old lady had to offer me something of hers… 4 home-produced chicken eggs.
This past week, I’ve accomplished A LOT. I wish my busy-ness would be spread out more, because I know in a couple weeks, I’ll be back to not having much to do. But, I had my first brick oven commission meeting on Saturday. I went house to house to personally invite everyone and of course, only 10 people showed up. However, I was content with that because I feel it’ll be better for me to start out small and then later if more people are interested, we can form another commission. So, I presented the benefits of having a fogon, our peace corps model of the fogon, and what we need in order to construct it. Then, we voted on who will be pres, vp, teasurer, and secretary and sat down to write out the Acta that needs to be presented to the mayor in order to be recognized by the government so we can eventually petition for money for the project. WHEW. It was a very productive meeting, and I’m very excited about this project. One dude, named Alder was a god-send at the meeting. He explained everything I wanted to say much better that I could in guarani and patiently explained to the members about my mission, why I am here, and to please make me feel welcome in the community. He works at the municipality and he knew how to write up the official document which was a HUGE help. So, we’re going to wait about a week or so to see if anyone else shows interest, and then we’ll move forward in the very slow process of getting money.
On Monday, I started my nutrition lessons with the high school. There are only 50 or so students in the high school, so we broke them up into 2 groups and I taught both for about 45 minutes. We went over the food pyramid (but in Paraguay, it’s a food cauldron), then we planned a daily nutritious diet based off of a chart I presented them with. At the end of one class, we had a little extra time, so the student I took to the leadership camp in Pilar presented one of the games we played and did a very successful job at taking initiative and explaining the game. Yay! Tomorrow, I’m doing dental health lessons with four classes in the elementary school (wish me luck because pre-school and 1st grade only understand guarani…) and we’re making and selling detergent with one of the high school classes.
Lots of work, but I’m loving it.
On a different note, Briggie and Gabe will be having their baby any day now. I’m thinking about you guys always and GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!! I love you and am so proud and happy for you both
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
proud home-owner :)
11/8/2010
Hello, hello… it’s been a while. The past month has been a whirlwind of housework, terere, and project planning. Biggest news is that I finally moved into my house and I am in fact lying in my very own bed, not feeling bad about using my laptop or the internet because I am completely and totally alone, free of Paraguayans. Not that Paraguayans are bad of course, but it feels awfully nice to be in a place that I can now call home. Tonight will be my first night in Paraguay alone… after 6 whole months! I reached the 6 month marker which is crazy to think I’ve been gone for half a year already. Do you guys miss me yet?
So, I’m really achy. Housework is hard and I’ve been doing it for 2 whole weeks now. It took a lot to get this house “liveable”. It was a mess, but now it is beautiful! I have become a professional painter (I painted my room light purple!), a handy-woman (I brought light into my kitchen!), a gardener (I made my plant beds and started planting all kinds of goodies), annnnnd a cleaning lady (I spent at least a solid week just cleaning). I finished up some last odds and ends in my bedroom and moved all my stuff here. I now have at least double of what I came with thanks to packages from home! Pictures are up, bed is comfy, and everything is in place! I love it. As for the kitchen, eh… it could be better, but I’m waiting for my refrigerator and gas tank. Once those come, I’ll be able to start cooking and then I’ll become a chef as well. While preparing this house, I was frustrated, mad that only Sandra and my 8 yr old buddy were helping me, and tired of killing cockroaches and spiders. But now, after all my hard work, I’m so proud and happy. Obviously this is only my first night and a lot of things could still go wrong, like leaks in the ceiling which I’m pretty sure exist, but for now, I am very content and can definitely see myself living here for two years. I also have a lot of older neighbors who have invited me over for terere, mate, and fruit whenever I want to. They only speak guarani, so it will push me to continue learning even though it would be so easy to quit and give up because it is possible to get by with only Spanish, depending on the person.
So anyway—after a few scrapes, bruises, nasty surprises in dark corners, and paint-stained hands, I am officially a first time house-owner.
Hello, hello… it’s been a while. The past month has been a whirlwind of housework, terere, and project planning. Biggest news is that I finally moved into my house and I am in fact lying in my very own bed, not feeling bad about using my laptop or the internet because I am completely and totally alone, free of Paraguayans. Not that Paraguayans are bad of course, but it feels awfully nice to be in a place that I can now call home. Tonight will be my first night in Paraguay alone… after 6 whole months! I reached the 6 month marker which is crazy to think I’ve been gone for half a year already. Do you guys miss me yet?
So, I’m really achy. Housework is hard and I’ve been doing it for 2 whole weeks now. It took a lot to get this house “liveable”. It was a mess, but now it is beautiful! I have become a professional painter (I painted my room light purple!), a handy-woman (I brought light into my kitchen!), a gardener (I made my plant beds and started planting all kinds of goodies), annnnnd a cleaning lady (I spent at least a solid week just cleaning). I finished up some last odds and ends in my bedroom and moved all my stuff here. I now have at least double of what I came with thanks to packages from home! Pictures are up, bed is comfy, and everything is in place! I love it. As for the kitchen, eh… it could be better, but I’m waiting for my refrigerator and gas tank. Once those come, I’ll be able to start cooking and then I’ll become a chef as well. While preparing this house, I was frustrated, mad that only Sandra and my 8 yr old buddy were helping me, and tired of killing cockroaches and spiders. But now, after all my hard work, I’m so proud and happy. Obviously this is only my first night and a lot of things could still go wrong, like leaks in the ceiling which I’m pretty sure exist, but for now, I am very content and can definitely see myself living here for two years. I also have a lot of older neighbors who have invited me over for terere, mate, and fruit whenever I want to. They only speak guarani, so it will push me to continue learning even though it would be so easy to quit and give up because it is possible to get by with only Spanish, depending on the person.
So anyway—after a few scrapes, bruises, nasty surprises in dark corners, and paint-stained hands, I am officially a first time house-owner.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Sandra
Sandra is my life saver. She just turned 16 years old, yet already has so much to teach me. With my two sisters gone, I’ve found myself alone in the house quite often as my oldest sister is usually busy. There have been many days when I’m left to fend for myself food-wise with pretty much nothing in the refrigerator. Sandra has willingly come over all of those days and helped me put together something pretty decent for lunch. She’s taught me how to cook a whole variety of food, start a fire, dance to raggaeton, and how to enjoy the simple things in life. She’s always making sure I have everything I need and acts like my mother half the time. She’s helped me so much in my garden and took me on an adventure to visit a school in the neighboring community. I genuinely enjoy her company and I find myself at a loss whenever she’s not around. We joke around constantly and tell each other almost everything. Is it weird that my best friend is 16? Anyway, her mom left over a week ago to go to argentina in order to see a doctor because she’s been having a lot of problems with her legs. Who knows when she’ll be back. Her dad works in a neighboring town and is gone all day, every day. He’s also violent with the kids while drinking and rarely lets them leave the house when he is around. So, in the meantime, Sandra is responsible for keeping up the household… cooking, cleaning, washing her dad and brother’s clothes, and caring for the animals, yet somehow she still finds time for me. Granted, we can’t go work on my house anymore together because she needs to stay and watch her house, but she’s always over here (we live right across the street from each other) or inviting me to her house to have mate dulce. She is a doll, and I have so much respect for this little girl. I look back at my life when I was 16 and I never had any of the hardships she has, yet she is always happy with a great attitude. Not only does she not complain, but she does everything with a smile, laughing her way through the hard times. My peace corps goal is to be more like Sandra.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
some updates
29/6/2010
VIVA PARAGUAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just got back from a very busy, and very EXCITING day!!!!!!! Today is the day of San Pablo, my community’s patron saint. I woke up at 5am to the sounds of bombs going off and church bells ringing. My sister told me that this was to “wake up san pablo”. Well, it worked. We had a mini parade at 7:30 which consisted of a beaten up pick-up truck with the statue of Saint Paul in the bed. There were about 30 community members following behind, praying. Then, we had mass in the chapel. The priest only comes to our town once a month, so this is a big deal. I would say there were a good 60 people there. The mass was said in guarani, but to my surprise, I understood mostly all of it. Congratulations, me! Then we brought our TV over to the church and we all sat outside and watched Paraguay kick some butt!!! We all painted our faces with the Paraguayan flag. It was absolutely amazing… I had goosebumps during the whole shootout. My community went wild screaming when we won. These people are crazy about football and the fact that we have one of the 8 best teams in the world seriously means a lot to this country. Afterwards, we all ate lunch together which was cooked by some very guapa (hard-working) women who spent the entire morning making delicious chicken and a rice salad. To top it all off, I started playing soccer with all the little kids, then we played a trillion games of “pato, pato, gallina”.
All day today, I couldn’t help but notice that I am fully accepted here. Everyone goes out of their ways to greet me, talk to me, ask me if I still enjoy my life here, offer me their fruit from the trees, and invite me to visit their houses whenever I want to. The kids run up to me and give me huge hugs, are constantly asking me questions about “alláaaaaaaa” (the united states), and are always so curious as to what I am doing here and why in the world I want to learn guarani. They are the most patient with my inability to speak or understand guarani very well which is very endearing. Even though I cannot communicate with a majority of the smaller kids, I can still play games with them, and they LOVE it. My sisters here have become like my real sisters. We spend so much time together and we laugh and joke about the silliest things. We have the same sense of humor which is always helpful. They go out of their way to help me and it means the world to me. They come lay in my bed with me at night and we just talk. I’m definitely going to miss living here. My favorite person here and best friend, 15 year old Sandra, is always over our house hanging out. She’s awesome and makes me feel right at home. She mostly will only talk to me in guarani because she says it’s the only way I’ll learn. At first, I hated her for it, but now I love learning her new phrases and it’s really helpful. I’ve learned really well how to insult someone in guarani because that’s usually the brunt of our conversation. She tells me I’m fat, and I tell her she smells bad. The other night we had a dance party at my old host family’s house. Before leaving, my host sister told me I looked like I was pregnant. These people are brutally honest, but they sincerely don’t intend to be mean. In their culture, it’s totally normal to tell someone “you look ugly today”. Instead of getting upset about it, I came right back at her with, “Shut up Auxi, you’re fat too.” I don’t really think I’m getting fat, I’m hoping it had to do with the shirt I was wearing, but whatever. What do they expect when they only feed me cow fat, spaghetti, and bread? Anyway, Paraguayan dances. They’re always interesting and a great source for gossip. If you dance with someone for more than one song, it means you want to be their girlfriend. If you dance with someone with a bad reputation, word gets around. No matter what you do, everyone is watching; hence my reasoning for staying low-key and not wanting to dance with anyone. I managed to have the fattest, ugliest, oldest man at the party hitting on me ALL night. And by all night, I mean he stood by my side and just stared at me, practically drooling. When I refused to dance with him, he bought me a soda in hopes that this would change my decision. No. An hour later, he asked again. Of course, I said no. Within 5 minutes, I had another soda in my hand. I couldn’t help but laugh at his ruthless insistence. Eventually I turned to the mean side and told him I would never dance with him in my life, so please leave me alone. I relocated myself and was then asked to dance by my 16 year old English student. No, no, no. We were joking around and he told me over and over again, “que mala que sos” which means you’re so mean. Blah, blah. Now every time he sees me, he greets me with, “hola, mala.” He came over to the house today to try and get my phone number, but thank god my sisters wouldn’t give it to him. All I can say is that it’s going to be a long two years.
