El Tiempo Vuela

Hello to all my lovely followers...Saludos from Paraguay!  I can't believe how fast time is flying...I'm not sure what happens to the weeks but I feel like every time I stop to take a breath its already Friday again!  It seems as if I'm living perma-weekend ...which I am definitely not complaining about.  I think I've developed a pretty good balance of work and play and here are some of the things I've been up to recently...

Work

• I finally got my primary project up and running!  After I completed my community census, I held a town meeting to present my findings.  We talked about the major health problems in the community (diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, dental problems, parasites, and colds/flus) and their causes (diet, lack of exercise, and personal hygiene).  Then we did a "lluvia de ideas" aka Brainstorming to come up with project ideas.  After we had our list we took a vote to determine which project to start with.  We decided on a latrine project.  We set a date for our first meeting, and I went home and did my research on latrines.  I was really excited about my findings...I wanted to do a latrine project using recycled materials for the construction.  I figured out how to do the construction, printed out photos, made a super lindo poster and everything only for both ideas to be stomped on.  We want modern bathrooms, and we want to use bricks.  I was super frustrated/angry for several reasons.  1) because I was really excited about my project idea...combating 2 HUGE problems (trash and parasites) with 1 project. and 2) modern bathrooms are MUCH more expensive which means the project just got infinitely harder for various reasons, but in the end its a project for the community members and they need to be excited and invested in the project in order for it to be able to work so I said ok, fine.  We formed our commission, elected a Presidenta, Vice Presidenta, Secretary, and Treasurer.  We have 26 members...and finalized our list in the last meeting.  I went to town with the Presidenta to start looking at prices.  We went to 2 ferriterias to come up with a budget.  Right now we're looking at a little over 4,000,000 Gs per bathroom (which is about $1,000).  I got together with our Secretary and we wrote the official "Acta" needed to receive recognition from the Mayor and the Governor.  I have a photocopy of everyone's ID, and we need to write a solicitude as well this weekend and then we will be ready to turn everything in to hopefully receive recognition.  Once we receive recognition from the Mayor and the Governor we can start asking for funding. 
• I've been giving health charlas in the waiting room of the hospital in town every Wednesday.  So far I have done 2 dental health charlas and a breast feeding charla.  Lyn, the volunteer coordinator in San Ignacio, and Danielle, another volunteer, usually do the charlas with me, but they left me all alone for the breast feeding charla...gee thanks, guys haha.
• I'm still working with the health team at my puesto on Tuesdays.
• I'm still meeting with the Health Commission.  We have meetings every two weeks or so.  So far we've raised funds to buy chairs for the waiting room, and put curtains up on all the windows.  We sold hot dogs and pineapple juice last week for a small fundraiser.  I believe we're working for ceiling fans for the puesto next.
• I still have my English class...although I think I'm going to end it shortly.  We played Twister the other day which they enjoyed...I think.
• I have my girls group...which is really just my 2 girls...aka my best friends in the community. We have a new project idea though.  We're going to start raising money to buy trash cans for the community.  We're planning on making and selling goodies...aka banana bread...and also possibly making bracelets and wallets and stuff from plastic bags and milk/wine cartons to sell as well
• And there are other project plans in the works, that I've previously talked about, but still haven't been implemented...

Life Outside of Work

• I got together with a group of other volunteers from my G to go to the district of Paraguari to this wonderful Eco Reserve called Mbavoti.  It was soooo much fun!  First, we crossed 3 hanging bridges, then we went ziplining, then we repelled; however, my Spanish repelling vocabulary/my knowledge of how to repel isn't quite up to par and I kind of just fell from the cliff and hung from my rope saying "No se que hacer!"  I don't know what to do! So they just lowered me down to the ground haha.
• I went to the Casino in San Ignacio with a group of friends for Karaoke night a couple weeks ago.  We had dinner...the Casino here has super rico food, and then we started singing.  I was super bummed to see that you just sang from your seat.  This does not draw nearly enough attention.  My friend Lyn and I started out with Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle" to get warmed up.  Next, I showed Cavanaugh love and I, not only sang, but danced to Enrique Iglesias "Escape"...in the middle of the casino.  I had a table of men cheering for me.  IT WAS AWESOME.  A few weeks later, I went to pay my electricity bill, and I was super confused when the teller was asking me if I was going to sing for him until I realized he was one of my cheerleaders.  I told him, I need a few more drinks first. haha.
• It was my host brother's from training birthday last weekend, so I went to visit.  I love visiting them.  I walked in the house to my mother exclaiming "Hola Gorda" and immediately serving me a gigantic plate of one of my favorite dishes.  Mmm it's so good to be home.  There were a few of my other G-mates visiting their families, and there is a whole crew of new trainees in the community so that was also very exciting.  It was really strange being the person with the knowledge...especially about language questions!  I brought the flabongos and raced one of the trainees.  Naturally, I won because "Soy la reina!"  My host brother compared me to a snake while doing flabongos...he says my throat widens ridiculously while I'm chugging the beer...haha.  At one point Rafael and I were on a search for wine (story of my life) and we passed a group of drunk Paraguayan men rattling off in Guarani.  I asked Rafael what they were saying and he responds "they say if we have sex I'm going to die because you're bigger than me."  That is when I decided I am never asking for Guarani translations. EVER. AGAIN. haha.

