The HIV/AIDS Taller (p.s. Taller means workshop) I started talking about/planning over a year ago FINALLY happened., and it was a HUGE success!! I'm pretty impressed with myself that I pulled the whole thing off with only one night of stress dreams. There were 10 volunteers from my district that participated, and each volunteer brought several youth from his/her community. A volunteer friend Spencer and I came up with the schedule/activities for the taller, and then we divided the work up among volunteers. Our topics included self esteem, sexual health, sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, and then we had a presentation from a Paraguayan living with HIV. I was in charge of logistical things such as the pre/post test, the opening ice breaker, the HIV/AIDS portion of the taller, and then the final evaluations. The day before the taller Spencer, Sarah, and I went shopping for the taller. Best Day Ever. We went to the local grocery store, Torito, to stock up on snacks. We must have been a hoot to watch trying to figure out how to feed 30 people over the following day and a half. We finally pulled up at the register with a shopping cart overflowing with juice boxes, cookies, crackers, fruit, toilet paper and soap (we have to promote good hygiene as well!). I was able to talk the cash register lady into allowing us to take the shopping cart to the retreat center to drop off the snacks; however, we didn't even make it outside before the men started being all machista and wouldn't let us continue. As women, we are clearly incapable of pushing a heavy shopping cart. So a truck pulls up and we load everything into the back, and then the three of us climb up front with the driver. We may or may not have ripped a motorcycle seat in our attempt to shut the truck's door. We dropped the food off at the retreat center, finished putting together the informational packets for the youth, and set up the auditorium we would be using at the hospital. Sarah came over that night and we made sweet potato burgers which were BOMB! If I was ever planning on getting married, my future husband would be one lucky man; however, luckily for all men I've decided to save them from having to spend the rest of their life with my crazy ass. Friday night I barely slept. Saturday morning, I gathered my things and left around 7am. I arrived at the retreat center and started registering all the youth as they arrived. The volunteers led all the activities in the morning, we broke for lunch, and then we headed to the hospital for the afternoon portion. We had Oscar give his presentation about living with HIV first because he was in a hurry to get back to the capital, then one of my hospital friends who is an obstetrician/ the STI/HIV/AIDS specialist at the hospital came to help us present about the most common STI's in addition to HIV/AIDS. Then we did a condom demonstration, played some more games and called it a day. Sarah and I stayed to clean up, return the projector I had borrowed, and take everything back to my house. We stayed at my house until about 6:00pm then headed back over to the retreat center. We all had dinner together and then we told the youth they could go out around the city as long as a volunteer was with them, and everyone had to be home by 10:00pm. I went out with a few volunteers and a few youth. We walked around the city, went into some shops, and then stopped for ice cream. Everyone obeyed (thankfully) and returned around 10 pm. We had a few trouble makers that tried to sneak out, but for the most part everyone behaved nicely. In the morning we had breakfast and then we had the youth break into their community groups to come up with work plans. Each group presented. During the presentations I received a text message from my neighbor (the one I always buy chicken from) asking me if I was at home. And I said no why, whats up? (thinking it was really strange that he was messaging me). And he said well your door is open. And I said that's really strange, will you close it for me, and I'll be home within the hour. So we finished up the presentations, handed out certificates to each youth., cleaned up the center, and we all headed out.
**Highlights of the taller: A 32 year old mother of 2/health education teacher in one of the local schools told us this taller was the FIRST time she had ever learned to correctly put on a condom! Wow.
**One of the volunteers that attended texted me the following day saying her youth were already doing charlas in their community with the information they learned! So amazing!
Anyways so Sarah and I walk back to my house and we get here and my door is literally jerry-rigged up to keep it closed. I had a padlock keeping my door locked, and the whole contraption was forced off. I walk in and it looks like a tornado blew through my house. My suitcases were open with contents everywhere and my whole closet was on my floor. I remained surprisingly calm for the situation and started looking around a bit. At first, the only things I noticed were gone were my mattress and my fan, and I saw a yogurt cup just chilling in my closet. The first thought that crossed my mind was Oh, my silly friends playing a prank on me, but then the more I looked around the more I realized was missing, and it wasn't my friends (or at least I hope it wasn't my friends). I was missing everything ranging from my mattress to make up to clothes (they even took clothes out of my dirty clothes hamper) to my external harddrive to my medications. Total possessions stolen amounting to about $1500. They took a little bit of everything. I called Peace Corps and let them know. Then I went to talk to some of my neighbors. None of them saw or heard anything...mainly because none of them were around that night. There was a pilgrimage to one of the nearby campos where most everyone walked the night before. Then I headed to the police station to file a report. The officer took down my information, a list of what was missing, and my phone number. He texted me later calling me beautiful and sending me kisses to inform me the other officers were on their way to my house. Three officers showed up. Two of them were actually asking me questions/writing stuff down while the third was just looking at all of my photos on the wall. One of my friends came by and stayed with me while the police were there, and then he invited me over to his house. We went to his house and immediately started drinking wine in a big group with his family members. Seemed like the most logical thing to do at the time. We drank for a while and then we ended up at this volleyball court that was way too intense for me to handle, and then we wound up at another friends house. I headed home around 8pm to clean up the disaster that was my house and go to bed. I slept on my floor for 2 nights, but now I have a sad mattress that was lent to me by the Hogar. I bought a new fan which didn't work when I got it home, but I exchanged it for a new one so I'm making my way back...slowly. I've basically just been sleeping all day everyday...but I ran out of sleeping pills last night so we'll see if I'm able to sleep tonight.
In other news. I'm still dancing on the hospital dance team that we formed recently. Our first show is this weekend...in my old community. My life is a joke. It's going to be ridiculous. Sarah and I are the only 2 girls who don't have a man partner so we just kind of randomly dance by ourselves and look extra ummm special...and we don't even have matching outfits. It's gonna be interesting.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Friday, September 28, 2012
Fun Times
Holis!!! I'm still doing most of the same work/projects do I decided to compile some short anecdotal stories of what has been happening in my life recently. So here goes...
Spandey Adventures
I wear spandex pants all the time because they are so comfortable and its so acceptable here. So a few weeks ago I put on my spandex and went to workout at the plaza. I finished my workout then headed to the Hogar to do yoga with my mental patients. About half way through the yoga routine, I'm in downward facing dog, and Elba exclaims "Casey, wait you have a hole in your pants!" Really? Yes! As she proceeds to get up out of her spot and come over to me and point out the hole in the bum of my pants. I feel back there, and there is a very good sized hole back there. Mind you, I'm not wearing underwear because who wears underwear with spandex? So she comes over to me and is all up in my butt trying to touch the hole...and I'm dancing around her trying to get her away from my butt. So then the "mom" of the house gives me this sheet to wrap around myself. I wrap myself up, and she takes my pants and sewed them up for me, gave them back, and we continued with our yoga.
Eggs
The other day I was really hungry and wanted to make eggs for dinner. I walked to the little store next door and I bought 1 egg. I would have bought more, but there was only 1 left. Who leaves 1 egg? But, I got a kick out of buying 1 solo egg.
Bagels and Worms
We had a VAC meeting a few weeks ago. I'm not really sure what VAC stands for, but it means the volunteers that are in my surrounding area. We have a large VAC...there is about 20 of us here in Misiones. We all met up at one of the local restaurants and discussed PC news, and what we are all up to in our sites. Then my two friends Spencer and Sarah came over to my house to hang out. I made homemade bagels. They are surprisingly easy to make and they were super delicious. I made some plain ones and a cinnamon sugar one. While the bagels were rising I went to take a shower. As I was showering a worm fell out of my butt. Hello intestinal parasites (again).