12/7/2010
I’m just laying in bed during another rainy day in Paraguay. We’ve lucked out so far because the weather has been awesome the past few weeks (like 70 degrees), but now it looks like the cold is rolling in with a whole bunch of rain storms. On rainy days, I don’t feel bad about sleeping in until 8am . I made myself some fried dough for breakfast (healthy, I know but at least I’m cooking), and then I ventured out to bring something to my old host family. I sat with them and had some mate while we watched the rain falling. After, I went to the health post to talk to the nurse, whose house I will be moving into in august. I took my bike there and got stuck in a whole bunch of mud puddles, lost my sandal in a puddle and had to fish it out, and arrived back home looking like a huge truck just splashed a whole bunch of mud all over me. I now understand why Paraguayans don’t leave the house in the rain. I’ve been buried in housework and worrying about the cost of putting in a modern bathroom. Turns out, the bathroom will cost 2.5 million guaranis which is equal to about 500 dollars. Doesn’t seem to bad when I put it that way, but I only have 3 million guaranis in my bank account right now and that needs to pay for my food, everything else I need to buy for my house (mattress, sheets, silverware, plates, pots, pans, chairs, a gas tank for my gas stove, and whatever else I discover that I’ll need… like cockroach spray because I’m pretty sure my kitchen is infested hahah). SO, looks like I’ll be waiting until we get paid again in august to buy any of these things. I’ll be living simply for the first few months, but after that, I won’t be paying monthly rent so I should have plenty of money. I’ve started my garden with my favorite 16 year old! I have two tablones set up which are just raised rows of dirt. I’m going to buy seeds this week and start planting! The backyard of my house is a disaster and the only play for me to put my garden is over an old trash pit. So hopefully I won’t be eating chunks of glass and rubber with my veggies. I have tons of fruit trees which is exciting!!! I have guyaba, bananas, grapefruit, grapes, cherry-ish things, and a fruit called mammon which I’m not really sure what that translates to. The worker dude is starting the bathroom when it stops raining, so I’m just hoping it’ll get done relatively fast. I’m more than ready to move in and live on my own!!!!!!!! EXCITING! I’ve been having a lot of family drama in the house that I’m at now between the three sisters. It’s a super long and complicated story, but I’m right in the middle of it all, and as much as I love these girls, I think it will be best for me to get out of here and stay somewhat detached.
As far as work goes, it’s pretty nonexistent right now. I’ve just been hanging out and getting really close with a few of my neighbors. I feel like I’m an actual resident here now instead of just a visitor. The schools have been on strike for 3 weeks, they are now in 2 weeks of winter vacation, and the news says that they’re planning for 45 more days of strike after break. I was planning to start my health lessons in the primary school on dental health and in the high school about nutrition, but it looks like that may be put off for quite awhile. In the meantime, I’m finishing up my census and planning to hold a meeting to start my committee for my brick oven project. We’ll see how all that goes!
I have to tell you all this story because it was one of my best days here in Paraguay so far. I went to my future house to start cleaning it up and to start work on my garden. I was NOT looking forward to all the work that needs to be done, but I figured I need to start somewhere. Auxi, Mari Ines, and Sandra came with me and brought all their tools and cleaning products. We put on some loud reggaeton and before I knew it, the majority of the neighborhood kids showed up to help. I stopped working for a second and took a look around. Every child, as well as my sisters and Sandra, all had some sort of tool in their hand doing a job on my house. One 10 year old was cutting down a tree in the middle of the garden with an ax, one was sweeping the patio, one was cutting back bushes, one was raking the leaves, one was getting all the cobwebs off the walls, one was scrubbing my bedroom floor, one was getting dirt off the roof tiles, and one was digging in my garden, getting all the trash out of the way. I was so overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude that I forgot about all the work and money I’d be putting into this house. It was so amazing to see these children genuinely caring for me. This is why I’m here in Paraguay: for the children.
VIVA PARAGUAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just got back from a very busy, and very EXCITING day!!!!!!! Today is the day of San Pablo, my community’s patron saint. I woke up at 5am to the sounds of bombs going off and church bells ringing. My sister told me that this was to “wake up san pablo”. Well, it worked. We had a mini parade at 7:30 which consisted of a beaten up pick-up truck with the statue of Saint Paul in the bed. There were about 30 community members following behind, praying. Then, we had mass in the chapel. The priest only comes to our town once a month, so this is a big deal. I would say there were a good 60 people there. The mass was said in guarani, but to my surprise, I understood mostly all of it. Congratulations, me! Then we brought our TV over to the church and we all sat outside and watched Paraguay kick some butt!!! We all painted our faces with the Paraguayan flag. It was absolutely amazing… I had goosebumps during the whole shootout. My community went wild screaming when we won. These people are crazy about football and the fact that we have one of the 8 best teams in the world seriously means a lot to this country. Afterwards, we all ate lunch together which was cooked by some very guapa (hard-working) women who spent the entire morning making delicious chicken and a rice salad. To top it all off, I started playing soccer with all the little kids, then we played a trillion games of “pato, pato, gallina”.
All day today, I couldn’t help but notice that I am fully accepted here. Everyone goes out of their ways to greet me, talk to me, ask me if I still enjoy my life here, offer me their fruit from the trees, and invite me to visit their houses whenever I want to. The kids run up to me and give me huge hugs, are constantly asking me questions about “alláaaaaaaa” (the united states), and are always so curious as to what I am doing here and why in the world I want to learn guarani. They are the most patient with my inability to speak or understand guarani very well which is very endearing. Even though I cannot communicate with a majority of the smaller kids, I can still play games with them, and they LOVE it. My sisters here have become like my real sisters. We spend so much time together and we laugh and joke about the silliest things. We have the same sense of humor which is always helpful. They go out of their way to help me and it means the world to me. They come lay in my bed with me at night and we just talk. I’m definitely going to miss living here. My favorite person here and best friend, 15 year old Sandra, is always over our house hanging out. She’s awesome and makes me feel right at home. She mostly will only talk to me in guarani because she says it’s the only way I’ll learn. At first, I hated her for it, but now I love learning her new phrases and it’s really helpful. I’ve learned really well how to insult someone in guarani because that’s usually the brunt of our conversation. She tells me I’m fat, and I tell her she smells bad. The other night we had a dance party at my old host family’s house. Before leaving, my host sister told me I looked like I was pregnant. These people are brutally honest, but they sincerely don’t intend to be mean. In their culture, it’s totally normal to tell someone “you look ugly today”. Instead of getting upset about it, I came right back at her with, “Shut up Auxi, you’re fat too.” I don’t really think I’m getting fat, I’m hoping it had to do with the shirt I was wearing, but whatever. What do they expect when they only feed me cow fat, spaghetti, and bread? Anyway, Paraguayan dances. They’re always interesting and a great source for gossip. If you dance with someone for more than one song, it means you want to be their girlfriend. If you dance with someone with a bad reputation, word gets around. No matter what you do, everyone is watching; hence my reasoning for staying low-key and not wanting to dance with anyone. I managed to have the fattest, ugliest, oldest man at the party hitting on me ALL night. And by all night, I mean he stood by my side and just stared at me, practically drooling. When I refused to dance with him, he bought me a soda in hopes that this would change my decision. No. An hour later, he asked again. Of course, I said no. Within 5 minutes, I had another soda in my hand. I couldn’t help but laugh at his ruthless insistence. Eventually I turned to the mean side and told him I would never dance with him in my life, so please leave me alone. I relocated myself and was then asked to dance by my 16 year old English student. No, no, no. We were joking around and he told me over and over again, “que mala que sos” which means you’re so mean. Blah, blah. Now every time he sees me, he greets me with, “hola, mala.” He came over to the house today to try and get my phone number, but thank god my sisters wouldn’t give it to him. All I can say is that it’s going to be a long two years.
12/7/2010
I’m just laying in bed during another rainy day in Paraguay. We’ve lucked out so far because the weather has been awesome the past few weeks (like 70 degrees), but now it looks like the cold is rolling in with a whole bunch of rain storms. On rainy days, I don’t feel bad about sleeping in until 8am . I made myself some fried dough for breakfast (healthy, I know but at least I’m cooking), and then I ventured out to bring something to my old host family. I sat with them and had some mate while we watched the rain falling. After, I went to the health post to talk to the nurse, whose house I will be moving into in august. I took my bike there and got stuck in a whole bunch of mud puddles, lost my sandal in a puddle and had to fish it out, and arrived back home looking like a huge truck just splashed a whole bunch of mud all over me. I now understand why Paraguayans don’t leave the house in the rain. I’ve been buried in housework and worrying about the cost of putting in a modern bathroom. Turns out, the bathroom will cost 2.5 million guaranis which is equal to about 500 dollars. Doesn’t seem to bad when I put it that way, but I only have 3 million guaranis in my bank account right now and that needs to pay for my food, everything else I need to buy for my house (mattress, sheets, silverware, plates, pots, pans, chairs, a gas tank for my gas stove, and whatever else I discover that I’ll need… like cockroach spray because I’m pretty sure my kitchen is infested hahah). SO, looks like I’ll be waiting until we get paid again in august to buy any of these things. I’ll be living simply for the first few months, but after that, I won’t be paying monthly rent so I should have plenty of money. I’ve started my garden with my favorite 16 year old! I have two tablones set up which are just raised rows of dirt. I’m going to buy seeds this week and start planting! The backyard of my house is a disaster and the only play for me to put my garden is over an old trash pit. So hopefully I won’t be eating chunks of glass and rubber with my veggies. I have tons of fruit trees which is exciting!!! I have guyaba, bananas, grapefruit, grapes, cherry-ish things, and a fruit called mammon which I’m not really sure what that translates to. The worker dude is starting the bathroom when it stops raining, so I’m just hoping it’ll get done relatively fast. I’m more than ready to move in and live on my own!!!!!!!! EXCITING! I’ve been having a lot of family drama in the house that I’m at now between the three sisters. It’s a super long and complicated story, but I’m right in the middle of it all, and as much as I love these girls, I think it will be best for me to get out of here and stay somewhat detached.
