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!