December 17, 2009 (typo disclaimer: I can´t figure out how to change the spellcheck language permanently. Every time I switch it to English I just reverts back to Spanish. It also randomly changes some of my words so I apologize in advance if you have to do a little guessing to decipher what I´m saying.
I’ve now been in my site just two full days. A whole series of emotions and thoughts have been running through me as I struggle to make sense of the languages swirling around me. I am staying with a sweet older couple. I have a bedroom connected to the computer room. The Women´s comité put their heads together to get them donated by an organization, or that´s how I understood it at least.
You know now given that I´m writing you that I arrived safely in site, but you don´t know the half of it nor the stress as I proceeded to navigate my way on public transportation. Thankfully, this was not my first time getting to my site, but it was the first time when I went completely by myself.
In the morning on Tuesday, December 15 I woke early to enjoy one last good breakfast at the Chaco Hotel with my Bellow PCVs. I loaded my two packpacks up and Amanda and I caught a bus to the terminal. The more I walk with the heavy pack the more I was thankful I didn´t have to take all of my staff out to site. I also wondered whether I really needed all the staff I had in my bag.
Once at the terminal I managed to tell the attendant that I needed to make it to O´Leary by 1pm and I asked how long it would take to get there. She sold me a ticket for the 8:30 bus and said it would take 3 hours. I was hopeful that even if she was an hour off I should still arrive with a little extra time to send a letter off at the post office. This was not the case. As we got closer to my finally destination I began to worry because I didn´t know what my next plan of action would be because I was Barkly going to arrive by 1pm.
I bought chipa on the bus and thought of my friend Kevin who has convinced my to buy chipa several times and is always pleased when I give and am happy I did. There´s nothing like chipa to satisfy a hungry stomach and a long bus ride always makes one hungry. Thankfully, for the bus ride I was sitting front and center on the 2nd floor of a double-decker bus. For some this would be the last place they´d want to sit because the main highway is only 2 lanes and the busses are not afraid to use the shoulders as an extra Lane. It´s a good thing too because I would have arrived in O´Leary even later. I don´t mind the rides because I get to read and write a lot. Of course, I´m sure I´ll be thinking differently once I´m in site for awhile and those are my forms of entertainment.
At 3 past one I stepped off the bus and waited in the dust for my backpack to be pulled from the belly of the bus. With only and ounce of hope that maybe the bus had been late I drug my luggage to the terminal and asked a lady if there was a “collective a Ka’a Jovai”. I couldn´t understand her response at all, but she kept pointing in the opposite direction I wanted to go. I thanked her and stepped out and walked to the other side of the terminal. I asked a man who was waiting on the side of the road leading to my community about the bus and he gave me a sad look and shook his head saying it had left at one. At this, I crossed the road to a stand under a shade tree with a bunch of other Paraguayans. I was in the middle of texting a friend when I noticed a run down bus pull up to the cross roads from across the street. Not recognizing it as the bus I rode 2 weeks earlier, I dared to hope that it might cross the road and take me in the direction of my barrio.
I crossed the road again and shortly after was joined by others who had been standing under the tree. Some other random older man walked up to my and started asking me questions. He apparently knew the PCV that lives in the town and another person who I was not acquainted with. I asked him about the bus and he told me it was going in my direction. The bus pulled up and I recognized the driver and the girl who takes the bus fair and helps the passengers. Relief swept over me as I sat down.
It was a long 22km and I was tired. I knew shortly after I stepped off the bus that I stepped into a new problem entirely. I knew where I was staying, but I no Langer knew where I Peace Corps issued cell phone was. Yes, that´s right I just lost my cell phone just 4 days after getting it. Not a great way to show how responsible you are when you first arrive. I was met my Lorena halfway to my destination. She took me to her family’s house (her father is also a community contact). As best as I could I explained about my cell phone and he hoped on a moto and rode 16 km to try to catch the bus in hopes of recovering my phone. No such luck. I called Gloria, my boss, and she called the office to have my phone cancelled. I know need to figure out how to get a police report and make the trip back to Asunción. I was hoping I wouldn´t have to make that trip for a long time but I’ll just make the most of it while I’m there.
In the mean time, I tried to swallow my disappointment and frustration and focus on making conversation and getting to know this family. I will be living with this family next month. The grandfather wanted to buy my smoker from me and they even showed me one of the hives. I´ll take a closer look at it once I get settled.