Folkloric Dance
I managed to join a Paraguyan Folkloric dance team. I'm not really sure how it happened, but it did. We had our first practice on Monday. Its a group of people from the hospital, my PC friend Sarah and me, and its FANTASTIC. We arrived and the first thing the dance instructor tells us is "I'm going to play some music, and I want you all to show me your moves." Sarah and I just looked at each other and busted out laughing. So he puts on Paraguayan Polka music and everyone pairs off and starts polka dancing. Sarah and I grab each other and start twirling around in circles, cracking up, and then we just started being ridiculous until he finally turns off the music. Mind you we are practicing in the main plaza of the city...right along the main road so pretty much the entire city is watching us make fools of ourselves. So the instructor turns off the music and doesn't say much of anything to any of us, and then proceeds to teach us the basic steps of traditional Pyn dance. Surprisingly, Sarah and I caught on to the steps the fastest! I was even used as an example at one point! Go me! Sarah and I were just super thankful that this culture has no problem laughing at each other because we were just standing off to the side laughing at everyone. It was absolutely hilarious watching these people try to learn the basic steps. My friend Juana kept going left every time she was supposed to go right, and she would be the only one facing the wrong way almost every time. It was great. Anyways we're supposed to practice every Monday, and we're going to start looking for our outfits soon, and we are aiming to perform for the first time December 1. Don't worry there will be video evidence!
Spandey Adventures
I wear spandex pants all the time because they are so comfortable and its so acceptable here. So a few weeks ago I put on my spandex and went to workout at the plaza. I finished my workout then headed to the Hogar to do yoga with my mental patients. About half way through the yoga routine, I'm in downward facing dog, and Elba exclaims "Casey, wait you have a hole in your pants!" Really? Yes! As she proceeds to get up out of her spot and come over to me and point out the hole in the bum of my pants. I feel back there, and there is a very good sized hole back there. Mind you, I'm not wearing underwear because who wears underwear with spandex? So she comes over to me and is all up in my butt trying to touch the hole...and I'm dancing around her trying to get her away from my butt. So then the "mom" of the house gives me this sheet to wrap around myself. I wrap myself up, and she takes my pants and sewed them up for me, gave them back, and we continued with our yoga.
Eggs
The other day I was really hungry and wanted to make eggs for dinner. I walked to the little store next door and I bought 1 egg. I would have bought more, but there was only 1 left. Who leaves 1 egg? But, I got a kick out of buying 1 solo egg.
Bagels and Worms
We had a VAC meeting a few weeks ago. I'm not really sure what VAC stands for, but it means the volunteers that are in my surrounding area. We have a large VAC...there is about 20 of us here in Misiones. We all met up at one of the local restaurants and discussed PC news, and what we are all up to in our sites. Then my two friends Spencer and Sarah came over to my house to hang out. I made homemade bagels. They are surprisingly easy to make and they were super delicious. I made some plain ones and a cinnamon sugar one. While the bagels were rising I went to take a shower. As I was showering a worm fell out of my butt. Hello intestinal parasites (again).
Folkloric Dance
I managed to join a Paraguyan Folkloric dance team. I'm not really sure how it happened, but it did. We had our first practice on Monday. Its a group of people from the hospital, my PC friend Sarah and me, and its FANTASTIC. We arrived and the first thing the dance instructor tells us is "I'm going to play some music, and I want you all to show me your moves." Sarah and I just looked at each other and busted out laughing. So he puts on Paraguayan Polka music and everyone pairs off and starts polka dancing. Sarah and I grab each other and start twirling around in circles, cracking up, and then we just started being ridiculous until he finally turns off the music. Mind you we are practicing in the main plaza of the city...right along the main road so pretty much the entire city is watching us make fools of ourselves. So the instructor turns off the music and doesn't say much of anything to any of us, and then proceeds to teach us the basic steps of traditional Pyn dance. Surprisingly, Sarah and I caught on to the steps the fastest! I was even used as an example at one point! Go me! Sarah and I were just super thankful that this culture has no problem laughing at each other because we were just standing off to the side laughing at everyone. It was absolutely hilarious watching these people try to learn the basic steps. My friend Juana kept going left every time she was supposed to go right, and she would be the only one facing the wrong way almost every time. It was great. Anyways we're supposed to practice every Monday, and we're going to start looking for our outfits soon, and we are aiming to perform for the first time December 1. Don't worry there will be video evidence!
Monday, August 13, 2012
Learning to Live Again
Hey Party People! It's been a while...and since it's 1:00 in the afternoon and I haven't done much except sleep and make a delicious lunch of roasted squash and cauliflower, I decided to make myself feel slightly more productive and fill you all in on my life. So why have I been such a bum today? Well, there are several reasons 1) I don't have to work on Mondays until 3:00 pm. 2) It was raining cats and dogs this morning which automatically means "go back to bed" in this country. 3) I went to Asuncion for "Ahendu" yesterday. Ahendu means "I hear" in Guarani, and it is a music show that volunteers/and their Paraguayan friends put on every 3-4 months when a new group of volunteers arrives and swears in. Also, yesterday there was a date auction, and I was one of the girls being auctioned so I had to go. There was a bidding war for me between my future site mate, Jaime, and my PC wife, Lyn. Jaime won so we'll have a free dinner at a rico restaurant one of these days! I went in to the capital just for the day yesterday....an afternoon of dancing and sangria pitchers sandwiched between two 4 hour bus rides...hence why I was a lazy bum this morning!
But let's talk about last weekend...my 24 birthday weekend! Some of my Paraguayan friends came over to my house on Friday night for the "previa" to my birthday. They walked in with the sound system and a bottle of vodka because "they know I like the strong stuff." At midnight they brought in a cake complete with a candle and they all sang to me, and then we had a major cake fight. They left around 3:30am because I'm the grandma of the group and I was all tuckered out. These people party until 7 or 8 in the morning, and I just can't do it...still. I blame it on the language barrier still. I understand what's going on, and I love hanging out with my friends, but it just tires me out more when I'm constantly thinking/interacting in my second and third languages. Saturday, my actual birthday, my friend came and picked me up to go to another friends' house for lunch. They made me Tallarin which is my favorite Paraguayan dish. I napped and got ready that afternoon and everyone came over to start again around 8:00pm Saturday night. My usual Paraguayan party team was over, and my PC wives Lyn and Julia also came over to celebrate with me. We made caiprinhas (a drink originating from Brazil), and I introduced Paraguayans to the fabulous-ness of peppermint patty shots. They were a little hesitant at first, because they had no idea what the chocolate sauce I was telling them to pour in their mouth was...but they all liked it after they tried it. Then around 10:00 we headed to a dinner show that was the 13th Anniversary of something medically related. There were all the head honchos from the hospital and a bunch of doctors and nursers and what not. I brought a pitcher of caiprinhas in my purse because I'm classy like that. No one said a thing to us. That's one of the things I love about this country. My friend Nolber is a professional dancer so I feel exceptionally "special" when I'm dancing with him, but we started the dance party and soon we had the whole place dancing with us! There was a band playing on stage and I was chosen to go up on stage and dance with them. The lead singer asked me my name and I said "Casey y hoy es mi cumple!" haha. So then the whole dinner party sang Happy Birthday to me while I danced on stage so that was AWESOME. Then we headed to the club around 3:00am, and I only made it an hour longer. Fran drove me home around 4am, and I dove in to bed. Overall, VERY successful birthday. I felt very special and loved, and that's how everyone should feel on their birthday!