All in All life is GOOD!  Projects are up and running, and I'm feeling more at ease.  But, I'm SUPER PUMPED for my visit to the states in approximately 6 weeks!  I hope everyone is doing well.  Thank goodness I've made Paraguayan friends because I've been feeling abandoned by my friends State-side recently.  Please fix that by sending me your updates!

The Chuchi List

It's been raining and storming hard for the last couple days so I'm not really sure what to do with myself so I decided to write a quick blog entry...a Chuchi list.

Chuchi was one of the first words I learned upon arriving in country.  It basically means really nice, fancy, or expensive...and now that I'm living in a third world country, I can honestly say that America is CHUCHI! But I've decided to compile a list of things you may all think are ordinary, but I consider chuchi...

1) Perforated toilet paper.  Or, having toilet paper in a bathroom at all.  Carrying TP in you purse is a must here.
2) Having your own glass to drink from during mealtimes.  This is especially rare if you are drinking alcohol.  It is the norm to have one glass of beer/wine/whatever that gets passed around to everyone that is drinking...thus making it nearly impossible to get drunk sometimes.
3) A flushing toilet.  I won't even get started on automatic flushing toilets.
4) Hot water showers.  Hot water in general.
5) Real windows...that aren't just holes in the wall.
6) A roof that doesn't leak when it rains
7) Washing machine
8) Drying machine
9) Dishwasher
10) A sink.  I'll tell you that my "sink" consists of a water spicket and a bucket placed on a chair.
11) Tile floors.
12) Carpet.  Chuchi to the max.  I don't think I've seen ANY carpet since arriving in this country.
13) Cupboards
14) Gyms.  Especially gyms with bars and bumper plates.  I have yet to find a gym with legit weights and I've searched long and hard.
15) Air conditioning
16) Heating
17) Trash cans.  I'm not kidding, I can never find them.  Here people just throw trash wherever they please.
18) Trash pick up.  Really people, appreciate that all you have to do is stick your trash in a bucket outside and it literally disappears from your site.  Most people here that don't throw it, burn it.  My non-compostable trash, I carry in my backpack to my pueblo where there is trash pick up. Yeah I just said I carry my trash in my backpack.
19) Having a car
20) Having gas in your car
21) Boneless, skinless chicken breast
22) Having a choice of which part of the cow you're getting.  Here you get..."meat without bone, more bone than meat, or ribs."
23) Ice cube trays.  Here you fill a plastic bag with water and stick it in the freezer to end up with a chunk of ice resembling a fat dildo.
24) Closets.  I have yet to see a legit closet since arriving in country.  There are "romperos" which are just armoirs (sp?).  A wooden box where you can hang some clothes (if you can find hangers) and a few drawers.
25) Dog food.  Dogs get table scraps here...if they get anything at all.  Bailey gets dog food, and everyone looks at me strange every time I carry it home from my pueblo.
26) Corsages...those silly things couples pin on themselves for prom.  I never even thought about it until I was watching an American movie with some Paraguayans the other day.  They all asked me why we wear those, and I said, actually, I have no idea.  And they all responded with "hmmm...primer mundo (first world)..."  as they shook their heads and laughed.

And I'm sure I'll think of more once I publish this post, but I'm going to go take my grandote overly aggressive dog to workout in the flooded soccer field, shower, and get ready for some karaoke at the CASINO....talk about chuchi!

The 6 month slump

I’m just going to preface this blog entry with this statement: It is getting harder and harder to coherently speak/write in English.  If I lived in a perfect world everyone would be able to understand my joparish (I made that word up) of English, Spanish, and michimi Guarani.  I apologize in advance for my raging grammatical errors, use of incorrect words, and run on sentences.