Thus far i´ve done a whole lot of sitting, reading, writing, trying to talk, eating and some more sitting, reading and writing. I managed to mix it up by working out and walking to the kokue to root up some mandi’o. While out there Ña Vinda showed me giant green worms that are devistating many of the plants. I watched as she decapitated them with her hands and they spun around clinging to the plant with their insides oozing out. I told them about a venenos casero (homemade pesticide) after calling my tech trainer Brian for a recommendation. We´ll see if I can actually motivate them to try it because after I told her about it she showed me a container of pee (I ´m not sure who or what type of pee), but apparently she uses this to control them, but again plenty was lost in translation.
I´m sure these posts will be well after the fact, but at least I have computers I can use here. I didn´t bring my laptop out with me because it was just too much and I knew that I might have access to the computers here. Thankfully, that has turned out to be the case. I’m getting plenty of looks as I type. The children and teenages that come here every day are here for computer classes, but they’re not learning to type so they think it’s pretty cool when I just write without having to look at the keyboard. (Thank you Grandma Curtis for all those hours you spend teaching Carissa and I on your typewriters ) School’s out for the summer, but every day there have been different kids here slowly typing out the pages. It´s exciting that they have such nice new computers. Maybe I can teach typing classes when I learn how to speak the languages.
Well, time to see who I can go visit for a little while. I´m supposed to go look at some hives at 4pm, but we’ll see if that actually happens.
December 19
The weather has been threatening rain or in the case of two nights ago actually raining which means I have yet to go look at the hives. Oh well, there are plenty of other days for me to go look at them. I’m used to the idea that plenty of things get planned, but you’ll have to be patient and wait for them to actually happen.
For example, yesterday I went to a high school graduation. I heard 2 or 3 different start times non of which turned out to be correct. I was told to show up at my contacts house at 5. I decided I would wait until 5:30 to text and take a shower. It turned out to not matter because the graduation didn’t start until 10:30. My contacts daughter, Lorena (14) came to my host family’s house to pick me up. We walked back to her house and within and hour she had my hair done up with little rubber bands and given me chuchi clothes to wear. I would have been just fine wearing the skirt I came in, but I figured I would go along with it. Lorena’s aunt from Buenos Aires and sister from Argentina had made long bus trips to be there for the graduation.
The graduation was more like a cross between a wedding and quinciera. The event was held outside with large banners draped across from post to post. There was a big stage and tons of giant speakers. All the girls were dressed in the same long pink prom dress and the boys wore black pants and white dress shirts. Rather than just having a speaker and the class walk across a stage and receive diplomas like we do in the states, each graduate was announced and escorted by someone special—boyfriend, girlfriend, mother, father, etc. After they were announced and applauded they danced together and that was the end of the ceremony. After they began dancing we started eating what the women had prepared earlier—traditional Paraguayan fair. Even though it was fried I enjoyed it because I love empanadas. There was also chipaguasu, Milanese, and fried croquettes filled with soy meat (those were delicious). We had hard cider for a toast and finished with a delicious cake. It was really moist because of the milk and dulce de leche in it. The frosting was delicious and homemade too. After being asked several times I finally agreed to join the dancing. After a few songs my other contacts girls rescued me. It was almost 1am when we finally left. I fell asleep to the rhythm of reggaeton.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
How to spend your last Saturday in Porterito
Hello again, All of us trainees will be swearing in the coming Friday at the U.S. Embassy. I am excited to see the inside of the compounds and maybe even take a dip in the swimming pool. I’ve heard there is a pet deer and perhaps I’ll catch a glimpse of it as well.
Yesterday, was an ideal day. We had half a day of training. Training was trainee facilitated. Everyone gave about a 10 minute charla on PYan cultural topics (in guarani). I chose music. Although you hear plenty of different music ranging from the ever percussion dominated reggeaton to American country, PY only has 2 traditional types of music. Polka and Guarania. Both use the harp and guitar. Occasionally, the accordion is also used. Polka is fast and danced to, whereas Guarania is enjoyed only by listening to it. There’s your quick cultural lesson and the extent of my guarani language abilities (don’t be too impressed because I’m sure I butchered plenty of the words and I had written them down and practiced ahead of time). One of the funniest charla’s was given by Dan. PYans have a lot of superstitions when it comes to drinking terere or mate. There certain combinations you must not combine in order to avoid serious illness and/or death. For example, don’t eat watermelon after drinking Terere. You’re not supposed to shower after mate. Dan interviewed several Paragauyans and our medical officer. They were very sincere in confirming the dangers and Mary (one of our medical officers) said that they probably would just because they believed it so strongly. It’s amusing, until you’re late because you they won’t let you shower after drinking mate in the morning with them. But that is PY for you.