Work-wise I'm still doing the same things as last time...but I also started working at the "Hogar" in town. Its right next door to the hospital, and its a home for 10 rehabilitated mental patients. There are 6 men and 4 women who are live in patients at the home, and there are 2 couples who are the "parents" who switch of staying at the house/caring for the "kids" every week. The patients know each other as brothers and sisters although they are not related and they refer to the couples as mom and dad. They all (minus the moms and dads) spent long periods of time internado (what is that in English...?) in the mental hospital in Asuncion and were basically forgotten by their friends/family. They are rehabilitated in that they don't need to stay in the mental hospital anymore, but they are not well enough to live on their own either. They are all older people..the youngest one is about 31 I believe. I LOVE spending time with them. They are a great bunch of people. They are all special in their own way, and they always put me in a good mood. I generally spend more time with the women because of culture norms and because the women are more lively. Erna calls me "la muñeca" which means doll and she reads my palm. According to her, I'm going to live to be 100 years old, I'm going to have lots of men, I'm going to be a millionaire, I'm going to have 9 children, and a lot of cows, chickens, pigs etcs. haha. Iso is always smiling. She just looks at me and laughs and then she says something to me in Guarani which I can never understand and then we both just laugh. She always gives me really big hugs at really odd times...aka in the middle of aerobics. Elba is the youngest one and she is one of the most functional. She sells things in the hospital in the mornings so I always see her and chat with her in the hospital, and she works in the afternoons. And then there is Teresa. Watch out mom, Teresa, is SUPER jealous over me. Whenever she sees me she gets really angry if I just say hello and wave...I have to go over and give her a hug and the kiss kiss. And then she usually grabs my hand and walks around with me haha. Apparently, I remind her of her daughter (who she is still in contact with and is able to see pretty frequently). Teresa is always out wandering around so I always run into her and we chat. Last time I saw her she told me I was pregnant (after she told me I also had heart problems) and literally sat there pressing my stomach for at least 5 minutes. I said Teresa I'm not pregnant. And she's like yes you are...see I can feel it. And I said No I'm not honey, unless I'm carry the next baby Jesus it's not possible...and then she was like ohh well you just have an ugly body then. I love you too, Teresa haha. She's such a character. But I go to the hogar on Mondays to dance an aerobics video with them, and I teach them Yoga on Wednesdays.
I have just about 8 months left in country! Can you guys believe I've already been here for 19 months?! I can't believe how fast the time has flown. My going away party in the states feels like a life time ago, but like yesterday at the same time.
The new group swore in this weekend, and there will be 2 new volunteers living in San Ignacio with me which I'm really excited about! A girl named Sara and a boy named Jaime. And my wife, Lyn, is leaving me in September :( I'm so sad. She's literally probably the only reason I'm still in this country, and we talk as much, if not more, than your average married couple. She actually told me one day, "Casey, you've proven to me that I am capable of being in a long-term, serious relationship?" I said oh really, why? And she said well I always wondered what couples talked about for so long after seeing each other all day...I thought it would get boring. But after being friends with you, I get it. I spend all weekend with you and then you call me on your bus ride home with something new to tell me. haha.
Well, I have to go get ready to dance with my patients! Have a wonderful day. Love and miss you all oodles!
But let's talk about last weekend...my 24 birthday weekend! Some of my Paraguayan friends came over to my house on Friday night for the "previa" to my birthday. They walked in with the sound system and a bottle of vodka because "they know I like the strong stuff." At midnight they brought in a cake complete with a candle and they all sang to me, and then we had a major cake fight. They left around 3:30am because I'm the grandma of the group and I was all tuckered out. These people party until 7 or 8 in the morning, and I just can't do it...still. I blame it on the language barrier still. I understand what's going on, and I love hanging out with my friends, but it just tires me out more when I'm constantly thinking/interacting in my second and third languages. Saturday, my actual birthday, my friend came and picked me up to go to another friends' house for lunch. They made me Tallarin which is my favorite Paraguayan dish. I napped and got ready that afternoon and everyone came over to start again around 8:00pm Saturday night. My usual Paraguayan party team was over, and my PC wives Lyn and Julia also came over to celebrate with me. We made caiprinhas (a drink originating from Brazil), and I introduced Paraguayans to the fabulous-ness of peppermint patty shots. They were a little hesitant at first, because they had no idea what the chocolate sauce I was telling them to pour in their mouth was...but they all liked it after they tried it. Then around 10:00 we headed to a dinner show that was the 13th Anniversary of something medically related. There were all the head honchos from the hospital and a bunch of doctors and nursers and what not. I brought a pitcher of caiprinhas in my purse because I'm classy like that. No one said a thing to us. That's one of the things I love about this country. My friend Nolber is a professional dancer so I feel exceptionally "special" when I'm dancing with him, but we started the dance party and soon we had the whole place dancing with us! There was a band playing on stage and I was chosen to go up on stage and dance with them. The lead singer asked me my name and I said "Casey y hoy es mi cumple!" haha. So then the whole dinner party sang Happy Birthday to me while I danced on stage so that was AWESOME. Then we headed to the club around 3:00am, and I only made it an hour longer. Fran drove me home around 4am, and I dove in to bed. Overall, VERY successful birthday. I felt very special and loved, and that's how everyone should feel on their birthday!
Work-wise I'm still doing the same things as last time...but I also started working at the "Hogar" in town. Its right next door to the hospital, and its a home for 10 rehabilitated mental patients. There are 6 men and 4 women who are live in patients at the home, and there are 2 couples who are the "parents" who switch of staying at the house/caring for the "kids" every week. The patients know each other as brothers and sisters although they are not related and they refer to the couples as mom and dad. They all (minus the moms and dads) spent long periods of time internado (what is that in English...?) in the mental hospital in Asuncion and were basically forgotten by their friends/family. They are rehabilitated in that they don't need to stay in the mental hospital anymore, but they are not well enough to live on their own either. They are all older people..the youngest one is about 31 I believe. I LOVE spending time with them. They are a great bunch of people. They are all special in their own way, and they always put me in a good mood. I generally spend more time with the women because of culture norms and because the women are more lively. Erna calls me "la muñeca" which means doll and she reads my palm. According to her, I'm going to live to be 100 years old, I'm going to have lots of men, I'm going to be a millionaire, I'm going to have 9 children, and a lot of cows, chickens, pigs etcs. haha. Iso is always smiling. She just looks at me and laughs and then she says something to me in Guarani which I can never understand and then we both just laugh. She always gives me really big hugs at really odd times...aka in the middle of aerobics. Elba is the youngest one and she is one of the most functional. She sells things in the hospital in the mornings so I always see her and chat with her in the hospital, and she works in the afternoons. And then there is Teresa. Watch out mom, Teresa, is SUPER jealous over me. Whenever she sees me she gets really angry if I just say hello and wave...I have to go over and give her a hug and the kiss kiss. And then she usually grabs my hand and walks around with me haha. Apparently, I remind her of her daughter (who she is still in contact with and is able to see pretty frequently). Teresa is always out wandering around so I always run into her and we chat. Last time I saw her she told me I was pregnant (after she told me I also had heart problems) and literally sat there pressing my stomach for at least 5 minutes. I said Teresa I'm not pregnant. And she's like yes you are...see I can feel it. And I said No I'm not honey, unless I'm carry the next baby Jesus it's not possible...and then she was like ohh well you just have an ugly body then. I love you too, Teresa haha. She's such a character. But I go to the hogar on Mondays to dance an aerobics video with them, and I teach them Yoga on Wednesdays.
I have just about 8 months left in country! Can you guys believe I've already been here for 19 months?! I can't believe how fast the time has flown. My going away party in the states feels like a life time ago, but like yesterday at the same time.
The new group swore in this weekend, and there will be 2 new volunteers living in San Ignacio with me which I'm really excited about! A girl named Sara and a boy named Jaime. And my wife, Lyn, is leaving me in September :( I'm so sad. She's literally probably the only reason I'm still in this country, and we talk as much, if not more, than your average married couple. She actually told me one day, "Casey, you've proven to me that I am capable of being in a long-term, serious relationship?" I said oh really, why? And she said well I always wondered what couples talked about for so long after seeing each other all day...I thought it would get boring. But after being friends with you, I get it. I spend all weekend with you and then you call me on your bus ride home with something new to tell me. haha.