I had my PTIP (I’m not sure what that stands for either) interview a few Fridays ago with my APCD (aka my boss…we have an acronym for just about everything in PC) in Asuncion followed by another week of training.  I had the weekend free in Asuncion before training started so I decided to travel out to a town called Aregua to visit the “Strawberry Festival.”  The Festival was really neat…it was lacking an actual Festival feel hence my quotation marks, but there were a bunch of vendors selling their delicious strawberry products.  There were strawberry empanadas, strawberry ice cream, strawberries and cream, strawberry juice, strawberry liquor, strawberry cakes, strawberry jam, etc.  All the vendors were set up right in front of all the strawberry fields, so we were able to take a walk to see all the crops as well.  Sunday afternoon a group of us bused out to CAFASA, the resort where training was to be held.  To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what was covered at training because I slept through almost all of it.  Now, before you go and start judging me for being a slacker, let me explain.  I was on my death bed…at least I felt like it.  I had a really high fever for 4 days before I was finally able to get back to Asuncion to visit Medical Mary.  I had a pretty nasty throat infection that completely wiped me out for the week.  On the upside, I had no appetite for about 5 days, and now my jeans aren’t AS tight.

I returned home the following Friday night to face four days of rain (aka not leaving the house because Paraguayans think you’ll melt or something if you’re outside in the rain) and a pretty intense bout of depression/feeling of what the hell am I doing here/with my life?  I tried to come into Peace Corps with as little expectations as possible, but it’s really hard to enter into anything with absolutely no expectations…and I expected a more defined job description/role in my community.  Instead, I feel more like I was dropped into this community with a bunch of strangers I can’t even understand a majority of the time, who spend most of their time laughing at me and gossiping about me.  I was told to find my own co-workers, assess the needs of the community, and design my own projects.  This sounds slightly overwhelming in English, yet alone in not 1, but 2 foreign languages.  Not to mention the fact that I have to ask my friends and neighbors how to do just about EVERYTHING.  My favorite was when I had to call my pesado neighbor who was just begging to come over and sleep with me to help me get my power back on when I shorted the electricity trying to take a luke warm shower.  I was sopping wet in my towel.  Awkward.  Don’t worry; I was fully clothed before he arrived.  But, how do I get to town?  Where do I buy groceries?  How do I get this burrowing parasite (pique) out of my foot?  What are all these black things?  Oh, mouse poop, awesome.  How do I get these maggots out of my dog’s wound?  Why on Earth does my dog have maggots in her wound?  I’d like to make some mbeju (a typical Paraguayan food), what do I need, and how do I do it? How do I say this?  What is that?  What? Que?  Mba’e? I don’t understand.  It’s a very strange feeling, needing so much guidance in some ways, but at the same time having so much more knowledge than these people.  The language barrier is frustrating for several reasons.  Don’t get me wrong I can communicate a HECK OF A LOT BETTER now than when I first arrived, but I still can’t, and I will never be able to speak like I can in English.  Needless to say I was feeling useless and dumb; however, instead of drowning in my misery I made an appointment to speak with one of our head honchos in Asuncion, Dee.  The meeting went awesome.  Apparently most volunteers experience my exact sentiments around month 6…just about where I am now…so I’m right on track with the emotional ride of a PCV.  But she gave me some great advice, she told me some stories from her Peace Corps experience in Burkina Faso, Africa, and it was just a really great conversation in general.  Since arriving back in site, otra vez, I’m feeling on top of the world again.  The term emotional roller coaster, as cliché and overused as it may be, really applies to a Peace Corps Volunteer.  I’m not even kidding when I say it is not uncommon for me to feel every emotion possible throughout the course of one day.  Sometimes I feel like I’m bipolar here.  I went from hating life, spending my days on the verge of tears, wondering what the heck I’m doing here, and being ready to hop on a plane and return to my life in the states on a Monday to feeling very content with life on Wednesday to loving life and feeling on top of the world on Friday.  Besides, I can’t leave now…I have too many pairs of underwear that haven’t fallen out of my pants while playing soccer, there are more Guarani sexual references to be made during lunchtimes (I like them large penises…and you know that large penis from the other day…yeah well, it impregnated me), there is more chisme to be heard about myself, there are more bulls waiting to charge me, there are 19 more months of “I love yous” from strange and maybe not so strange men, and there are approximately 570 days left of operation make a fool of myself every day.  Living life SIN VERGUENZA; the only way.