During merienda (break time), our language professors cooked for us. We had salsa, mandi’o chyryry, and a flat bread (the specific name escapes me). It was the best mandi’o chyryry I have had yet. Basically, you chop up mandi’o, onion and mix it with cheese and egg and fry the whole mess up. It’s kind of like potato casserole.
After class, I walked the half hour into town to the cyber café with Jordan and Miquelito. I was so happy I got to talk to Kami and Jeremy. It was a beautiful walk because the weather has been mild this past week. In addition to purchasing garlic, onions, and green peppers, we bought a kilo and half of tomatoes (2.2 lbs) for our spaghetti dinner.
Most of the group had agreed to meet for a game or two of volleyball, but we have apparently fallen into Paraguayan mode with our Ikatu’s or maybe’s, that most likely mean no. Jordan, Kevin, and I tossed a ball around until I jumped out of my skin and let a scream out to match it when a black dog with stubby legs ran after me when I went after the ball. He completely took me by surprise as he slammed into my leg. Everyone was rolling with laughter, including me, including our audience of children. It was pretty hilarious. It was getting late at this point and I had been hungry since I walked back from town. Besides I love cooking and I wanted to get started.
Food brings people together. Everyone showed up who was able. Although everyone gave Amelia and me credit for the food, it was a joint effort. We cooked at Jordan’s place. I found a pink apron and got to work dicing up tomatoes, onion, and garlic. Kevin provided the music for cooking. Cooking is always better with music. You never know when the right song is going to come on and you’re going to feel like dancing a little—especially as the aroma of onions and garlic begin to fill the air and makes you salivate. Amelia got Jordan’s little host brothers to join in on a song or two. We threw in some fresh oregano and some dried herbs Grandma Graham had given me. While the pot of spaghetti sauce was simmering, Jordan helped me cut up the rest of the tomatoes, peppers, and onions to make a salsa/ bruchetta mixture which would be the topping for the fresh garlic and basil bread. The lime juice and hot peppers really added to the salsa/bruchetta. In the mean time, Amelia headed up the chocolate chip cookie baking. I took a meat tenderizer mallet and broke the solid frozen chuck of chocolate into pieces. The chocolate was from Kami (Jeremy’s mom). The cookies turned out amazing. We shared them with Jordan’s host family for being gracious enough to let us use their kitchen and ended up polishing off the entire batch by the end of the night. While the kilo and a half of pasta was boiling we got the table set for all ten of us and after a toast and a blessing we dined on the most delicious spaghetti dinner! Smiles all around. And that was the best way to spend my last Saturday in Porterito. I love cooking and feeding friends.
Yesterday, was an ideal day. We had half a day of training. Training was trainee facilitated. Everyone gave about a 10 minute charla on PYan cultural topics (in guarani). I chose music. Although you hear plenty of different music ranging from the ever percussion dominated reggeaton to American country, PY only has 2 traditional types of music. Polka and Guarania. Both use the harp and guitar. Occasionally, the accordion is also used. Polka is fast and danced to, whereas Guarania is enjoyed only by listening to it. There’s your quick cultural lesson and the extent of my guarani language abilities (don’t be too impressed because I’m sure I butchered plenty of the words and I had written them down and practiced ahead of time). One of the funniest charla’s was given by Dan. PYans have a lot of superstitions when it comes to drinking terere or mate. There certain combinations you must not combine in order to avoid serious illness and/or death. For example, don’t eat watermelon after drinking Terere. You’re not supposed to shower after mate. Dan interviewed several Paragauyans and our medical officer. They were very sincere in confirming the dangers and Mary (one of our medical officers) said that they probably would just because they believed it so strongly. It’s amusing, until you’re late because you they won’t let you shower after drinking mate in the morning with them. But that is PY for you.
During merienda (break time), our language professors cooked for us. We had salsa, mandi’o chyryry, and a flat bread (the specific name escapes me). It was the best mandi’o chyryry I have had yet. Basically, you chop up mandi’o, onion and mix it with cheese and egg and fry the whole mess up. It’s kind of like potato casserole.