Well, I have to go get ready to dance with my patients! Have a wonderful day. Love and miss you all oodles!
Sunday, June 24, 2012
The Beans are Done!
Greetings Earthlings! The time has come for another update. I've been living in my new site for about a month now, and the hospital has been keeping me very busy with lots of work, and I'm L-O-V-I-N-G it! Here are some of the projects I'm currently working on:
1) Educational Charlas in the hospital. I have been giving charlas several times a week in the waiting room of the hospital. Ruben is my community contact for these charlas. He is in charge of the education department at the hospital. Wednesdays we always do something related to sexual health. So far I've talked about several of the STI's as well as family planning and birth control methods. Fridays we always talk about something diabetes related. Diabetes (type 2) is a HUGE problem here which breaks my heart because it can be so easily avoided and/or managed through a better diet and more exercise, but it is VERY hard to get these people to stray from their beloved traditional (yet extremely unhealthy) foods. I have done a couple of general nutrition charlas which they don't really listen to. They have heard it so many times before that it just kind of goes in one ear and out the other. From now on I'm going to try presenting the information in ways that they haven't heard before and try to gather small tips to incorporate healthy habits...so if any of you have any suggestions, I will gladly listen! I did a very successful exercise charla a few weeks ago. I talked about the benefits of exercise and then I demonstrated about 20 exercises that are easy to do at home. They seemed to really enjoy that one; they are always told that they need to exercise, but it is not an exercise culture here so many of them don't really know what to do, or how to start. And starting next week we're also going to start giving charlas on Tuesdays. This Tuesday I'm supposed to prepare something about Parasites. I love doing the Charlas with Ruben. He always does a nice introduction and then he lets me go and give my charla. If I'm not making much sense (which probably happens more than I'd care to admit) he jumps in and clarifies for the audience, and then he always wraps things up really nicely at the end.
2) Composting Latrine Project. I'm working with a woman named Julia who works at the hospital but is the regional representative for SENASA (the water company of PY) on a composting latrine project in two nearby neighborhoods. **Quick side note about Julia. I love her. Every time I go to the hospital, aka every day, we always start out the morning with a mate session and talk for at least an hour. She's one of those people who just loves to talk so I just let her go and I learn so much from her. She always talks slowly and clearly and has all the patience in the world so it is very easy to understand her, and if I don't she has no problem explaining things to me. ** Anyway so we're working on this composting latrine project. There are a couple of nearby neighborhoods that have really high water levels and thus cannot dig septic tanks for their bathrooms. I visited the neighborhoods and they are very poor, probably the poorest I have seen in Paraguay so far, and they are literally a 10 minute walk from my front door in the city. It's crazy. Anyway, most of the homes do not have bathrooms at all, and if they do they can only dig for 1m or less and they have to move their "bathrooms" every couple of months. So Julia has been working with these neighborhoods for some time now. The commission is formed and the pedidos are written. The pedidos are written for 106 families. Julia and I have been going around the neighborhoods finding the families the most in need, and we have been going to different institutions to present the pedidos to ask for funding. So far we have presented to one NGO here in the city, the Municipality, and the Health Commission of the hospital. There are a few more institutions on our list that we will be visiting and asking for support. So far we have not received any funding, but the places that we have presented are very interested in the project. So what is a composting latrine you might ask? Well, it is a latrine-so an outside bathroom-that is built up from the ground instead of ground level with the "septic tank" below the ground. Since it is built up there are a few stairs out front that take you up to the toilet. The part above ground is divided into two sections. Once one section is filled up with waste it is closed off and let sit to compost while you use and fill up the other section. There is a separate hole/section for pee in the toilet because pee is too acidic to be mixed in with the compost. After the other side is filled up, the first side is taken out and can be used as compost for a garden. So if this project is successful, 106 families will have their very own composting latrines that, if taken care of properly, will last for their whole lives. And even better? The Mennonites that live close by are going to be buying the compost from the families with composting latrines to use on their farms. So this community and these families will be literally getting paid to Poop! I think that's so cool.
3) HIV/AIDS Work: I'm working with the regional HIV/AIDS nurse/representative giving HIV/AIDS and STI presentations at the local nursing colleges. We did our first presentation last week and it went really well! I started out with an ice breaker called Pass the Mandioca. There are two teams and each team has a mandioca. They have to put it between their legs and pass it to the next person without using their hands. Whichever team gets it to the last person the quickest without dropping the mandioca or using their hands wins. It's a really funny race to watch and its really fun to participate in as well. Then we brought everyone back in and did our presentation. At the end we brought two students up front-a girl and a guy-and I talked them through the steps of how to properly use a condom and then they both demonstrated on the mandioca. Then I did a quick activity about condom myths. Some of the myths are things like condoms have pores in them which small molecules such as the HIV infection can pass through. So I filled up a condom with water to show that although condoms may have tiny pores in them, nothing passes through and they do indeed protect against STIs. Then there is a myth that they are small. So I disproved that one by fitting the giant mandioca inside one. So the last myth is the one that guys like to use the most, that you can't feel the pleasure through a condom. So I brought a male student up to the front and blind folded him then put a condom on his fingers and told him to tell me when he could feel things. He felt it when I touched his fingers with mine and then when I licked his fingers they all went CRAZY, but he could feel it! We are supposed to do the same presentation with another group of nursing students this coming week!
I've received a Grant from the United States government to do a workshop training with youth about HIV/AIDS as well. I'm working with a nearby volunteer to start planning and organizing the workshop. We're planning on doing it in September so more news to come about that as we get the ball rolling! We're supposed to meet with the mayor this coming week to ask for a little more funding in order to cover all of the expenses.
Those are the major projects I've been working on. I also spoken on the radio the morning of Environment Day. That was nerve-racking. It was really embarrassing when I had no idea what the DJ asked me and I just responded with QUE??? into the radio. I'm working with another community contact helping her with her Mother's Club. We're still figuring out details and trying to make it work, but I have high hopes if we can get everything figured out!
Politics
Just a quick note on whats going in the political world of Paraguay. The President was impeached Thursday, and the Vice President took over as President to serve out the remaining year. Some of the surrounding countries are not currently recognizing the new government and they are calling it a coup de etat (or however you spell that) because everything happened so quickly. But, everything is very calm in country and Peace Corps staff is monitoring everything very closely...keeping an eye out for us. We really have a fantastic Peace Corps Paraguay staff so don't worry, I'm in good hands!
And, my department, Misiones, finally has a new governor! A few months ago our governor was impeached. While they were performing the audit there was an intervening governor. Then there was another governor from the opposing party of the original governor after the audit was finished while they were voting for a replacement governor. And, last weekend, they voted and elected a new governor who will take office starting in July. Whew.