                I live in a really small community which translates to BIG CHISME.  I try to stay out of the chisme realm because I know la gente are saying all kinds of things about me (and everybody else), and honestly it hurts my feelings to hear some of the things they have to say; however, some of the chisme gets to me.  I thought I’d share my two favorite bits of chisme:

1)      Me and Bailey are having sex.  Not only do I practice bestiality, but I’m also a lesbian now too.

2)      I’m dating one of the town drunks.  Apparently, I like boys again.

Trabajo

• Mondays:  I’ve designated Monday as my charla day in the escuela.  Last Monday I did a hand washing charla complete with a song and dance.  And I’m planning on doing a series of parasite charlas in the upcoming weeks.  Monday afternoons I have a girls group.  I currently only have 3 girls, but they are my favorites.  They’re my best friends in the community, nevermind the fact that they are 14-16. I plan to work on self esteem, values and decisions making, and life planning with the girls…eventually…but this upcoming Monday we’re making banana bread.
• Tuesday is my puesto day where I hang out at our health post.  We usually have a Health Commission meeting at some point on Tuesdays as well.  I’m so proud of the group!  By this coming Tuesday we will have chairs in the waiting room, and curtains on all the windows!  Tuesday afternoons I have my English class.
• Wednesday I go to San Ignacio and I work in the district hospital with an important lady.  I’m not exactly sure of her role in the hospital still, but I know she’s important because she shares an office with the Directora of the hospital.  We’re working on developing a curriculum to train youth to become youth educators on the following themes: HIV/AIDS, STI’s, Addiction (alcohol, marijuana, and crack), Moto safety, and environmental education-mainly combating trash.
• Thursdays: I’ve designated the morning to hang out in the colegio…one day I will start giving charlas in the colegio, but I’m not going to lie…the high school students intimidate me, and I’m not ready yet.  Thursday afternoons I have my English class.
• Fridays are my world map day.  I’ve recently acquired paint and paint brushes to start drawing/painting a world map on one of the walls in the school.
• I have 2 more census to complete…SO CLOSE to being done.  The census has been interesting.  I have found people who don’t have floors in their latrines (hello parasites), some people have no latrines…I couldn’t bring myself to ask them where they used the bathroom, and many people when asked how they disposed of their trash plainly stated, sin verguenza, oh we just throw it.  Oiii vey.  Anyway, I’m planning on holding a community meeting one afternoon this week so we can start improving latrines and start building fogones.
• Youth Taller: I’m working with my closest volunteer neighbor, Danielle, to plan a youth taller this summer.   We’d like for a majority of the volunteers in Misiones to bring 2-3 youth from their community. We’re planning for the first weekend in February and we’re going to spend a weekend with the youth going over topics such as HIV/AIDS, values and decision making, and a career/college/scholarship fair.  I’ve submitted an application for a Grant to help fund the project, and Danielle’s talked to our Gobernador who is definitely willing to help fund the conference as well.
• Summer Education: I’m also working with other volunteers in Misiones and Itapúa (a department next door to me) to develop a summer curriculum.  We’re meeting in a couple of weeks to share our ideas and finalize the curriculum.  We’d like to work with the elementary school kids during the summer to help improve literacy rates (they’re atrocious).

And one last story for good measure.  So yesterday I was so freaking hot and frustrated.  My house is being taken over by ants…and other insects.  You name it, I have it: ants, centipedes, spiders, worms, flies, mosquitoes, frogs, toads—hello Summer!  I seriously have swept out millions of dead ants from my house…and they’re dead because I’m poising them (and most likely myself and Bailey) with this ant killing powder.  I finally bought a fan yesterday only for it to fall over on the bus and not work when I got home.  The men here are driving me nuts.  They are so pesado, frustrating, manipulative, and machista.  Anyway, so yesterday was rough, but I went over to my neighbor’s house to visit…and my already favorite senora secured her place as my favorite yesterday by making dirty jokes and teaching me Guarani insults.  She told me next time a man tries to come sleep with me tell him “Ándate ejapiro tuna” go jerk off on a cactus….yessssss.

And that’s all she wrote, folks.  Love and miss you all!  Please send me updates, per usual, most of you are slacking in that department.

Rohayhu

Rohayhu…I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.  It means “I love you” in Guarani, and men tell me all the time to which I respond “Nde Japu”…you lie...