After class, I walked the half hour into town to the cyber café with Jordan and Miquelito. I was so happy I got to talk to Kami and Jeremy. It was a beautiful walk because the weather has been mild this past week. In addition to purchasing garlic, onions, and green peppers, we bought a kilo and half of tomatoes (2.2 lbs) for our spaghetti dinner.
Most of the group had agreed to meet for a game or two of volleyball, but we have apparently fallen into Paraguayan mode with our Ikatu’s or maybe’s, that most likely mean no. Jordan, Kevin, and I tossed a ball around until I jumped out of my skin and let a scream out to match it when a black dog with stubby legs ran after me when I went after the ball. He completely took me by surprise as he slammed into my leg. Everyone was rolling with laughter, including me, including our audience of children. It was pretty hilarious. It was getting late at this point and I had been hungry since I walked back from town. Besides I love cooking and I wanted to get started.
Food brings people together. Everyone showed up who was able. Although everyone gave Amelia and me credit for the food, it was a joint effort. We cooked at Jordan’s place. I found a pink apron and got to work dicing up tomatoes, onion, and garlic. Kevin provided the music for cooking. Cooking is always better with music. You never know when the right song is going to come on and you’re going to feel like dancing a little—especially as the aroma of onions and garlic begin to fill the air and makes you salivate. Amelia got Jordan’s little host brothers to join in on a song or two. We threw in some fresh oregano and some dried herbs Grandma Graham had given me. While the pot of spaghetti sauce was simmering, Jordan helped me cut up the rest of the tomatoes, peppers, and onions to make a salsa/ bruchetta mixture which would be the topping for the fresh garlic and basil bread. The lime juice and hot peppers really added to the salsa/bruchetta. In the mean time, Amelia headed up the chocolate chip cookie baking. I took a meat tenderizer mallet and broke the solid frozen chuck of chocolate into pieces. The chocolate was from Kami (Jeremy’s mom). The cookies turned out amazing. We shared them with Jordan’s host family for being gracious enough to let us use their kitchen and ended up polishing off the entire batch by the end of the night. While the kilo and a half of pasta was boiling we got the table set for all ten of us and after a toast and a blessing we dined on the most delicious spaghetti dinner! Smiles all around. And that was the best way to spend my last Saturday in Porterito. I love cooking and feeding friends.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
swimming pools
Every day is rather unusual just because I’m in Paraguay, but today you would be laughing at my situation for entirely new reasons.
On Saturday, I was told by my host Mom and two sisters that I would be going to visit the fat aunt “tia gorda” in Asuncion and that tomorrow I would be swimming. Like every time, I’m never quite sure if what I understand from all the loud talking from everyone is actually going to happen. I usually, have a least parts correct, but other times, I’m way off and the event doesn’t pertain to me. This time for instance I thought my host mom and host dad were going with me. Turns out my host mom and little sister were just dropping me off.
After getting dropped off at some other random ladies house (she might be related to my host family, but I couldn’t tell), I spent the better part of the early evening sitting with an older woman wearing torquise-blue crocs and her 92-year-old mother . I sat there on the patio in nice white metal chairs talking about the states, food, music, and Muslims (her daughter’s bf is Muslim). They spoke Spanish mostly, but when they really wanted to be clear they’d witch to guarani. I can understand both languages with about equal clariy—I have to guess plenty and other times I just smile and nod and hope they don’t ask a question which will reveal that I don’t understand. It was enjoyable in spite of being so tired from lack of sleep the past few days. I’ve gotten better at being patient and making conversation. I can’t wait until I can really understand. She also fed me some delicious empandas and sweet potato with Coca-cola to wash it town. At one point we had a conversation about diet and I thought she was saying something about not eating much sugar because she needed insulin shots. I have no idea now. While eating, the 92-year-old lady was funny because she would just throw any part of the empanada on the ground that she didn’t want to eat.
After while, Elisabeth (the fat-aunts daughter) showed up to take me back to their house.
November 29: 5:24 am
My Spanish/guarani is worse in the morning. Of course it doesn’t help when you’re woken up to a large lady toweling herself off in the same room as you. My poor muddled brain was trying to determine what they wanted of me. I quickly changed and shortly after found myself jammed in a van next to giant speakers and bags of hot dog buns.
After about a half hour drive we reached the gates of Nazareth Country Club. It was really early and it took forever for them to get someone to open the gate even with the consistent honking.