Social Life
My work life has picked up significantly and so has my social life. I feel go go go all week and then I get to the weekend and I still feel go go go! But it's great. The first weekend I was here I had some friends over and we bought a rotisserie chicken and some wine and birinight (a ridiculously cheap and delicious smirnoff ice knockoff) and broke in my new house! Then the following day we went out to the campo to watch the Rally race through the rural communities. It was AWESOME! The following weekend I went with my friend Luis and some of his friends to the local nightclub. I love going out with Luis because Paraguay is such a relationship centered country that everyone automatically thinks he's my boyfriend which keeps me from being bombarded by men who want a piece of the blonde chick. But, he's really just my best friend so if I do see someone I'm interested in he'll help me out! However, the weekend at the disco I got really stomach sick and I was ready to go home at 3am, right when a well off dentist (and apparently genuinely good guy according to Luis) came up to talk/dance with me. Luis is still giving me a hard time about leaving early. Apparently they danced until 7am the next morning. Oooof. Then, the following weekend I went to one of my counterpart's daughter's quincenera. It was absolutely beautiful and a lot of fun! I was dancing like a pro (insert here a photo/video of "what I think I looked like" compared to "what I really looked like" haha). I don't know what got into me that night, but I was literally being thrown and spun around all over the place and I was totally keeping up. It was so much fun. Then this weekend was full of San Juan parties. I'm not really sure what is celebrated for the San Juan parties, but they are CRAZY but in a good way. I went with Lyn and Luis last night to a party in a neighborhood close by. There were all kinds of typical Paraguayan foods...kabure, mbeju (my favorite), batiburrillo (the insides), asaditos etc etc. Then there is always a tall greased pole with prizes at the top. Men always try to climb it to get to the prizes and its really entertaining to watch. Someone finally got it after attempting for at least an hour (who knows how long before I got there). The ended up making a human totem pole to reach the prizes at the top! And then during all of this there are flying flaming balls being kicked around everywhere. And there is a "bull"...it's really just a person under a burlap sack with two wooden horns that they set on fire and start chasing people through the crowd. It's really kind of crazy and Lyn and I were just trying to stay hidden because you know the Nortes would be a target! And then there is a stuffed dummy hanging from a tree that they set on fire at some point. This years dummy was named Lugo (the President's name who just got impeached). And there is also a time where people walk on hot coals. We left before they set the dummy on fire and before the fire walking, but San Juan is always an entertaining time if nothing else!
Next weekend, depending on the state of the political crisis and whether or not we are allowed to travel to the capital, there is a 4th of July celebration at the United States embassy. I'm planning on going, and I'm really excited about it. I hear they have a great selection of desserts.
Random side-note
The owner of my house might be the cutest lady ever. She lives next door, but she's been gone almost the whole time I've been here because she goes to stay with her daughter and her grandson for large chunks of time. But she came back this weekend and she just melts my heart. I wish she was here more often because I can see us being best friends. I play my music pretty much all the time. Since the houses are so close together and there is no insulation you can usually hear my music better outside my house. Today it was playing and I asked her if my music was bothering her. Her response? "No, not at all, I really like it!" She's so awesome.
All in all, things are going great down here. Work is keeping me busy, and my friends are keeping me busy on the weekends. I'm SO happy now, and I am LOVING life!
I miss and love you all! I hope all is well in the states. Send me updates!
1) Educational Charlas in the hospital. I have been giving charlas several times a week in the waiting room of the hospital. Ruben is my community contact for these charlas. He is in charge of the education department at the hospital. Wednesdays we always do something related to sexual health. So far I've talked about several of the STI's as well as family planning and birth control methods. Fridays we always talk about something diabetes related. Diabetes (type 2) is a HUGE problem here which breaks my heart because it can be so easily avoided and/or managed through a better diet and more exercise, but it is VERY hard to get these people to stray from their beloved traditional (yet extremely unhealthy) foods. I have done a couple of general nutrition charlas which they don't really listen to. They have heard it so many times before that it just kind of goes in one ear and out the other. From now on I'm going to try presenting the information in ways that they haven't heard before and try to gather small tips to incorporate healthy habits...so if any of you have any suggestions, I will gladly listen! I did a very successful exercise charla a few weeks ago. I talked about the benefits of exercise and then I demonstrated about 20 exercises that are easy to do at home. They seemed to really enjoy that one; they are always told that they need to exercise, but it is not an exercise culture here so many of them don't really know what to do, or how to start. And starting next week we're also going to start giving charlas on Tuesdays. This Tuesday I'm supposed to prepare something about Parasites. I love doing the Charlas with Ruben. He always does a nice introduction and then he lets me go and give my charla. If I'm not making much sense (which probably happens more than I'd care to admit) he jumps in and clarifies for the audience, and then he always wraps things up really nicely at the end.
2) Composting Latrine Project. I'm working with a woman named Julia who works at the hospital but is the regional representative for SENASA (the water company of PY) on a composting latrine project in two nearby neighborhoods. **Quick side note about Julia. I love her. Every time I go to the hospital, aka every day, we always start out the morning with a mate session and talk for at least an hour. She's one of those people who just loves to talk so I just let her go and I learn so much from her. She always talks slowly and clearly and has all the patience in the world so it is very easy to understand her, and if I don't she has no problem explaining things to me. ** Anyway so we're working on this composting latrine project. There are a couple of nearby neighborhoods that have really high water levels and thus cannot dig septic tanks for their bathrooms. I visited the neighborhoods and they are very poor, probably the poorest I have seen in Paraguay so far, and they are literally a 10 minute walk from my front door in the city. It's crazy. Anyway, most of the homes do not have bathrooms at all, and if they do they can only dig for 1m or less and they have to move their "bathrooms" every couple of months. So Julia has been working with these neighborhoods for some time now. The commission is formed and the pedidos are written. The pedidos are written for 106 families. Julia and I have been going around the neighborhoods finding the families the most in need, and we have been going to different institutions to present the pedidos to ask for funding. So far we have presented to one NGO here in the city, the Municipality, and the Health Commission of the hospital. There are a few more institutions on our list that we will be visiting and asking for support. So far we have not received any funding, but the places that we have presented are very interested in the project. So what is a composting latrine you might ask? Well, it is a latrine-so an outside bathroom-that is built up from the ground instead of ground level with the "septic tank" below the ground. Since it is built up there are a few stairs out front that take you up to the toilet. The part above ground is divided into two sections. Once one section is filled up with waste it is closed off and let sit to compost while you use and fill up the other section. There is a separate hole/section for pee in the toilet because pee is too acidic to be mixed in with the compost. After the other side is filled up, the first side is taken out and can be used as compost for a garden. So if this project is successful, 106 families will have their very own composting latrines that, if taken care of properly, will last for their whole lives. And even better? The Mennonites that live close by are going to be buying the compost from the families with composting latrines to use on their farms. So this community and these families will be literally getting paid to Poop! I think that's so cool.
3) HIV/AIDS Work: I'm working with the regional HIV/AIDS nurse/representative giving HIV/AIDS and STI presentations at the local nursing colleges. We did our first presentation last week and it went really well! I started out with an ice breaker called Pass the Mandioca. There are two teams and each team has a mandioca. They have to put it between their legs and pass it to the next person without using their hands. Whichever team gets it to the last person the quickest without dropping the mandioca or using their hands wins. It's a really funny race to watch and its really fun to participate in as well. Then we brought everyone back in and did our presentation. At the end we brought two students up front-a girl and a guy-and I talked them through the steps of how to properly use a condom and then they both demonstrated on the mandioca. Then I did a quick activity about condom myths. Some of the myths are things like condoms have pores in them which small molecules such as the HIV infection can pass through. So I filled up a condom with water to show that although condoms may have tiny pores in them, nothing passes through and they do indeed protect against STIs. Then there is a myth that they are small. So I disproved that one by fitting the giant mandioca inside one. So the last myth is the one that guys like to use the most, that you can't feel the pleasure through a condom. So I brought a male student up to the front and blind folded him then put a condom on his fingers and told him to tell me when he could feel things. He felt it when I touched his fingers with mine and then when I licked his fingers they all went CRAZY, but he could feel it! We are supposed to do the same presentation with another group of nursing students this coming week!
I've received a Grant from the United States government to do a workshop training with youth about HIV/AIDS as well. I'm working with a nearby volunteer to start planning and organizing the workshop. We're planning on doing it in September so more news to come about that as we get the ball rolling! We're supposed to meet with the mayor this coming week to ask for a little more funding in order to cover all of the expenses.