So I’m all moved in to my new house…it’s been a while now, but I absolutely love it!  I have a kitchen, a living room, a bedroom, and a bathroom, and sometimes I have cows.  My “dresser” is made from two wooden planks, 2 cardboard boxes, and 1 chair.  I'm still trying to save up for a refrigerator and a fan because its starting to get HOT!  And would you like to know my address?  I finally figured it out today when my neighbor brought over my electricity bill (the equivalent of $1.67) “San Juan Potrero 666.  Barrio San Roque cerca de Simplicio B---.”  Literally, I’m living in the devil’s house in the neighborhood of San Roque next to Simplicio B---.  Only in Paraguay does your address state your neighbor’s name.  I love it.

Let’s see I’ve been semi busy recently.  In July we had a week of language training and HIV/AIDS information in Asuncion.  I was able to stay with my training host family for a few days which was SO AWESOME.  I absolutely love that family.  I walked into open arms, “wow, you got fat!” “What happened to your face?  Did you crash?” and “Did you get yourself pregnant in the campo?” comments.  It’s very nice to see you all too.  Haha.  It is true; I’m becoming uglier every day since arriving in Paraguay.  My face is so broken out I should be on a pro-active commercial, I just keep getting fatter (my jeans are literally ripping...so I've just resorted to wearing yoga pants everyday), and my hair…well it’s just a wild mess of disaster.  I’ve gotten better at enduring the comments and no longer almost burst into tears when people make these comments to me because I know that (most) Paraguayans mean no harm, it’s just what they do.  I just have to keep telling myself I’m getting prettier on the inside.  But in all seriousness, I really do love my host family from training.  I honestly felt home when I walked into the house, I can tell that they do really love me and care about me, and it was so nice to be able to have real conversations now that I can communicate more effectively than a 2 year old.

I went down south in the city of Encarnacion to visit my friend Stacy from training one weekend.  Encarnacion is an awesome city.  It’s so far south you can see Argentina across the river.  My favorite part of Encarnacion was Super 6…I thought I died and went to heaven.  It was a supermarket that had more than 3 bite sized aisles, a FULL produce section, peanut butter, BOTTLES (not just boxes) of wine, other alcohol, a freezer section, cheese (that was not Queso Paraguayo and did not smell like dirty feet), an aisle of pet supplies, and my favorite part? BONELESS, SKINLESS chicken breast!  I’m not even kidding when I squealed and jumped around like I’d just won a million dollars when I saw that.

Last weekend I went to an 80 year old man’s birthday party in my community, and it was so much fun.  When I first got there I felt super awkward and lame because I didn’t really know anyone and everyone was just sitting around speaking in Guarani; however, after dinner I decided to start drinking the wine that was just sitting on the table waiting to be drank…and then the fun began.  One of the town drunks was sitting across from me and I successfully managed to switch out his wine and coke for just plain coke which everyone thought was pretty funny.  He asked me what my name was to which I replied “Princessa pora” which translates to pretty princess.  Then he said he was hungry so I served him a plate of lettuce and he told me “Rohayhu.”  Then I made friends with this Bolivian girl and we started the dance party.  The 80 year old birthday man kept introducing me to his friends because being single in Paraguay is not acceptable!  I danced with a few old men and ended up getting home at about 2am!

As far as work goes…

• I started teaching an English class.  Tuesdays and Thursdays at the high school.  I really have no idea what I’m doing or how to be a teacher.  I originally had over 50 students-which was super overwhelming, but it’s slowly starting to dwindle (thank goodness).  I actually kicked a kid out of class during a quiz and gave him a zero.  I think I take after my momma bear in the classroom.
• I’m working with a community commission to build a community garden.  So far we’ve only been clearing away the weeds and prepping the space.  Apparently we still need seeds and everything so we have a long way to go still.
• I have the health commission up and running again.  We’ve been meeting weekly, and we’re in the middle of some fundraisers.  The meetings are always conducted in Guarani which means I understand close to nothing and usually just escape to Casey Land…so I really can’t tell you what we’re planning, but the health post needs a lot of things…aka chairs in the waiting room.
• I still haven’t finished my community census. Blah.
• Another volunteer and I are planning a Youth Leadership Conference.  We’re planning on collaborating with the other volunteers in our area.  We’ll each bring 2-3 youth from our communities and we’re going to touch on subjects such as values and decision making, HIV/AIDS education, and we’d like to do a career/college fair complete with information about scholarship opportunities.  We sent in our grant application the other day so hopefully that gets approved.

All in all things are going well!  Bailey is doing really well too.  She’s had a couple of wounds, one of which was complete with maggots, and I’m not sure how she got them.  She has her dog friends in the community that she goes and plays with everyday…she spends more time at the neighbors’ houses than mine, but she constantly checks up on me, and she likes to torment the chancitos and vacitas next door.

