Well I am an absolute failure at blog updating, but better 8 months late than never! What I have been up to in the last 8 months? Well I have been home and back for Christmas and my family has come to visit rural Paraguay and Buenos Aires in July. They were both interesting and special experiences. Being home over Christmas has made me realized that I have definitely changed and there are things about our American culture that are not so pleasant. There are also things that I truly missed… like my nephews, family members, friends, food with flavor, and washing machines! Having my family here was also quite the experience. I think my mom, dad, and mo really enjoyed the trip even under the tight living conditions in my house! They met all of my neighbors and the most important people in my community which was so weird for me. It felt funny having my life from home and life here be so connected during their stay. They got a brief glimpse into the Paraguayan life style and I am so grateful that I can now explain things better to them because they got to experience everything first hand. I hope they learned about the culture a bit and are relaxing while sipping some terere or mate back home!! I’ve also been on a trip to the amazon river in may with 6 other volunteers which was beauuutiful.
Aside from all these vacations, I HAVE also been working. Since the last time I wrote, my brick oven commission received the money to buy the materials from their government. I built 14 brick ovens while another brick layer build 5 others. Our brick oven project is completed and we have moved on to chicken coups! Never did I ever think I’d be working on chicken coups or building brick ovens… craziness. Anyway, my commission grew from 17 members to 36! This shows that they have a lot more “confianza”, or trust, in me because we had a successful first project. We’re currently fund-raising and handing in our paperwork to the government to write up our petition for more financial support.
In the melting summer months of January and February, 3 volunteers and I completed a successful summer health camp including themes such as dental health, parasite education, sports, art, and exercise, and environmental awareness . It was so fun being able to meet so many active children and teaching them how to play football Americano and make friendship bracelets!
I’ve started working in the schools again also. I’m collaborating with the doctor and nurse of my community to do sex education lessons in the high school and am working with a 20 year old friend named Luci to do trash and recycling lessons with the elementary school kids.
My garden is finally flourishing! I’ve been eating lots of lettuce…
I also recently started going to a neighboring community called Guayaki where things are quite different from my site. They don’t have running water, so they’re drinking out of dug holes in the ground. Wells don’t even exist. They also don’t have any form of bathroom, nor any kind of health professional working in the area. It’s quite a different scene there. I’m working on requesting a Peace Corps volunteer for this community in the future. Hoping all goes well.
Let’s see… I think I’ve hit all the major highlights. For all you nosy people, I do have a PY boyfriend and no, we do not know what will happen when I leave in April. Only 9 more months… I cannot believe how fast the time is passing here. I still have way too much I want to do before my time is up! I’ve grown quite attached to my people here and can’t imagine leaving them. Just recently my 9 year old friend laura wrote me a letter for friendship day in Paraguay. It’s adorable and way too nice. I’ll translate what it says:
Dear Daniela,
Daniela you are the best friend I have ever had in my life because you have taught me many things. I love you so much. You are so beautiful that when you arrived to Paraguay, you made the sun shine brighter.
Your friend, Laura
Haha I’m going to miss my San Pableros
Anyway, this was just a brief update to let you know I am alive and doing well!