This place has 3 beautiful pools. I probably spent a good 6 hours in the water that day. I wore myself out with all the laps I swam back and forth. The water was crystal clear and the people I came with work there so after laminating my temporary pass I was basically free to do as I pleased. I spend plenty of time reading and played a lot of foosball too. It was a long day, but it was a great day.
Unfortunately, the evening wasn’t so cool. And by not cool, I mean sauna like. I thought I would be going back to my host family that night since it wasn’t very far from home, but alas I had to spend another night on the bed that folds up at the corners. We had a strong fan, but it was merely circulating the hot, stagnant air. Needless to say, I barely slept. In the morning, ominous storm clouds were rolling in. If I were Paraguayan this would me that I don’t have to go to school and maybe work. Peace corps training doesn’t run by PY norms. I couldn’t convince my relative of this so in exhaustion I laid back down. My host mom knows this and I figured she’d take care of it, besides the storm was cooling this off and making it possible to sleep. My host mom called me at 7. I simply handed it to my relative and within a half hour I was handed bus fair and led to the road to catch the bus back home. I arrived to training just in time to catch the first break and some fresh brewed coffee.
On Saturday, I was told by my host Mom and two sisters that I would be going to visit the fat aunt “tia gorda” in Asuncion and that tomorrow I would be swimming. Like every time, I’m never quite sure if what I understand from all the loud talking from everyone is actually going to happen. I usually, have a least parts correct, but other times, I’m way off and the event doesn’t pertain to me. This time for instance I thought my host mom and host dad were going with me. Turns out my host mom and little sister were just dropping me off.
After getting dropped off at some other random ladies house (she might be related to my host family, but I couldn’t tell), I spent the better part of the early evening sitting with an older woman wearing torquise-blue crocs and her 92-year-old mother . I sat there on the patio in nice white metal chairs talking about the states, food, music, and Muslims (her daughter’s bf is Muslim). They spoke Spanish mostly, but when they really wanted to be clear they’d witch to guarani. I can understand both languages with about equal clariy—I have to guess plenty and other times I just smile and nod and hope they don’t ask a question which will reveal that I don’t understand. It was enjoyable in spite of being so tired from lack of sleep the past few days. I’ve gotten better at being patient and making conversation. I can’t wait until I can really understand. She also fed me some delicious empandas and sweet potato with Coca-cola to wash it town. At one point we had a conversation about diet and I thought she was saying something about not eating much sugar because she needed insulin shots. I have no idea now. While eating, the 92-year-old lady was funny because she would just throw any part of the empanada on the ground that she didn’t want to eat.
After while, Elisabeth (the fat-aunts daughter) showed up to take me back to their house.
November 29: 5:24 am
My Spanish/guarani is worse in the morning. Of course it doesn’t help when you’re woken up to a large lady toweling herself off in the same room as you. My poor muddled brain was trying to determine what they wanted of me. I quickly changed and shortly after found myself jammed in a van next to giant speakers and bags of hot dog buns.
After about a half hour drive we reached the gates of Nazareth Country Club. It was really early and it took forever for them to get someone to open the gate even with the consistent honking.
This place has 3 beautiful pools. I probably spent a good 6 hours in the water that day. I wore myself out with all the laps I swam back and forth. The water was crystal clear and the people I came with work there so after laminating my temporary pass I was basically free to do as I pleased. I spend plenty of time reading and played a lot of foosball too. It was a long day, but it was a great day.
Unfortunately, the evening wasn’t so cool. And by not cool, I mean sauna like. I thought I would be going back to my host family that night since it wasn’t very far from home, but alas I had to spend another night on the bed that folds up at the corners. We had a strong fan, but it was merely circulating the hot, stagnant air. Needless to say, I barely slept. In the morning, ominous storm clouds were rolling in. If I were Paraguayan this would me that I don’t have to go to school and maybe work. Peace corps training doesn’t run by PY norms. I couldn’t convince my relative of this so in exhaustion I laid back down. My host mom knows this and I figured she’d take care of it, besides the storm was cooling this off and making it possible to sleep. My host mom called me at 7. I simply handed it to my relative and within a half hour I was handed bus fair and led to the road to catch the bus back home. I arrived to training just in time to catch the first break and some fresh brewed coffee.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Future site visit overview
I’ve got about ten minutes, but let me give you a quick run down. I just got back from visiting my future site. I’m overwhelmed. I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for the people there and I’m overwhelmed with the feeling of inadequacy. Compared to what they expect and hope to receive from me I feel like a little kid. They have organized committees and are hardworking. On my sheet it said there was no running water and I was expecting really campo. It may be far removed from a large city, but compared to my training site it was an upgrade. Most of the wells had electric pumps so this is just like running water. Not only did I have a hot shower and flushing toilet, but the family I stayed with had a washing machine and a wringer to wring out the water. The site it just beautiful situated among rolling hills and 1km from a pretty river. It’s lush and green. It gets hot, but while I was there it raining enough to keep things constantly at a refreshing temperature. A lot of the neighborhood cooks with soy on a regular basis and my family had a machine that pulverized the soy and separated the soy meat from the milk. I drank lots of soy juice and enjoyed plenty of tasty food. I even taught my family how to make peanut butter—it was a hit! This was the best peanut butter you’ve ever tasted. After hand shelling the peanuts, we toasted and ground them up finely. Finally, added some sugar, salt, and oil.