I miss you all mucho, and I hope everything is going well with everyone!

Living the Dream

August 3 was my 6 month anniversary in Paraguay!  Can you believe how fast time is flying?  I've decided to copy a few of my PC friends and make a little list recapping my HAVEs and HAVE NOTs in country thus far...

In the past 6 months, I HAVE NOT...
Felt completely clean
Worn a full face of make-up (minus swear-in)
Driven a car
Worked out in a crossfit gym
Watched any TV or listened to any radio stations in English
Gone a day without speaking Spanish
Gone to Happy Hour
Had hot water to wash my hands, face or dishes
Had the option of having food delivered to me
Used a washing machine or a dryer or a dishwasher or a refrigerator
Walked on (or seen) carpet
Drank coffee that's not instant 
Gone a day without thinking about/missing all my friends and family in the states and around the world...

In the past 6 months I HAVE
Learned to speak (arguably) 2 new languages
Made way too many sexual references in Guarani without realizing it
Witnessed a pig slaughter
Lost my ability to speak English effectively/correctly
Ridden more buses than the rest of my life combined
Bucket bathed
Taken showers that are literally painful because the water is so cold
Wiped my ass with a plethora of different materials
Pooped in a bucket in my living room
Pooped on the side of the road when I just couldn't make it back to the house
Talked extensively about the weather on a daily bassis
Called a lot of women mom
Built 2 fogones
Given a lot of charlas
Eaten A LOT of meat
Slept with hot water bottles (they work wonders)
Been told I'm pretty on a daily basis
Been told I'm fat on a daily basis
Been told "I love you" by members of the opposite sex more than the rest of my life combined
Had intestinal parasites
Experienced diarrhea on a weekly basis
Attempted to milk a cow
Fallen in love with chanchitos
Learned to wash  my clothes by hand
Learned to cook
Experienced immense amounts of generosity from Paraguayans
Realized that people are people...not matter the country.  There are always good and bad.
Witnessed two motorcycle accidents
Been stereotyped
Eaten fried food regularly
Been charged by a bull
Learned to appreciate the small things in life
Developed amazing friendships with other volunteers and Paraguayans
Spent a lot of time drinking terere
Spent a lot of time in awkward silence
Read at least 20 books
Been fought over by kids
Fallen in love with the kids in my community; however, I still have yet to develop any type of motherly/nurturing instinct haha.
Watched a lot of soccer games
Eaten three different animals during one meal
Learned that I can handle anything life throws my way...so Bring It On!


All in All the Haves are beating the Have Nots.  I think I am an extremely lucky person to be able to honestly say I am LIVING and LOVING my dreams!  Yeah, I've experienced some hard times (and I know there are only more to come) where I have wanted to pack up my bags and say Fuck You Paraguay, but then something happens that reminds me what I'm doing, and why I'm here.  It's taken me a couple months to finally feel settled, but over the past week I've realized that I am truly happy in my little community down that Red Dirt Road.

Blaaaaahhhhhh

These blog entries are getting harder and harder because everything is seemingly so routine and normal to me now; I’m not sure what to talk about...

I’m moving (again). Tomorrow.  Hopefully for the last time.  As you all know from last post, the house I’m in now needs mucho…basically everything needs to be done or redone except for the walls.  Not only is this expensive, but it’s nearly impossible to get done as a single (the boyfriend left me…apparently his uncle-my old host dad-talked him out of dating me because I’m a “filthy pig.”  I find winners) woman in a machismo culture...not to mention the whole language thing.  So there’s this house in front of the dispensa in the community up for rent and the owner finally offered me a decent rent price so I decided to take it!  I don’t need to do any reparations, I’m finally going to shave my legs (hooray for hot (running) water showers), and I will no longer be next door to a family that hates me and wants to kill my dog! WIN, WIN, WIN!

As far as work goes, I’m kind of starting things…slowly.  My dental health charla in the school went really well!  Thank goodness for Luis and Marcelina!  I stuttered through my broken Spanish, and then they explained everything more eloquently in Spanish and Guarani.  I’m currently doing a community census.  I have to go to 50 houses.  I’ve only done like 10 so far…and its PAINFUL asking semi-intelligent questions to ignorant people.  Me: “What are the most common health problems in the community?” Person: “We’re poor.”  Me: “Well yes, I understand that, but that is not a health problem.”  Person: “Well, how are we supposed to do anything if we’re poor and the U.S. isn’t sending us money?” FML.  After I’m done I’m planning on having a meeting to go over what I’ve found and hopefully we can form a commission for fogones or latrinas. 