As far as work goes, it’s pretty nonexistent right now. I’ve just been hanging out and getting really close with a few of my neighbors. I feel like I’m an actual resident here now instead of just a visitor. The schools have been on strike for 3 weeks, they are now in 2 weeks of winter vacation, and the news says that they’re planning for 45 more days of strike after break. I was planning to start my health lessons in the primary school on dental health and in the high school about nutrition, but it looks like that may be put off for quite awhile. In the meantime, I’m finishing up my census and planning to hold a meeting to start my committee for my brick oven project. We’ll see how all that goes!
I have to tell you all this story because it was one of my best days here in Paraguay so far. I went to my future house to start cleaning it up and to start work on my garden. I was NOT looking forward to all the work that needs to be done, but I figured I need to start somewhere. Auxi, Mari Ines, and Sandra came with me and brought all their tools and cleaning products. We put on some loud reggaeton and before I knew it, the majority of the neighborhood kids showed up to help. I stopped working for a second and took a look around. Every child, as well as my sisters and Sandra, all had some sort of tool in their hand doing a job on my house. One 10 year old was cutting down a tree in the middle of the garden with an ax, one was sweeping the patio, one was cutting back bushes, one was raking the leaves, one was getting all the cobwebs off the walls, one was scrubbing my bedroom floor, one was getting dirt off the roof tiles, and one was digging in my garden, getting all the trash out of the way. I was so overwhelmed with a feeling of gratitude that I forgot about all the work and money I’d be putting into this house. It was so amazing to see these children genuinely caring for me. This is why I’m here in Paraguay: for the children.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Life in the campo
Hey all- i don´t have too much time to write because my campo bus will be coming soon to take me from my nice little town that i´m in now (san ignacio) to my life back in the campo (san pablo). Campo live is so different from live back in the states. i was talking to brigette yesterday and after i told her how i had just watched my host sister rip the head off of a chicken, handpick all of the feathers out while it was bleeding from its pores, then proceed to cut it in peices while blood was splattering all over the kitchen table, she used the word barbarian to describe my people. i thought that was hilarious, because maybe that is what i also thought in the beginning, but now these people are my family and i consider it quite normal to be woken up to a scene like this. i´d personally rather eat the chicken you can conveniently buy at the store, but paraguayans largely prefer pollo casero (home-made chicken). hey, it keeps life interesting :)
so things have been wonderfully busy which i love. i´ve done my health census with 25 families and the requirement is 50. Im going to try and do it will all 100 families in my site, because hey, why not.. i have the time. Ive been finding out that they think the flu is by far their worst health problem, that no one seeks medical attention when necessary, and that there is no one that teaches about health in the community. Ive also been way overwhelmed with the number of people who say they REALLY want fogones (brick ovens)... we´ll see how hard theyre willing to work to make this a reality. As of now, it looks like my biggest project will be a brick oven project. i will be very busy, but i´m excited if everything will go according to plan.
i will also be attempting to start a youth group over our winter break which is July 12th to the 15th. i want to do things like cooking, english classes, arts and craftsy things, sports events, movies, anything that theyre interested in. with the things we make, i hope to sell them so that we can go on a big trip at the end! im starting lessons in the primary school about dental health after the break, and about nutrition in the high school. we´ll be selling friendship bracelets during friendhsip week which starts july 26th and buying paint to paint a world map on the wall of the high schooL! i´m not promising any of these things will definitely happen because paraguayn culture seems to be iffy on making any type of committment, but it´s what i have planned and i can only hope for the best!!!!
unfortunately, i gotta run to get my bus, but before i go.. i really wanted to thank everytone who has sent me a package or a letter. im not kidding when i say these things are keeping my spirits up and giving so many things to work with! your inspiring words and words of encouragement keep me mentally into my work and your packages with arts and crafts thigns and personal items are giving me so much motivation to work and plan all my projects. i love you all so much and am so grateful to have my friends and family at home. the biggest thing i have learned since being here, is that i have a great life back in the states that i will never ever take for granted ever again! love, peace
dani
so things have been wonderfully busy which i love. i´ve done my health census with 25 families and the requirement is 50. Im going to try and do it will all 100 families in my site, because hey, why not.. i have the time. Ive been finding out that they think the flu is by far their worst health problem, that no one seeks medical attention when necessary, and that there is no one that teaches about health in the community. Ive also been way overwhelmed with the number of people who say they REALLY want fogones (brick ovens)... we´ll see how hard theyre willing to work to make this a reality. As of now, it looks like my biggest project will be a brick oven project. i will be very busy, but i´m excited if everything will go according to plan.
i will also be attempting to start a youth group over our winter break which is July 12th to the 15th. i want to do things like cooking, english classes, arts and craftsy things, sports events, movies, anything that theyre interested in. with the things we make, i hope to sell them so that we can go on a big trip at the end! im starting lessons in the primary school about dental health after the break, and about nutrition in the high school. we´ll be selling friendship bracelets during friendhsip week which starts july 26th and buying paint to paint a world map on the wall of the high schooL! i´m not promising any of these things will definitely happen because paraguayn culture seems to be iffy on making any type of committment, but it´s what i have planned and i can only hope for the best!!!!
unfortunately, i gotta run to get my bus, but before i go.. i really wanted to thank everytone who has sent me a package or a letter. im not kidding when i say these things are keeping my spirits up and giving so many things to work with! your inspiring words and words of encouragement keep me mentally into my work and your packages with arts and crafts thigns and personal items are giving me so much motivation to work and plan all my projects. i love you all so much and am so grateful to have my friends and family at home. the biggest thing i have learned since being here, is that i have a great life back in the states that i will never ever take for granted ever again! love, peace
dani
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
June 15, 2010
Time for a nice and long update! So we’re already halfway done June, which means I’ve been in site for 6 weeks now. Things are going really well so far. I am now living with my second family, a family of just 3 sisters. Their parents have passed away about three year ago. My oldest sister, Librada, is 29 and is a teacher in the highschool and preschool. My other sisters, Auxi and Mari Ines, are 17 and 14. I’m excited because Mari Ines turns 15 in August and will have her quinceanera (15th birthday party). It will be my first one and I’m interested to see what it’s like. Apparently it’s a really big deal. I’ve seen pictures and it looks like a wedding! My sisters are really awesome and help me out all the time. I love just hanging out with them because it reminds me of being with my sisters at home when we used to goof around night. They teach me little words in guarani and my oldest sister sits down with me about 2 nights a week for an hour to teach me and answer any questions I have about the language. Still, my Guarani is not very good, but after talking to other volunteers, they told me it could take up to a year to start speaking it. Trust me, it is a very hard language with some crazy sounds that I’m not capable of making. However, I am understanding more and more of it and I feel much more comfortable when I’m surrounded by a whole bunch of guarani-speaking paraguayas. Anyway, my supervisor came to visit me on the 10th. He brought my bike, my packages that my family had sent me (THANKS!!!!!!!), and some of my extra luggage that I couldn’t bring with me the first time. My bike is awesome and I love riding it everywhere!! We filled out some paperwork about how I’m adjusting to the community and completed my work plan for the next three months. Some of those things include doing a world map painting in the high school, starting a recycling system in the schools, continuing my detergent, soap, and shampoo projects (yes, we make these things and sell them around the community to raise money for class trips… we’re going on one on Thursday to visit Jesuit Ruin, super psyched!), start doing health lessons in the elementary school and high school in dental health, parasites, and nutrition, start a women’s commission with people interested in starting a Fogon (brick oven) project. I have to do a census with 50 families, and I started that yesterday! I did 7 houses and so far, every single one of them wants to work for a fogon. Looks like I’m coming back to the states with huge muscles because it’s gonna be a lot of hard labor! In order to make a fogon, I need to dig for red dirt (a pretty deep hole to get to the dirt), mix the red dirt with water and a little cement, buy a whole slew of bricks and lay them while including the oven and chimney. We need to have an organized commission to make this possible because we need to write a proposal to the government in order for them to give us the money to buy all the materials. They need to approve our project, and it takes a long time for the money to actually arrive. I’ll be lucky if I start actually building the fogons in the next year. Anyway, my supervisor and I went to the high school and filled the director in on our plan, then ate lunch at my old host family’s house (where they told him I was their “preferred daughter” hahaaa, and then visited the house that I thought I was going to live in for the next 2 years. However, he didn’t like that there weren’t any close neighbors nearby, so I have to look for another housing situation. I took a look at the nurse’s house because she’s moving and I liked the location much better, however, there’s no shower and it just has a latrine, which is fine, but I’d prefer to have a shower installed. We’ll see what happens. The house is just one room, with an attached outdoor kitchen area, with the latrine in the back yard. I wouldn’t have a sink, just a spigot out front. I liked the other house way better, but this still isn’t a bad option. I think I’ll be looking at 2 more houses this week, so I’ll keep you posted! Then, we had my meeting with my community members at the school. I went house to house handing out invitation and about 30 people showed up which I was more than satisfied with. They seemed really excited and all had nice things to say about me. One woman offered to do my census with me to help me translate Spanish to guarani, so that will be really helpful! I made apple cake and banana bread so I think my people left pretty happy All in all, it was a really productive and helpful day! Next week, I’m making more shampoo with a class, and we’ll start making our homemade bar soap with cow fat! I’m excited and interested to see how it all works out. Well, I’m about to go meet up with the senora to do more censuses with my neighbors. I know this update was a long one, but a lot has been going on! I still have my super bored moments, but I have a lot of work to look forward to and start working on. It’s in those bored moments when I start getting a little homesick, so my goal is to stay busy… and I do have plenty of things to get started.