Those are the major projects I've been working on. I also spoken on the radio the morning of Environment Day. That was nerve-racking. It was really embarrassing when I had no idea what the DJ asked me and I just responded with QUE??? into the radio. I'm working with another community contact helping her with her Mother's Club. We're still figuring out details and trying to make it work, but I have high hopes if we can get everything figured out!
Politics
Just a quick note on whats going in the political world of Paraguay. The President was impeached Thursday, and the Vice President took over as President to serve out the remaining year. Some of the surrounding countries are not currently recognizing the new government and they are calling it a coup de etat (or however you spell that) because everything happened so quickly. But, everything is very calm in country and Peace Corps staff is monitoring everything very closely...keeping an eye out for us. We really have a fantastic Peace Corps Paraguay staff so don't worry, I'm in good hands!
And, my department, Misiones, finally has a new governor! A few months ago our governor was impeached. While they were performing the audit there was an intervening governor. Then there was another governor from the opposing party of the original governor after the audit was finished while they were voting for a replacement governor. And, last weekend, they voted and elected a new governor who will take office starting in July. Whew.
Social Life
My work life has picked up significantly and so has my social life. I feel go go go all week and then I get to the weekend and I still feel go go go! But it's great. The first weekend I was here I had some friends over and we bought a rotisserie chicken and some wine and birinight (a ridiculously cheap and delicious smirnoff ice knockoff) and broke in my new house! Then the following day we went out to the campo to watch the Rally race through the rural communities. It was AWESOME! The following weekend I went with my friend Luis and some of his friends to the local nightclub. I love going out with Luis because Paraguay is such a relationship centered country that everyone automatically thinks he's my boyfriend which keeps me from being bombarded by men who want a piece of the blonde chick. But, he's really just my best friend so if I do see someone I'm interested in he'll help me out! However, the weekend at the disco I got really stomach sick and I was ready to go home at 3am, right when a well off dentist (and apparently genuinely good guy according to Luis) came up to talk/dance with me. Luis is still giving me a hard time about leaving early. Apparently they danced until 7am the next morning. Oooof. Then, the following weekend I went to one of my counterpart's daughter's quincenera. It was absolutely beautiful and a lot of fun! I was dancing like a pro (insert here a photo/video of "what I think I looked like" compared to "what I really looked like" haha). I don't know what got into me that night, but I was literally being thrown and spun around all over the place and I was totally keeping up. It was so much fun. Then this weekend was full of San Juan parties. I'm not really sure what is celebrated for the San Juan parties, but they are CRAZY but in a good way. I went with Lyn and Luis last night to a party in a neighborhood close by. There were all kinds of typical Paraguayan foods...kabure, mbeju (my favorite), batiburrillo (the insides), asaditos etc etc. Then there is always a tall greased pole with prizes at the top. Men always try to climb it to get to the prizes and its really entertaining to watch. Someone finally got it after attempting for at least an hour (who knows how long before I got there). The ended up making a human totem pole to reach the prizes at the top! And then during all of this there are flying flaming balls being kicked around everywhere. And there is a "bull"...it's really just a person under a burlap sack with two wooden horns that they set on fire and start chasing people through the crowd. It's really kind of crazy and Lyn and I were just trying to stay hidden because you know the Nortes would be a target! And then there is a stuffed dummy hanging from a tree that they set on fire at some point. This years dummy was named Lugo (the President's name who just got impeached). And there is also a time where people walk on hot coals. We left before they set the dummy on fire and before the fire walking, but San Juan is always an entertaining time if nothing else!
Next weekend, depending on the state of the political crisis and whether or not we are allowed to travel to the capital, there is a 4th of July celebration at the United States embassy. I'm planning on going, and I'm really excited about it. I hear they have a great selection of desserts.
Random side-note
The owner of my house might be the cutest lady ever. She lives next door, but she's been gone almost the whole time I've been here because she goes to stay with her daughter and her grandson for large chunks of time. But she came back this weekend and she just melts my heart. I wish she was here more often because I can see us being best friends. I play my music pretty much all the time. Since the houses are so close together and there is no insulation you can usually hear my music better outside my house. Today it was playing and I asked her if my music was bothering her. Her response? "No, not at all, I really like it!" She's so awesome.
All in all, things are going great down here. Work is keeping me busy, and my friends are keeping me busy on the weekends. I'm SO happy now, and I am LOVING life!
I miss and love you all! I hope all is well in the states. Send me updates!
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Tanto Tiempo
Hello!! Tanto tiempo…I know I know, It’s been a long
time since my last update, but to be fair you all are way worse at updating me
on your lives…
First things first…I
moved. There were a lot of motivations
and conversations behind the move, but I’m going to leave out the politics, the
drama and therefore the entire story and just let you all know, I’m in a new
site. I moved this past weekend and I’m
LOVING it so far. I live in a city
now. It’s a big city for Paraguayan
standards…about 10,000 people (I think).
I’m renting a little house in a neighborhood very close to the center of
the city. I have a modern bathroom and a
super sweet VERY hot water shower that I have fallen in love with…which are
both out back behind my house. I didn’t think
I would mind having the bathroom outside until I woke up in the middle of the
night my second night here about to pee my pants during a giant rain
storm. I just opened my back door and
stared at the rain for about 10 seconds while my urge to urinate kept growing
and then I just ran for it, slipped in the mud and almost took a mud bath…luckily
my cat like reflexes (that normally don’t exist) saved me. Anywho, the owner of my house lives right
next door to me and we share the backyard; however, she goes to visit and stay
with her daughter and grandson for large chunks of time so I haven’t seen her
since the day I moved in and she won’t be back until the end of June. I have a bunch of fruit trees outback;
grapefruits, papayas, and I believe a pear tree, and I dug and planted a small
garden. I don’t know too many people
yet, but I’ve been meeting more and more every day, and everyone seems super
nice so far. I live about a block away
from a bicycle repair shop so I took my bike over there yesterday to introduce
myself and to have them fix my tires. I
made friends with the family that owns one of the hardware stores nearby. It’s a cute old man, his wife, and their
son. I’ve been in a few times already
and they have been super nice and super helpful. I live really close to the best vegetable
shop in town (they have the biggest selection)…I’ve already been there three
times. I think I’m going to be good
friends with the girl one day soon. I
haven’t met too many of my neighbors yet.
I’ve been trying to drink terere outside during the day and leave my
doors and windows open while I’m home with the hopes that people will come over
and talk to me; however, the only luck I’ve had so far is have a poor man
almost walk into my house last night asking me for money to buy kabure (I’ll
explain what that is in a minute).
Luckily, he was very friendly and I had some friends over for dinner so
it was not anything scary, but I won’t be keeping my doors open after dark
anymore. My neighbors two doors down
from me have a little despensa and sell kabure (I’m probably not spelling that
right at all) and asaditos every night.
Kabure is the same thing as chipa (a traditional type of bread made from
corn flour, cheese, eggs, mandioca flour and milk here) except for instead of
baking it in an oven, you put it on the end of a stick and roast it…like a
marshmallow! And asaditos are basically
beef kabobs…just little chunks of meat on a stick grilled on a BBQ. Last night while I was waiting for my friends
to come over for dinner, I walked over and asked if I could make a kabure. The lady handed me an already made piece…and
I clarified again…No, no I want to MAKE one…well if you are okay with
that. She just laughed at me and said of
course you can make one. I’m trying to
get to know people, and I knew if I sat down and roasted a kabure I’d have to
sit there and talk with them for a good 20 minutes…and what do you know…before
I left she said we’d have to cook together sometime soon! I also got the scoop on the rotisserie chickens
that our other neighbor makes…Saturday nights and Sunday days…so I think I now
have plans for Saturday night!
Last night was a very fun, non-traditional
night. My friend, aka my Peace Corps
wife, Lyn also lives in the same town as me.
She was hosting a Belgian couch-surfing couple so they all came over for
dinner last night. We made potato and
squash soup and played Uno and Hearts for a few hours.