I love spending time with the doctor and nurse that come from the neighboring community on Thursdays.  This Thursday I’ve agreed to make us all tacos for lunch and afterwords we’re having a meeting with the community to formally introduce the doctor and nurse and hopefully get the health commission up and running again.

I’ve become an excellent chef.  Well, perhaps I’m tooting my own horn a bit, but I’ve made some pretty rico comida (in my opinion).   So far I’ve mastered vegetarian chili, meatballs, pizza (with homemade crust and everything), banana bread, tortillas, quesadillas, tacos…and I eat tuna salad and omelets A LOT.

We’re currently on winter break right now so I haven’t had my daily dose of kiddos which I’m missing.  Next week, I’m heading back to my host family’s house from training which I’m super excited about.  We have a week of training…more language and HIV/AIDS information.  

Welp, that’s the gist of what’s going on down South.  Hope all is well with everyone back home.  Love and miss you all more than I miss fitting into my pants. Ffff.

Mba'epa Rejapo

So, what on Earth have I been doing the last couple of weeks?  Well, I’m still trying to figure that out as well.  The weeks seriously fly by here!  I got a door complete with a lock and some pretty sweet skeleton keys installed so I can officially leave my house without fear of coming home to an empty house.  My boss came from Asuncion for my site presentation-which sounds a lot more exciting than it actually was.  I’m living with another couple of host families to finish out my 3 months with families.  I received a loan from Peace Corps so I can install a new roof, a floor, and a bathroom in the house.  I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do everything, but I REALLY just want to be able to take a hot shower, stand barefoot on my floor without ending up with muddy feet, and have a house full of dry things-even when it’s raining.  Is that so much to ask?

The girls’ soccer team is still up and running!  We’ve had 2 games so far…I played in the first and we lost 3-1.  They played a second game while I was out of site and won!  And the third game is scheduled for this weekend…but it’s been raining all week so we’ll see what happens.  Anyway, now for the more exciting things…

Carpinchos

                A few weeks ago, a few of us from my training group went to visit one of our friends in her community, Zaro Caro.  Sweet name, I know.  The trip there took a grand total of 8 hours, but it was definitely worth it.  It was basically a weekend full of LOTS of good food, drinks, friends and English with some Paraguayan festivities thrown in for added fun.  Saturday we woke up and went to a city named Villa Rica-the home of the Carpinchos (Capybara in English aka the largest rodent in the world).  There are 4 of them that live in a park in the middle of the city.  When we got there I was sad to see they were all sleeping on an island in the middle of this manmade lake until I realized we could rent paddle boats and float out to them.  Awesome surprise #1 of the day.  We paddled out to get a closer look.  They are seriously giant hamsters; cute and ugly at the same time.  When we brought the boats back in, the park lady (very technical term) called them over so we got to see them swim to the shore, and then we took a bunch of photos while we played with them and petted them.

                After we left the park we wandered around the city a little more and did some grocery shopping for dinner.  I might have been more excited than Charlie when he found the last golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s factory when I stumbled across marshmallows in the grocery store. S’MORES.  Awesome surprise #2 of the day.

                We headed back to the community to make and eat some dinner (Nachos…mmmm) then headed to a San Juan festival with Emily’s host family.  We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.  We were all standing in a circle chatting when all of a sudden a flaming (and by flaming I literally mean on fire, not gay) soccer ball flies at our heads.  The community is seriously playing soccer with a fireball (pelota tata—Jopara—pelota=ball in Spanish, tata=fire in Guarani).  So that was kind of scary, but died down after a few minutes.  Next, I’m sitting down roasting some caburet (most likely butchered the spelling on that) which is chipa dough put on the end of a stick and cooked over the fire, when everyone starts grabbing large brushwood, lighting it on fire and chasing everyone around.  I kept exclaiming “WE’RE GOING TO DIE TONIGHT” and I was fully prepared to stop, drop and roll.  I am happy to report that nobody died, nobody was burned, and nobody had to stop, drop and roll.

Friends

                I finally have some Paraguayan friends (that are my age)!  Hooray.  Their names are Marcelina and Luis and they are so much fun, not to mention very helpful.  Marcelina is a nurse in San Ignacio and will be helping me with some charlas in the school within the upcoming weeks.  Luis is studying engineering and can speak quite a bit of English and is currently applying for Fulbright scholarships in the United States and Australia.  He’s been very helpful as well, not to mention he gives me rides to and from town sometimes.  In return I’m helping him translate his super long, impressive resume into English.