Happy birthday gabe! Hope your bbq was fab. Also, happy father’s day pops! Love you!! Anddd happy anniversarys to all my fave people. Hope you spent your days well and enjoyed every second. Love you all
Time for a nice and long update! So we’re already halfway done June, which means I’ve been in site for 6 weeks now. Things are going really well so far. I am now living with my second family, a family of just 3 sisters. Their parents have passed away about three year ago. My oldest sister, Librada, is 29 and is a teacher in the highschool and preschool. My other sisters, Auxi and Mari Ines, are 17 and 14. I’m excited because Mari Ines turns 15 in August and will have her quinceanera (15th birthday party). It will be my first one and I’m interested to see what it’s like. Apparently it’s a really big deal. I’ve seen pictures and it looks like a wedding! My sisters are really awesome and help me out all the time. I love just hanging out with them because it reminds me of being with my sisters at home when we used to goof around night. They teach me little words in guarani and my oldest sister sits down with me about 2 nights a week for an hour to teach me and answer any questions I have about the language. Still, my Guarani is not very good, but after talking to other volunteers, they told me it could take up to a year to start speaking it. Trust me, it is a very hard language with some crazy sounds that I’m not capable of making. However, I am understanding more and more of it and I feel much more comfortable when I’m surrounded by a whole bunch of guarani-speaking paraguayas. Anyway, my supervisor came to visit me on the 10th. He brought my bike, my packages that my family had sent me (THANKS!!!!!!!), and some of my extra luggage that I couldn’t bring with me the first time. My bike is awesome and I love riding it everywhere!! We filled out some paperwork about how I’m adjusting to the community and completed my work plan for the next three months. Some of those things include doing a world map painting in the high school, starting a recycling system in the schools, continuing my detergent, soap, and shampoo projects (yes, we make these things and sell them around the community to raise money for class trips… we’re going on one on Thursday to visit Jesuit Ruin, super psyched!), start doing health lessons in the elementary school and high school in dental health, parasites, and nutrition, start a women’s commission with people interested in starting a Fogon (brick oven) project. I have to do a census with 50 families, and I started that yesterday! I did 7 houses and so far, every single one of them wants to work for a fogon. Looks like I’m coming back to the states with huge muscles because it’s gonna be a lot of hard labor! In order to make a fogon, I need to dig for red dirt (a pretty deep hole to get to the dirt), mix the red dirt with water and a little cement, buy a whole slew of bricks and lay them while including the oven and chimney. We need to have an organized commission to make this possible because we need to write a proposal to the government in order for them to give us the money to buy all the materials. They need to approve our project, and it takes a long time for the money to actually arrive. I’ll be lucky if I start actually building the fogons in the next year. Anyway, my supervisor and I went to the high school and filled the director in on our plan, then ate lunch at my old host family’s house (where they told him I was their “preferred daughter” hahaaa, and then visited the house that I thought I was going to live in for the next 2 years. However, he didn’t like that there weren’t any close neighbors nearby, so I have to look for another housing situation. I took a look at the nurse’s house because she’s moving and I liked the location much better, however, there’s no shower and it just has a latrine, which is fine, but I’d prefer to have a shower installed. We’ll see what happens. The house is just one room, with an attached outdoor kitchen area, with the latrine in the back yard. I wouldn’t have a sink, just a spigot out front. I liked the other house way better, but this still isn’t a bad option. I think I’ll be looking at 2 more houses this week, so I’ll keep you posted! Then, we had my meeting with my community members at the school. I went house to house handing out invitation and about 30 people showed up which I was more than satisfied with. They seemed really excited and all had nice things to say about me. One woman offered to do my census with me to help me translate Spanish to guarani, so that will be really helpful! I made apple cake and banana bread so I think my people left pretty happy All in all, it was a really productive and helpful day! Next week, I’m making more shampoo with a class, and we’ll start making our homemade bar soap with cow fat! I’m excited and interested to see how it all works out. Well, I’m about to go meet up with the senora to do more censuses with my neighbors. I know this update was a long one, but a lot has been going on! I still have my super bored moments, but I have a lot of work to look forward to and start working on. It’s in those bored moments when I start getting a little homesick, so my goal is to stay busy… and I do have plenty of things to get started.
Happy birthday gabe! Hope your bbq was fab. Also, happy father’s day pops! Love you!! Anddd happy anniversarys to all my fave people. Hope you spent your days well and enjoyed every second. Love you all
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Terere
terere and mate
I gotta tell you all about terere and mate since i spend the majority of my day drinking it! Terere and mate is yerba which you drink out of a cup (called a guampa) with a straw with a mini strainer attached to the bottom (called a bombilla). Terere is served cold and mate is served with boiled water. It is a paraguayan staple and something that each and every Paraguayan drinks multiple times a day… whether it be on a bus, while driving, sitting around the house with family, or just something you do when you’re bored. You can add an assortment of herbs to your terere or mate like mint, eucalyptus, and many more and all of these are home grown and can be found in your very own backyard! There’s always one person who serves the yerba and each person in the terere or mate circle takes turns drinking from the same straw. For all you germaphobes out there, it would probably be your worst nightmare, but hey… this culture is all about sharing. So someone pours water from a thermos or pitcher and passes the cup. It’s not as easy as it sounds because there is a strict terere and mate etiquette. You must never touch the straw while drinking, you should never say “gracias” unless you don’t want anymore, you must never eat while drinking the tea, you can’t shower right after drinking mate or you’ll become really sick due to the extreme temperature change, and never eat watermelon before, during, or after terere consumption. Terere-ing has become one of my favorite hobbies because it enables me to meet the Paraguayans, chat with neighbors, and become really hydrated in the process! You can sit for hours drinking terere and that is completely and totally acceptable here. It’s a great social experience and something that opens up a lot opportunity for conversation. I highly recommend you Americans start buying some terere gear and start the trend over there, because it’s an awesome tradition and it’s actually quite tasty!
I gotta tell you all about terere and mate since i spend the majority of my day drinking it! Terere and mate is yerba which you drink out of a cup (called a guampa) with a straw with a mini strainer attached to the bottom (called a bombilla). Terere is served cold and mate is served with boiled water. It is a paraguayan staple and something that each and every Paraguayan drinks multiple times a day… whether it be on a bus, while driving, sitting around the house with family, or just something you do when you’re bored. You can add an assortment of herbs to your terere or mate like mint, eucalyptus, and many more and all of these are home grown and can be found in your very own backyard! There’s always one person who serves the yerba and each person in the terere or mate circle takes turns drinking from the same straw. For all you germaphobes out there, it would probably be your worst nightmare, but hey… this culture is all about sharing. So someone pours water from a thermos or pitcher and passes the cup. It’s not as easy as it sounds because there is a strict terere and mate etiquette. You must never touch the straw while drinking, you should never say “gracias” unless you don’t want anymore, you must never eat while drinking the tea, you can’t shower right after drinking mate or you’ll become really sick due to the extreme temperature change, and never eat watermelon before, during, or after terere consumption. Terere-ing has become one of my favorite hobbies because it enables me to meet the Paraguayans, chat with neighbors, and become really hydrated in the process! You can sit for hours drinking terere and that is completely and totally acceptable here. It’s a great social experience and something that opens up a lot opportunity for conversation. I highly recommend you Americans start buying some terere gear and start the trend over there, because it’s an awesome tradition and it’s actually quite tasty!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
28/4
Well, a lot has happened since the last time I wrote. First off, I visited my future site for a few days. It’s called San Pablo and it’s located in the south of Paraguay in the department called Misiones. It’s about a 4.5 hour bus ride from the bus terminal in asuncion, and my site is conveniently located right off the main ruta. I stayed with a beautiful family who I slowly fell in love with and I am so relieved to know that I will have 3 girls there with whom I can hang out and relax. My main contact is a 20 year old boy named Alexis. He’s studying to become a lawyer and is interested in helping me promote health because he had leukemia when he was a kid. He’s hardworking and has tons of energy which will be extremely helpful. In short, we visited the Health Post, the schools, the police station, and the main city 16 km from my site. I loved it! One of my favorite things was that there are a ton of horses, and also that there’s about 100 houses in my community, a perfect size.
This past week has been extremely busy because training is wrapping up. We had a party at Eliza’s house to hang out with all of our families, a family party at our escuelita which was hosted by peace corps, and finally, we’re having another party tomorrow night at Nicole’s house! Guasucora has been my home for the past 3 months and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have picked a better community. The people here are just amazing and it’s been such a precious experience. My mom and dad gave me a red, sleeveless aopoi. Aopoi is a type of Paraguayan clothing that is hand stitched. They’re really light weight and perfect to wear for a dressy occasion. I was so excited to get it, because I had been planning on buying one anyway. My neighbor hand-made it which makes it even more special. I also went shopping with my mom in Villeta, just the two of us. It was such a nice day. We went food shopping, and then she picked out the shoes that I will wear for swearing in… which is FRIDAY! AH! I cooked dinner for my mom and dad the other night. I made chicken with potatoes, carrots, and onions, and macaroni and cheese. They loved it and I was so excited that my first real experience cooking went smoothly. I’m so pro. Today, we went to a place called Carapegua which is where there is market with hand-made hammocks, blankets, bags, and tablecloths. I bought a hammock for my house when I move to San Pablo, and a table cloth with some lace in it for my parents. I gave it to them tonight after dinner with a letter that I had written for them. I know they greatly appreciated it, and I just wish I could better explain how appreciative I am for their hospitality in the past 11 weeks. Not only did they open up their home to me, but they included me as part of the family and made my training experience the best that it could have been. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to live with Maria and Eligo. I have noticed the little things they do every day that make them extra special and really hard working. They may not have the most money in the world or very many possessions, but they are so happy with each other and they know how to make their life the best that it can be. These people have taught me so much about what needs to be prioritized in life. Truly, I can’t say it enough, but Maria and Eligo have been fabulous parents and I can’t wait to visit them every time I make a trip to ascuncion!
The fact that we swear in as official volunteers in 2 days is absolutely crazy. Time has passed way too quickly. As busy as we were throughout training, it has also been a kind of vacation or retreat in many ways. It’s been really relaxing and eye opening to spend time and hang out in guasucora while meeting so many new people. Not only have I become great friends with my fellow guasucora trainees and the rest of G32, but my neighbors and families of the other trainees have also become my family. Slowly opening up and really getting to know these people has been such a unique pleasure that I do not take for granted. Yes, there were some ups and downs of training and having such a strict predetermined schedule laid out for us was a bit trying, yet learning so many new things and absorbing the culture has been quite enjoyable. I will miss this place.
17/5/2010
Since the last time I wrote, I have sworn in as an official volunteer, partied in asuncion with my fellow G32 trainees, and moved to site on May 4th. Moving here has been an emotional rollercoaster. At first, I was so excited to finally arrive, to follow out what has been my dream for so many years. I was met at the bus stop by my “contact” and since then, I haven’t seen or heard from him except for a couple of inappropriate text messages (yes, I do have a cell phone these days!!!!!) Without a contact, I feel kind of lost as to what I should and can be doing. I moved in with a family of 4, parents and 2 seventeen year old girls. Luckily, my family is wonderful and has made me feel more than comfortable in their home. I use one of my sister’s bedrooms to sleep in which is more than I could have asked for. It’s a privilege to have a space to call my own because many other new volunteers do not. I hang out with my sisters every day and follow them to high school where I have taught a class of English and made detergent with an economy class. We sold the detergent to neighbors and made a little money to contribute to a class trip to a museum! My sisters have taken me to meet many neighbors; however, it has been unbelievably frustrating because they will not willingly speak in Spanish. Guarani is the preferred language and pretty much the only people who will speak to me in Spanish are teenagers or small children. This goes without saying that I have spent many hours sitting in terere circles of Paraguayans pretending to listen to their indigenous language, when really I’m usually thinking about home and what I would be doing if I were there. Congrats to everyone who just graduated!! I’m so proud of you all and so wish that I could have been there to share in the festivities. I thought about you guys a lot… probably too much because I’ve started to become a teensy bit homesick. I think this has to do with the fact that there is not one other English-speaking person in the near vicinity which leaves me with a lot of self-time and entirely way too much time to think about things. I needed a hobby, and so I have taken up crocheting! It’s actually really fun and it really fits well with my grandma reputation. Haaa. I’ve also been studying guarani in my free time… which I’ve had a TON of due to the past 3 days of solid rain. I’ll have you know that life in Paraguay literally stops when it starts drizzling. School is cancelled, and everyone sits under their porches drinking mate. It’s actually nice and relaxing and a bit relieving because I don’t feel pressured to be doing something proactive, but 3 days is way more than enough. I’ve gone a bit stir crazy, so I’ve decided to venture into San Ignacio today (the nearest large town near me) so that I can use the internet, buy some groceries, stop by the post office, and take money out of my ATM. I’m super excited.