Annnnd work life. I’m still getting settled and having a lot of
meetings, making plans, making schedules at this point, but here are a few
things I’ve got on the books. I’m going
to be doing most of my work with the District Hospital doing educational
charlas and workshops for the staff in the hospital as well as charlas and
workshops with the staff in schools, high schools, and universities around
town. Everything is super chaotic at
this point. My contact and I were making
plans for dental health education, HIV/AIDS workshops, working with the
Diabetes patients, working with a Mother’s Club, doing radio shows etc.
etc. But, like I said, I just got here
this weekend and at this point my work is all talk, but I’ll be sure to fill
you all in on what I actually do!
And a random Paraguay story…A
couple weekends ago I randomly started feeling stomach sick. I didn’t really think anything of it because
I usually get random vomiting or diarrhea about every 2 weeks…it’s proven as a
very effective weight loss method.
Healthy? Not so much. Effective? Yes.
Very .
Anyway one night the random vomiting started and so did the diarrhea…and
I just thought FML. Then the next
morning the owner of my house (when I was still living in the campo) knocks on
my door and wakes me up and exclaims we came to work on your house. FML squared.
So I went and slept at my neighbor’s house all day. A few days later I’m feeling better, and I
went to Villa Florida for a meeting with the other volunteers close by. My friend asked me to share a pizza, and I was
so hungry from not eating hardly anything for several days, I said sure, why
not. I ate a piece and a half of pizza
and my stomach bloated out like a pregnant woman and I started cramping real
bad almost immediately. Well this is
fun. So we finished the meeting and Lyn
and I went to catch a bus back to her house.
We had an hour long bus ride back to town, and I was having intense
waves of pain every 2-3 minutes. I was
just sitting on the bus sweating, hoping to make it back to Lyn’s so I could
just crash. And then the waves of nausea
started accompanying the waves of pain.
Ohhh Lord. So I stuck my head out
the window to try to get some fresh air and a few minutes later I started
puking out the bus window while we’re driving along the high way. Love my life. So we finally get to town and
some girl gets in between Lyn and I when we start making our way to the front
of the bus. Lyn gets off and the stupid
girl won’t get out of my way so the bus starts driving again and I’m yelling at
the bus driver to stop and let me off all while I’m hunched over because I can’t
stand up straight and I’m just trying not to vomit on people. So he finally stops and I hopped off. We had a good 30 minute walk to Lyn’s house
and I knew I was not up for that so we called our friend Luis to drive us
home. I’m sitting in the back of the
truck and he’s driving in the middle of the road with all these motos on the
side of us. I could feel the vomit
coming again, and I just remember thinking…you gotta make it passed the motos
Casey, you can’t puke on the people who are riding motos. And I also kept thinking…and you can’t diarrhea
in your pants because you have to wear these in your meeting with your boss
tomorrow. And luckily, for them, I just
made it past them and started projectile vomiting and yelling at Luis to pull
over. I was child locked inside the back
of the truck hanging out the window puking in front of a local university while
ALL the students were arriving to class.
When I was finally able to manage a few words I just grumbled “Que
Verguenza” (how embarrassing) and Luis just said…No, don’t worry this happens
to all of us. Rightttt, Luis. Anyway, we
finally made it back to Lyn’s and I called into the medical office and
immediately started taking medications, and the puking and diarrhea are gone…for
now.
I also had a potential Sugar
Daddy for a tiempito. I gifted him with my presence for one dinner. But I just couldn’t do it.
Texts From Paraguay!
I don’t have that many
this time, but the ones I do have are worth noting I believe…I will keep them
all anonymous.
1)
“I’m
getting a bit tired of this guy insulting me.
At least he is cooking lunch.”
2)
“Couch
surfer is in my bathroom. I had to take
an emergency dump in my front yard.”
3)
“Made a
kid cry big time 2day. I rock! He was
being a total shit. I feel no guilt”
My address is the same…I
do ask that you advise me if you send me a package because sometimes the
packages get stuck in package jail in the capital and in order to get it out I
have to take the package code to the mail man here in town and he tracks it
down and gets it sent here. A major
headache, yes, but worth the American goodies!
Oh and also, the last package I received from my mother had a random
jacket stuffed inside that she swears she didn’t send me. Weird.
Casey Carney PCV
Cuerpo de Paz
San Roque Gonzalez 1164
San Ignacio, Misiones-Paraguay
C.P. 4750
Cuerpo de Paz
San Roque Gonzalez 1164
San Ignacio, Misiones-Paraguay
C.P. 4750
And since my birthday
is approaching (August 4) I’m sure some of you want to send me packages so here
is my birthday list…
Bare Minerals make-up
foundation (whatever it’s called) Color:
Fair
Mascara. Black.
Swedish red fish
Deodorant (Secret
shower fresh)
Lotion (Olay)
Bath & Body works
spray: black amethyst
Flavor blasted
goldfish: Xtra Cheddar
Peanut Butter
Ranch
Surprises are always
good.
And for those of you
who made it all the way to the bottom…Don’t worry I’ve been chronicling the
un-censored version of all my stories in my journal J.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Only in Paraguay
Hello! Today’s theme is a compilation of stories, true events, which happened to me here that, would NEVER happen in the states. Or maybe they would, but I still think they are worth telling…
1) My volunteer friend Danielle recently married her Paraguayan boyfriend. I went to the wedding. And this is the story of how I got there…Originally, I had arranged for my friend to drive me; however, when I arrived at his house at approximately 11:00am he was still drinking from the night before and couldn’t manage to get much out of his mouth except for a bunch of jumbled Guarani…and the only thing I took from that gargle was Che raku (I’m horny). I said Baby, I don’t see anything wrong with your hands, and I started the trek out to the ruta to wait for a bus. About 10 minutes into my walk a truck pulls up and said “Get in!” Oh, alright if you insist…I will take a ride in your air conditioned lindo truck instead of sweating to death during my hour long walk. They ask if I don’t mind running a few errands with them and then they would drop me off in San Ignacio. Dale. I got all the usual questions…What is your name? Are you single? You just watch you are going to take a Paraguayan back with you too. You know, I knew this American who got married here (they always do) what are you doing here? Where are you going? We were driving through all kinds of back roads in my community into other communities then we stopped to pick up another man and were on our way again. We were drinking terere (drinking terere while driving is my favorite). We came across this girl walking in the road so we picked her up and took her to her destination as well. The driver of the vehicle told me he used to be really poor and had to walk 17k to and from school every day and nobody used to pick him up in their autos when they drove by. That was when he decided he would always offer to drive people when he passed them walking on the road when he had his own car (Que amable!) So then we stopped at this other house in the middle of nowhere and loaded the entire back of the truck up with giant bags of cotton. And then we were on our way…San Ignacio bound. The whole time the driver kept telling me he was going to show up at the wedding to be my date…he would bring us a bottle of wine and we would dance. And I about shit my pants when he actually did show up at the wedding later that night….
2) So the day after the wedding I woke up at 7am to head to the ruta and wait for a bus back to my site. I needed to be back early because my commission was throwing a horse race for a fundraiser that afternoon. I arrived back at my house and passed out until about 12:30 because I was told I needed to be at the horse race at 1:00pm. I arrived at 1:15pm and everyone else showed up around 4:00pm. Really guys? I could have used the extra 3 hours of sleep. I was sent over to one of the entrances to collect money and I was bored out of my mind because nobody really came in from that entrance. Around 7pm I wandered over to one of the neighbors’ houses with my friend Teresa. The family was out back sitting around a fire…well cooking over the fire…but also sitting around it. Mind you, it’s 110 degrees outside. So I sit down by the fire and am immediately offered wine. I said no thanks, I’m still detoxing from last night (and Ffffffff it’s so hot right now). The father would not take no for an answer with the whole wine thing so I’m sitting around a fire drinking wine when its 110 degrees outside. Then I’m handed a plate of piping hot fried chicken (and mind you I have NO APPETITE whatsoever at this point); However, it is culturally insensitive to not eat food you are offered in this country, and this family is particularly poor so I felt very honored and thankful that they were offering me all this, but I was seriously struggling and sweating bullets. And then they all started commenting on how much I was sweating…Hmmm I wonder why? Haha.