Healthy Smiles

                While I was in town last week, Marceline met up with me and took me to the regional hospital.  I met with the Directora of the hospital, introduced myself and talked with her a little bit about my work plans.  I’ve arranged to start doing fluoride treatments in the elementary school, and the Directora is supplying the pills.  They will be ready to pick up next week!

                Next, I went and talked with the Director of my elementary school and we sat down and wrote up a pedido (letter of request) for toothbrushes/toothpaste.  I typed up the letter and had the director sign and stamp it.  Luis and Marcelina came and picked me up and we went around to different stores and pharmacies in San Ignacio to ask for toothbrush/toothpaste donations.  Really, Luis did all the work.  He knows pretty much everyone in town, he would introduce me, and I would show my paper, say Hola, smile and next thing I knew we had a bag full of toothbrushes/toothpaste.  Everything is much easier when you have Paraguayans working alongside you…which is how I’m supposed to roll anyway…

                They are planning on coming to pick me up tomorrow morning and we’re going to plan out our Charla and start giving them sometime next week hopefully!  Each student will have his/her own toothbrush, toothpaste, and rinse cup.  I’m going to talk to the teachers and the director of the school to implement brushing after snack every day.  And we’ll do a week of fluoride treatment once a month.

               

House Calls

                This month, a doctor and a nurse from the neighboring community started coming to work in my community’s health post every Thursday.  I finally made my way over to meet them yesterday, and it was AWESOME!  They are both super nice and super guapa.  They are really excited to work with me, they have a lot of really great ideas and they seemed very responsive and supportive of the ideas I have.  Additionally, they let me go on a few house calls with them.  We went to a house I’d never been to before to check on a momma and her newborn baby.  I even got to help the nurse prick the baby’s heel in order to perform a test for retardation.  And by help, I mean I held the flashlight for her and handed her the test strip when there was enough blood, but I was still excited and felt kind of important.  Next, there was another baby who had bronchitis (at least I think that’s what they said) and they ended up taking him to the hospital.  When his dad loaded him in the car he arranged him so he looked like he was my son.  The doctora thought this was cute/funny so she snapped a photo of me and my “hijo.” I have several hijos/ sobrinos in the community.  Some kids call me mom and other ones call me auntie haha.  And the third patient we saw was an old lady in a wheelchair.  I have no idea what was going on with her besides she had high blood pressure (along with every other adult in the community/Paraguay).  The language completely escaped me in her case.  They read blood pressures a little strange here.  Instead of saying 120 over 80 (healthy) they say 12, 8. 

Things are starting to pick up, and I’m starting to work, slowly but surely.  I still need to talk with the Director of the school, but I’d like to organize a clothing/coat drive for the students.  There are quite a few kids who don’t have warm clothes and it’s getting colder so hopefully we can get some swapping going so unused clothes can find some homes and the kiddos are a little warmer.

I’m planning on starting to teach some English classes…most likely starting the first week of August.  I have some ideas for fun activities…but if anyone has any neat activities/ideas I’d love to hear them.

I want to get a school garden planted and start implementing healthier snacks.  Right now, the kids just buy candy during recess then are given cookies for the school provided snack.  Once we have some veggies growing we can make carrot bread, or banana bread or something at least slightly healthier.

Speaking of healthy, almost every adult in the community has high blood pressure…as a result of the diet.  So some cooking classes are in order.  Good thing I’m such a good chef (ha!).

I need to form a women’s commission to hopefully get a fogon project started.  Also, there seems to be an overwhelming desire for a modern bathroom project.

Trash is a problem.  Garbage cans don’t exist; everyone just throws their trash anywhere and everywhere.  Then they sweep it into a pile once a week or so and burn it (malo).  Other people don’t sweep it or burn it, they just live in it.  I refuse to throw it or burn it (because it’s bad for the environment), and I feel like a mentally ill trash hoarder.  I currently have two giant bags of trash at my house.  I’m going to dig a trash pit, but it’s been raining all week…

Well I guess it wasn’t necessary for me to spell all that out before I start doing anything, but thanks for helping me organize my thoughts! Haha.  So needless to say there is a lot of work that can be done in the community.  Like I said before, if anyone has any fun, innovative ideas feel free to shoot them my way, I’m open to suggestions.

I hope everyone is doing well, I miss you all like crazy!