So I’ve had a lot of funny moments since I’ve been here. They weren’t funny at the time, but now I can laugh at them. So the other night I was sick and needed to go to the bathroom. The toilet is outside, so of course I unlocked my door, brought my flashlight with me, and did my thing. I came back and got yelled at in the morning for leaving my room in the dark. My ma told me I had to use the bowl that has curiously been sitting on my bedroom floor to relieve myself in the middle of the night because she doesn’t want me outside. Another issue has been my laundry. My dirty clothes have been piling up, and I’ve wanted to wash the past few days, but one of my sisters was using the bucket ALL day one day, and then it’s been raining which means you do not do laundry. It stopped raining this morning, so I hurried outside, hand washed all my clothes (broke my ring cuz I scrubbed too hard ) and hung the clothes on the line. Immediately after, it started monsooning and so now, my clothes are still hanging outside dripping in rain water. Oops. On another note, I’ve been eating a lot of crocodile and carpincho (which looks to me like an enormous beaver). They have an interesting taste, but surprisingly, I’m kind of a fan! Other than that, just the normal things… a lot of awkward stares, silly language mistakes, blank stares from me when people ask me things in guarani, and a lot of people asking me why in the world I’m here, if I miss my family, if I have a boyfriend, and how old I am. Seems like those are the pretty standard questions around here and I gladly answer them over and over again because I actually understand this vocabulary in guarani! It’s a start! I’m ready to begin my health census which has to be done with 50 families in my community. After that, I can start my projects which I think will consist of a lot of fogon building, working with commissions, teaching health topics in the school and high school, and hooooopefully I can find the special ed school or rehab center in san Ignacio and get my foot in the door there. We’ll see where things go, but I have a lot to forward to… I just don’t know where to start!
Thank you to everyone who has been making an effort to keep in touch. It really means so much to me. If I don’t get back to you right away, it’s only because I don’t have internet very often and am usually super rushed if I do have it, and I can’t call anyone from my cell because it’s way too expensive. However, I can text for cheap and I’m pretty sure it’s not that expensive to text me from the states… so I’m always open to some texting!! You can also call me from skype and its 22 cents a minute. My number 011 595 984 610 017. You can also send me letters and small packages to my new address!!!
Danielle Burns (voluntaria cuerpo de paz)
San Roque Gonzalez 1164
Telef: 0782 232335
San Ignacio, Misiones Paraguay
C.P. 4750
Gracias! Love you all! Chao chao
ps. i also have 2 cell numbers. call from skype and its only 22 cents a minute! you can also text me and i can text you for 20 cents a minute! try this number first and if it doesnt work, try the second one!!
011 595 984 610 017 OR 011 595 975 101 248
Well, a lot has happened since the last time I wrote. First off, I visited my future site for a few days. It’s called San Pablo and it’s located in the south of Paraguay in the department called Misiones. It’s about a 4.5 hour bus ride from the bus terminal in asuncion, and my site is conveniently located right off the main ruta. I stayed with a beautiful family who I slowly fell in love with and I am so relieved to know that I will have 3 girls there with whom I can hang out and relax. My main contact is a 20 year old boy named Alexis. He’s studying to become a lawyer and is interested in helping me promote health because he had leukemia when he was a kid. He’s hardworking and has tons of energy which will be extremely helpful. In short, we visited the Health Post, the schools, the police station, and the main city 16 km from my site. I loved it! One of my favorite things was that there are a ton of horses, and also that there’s about 100 houses in my community, a perfect size.
This past week has been extremely busy because training is wrapping up. We had a party at Eliza’s house to hang out with all of our families, a family party at our escuelita which was hosted by peace corps, and finally, we’re having another party tomorrow night at Nicole’s house! Guasucora has been my home for the past 3 months and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have picked a better community. The people here are just amazing and it’s been such a precious experience. My mom and dad gave me a red, sleeveless aopoi. Aopoi is a type of Paraguayan clothing that is hand stitched. They’re really light weight and perfect to wear for a dressy occasion. I was so excited to get it, because I had been planning on buying one anyway. My neighbor hand-made it which makes it even more special. I also went shopping with my mom in Villeta, just the two of us. It was such a nice day. We went food shopping, and then she picked out the shoes that I will wear for swearing in… which is FRIDAY! AH! I cooked dinner for my mom and dad the other night. I made chicken with potatoes, carrots, and onions, and macaroni and cheese. They loved it and I was so excited that my first real experience cooking went smoothly. I’m so pro. Today, we went to a place called Carapegua which is where there is market with hand-made hammocks, blankets, bags, and tablecloths. I bought a hammock for my house when I move to San Pablo, and a table cloth with some lace in it for my parents. I gave it to them tonight after dinner with a letter that I had written for them. I know they greatly appreciated it, and I just wish I could better explain how appreciative I am for their hospitality in the past 11 weeks. Not only did they open up their home to me, but they included me as part of the family and made my training experience the best that it could have been. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to live with Maria and Eligo. I have noticed the little things they do every day that make them extra special and really hard working. They may not have the most money in the world or very many possessions, but they are so happy with each other and they know how to make their life the best that it can be. These people have taught me so much about what needs to be prioritized in life. Truly, I can’t say it enough, but Maria and Eligo have been fabulous parents and I can’t wait to visit them every time I make a trip to ascuncion!
The fact that we swear in as official volunteers in 2 days is absolutely crazy. Time has passed way too quickly. As busy as we were throughout training, it has also been a kind of vacation or retreat in many ways. It’s been really relaxing and eye opening to spend time and hang out in guasucora while meeting so many new people. Not only have I become great friends with my fellow guasucora trainees and the rest of G32, but my neighbors and families of the other trainees have also become my family. Slowly opening up and really getting to know these people has been such a unique pleasure that I do not take for granted. Yes, there were some ups and downs of training and having such a strict predetermined schedule laid out for us was a bit trying, yet learning so many new things and absorbing the culture has been quite enjoyable. I will miss this place.
17/5/2010
Since the last time I wrote, I have sworn in as an official volunteer, partied in asuncion with my fellow G32 trainees, and moved to site on May 4th. Moving here has been an emotional rollercoaster. At first, I was so excited to finally arrive, to follow out what has been my dream for so many years. I was met at the bus stop by my “contact” and since then, I haven’t seen or heard from him except for a couple of inappropriate text messages (yes, I do have a cell phone these days!!!!!) Without a contact, I feel kind of lost as to what I should and can be doing. I moved in with a family of 4, parents and 2 seventeen year old girls. Luckily, my family is wonderful and has made me feel more than comfortable in their home. I use one of my sister’s bedrooms to sleep in which is more than I could have asked for. It’s a privilege to have a space to call my own because many other new volunteers do not. I hang out with my sisters every day and follow them to high school where I have taught a class of English and made detergent with an economy class. We sold the detergent to neighbors and made a little money to contribute to a class trip to a museum! My sisters have taken me to meet many neighbors; however, it has been unbelievably frustrating because they will not willingly speak in Spanish. Guarani is the preferred language and pretty much the only people who will speak to me in Spanish are teenagers or small children. This goes without saying that I have spent many hours sitting in terere circles of Paraguayans pretending to listen to their indigenous language, when really I’m usually thinking about home and what I would be doing if I were there. Congrats to everyone who just graduated!! I’m so proud of you all and so wish that I could have been there to share in the festivities. I thought about you guys a lot… probably too much because I’ve started to become a teensy bit homesick. I think this has to do with the fact that there is not one other English-speaking person in the near vicinity which leaves me with a lot of self-time and entirely way too much time to think about things. I needed a hobby, and so I have taken up crocheting! It’s actually really fun and it really fits well with my grandma reputation. Haaa. I’ve also been studying guarani in my free time… which I’ve had a TON of due to the past 3 days of solid rain. I’ll have you know that life in Paraguay literally stops when it starts drizzling. School is cancelled, and everyone sits under their porches drinking mate. It’s actually nice and relaxing and a bit relieving because I don’t feel pressured to be doing something proactive, but 3 days is way more than enough. I’ve gone a bit stir crazy, so I’ve decided to venture into San Ignacio today (the nearest large town near me) so that I can use the internet, buy some groceries, stop by the post office, and take money out of my ATM. I’m super excited.
So I’ve had a lot of funny moments since I’ve been here. They weren’t funny at the time, but now I can laugh at them. So the other night I was sick and needed to go to the bathroom. The toilet is outside, so of course I unlocked my door, brought my flashlight with me, and did my thing. I came back and got yelled at in the morning for leaving my room in the dark. My ma told me I had to use the bowl that has curiously been sitting on my bedroom floor to relieve myself in the middle of the night because she doesn’t want me outside. Another issue has been my laundry. My dirty clothes have been piling up, and I’ve wanted to wash the past few days, but one of my sisters was using the bucket ALL day one day, and then it’s been raining which means you do not do laundry. It stopped raining this morning, so I hurried outside, hand washed all my clothes (broke my ring cuz I scrubbed too hard ) and hung the clothes on the line. Immediately after, it started monsooning and so now, my clothes are still hanging outside dripping in rain water. Oops. On another note, I’ve been eating a lot of crocodile and carpincho (which looks to me like an enormous beaver). They have an interesting taste, but surprisingly, I’m kind of a fan! Other than that, just the normal things… a lot of awkward stares, silly language mistakes, blank stares from me when people ask me things in guarani, and a lot of people asking me why in the world I’m here, if I miss my family, if I have a boyfriend, and how old I am. Seems like those are the pretty standard questions around here and I gladly answer them over and over again because I actually understand this vocabulary in guarani! It’s a start! I’m ready to begin my health census which has to be done with 50 families in my community. After that, I can start my projects which I think will consist of a lot of fogon building, working with commissions, teaching health topics in the school and high school, and hooooopefully I can find the special ed school or rehab center in san Ignacio and get my foot in the door there. We’ll see where things go, but I have a lot to forward to… I just don’t know where to start!