3) I’m currently taking care of one of my volunteer friend’s dog, and he has several little girlfriends in the community…just like your typical Paraguayan man. The difference? Tucker’s neutered and is not producing little bastard children…I mean, there are a handful of quality men in this country. So one day, one of the novias and my favorite little puppy came to visit me and I was so excited to see her! Then…dun dun dun…Perruna, my neighbors’ dog,…the bitch of the neighborhood comes over. This dog is such a meany…attacks everything, but she LOVES me; however, she’s super jealous whenever I’m paying attention to anything but her so she starts attacking this darling little puppy. And I mean biting her neck and whipping and throwing her around…I thought the puppy was going to die. I’m in my front yard screaming at Perruna throwing my shoes at her and hitting her with my broom (no wonder I’m the main topic of conversation) and she is not stopping so I stepped in between the two and grabbed the puppy and ran inside my house with her and locked Perruna out. The puppy is freaking out, but I finally got her calmed down and then noticed I had blood running down my arm so I went to the bathroom to wash it off. Apparently, Perruna got a good bite on me as well because I had three puncture marks on my hand. Then I walked out of the bathroom to find the little puppy taking a GIANT dump in my living room. Apparently, Perruna literally scared the shit out of her haha. I had to take a surprise trip to Asuncion the following day for a precautionary rabies shot. 9 hour round trip for a vaccine. Love my life.
4) Monday, February 13, 2012 I went to bed around 11:00pm dreading the next day…Valentine’s Day…My 23rd Valentine’s Day by myself…spent in a country where the most important thing in life is having your significant other…well this is getting old. So I’m sleeping when a phone call from one of my friends, Mario, wakes me up at 3:00 am…Hello? “Hey Casey! Where’s your house? I can’t remember…we’re at the police station right now…we’re coming over!” Well you need to turn around because you already passed my house. But it’s 3am, I’m sleeping, what’s going on?! “Come outside we’re coming over!” The only thing that’s running through my head at this point is…Oh my God, what am I going to do…people are going to see me with this boy at my house at 3am and they are going to say I’m this giant slut, and there are going to be all kinds of (new) rumors about me…OMG! And then they arrived. My friend Mario, his brother in law, a girlfriend, and another friend…and they came to Serenade me! His friend plays the violin so he played me some romantic music for a good half an hour and we all just stood there and listened and drank some beer while all the dogs in the neighborhood went CRAZY! I’m sure all the neighbors woke up…but then I decided I don’t care because I’m not doing anything wrong, I’m just getting serenaded people, don’t mind me…go back to bed. Then we all migrated to my porch, drank some more beers, vodka (gotta love the city dwellers…they know about vodka!), sang and danced to some fantastic songs and did a flabongo for good measure. My best Valentine’s Day yet!
5) A journal entry: “There’s nothing like writing in my journal by candlelight. The power’s been out for approximately 6 hours. Loving life in the campo.”
6) My next door neighbors are my best friends. I spend all of my free time over there and they are absolutely amazing to me. I eat almost every meal over there, I wash my clothes over there (they have a washing machine woo hoo!), and they understand (better than anyone else I’ve encountered) how hard it is to be a foreigner in this country/community. The parents treat me as their daughter and the daughters treat me as their sister, and I feel like part of the family…it’s amazing. So Sunday there was another horse race in the community. I was bored (per usual) so I went to hang out. I met up with Lorena (one of the neighbor girls). We bought some wine and coke, planted ourselves on a nice patch of grass and started drinking. In the words of Lorena, “Vamos a pasar bien… y bien barracha.” I like the way you think. Mission Accomplished. Thankfully, I didn’t make any bets on the race because the pretty Black horse that I wanted to win definitely lost. We headed back to Lorena’s after the race to hang out. At one point Lorena said go get your speakers and let’s go to the high school. We need to clean the boys’ bathroom. Mmmm alright. So we show up at the high school around 8pm with our pitcher of wine and coke, jamming to some super sweet Brazilian music (Michel Techo “Ai Se Eu Te Pego” and Gustavo Lima “Balada” seriously look them up) and cleaned the boys’ bathroom. What is my life? Haha
7) I’m still working with my bathroom commission and we’re still in limbo waiting for something to happen. I went to talk to the interventionist a few weeks ago and he said he was going to give us all the materials for inside the bathroom-the toilets, sinks, and showers etc and have them delivered to the community once he received the funds to buy them. I said SWEET that is fantastic news. The following day, the president, the treasurer, and a commission member came over yelling at me at how unhappy they were with this news because they wanted money to buy all the materials themselves. Mba’e. The only reason I was able to keep my cool is because I don’t know how to go off in Spanish or Guarani (it’s better that way…or else I would have gotten myself in a lot of trouble by now) but beggars can’t be choosers people. We had a meeting a few days later with the entire commission. I told them all the news and someone proposed the idea of selling ME to the governor for a weekend (he likes his ladies) so that they could receive the money for their bathrooms. Mmm I’m a Peace Corps Volunteer not a prostitute, people.
8) School started back up again. I’m co-teaching Monday and Wednesday mornings in the high school. Mondays I’ll be doing “Como Planear Mi Vida” themes which touch on values and decision making, self esteem issues, how to plan for the future, etc. And on Wednesdays I’ll be helping out in the English classes. Yesterday I went to English class for the first time. The professor had the “Our Father” prayer translated in English on the board for the first lesson of the year. Interesting. So we read the prayer and then I taught them the usual greetings and then we went over some common classroom commands and called it a day. I went to my neighbors for lunch then went to the elementary school in the afternoon. I’m currently helping the third grade teacher (my good friend/next door neighbor Doris) make some materials for her classroom. Yesterday, she received a call about 10 minutes into class and abruptly grabbed all her things and left. I was just sitting at the table finishing up the calendar I was making when the Director walked in to take over teaching and said “Oh good, Casey’s here” and turned around and walked out. Alright I guess I’m teaching third grade today. OMG WHAT DO I DO? I have no lesson plans, I have no materials, text books don’t exist in this country, I have no idea what these kids are supposed to be learning right now, and I’m in charge of a classroom full of 7 year olds for the next 4 hours. Luckily, I was in their classroom the day before so I went over their homework with them and we played this charades type of game that they had also played the day before. Then we made BINGO cards and played BINGO with upper and lower case letters because they are still learning their ABCs. Then we were saved by the bell…RECESS! Hooray. Terere break with the teachers. Doris had to run out because her dad and her little brother got in a moto accident. Thankfully, they are okay, but her little brother broke both of his arms L. After recess we played another game to help with communication skills, and then I read them a story (which made me feel slightly mentally challenged because I couldn’t pronounce all the words #Istillstrugglewithspanish) and then we were saved by the bell again! Phewww….I did it! I just taught third grade all by myself…and in my 2nd language!
All in all things are going great! I’m glad school is starting back up to get me into more of a work groove. I feel like I’ve been doing A LOT of just hanging out recently, and I’m excited to have busier, work filled days. I’m heading into town tomorrow to celebrate Carnaval in San Ignacio…I’m super pumped to jam to the songs I mentioned earlier, have foam fights, and hopefully lay my eyes on some pretty Brahma Boys. Then Saturday I’m heading to visit my host family from training for the weekend.
I hope everyone is doing well…send me your updates!
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