Thank you to everyone who has been making an effort to keep in touch. It really means so much to me. If I don’t get back to you right away, it’s only because I don’t have internet very often and am usually super rushed if I do have it, and I can’t call anyone from my cell because it’s way too expensive. However, I can text for cheap and I’m pretty sure it’s not that expensive to text me from the states… so I’m always open to some texting!! You can also call me from skype and its 22 cents a minute. My number 011 595 984 610 017. You can also send me letters and small packages to my new address!!!
Danielle Burns (voluntaria cuerpo de paz)
San Roque Gonzalez 1164
Telef: 0782 232335
San Ignacio, Misiones Paraguay
C.P. 4750
Gracias! Love you all! Chao chao
ps. i also have 2 cell numbers. call from skype and its only 22 cents a minute! you can also text me and i can text you for 20 cents a minute! try this number first and if it doesnt work, try the second one!!
011 595 984 610 017 OR 011 595 975 101 248
Monday, May 10, 2010
por fin, soy misonera :)
hey everyone! i know it´s been quite a while, so i stopped by an internet cafe while i wait for my bus to get back to my site. i just visited another volunteer in southern misiones for a VAC meeting. i met 9 other volunteers who are all in my department of paraguay, which is reassuring to know i have some english speaking companions somewhat near by (the closest being about a 30 minute bus ride and a few mile walk). We ended up making mexican food and watching a marathon of jersey shore. it´s a little hilarious that i´m in peace corps paraguay watching probably one of the trashiest american tv shows out there, but it was a nice adversion to keep my thoughts away from thinking about my new site. i´ve only been there for a bout 5 days, and i dont really know what im supposed to be doing exactly. i´ve visited the school, met a bunch of guarani speaking families who told me that if i dont learn guarani fluently, we may have some problems, ill be making soap with the 8th grade class on wednesday, and ive just been doing things around the house like washing my clothes, and helping my ma cook some paraguayan food. it´s all gone really smoothly so far,and i couldnt be happier with the family im currently living with. i live with a married couple, and 2 seventeen year old girls who bring me around with them everywhere. i love where i´´m at, but im super nervous about what is expected of me. i think my community wants a lot of brick ovens, a reforestation project, and lessons regarding health in the schools. i have a lot of good things going for me, but it will be quite a long process to begin to have any type of sucessful project. first, i need to study guarani, and then ill worry about putting my muscles to work. ill keep you all posted. i have to go catch the bus, but hopefully i will be able to write more detail later. so much has been happening, and i havent had enough time on internet to really explain it to you all, but know that i am very happy, and i am doing very well. i miss you all greatly and i would huuuuuuuugely appreciate any texts, or skype calls to my new cell phone (its super cheap!)!!!! 011 595 984 610 017
much love, and congrats to the class of 2010. so proud of you all :)
much love, and congrats to the class of 2010. so proud of you all :)
Thursday, April 15, 2010
How you know you’re assimilating well in Paraguay:
- You don’t search your bed for bugs anymore
- You’re okay with sharing the shower with a huge spider and a few frogs
- You’re dog has got your back and follows you to the neighbors’ houses
- Bathing in a stream doesn’t sound so ridiculous anymore
- You can sit outside after dinner and talk with your parents for hours
- The food is no longer scary and unknown
- You make a carrot cake and your family eats basically the whole thing while you’re at class
- You have a Paraguayan boy come over and you decline his invitation to go to asuncion for the day
- Red dirt roads ain’t no thanggggg. It may mean you have to wash your shoes every day, but it’s become routine… it’s also helping my calf muscles out quite a bit
- Sweating is the norm
- You’re totally cool with people staring at you and counting to three in English
- You have an interview in guarani and it isn’t a complete failure
- The soccer field is the best hang-out place you got
- You start speaking to your American friends in Spanish by accident
- Your family and neighbors start speaking to you in guarani
- You enjoy not having internet, cell phone, or English TV
- You’re able to able to make empanadas, tortilla, bean salad, and soy milk and apple juice out of ¾ kilo of soy beans (this coming from a person who does not cook… ever)
- You’re capable of making a spring well, losa for a latrine, and a brick oven
- Your head doesn’t spin around in circles when you see a family of 4 on a moto
- The thought of parasites doesn’t gross you out anymore
- Seeing the ox cart is an everyday occurrence
- And of course, you’ve scoped out where they sell the best cookies in town
.... to be continued!
the pictures are of the trainees with my neighbor who turned 5 years old!! and of my and my 2 favorite boys in my community :)
anyway, i visited my future site!!!! it´s called San Pablo in the department of Misiones. It´s about a 4 to 5 hour bus ride from Asuncion, the capital. Luckily, i live right along the main, paved road which makes in easy and convenient to visit! so, you should all probably buy your plane tickets now and plan a trip to the campo of san pablo! my site is pretty well off! we have a police station, a health post with a doctor and 3 nurses, a grade school, a high school, and a preschool. We have a huge soccer field and tons of volleyball courts! and da da da.... tons of horses! WOO! the main industry is crops of peanuts, mandioca, and beans. i stayed with a teacher and her 2 sisters. they were 29, 17, and 14 years old and they were absolutely amazing.. kind of reminded me of my sisters back home! :) my contact is a 20 year old boy who wants to study to be a lawyer. he´s very enthusiastic, maybe a bit too much (he wouldnt leave me alone!), but its great that hes willing to work with me. i met the principals of the schools and most of the teachers. as of now, i thnk my main projects will be sex ed, teaching english, building fogones (brick ovens), and working at the special school or rehab center (not too sure yet because i havent visited it) in the main city which is 16 km from my site. In the town, theres everything i would need (food store, internet, appliance stores, fruiteria, hospital, everything!) my site has about 100 houses and 500 people. Its a medium sized rural area. ill live with various host families for the first 3 months, and then rent a house of my own!!!!!! ill also work on making soap and detergent with the high school students as part of a buisness project. we have running water, and some people have modern bathrooms and some have latrines. im psyched!! if you all have any other specific questions, let me know!
i swear in as an official volunteer on april 30th. then, ill stay in asuncion for a few nights to relax and head to site on may 4th! (kristen´s birthday... its soo good luck!)
miss you all
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
pic captions!
the first pic is me and my favorite paraguayan baby. his name is lexi and he is so fat! they call him gordi, which means fatty.
2nd pic is my host mom, Maria, feeding the cat and dog in our backyard. she´s a doll.
3rd= Eligo, my dad on his moto. he´s hilarious and we joke around constantly about how fat he is.
4th pic is my house!!!! we have 2 bedrooms, and a tiny little room this counts as their little store with some food, beer, and soap!
next is me holding the eel i caught! ignore the hair, ive been having a lot of bad hair days lately
and lastly, is my health training group living in guasucora. they are the best people ever and im so happy to be experiencing this with them!!
2nd pic is my host mom, Maria, feeding the cat and dog in our backyard. she´s a doll.
3rd= Eligo, my dad on his moto. he´s hilarious and we joke around constantly about how fat he is.
4th pic is my house!!!! we have 2 bedrooms, and a tiny little room this counts as their little store with some food, beer, and soap!
next is me holding the eel i caught! ignore the hair, ive been having a lot of bad hair days lately
and lastly, is my health training group living in guasucora. they are the best people ever and im so happy to be experiencing this with them!!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
sorry for the million updates, but ill post more pics later!! the first one is of my neighbors and one of the other volunteers named nicole. paraguay by far has the most beautiful sunsets!! the seconf pic is of my fellow guasucora people walking home from class, and the third is of my neighbor (who has the mosst energy in the world). enjoy!!
an update por finnn
Feb 10, 2010
This has been my first chance to write. I’ve either been unbelievably tired, super busy schmoozing with the other volunteers, or in meetings/orientations to get ourselves ready for service. I’ll start from the beginning. Expect a long one!
The last time I wrote, I was in Miami. Staging went smoothly and I had the opportunity to meet many of the other 48 volunteers headed to Paraguay. There are 3 different programs. One is Rural Health and Sanitation (me me! with 24 people), Urban Youth Development, and Early Elementary Education Advisors. Everyone has very cool backgrounds and have pretty much traveled the world when combined. Levels of Spanish are all over the place. I feel pretty confident, but Guarani sounds very intimidating.
At staging, we had meetings in the hotel about safety and security, health, expectations, and logistics. Then, we got busses to our flight, passed a few hours in the airport by having a few beers and a celebratory shot of tequila, then flew the 8 hours to Brazil. In Sao Paulo, we “snazzified” in order to meet our host families upon arrival in Paraguay. After the 3 hour flight, PC staff met us at the airport, got us through customs, and got us on a bus to our training center in Guarambare, about 35 km from the capital. There, we met our program and language professors, had a family placement interview, got our first week’s allowance (140,000 guarani or about $4/day) , received language dictionaries, and got pictures taken for our identity cards. WHEW! Finally, we found out who our family is and I have been gladly placed with Maria and Eligo, an older married couple. The 12 RHS volunteers in my site hopped on a van and were delivered to an awaiting group of Paraguayan women waiting to meet their “hijos” (sons/daughters). They clapped when we pulled up and it really was a moment that will be forever ingrained in my brain.
Maria and I got back to the house and I met Eligo for the first time. Their house is nice, yet very simple. They have an outhouse with a flushing toilet (I know many of you were worried) and a cold water shower in the same area. I also have electricity which is always a plus!! Maria showed me my room which is much larger than I expected. I have a pretty big bed, a cabinet for my clothes and other items, and a table for studying—basically everything I need!! I talked with them outside and enjoyed the view around me. It is very green here and very RED! Red dirt roads take over the campo. Houses are close together and most of my neighbors are family. Four of the other volunteers live very close to my house… I went over to the neighbor’s tonight and taught them how to play Go Fish with Nicole! Her host mom’s grandson (15 yr old Marcos) was over as well as many other neighbors (my favorites being Javi, age 12, and Dina, age 4). If we can teach them to play go fish, heck we can do anything.. right!!
I had bought a mug with a painted picture of Philadelphia on it for my host family; however, it broke during travel. Que lastima! But my host mom said she will try to glue it back together when she has time tomorrow!
Things seem to be going great here! Obviously it is a huge adjustment, but nothing that I can’t ease into. For me, the hardest thing will be the language. We have a language interview tomorrow, so we’ll see how that goes.
I also found out a lot more about my assignment! It is definitely a bit intimidating. We’re given a list of competencies that we are expected to have completed successfully by the end of the 11 weeks of training. Those include things such as cooking my host family 3 nutritional meals and explaining their pros and cons, building a latrine with a cement floor, constructing a brick oven, and learning and presenting about parasites, nutrition, dental health, and HIV/AIDS prevention. There are also numerous more, but these I find to be the most important. WISH ME LUCK! Love you all back home!
PS- It’s hot here. “Haku” in guarani.
February 17, 2010
It’s been a week since I’ve written and much has happened! First off, I’ve attained a million bug bites. Just as I wrote that, a mosquito flocked to my computer screen… how appropriate. I’ve been trying not to let it get the best of me, but it’s more annoying than anything having to itch a whole slew of big bites… on all parts of my body. I have also been sweating profusely since I’ve gotten here. I can’t imagine there being tons of snow at home. It seems like a world away.
MY GOD I just spend the past 30 minutes debugging my room. I’ve never had to do this before, but dude there were a million tiny mosquitoes infesting my bed.
February 21, 2010
Sorry my last entry ended abruptly. The mosquitoes won our little war and I had to shut off the lights and go to bed. Anyway, things have been pretty spectacular here! We’ve been having some intense training every day. My guarani is getting better and better. I finally understand the flow of it and how to make a decently long sentence. So far, I can introduce myself and all my personal info, talk about my family and friends, and I know a whole bunch of greetings! It is definitely a start!! In tech training, we’ve been making losas, the bottom that holds the cement for a latrine, as well as trash pits made with bamboo fences. Yes, I have used a machete! WOOOO. The tech part of training has been a bit more challenging for me. I obviously don’t have much experience doing construction and working with tools, so it has been quite the learning experience! Another hands-on project that we’ll be doing is building fogones (brick ovens). We’ve had several current volunteers come to site and give us lessons on how to teach about parasites and dental hygiene. I’ve learned all about hookworm, roundworm, pinworm, and girardia. Hookworm is one of the most popular parasites because none of the kids here wear shoes while outside playing in the dirt. The worm enters into your foot and lays eggs in your intestines. Yum. Roundworm comes from fecal matter that is spread through not washing hands, using/protecting latrines, or protecting food. Of course there’s pinworm which comes come out your butt. Many volunteers get worms while they’re here, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I get one in the next two years. Something to look forward to! We learned a few worm songs to sing in classrooms and some activities that can be used while working with children in the schools. Yesterday, we ran a “summer camp” at our training site to teach about 14 kids in my neighborhood about dental health. We did a little skit, played games, and sang songs to educate them on brushing their teeth. It was super fun, and I think the kids had a good time as well. The kids in this community are so amazing.
Last night we went to a carnival celebration in a nearby neighborhood. There was a parade of people in skimpy costumes and a small shaving cream fight! Then, we went to our first Paraguayan club. It was super fun and a really sweet experience. We also had a woman soccer game… peace corps vs. Paraguayan women. Needless to say, we lost both games, but we held our own! It was close and we agreed to play them again in 2 weeks. It was nice to run around and play soccer again. Today, I was learning how to play volleyball. It’ll take me a while to learn, but I’ll leave here as a pro!
My host dad had a birthday party on the 16th and all of our neighbors/relatives came! It was interesting and there was a lot of good food. The Americans started the dance party, of course. They celebrate by having “asado” or steak. Each invitee brings a dish of food and everyone sits around chatting and drinking.
Everyone here is really cool. We all come from extremely different backgrounds so it has been fun getting to know everyone’s story. There are 12 health volunteers that live in my neighborhood and 12 that live in the community that is about 6km from us.
On Wednesday, we go to Asuncion for the first time. We’re matched with one other person and it’s our job to get there by ourselves. It will be our chance to figure out the bus system and all sorts of travel information. On Saturday, we go visit another volunteer in his/her site to see what it’ll be like to be a volunteer. I’m very excited and am looking forward to it.
Also... update: my host mom took the time to glue together every single piece of the broken mug I gave her (TONS of pieces). She keeps it right in the kitchen so it reminds me every day how hard-working and compassionate these people are. It was a super nice gesture.
How’s everything back in the states?
February 24, 2010
I just got back from my “mission” in Asuncion. My partner was St. John, another health volunteer from the neighboring community. I woke up at 5, walked an hour to the bus stop, caught the bus to guarambare, then got on linea 32 to Asuncion. Our first destination was the store that sells the ingredients to make soap. We had to find out the prices of the soap making kit. Next, we hopped on another bus and went to a “chuchi” (high-class) park. They had a basketball court, tennis court, and soccer fields. It was a really nice stroll. Then, we got on another bus and went to the hotel that offers peace corps volunteers discount. They charge 90 mil guaraini per night which turns out to be about $18. We had a cup of coffee and then went to eat at the restaurant that is known for their American hamburgers and Italian ice cream. It felt like I was right back in the states! We made it to the Peace Corps office with plenty of time to spare! We did logistical things at the office all afternoon and then received our volunteer visit assignments! I will be visiting a volunteer in Caazapa. I think it’s about 4 hours from Asuncion. I’ll be going with another trainee named Carrol. We leave Saturday morning and will return by Tuesday night. Can’t wait!!
Things have been super duper busy here. I haven’t has much time to myself lately which is probably a good thing. I’ve been hanging out with my host parents a lot and a lot of our neighbors and other trainees. We play a lot of volleyball, soccer, and cards! I played cards with Diego (the 6 yr old that lives behind me) for 3 hours! He taught me how to play “casitas robadas” and it’s actually my favorite card game thus far. Tonight, my host mom gave me a beautiful pair of earrings. Paraguayans will do anything for you… seriously, some of the nicest people I have met!
Que mas?? Hm, nothing much else here is going on. It’s very difficult to explain everything that I’m experiencing. I think you’ll understand it best through pictures, so hopefully I’ll get those up and running shortly! Keep on checking!!! Love/miss ya!
March 2, 2010
IT’S MARCH! Which means state patty’s day! I’ll be thinking of you all! And THON?! How was it?
I just got back from visiting another volunteer! I left early Saturday morning and just got back around 7pm tonight. My host mom walked me the hour to the bus stop at 5am in the pouring rain! my partner and i caught the bus and got to caazapa about 8 hours later! the volunteer i visited was super guapa (hardworking) and we had a great time! we went fishinggg (i caught an eel), went to a quarry to go swimming, and cooked a ton of super yummy food. i successfully used my first latrine and bucket bathed! i also got sick for my first time.. i was waiting and waiting for it to happen, and it finally did. not to worry though, im pretty sure i´m over it already. Anne has a paraguayan boyfriend and he was super nice. she speaks mostly all guarani which was a huge motivator for me. we met 2 other volunteers near her site also who were also really cool and interesting. i went to church with the rest of her community... pretty similar to church in the states. played some volleyball, did some food shopping, trekked through some mud, dug out my own worms for fishing... a whole bunch of cool new things!! overall, a very eye opening and exciting weekend!!
This has been my first chance to write. I’ve either been unbelievably tired, super busy schmoozing with the other volunteers, or in meetings/orientations to get ourselves ready for service. I’ll start from the beginning. Expect a long one!
The last time I wrote, I was in Miami. Staging went smoothly and I had the opportunity to meet many of the other 48 volunteers headed to Paraguay. There are 3 different programs. One is Rural Health and Sanitation (me me! with 24 people), Urban Youth Development, and Early Elementary Education Advisors. Everyone has very cool backgrounds and have pretty much traveled the world when combined. Levels of Spanish are all over the place. I feel pretty confident, but Guarani sounds very intimidating.
At staging, we had meetings in the hotel about safety and security, health, expectations, and logistics. Then, we got busses to our flight, passed a few hours in the airport by having a few beers and a celebratory shot of tequila, then flew the 8 hours to Brazil. In Sao Paulo, we “snazzified” in order to meet our host families upon arrival in Paraguay. After the 3 hour flight, PC staff met us at the airport, got us through customs, and got us on a bus to our training center in Guarambare, about 35 km from the capital. There, we met our program and language professors, had a family placement interview, got our first week’s allowance (140,000 guarani or about $4/day) , received language dictionaries, and got pictures taken for our identity cards. WHEW! Finally, we found out who our family is and I have been gladly placed with Maria and Eligo, an older married couple. The 12 RHS volunteers in my site hopped on a van and were delivered to an awaiting group of Paraguayan women waiting to meet their “hijos” (sons/daughters). They clapped when we pulled up and it really was a moment that will be forever ingrained in my brain.
Maria and I got back to the house and I met Eligo for the first time. Their house is nice, yet very simple. They have an outhouse with a flushing toilet (I know many of you were worried) and a cold water shower in the same area. I also have electricity which is always a plus!! Maria showed me my room which is much larger than I expected. I have a pretty big bed, a cabinet for my clothes and other items, and a table for studying—basically everything I need!! I talked with them outside and enjoyed the view around me. It is very green here and very RED! Red dirt roads take over the campo. Houses are close together and most of my neighbors are family. Four of the other volunteers live very close to my house… I went over to the neighbor’s tonight and taught them how to play Go Fish with Nicole! Her host mom’s grandson (15 yr old Marcos) was over as well as many other neighbors (my favorites being Javi, age 12, and Dina, age 4). If we can teach them to play go fish, heck we can do anything.. right!!
I had bought a mug with a painted picture of Philadelphia on it for my host family; however, it broke during travel. Que lastima! But my host mom said she will try to glue it back together when she has time tomorrow!
Things seem to be going great here! Obviously it is a huge adjustment, but nothing that I can’t ease into. For me, the hardest thing will be the language. We have a language interview tomorrow, so we’ll see how that goes.
I also found out a lot more about my assignment! It is definitely a bit intimidating. We’re given a list of competencies that we are expected to have completed successfully by the end of the 11 weeks of training. Those include things such as cooking my host family 3 nutritional meals and explaining their pros and cons, building a latrine with a cement floor, constructing a brick oven, and learning and presenting about parasites, nutrition, dental health, and HIV/AIDS prevention. There are also numerous more, but these I find to be the most important. WISH ME LUCK! Love you all back home!
PS- It’s hot here. “Haku” in guarani.
February 17, 2010
It’s been a week since I’ve written and much has happened! First off, I’ve attained a million bug bites. Just as I wrote that, a mosquito flocked to my computer screen… how appropriate. I’ve been trying not to let it get the best of me, but it’s more annoying than anything having to itch a whole slew of big bites… on all parts of my body. I have also been sweating profusely since I’ve gotten here. I can’t imagine there being tons of snow at home. It seems like a world away.
MY GOD I just spend the past 30 minutes debugging my room. I’ve never had to do this before, but dude there were a million tiny mosquitoes infesting my bed.
February 21, 2010
Sorry my last entry ended abruptly. The mosquitoes won our little war and I had to shut off the lights and go to bed. Anyway, things have been pretty spectacular here! We’ve been having some intense training every day. My guarani is getting better and better. I finally understand the flow of it and how to make a decently long sentence. So far, I can introduce myself and all my personal info, talk about my family and friends, and I know a whole bunch of greetings! It is definitely a start!! In tech training, we’ve been making losas, the bottom that holds the cement for a latrine, as well as trash pits made with bamboo fences. Yes, I have used a machete! WOOOO. The tech part of training has been a bit more challenging for me. I obviously don’t have much experience doing construction and working with tools, so it has been quite the learning experience! Another hands-on project that we’ll be doing is building fogones (brick ovens). We’ve had several current volunteers come to site and give us lessons on how to teach about parasites and dental hygiene. I’ve learned all about hookworm, roundworm, pinworm, and girardia. Hookworm is one of the most popular parasites because none of the kids here wear shoes while outside playing in the dirt. The worm enters into your foot and lays eggs in your intestines. Yum. Roundworm comes from fecal matter that is spread through not washing hands, using/protecting latrines, or protecting food. Of course there’s pinworm which comes come out your butt. Many volunteers get worms while they’re here, so I wouldn’t be surprised if I get one in the next two years. Something to look forward to! We learned a few worm songs to sing in classrooms and some activities that can be used while working with children in the schools. Yesterday, we ran a “summer camp” at our training site to teach about 14 kids in my neighborhood about dental health. We did a little skit, played games, and sang songs to educate them on brushing their teeth. It was super fun, and I think the kids had a good time as well. The kids in this community are so amazing.
Last night we went to a carnival celebration in a nearby neighborhood. There was a parade of people in skimpy costumes and a small shaving cream fight! Then, we went to our first Paraguayan club. It was super fun and a really sweet experience. We also had a woman soccer game… peace corps vs. Paraguayan women. Needless to say, we lost both games, but we held our own! It was close and we agreed to play them again in 2 weeks. It was nice to run around and play soccer again. Today, I was learning how to play volleyball. It’ll take me a while to learn, but I’ll leave here as a pro!
My host dad had a birthday party on the 16th and all of our neighbors/relatives came! It was interesting and there was a lot of good food. The Americans started the dance party, of course. They celebrate by having “asado” or steak. Each invitee brings a dish of food and everyone sits around chatting and drinking.
Everyone here is really cool. We all come from extremely different backgrounds so it has been fun getting to know everyone’s story. There are 12 health volunteers that live in my neighborhood and 12 that live in the community that is about 6km from us.
On Wednesday, we go to Asuncion for the first time. We’re matched with one other person and it’s our job to get there by ourselves. It will be our chance to figure out the bus system and all sorts of travel information. On Saturday, we go visit another volunteer in his/her site to see what it’ll be like to be a volunteer. I’m very excited and am looking forward to it.
Also... update: my host mom took the time to glue together every single piece of the broken mug I gave her (TONS of pieces). She keeps it right in the kitchen so it reminds me every day how hard-working and compassionate these people are. It was a super nice gesture.
How’s everything back in the states?
February 24, 2010
I just got back from my “mission” in Asuncion. My partner was St. John, another health volunteer from the neighboring community. I woke up at 5, walked an hour to the bus stop, caught the bus to guarambare, then got on linea 32 to Asuncion. Our first destination was the store that sells the ingredients to make soap. We had to find out the prices of the soap making kit. Next, we hopped on another bus and went to a “chuchi” (high-class) park. They had a basketball court, tennis court, and soccer fields. It was a really nice stroll. Then, we got on another bus and went to the hotel that offers peace corps volunteers discount. They charge 90 mil guaraini per night which turns out to be about $18. We had a cup of coffee and then went to eat at the restaurant that is known for their American hamburgers and Italian ice cream. It felt like I was right back in the states! We made it to the Peace Corps office with plenty of time to spare! We did logistical things at the office all afternoon and then received our volunteer visit assignments! I will be visiting a volunteer in Caazapa. I think it’s about 4 hours from Asuncion. I’ll be going with another trainee named Carrol. We leave Saturday morning and will return by Tuesday night. Can’t wait!!
Things have been super duper busy here. I haven’t has much time to myself lately which is probably a good thing. I’ve been hanging out with my host parents a lot and a lot of our neighbors and other trainees. We play a lot of volleyball, soccer, and cards! I played cards with Diego (the 6 yr old that lives behind me) for 3 hours! He taught me how to play “casitas robadas” and it’s actually my favorite card game thus far. Tonight, my host mom gave me a beautiful pair of earrings. Paraguayans will do anything for you… seriously, some of the nicest people I have met!
Que mas?? Hm, nothing much else here is going on. It’s very difficult to explain everything that I’m experiencing. I think you’ll understand it best through pictures, so hopefully I’ll get those up and running shortly! Keep on checking!!! Love/miss ya!
March 2, 2010
IT’S MARCH! Which means state patty’s day! I’ll be thinking of you all! And THON?! How was it?
I just got back from visiting another volunteer! I left early Saturday morning and just got back around 7pm tonight. My host mom walked me the hour to the bus stop at 5am in the pouring rain! my partner and i caught the bus and got to caazapa about 8 hours later! the volunteer i visited was super guapa (hardworking) and we had a great time! we went fishinggg (i caught an eel), went to a quarry to go swimming, and cooked a ton of super yummy food. i successfully used my first latrine and bucket bathed! i also got sick for my first time.. i was waiting and waiting for it to happen, and it finally did. not to worry though, im pretty sure i´m over it already. Anne has a paraguayan boyfriend and he was super nice. she speaks mostly all guarani which was a huge motivator for me. we met 2 other volunteers near her site also who were also really cool and interesting. i went to church with the rest of her community... pretty similar to church in the states. played some volleyball, did some food shopping, trekked through some mud, dug out my own worms for fishing... a whole bunch of cool new things!! overall, a very eye opening and exciting weekend!!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
let's gogoo already
Well, here I go! Things have been crazy. It takes a lot of paperwork, appointments, shopping, packing, PATIENCE, and little odds and ends to prepare to move to another country for 27 months. Not only that, but I've had some pretty hard goodbyes to say as well.. which have been more challenging than I thought. I mean, yeah.. it's only two years, but right now, that seems like an eternity. When I come back, all my college friends will be all over the place being reeeeeal people! Corey will be almost 3 and a half, and he'll have a NEW cousin who will be almost 2!! Everyone will move on with their lives and things will be incredibly different. But then again, so will I. For instance... I'll be a pro at going to the bathroom outside, I'll know how to build things like brick ovens and latrines, I'll be able to speak Spanish and Gaurani (hopefully with ease!!), and I'll accctually know how to cook and be domestic!
The schedule for the next few days is going to be crazy exciting, hectic, and TIRING! I'm in Miami now and tomorrow we have orientation from 8 til about 3. Then we head to the airport and fly to Brazil at 8:15PM. After the 8 hour flight, we have a 4 hour stopover, then a 4 hour flight to Asuncion, Paraguay. FINALLY! We'll arrive in Paraguay at around 10:10AM. We go to the training center, have a host family interview, then move in with our family with whom we will be staying with for the first 3 months! Training will begin full swing on Thursday after our vaccinations. We have 4-6 hours of Spanish and Guarani training, and 2-4 hours of technical training, with a break for lunch with our families!! Looks like I won't be having a siesta during training. If training goes well, I will swear in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer on April 30th. I will get placed in the site that I will be working at for the next 2 years. EEPS!
So, February is supposed to be the hottest month in Paraguay. After getting 2 feet of snow, I'm sure this will be a huge adjustment. Temps will average around 100 degrees. eh, no biggie :)
I also wanted to thank everyone before I leave and lose the constant flow of internet access. Thank you for supporting me along the way, for your kind words of encouragement, and for your promises to keep in touch. This means the world to me and I will be thinking of you all every day. I will miss you like crazy. Bye! LOVE!
The schedule for the next few days is going to be crazy exciting, hectic, and TIRING! I'm in Miami now and tomorrow we have orientation from 8 til about 3. Then we head to the airport and fly to Brazil at 8:15PM. After the 8 hour flight, we have a 4 hour stopover, then a 4 hour flight to Asuncion, Paraguay. FINALLY! We'll arrive in Paraguay at around 10:10AM. We go to the training center, have a host family interview, then move in with our family with whom we will be staying with for the first 3 months! Training will begin full swing on Thursday after our vaccinations. We have 4-6 hours of Spanish and Guarani training, and 2-4 hours of technical training, with a break for lunch with our families!! Looks like I won't be having a siesta during training. If training goes well, I will swear in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer on April 30th. I will get placed in the site that I will be working at for the next 2 years. EEPS!
So, February is supposed to be the hottest month in Paraguay. After getting 2 feet of snow, I'm sure this will be a huge adjustment. Temps will average around 100 degrees. eh, no biggie :)
I also wanted to thank everyone before I leave and lose the constant flow of internet access. Thank you for supporting me along the way, for your kind words of encouragement, and for your promises to keep in touch. This means the world to me and I will be thinking of you all every day. I will miss you like crazy. Bye! LOVE!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
it's allll happpeeeennniiinnngggg
Today is the day I finally thought about and comprehended how long 27 months is. Many people have questioned my reasoning for doing Peace Corps. Why would I want to leave everyone I love, everything I love, and put my life on hold for 2 years? But, am I really putting my life on hold?? For me, it is quite the opposite. I will have so many learning experiences, meet people-- many of whom I will learn to love, and find new interests and hobbies that I might otherwise never have discovered. (Like riding a horse or brick laying?? haaha). Overall, what is two years of my life? Just a small portion that I am willing to "put on hold" for what I will receive in exchange. Obviously, I will miss out on many things-- important things-- back here in the States, but I'll be able to have all that upon returning. Feeling 'out of the loop' will by far be the hardest thing for me, but as long as my family and friends keep me posted with stories and pictures, I think I can live with that!! PLEASE KEEP ME POSTED :)
When will I ever be able to live independently in a foreign culture for 2 years learning and helping people along the way? My bet is that it will never happen again and many people never get this opportunity. I embrace this challenge.
In other news, I leave for SPAIN tomorrow night! Good opportunity to practice my Spanish because lord knows, I need it!!! I'm also very very super excited to spend 10 days with my mom and sisters. Can't wait!
Also- my flight for Miami leaves Philly on Feb 8th at 12:15PM. My flight for Paraguay leaves Miami at 8:15PM on Feb 9th. It's all happeeeeennnniiinnnngggg! WOOOOO.
When will I ever be able to live independently in a foreign culture for 2 years learning and helping people along the way? My bet is that it will never happen again and many people never get this opportunity. I embrace this challenge.
In other news, I leave for SPAIN tomorrow night! Good opportunity to practice my Spanish because lord knows, I need it!!! I'm also very very super excited to spend 10 days with my mom and sisters. Can't wait!
Also- my flight for Miami leaves Philly on Feb 8th at 12:15PM. My flight for Paraguay leaves Miami at 8:15PM on Feb 9th. It's all happeeeeennnniiinnnngggg! WOOOOO.
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