Over the past 5 days I also picked mandarins from the grove of trees, dug up mandi’o, played many a game of volleyball, and taught the kids to lay out for the Frisbee. I listened to a Taylor Swift sing on the radio, played PYan hide and go seek, drank gallons of Terere and stood in from of the church congregation to be introduced to the community. It was a trip of tranquility, but it wasn’t dull. I got a lot of language practice and I’m excited to go back and begin serving them in any way I can. Yes, I’m nervous, but I serve a great God and I’m trusting Him to lead. Please keep me in your prayers. And now I’m going to enjoy some thanksgiving dinner with my fellow PCTs. Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers I’m thankful for you!
Over the past 5 days I also picked mandarins from the grove of trees, dug up mandi’o, played many a game of volleyball, and taught the kids to lay out for the Frisbee. I listened to a Taylor Swift sing on the radio, played PYan hide and go seek, drank gallons of Terere and stood in from of the church congregation to be introduced to the community. It was a trip of tranquility, but it wasn’t dull. I got a lot of language practice and I’m excited to go back and begin serving them in any way I can. Yes, I’m nervous, but I serve a great God and I’m trusting Him to lead. Please keep me in your prayers. And now I’m going to enjoy some thanksgiving dinner with my fellow PCTs. Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers I’m thankful for you!
Saturday, November 14, 2009
long field practice
Oh Paraguay. It’s hard to believe I’ve been living here for going on 8 weeks now. It’s been long enough to get used to some aspects, but other things (like the food) I don’t think I’m ever really going to accept. It’s more a matter of waiting until I can do something about it. Sometimes I really like the food. For example this past week I ate vegetable stuffed squash and fish loaded with sautéed veggies. I also had baked (not fried!) empanadas, and chipa guasu (it’s like cornbread). All very delicious, but this isn’t common and there are only so many days you can stand of fried mandi’o, fried tortillas, mystery beef parts full of grilse, steaming hot soup when it’s boiling hot outside, mandi’o, greasy rice. I can’t count the number of times I have had conversations about food. I have always felt that I appreciated food in the States, but I think I’ve reached a new level of appreciation. I do love the chicken here and a good pig is usually pretty tasty (even if others are picking off meat from the head). I learned a very important phrase this weekend—nda’ukauui so’o. This literally translates to “I don’t know how to eat meat.” This is a non rude way of saying you don’t want to eat something. You’d think that they’d try to teach you how to eat something, but no.
I learned a few more words and phrases this weekend too. Ara rembe (are ah rim bay) this means sunrise and literally translates to suns lips and resa y(res-ah oo)means tears and literally translates to eye water. I get asked a lot if I cry or am sad—not that I look it, but whenever they see my pictures and I tell the Paraguayans about my boyfriend they are curious. I just say avy’ai (ah-voo-eye), I am happy. I also learned, or rather wrote down a few tongue twisters, one doesn’t even use your tongue to pronounce the words! I can’t wait to be fluent. It really is a beautiful language even if it sounds goofy sometimes.
This coming Wednesday I will find out my future sit and this Friday I will be visiting my future site for 5 days. I am nervously excited. I’m excited because training is almost over and I finally get to start my service, but I’m nervous because my language skills are not very good and I’m going to be out there without any other Americans.
Let me share a few more pictures with you. (from the top)
David’s little house. The Cropees have all kinds of plans for filming Campo houses. We filmed David’s first—hilarious! We also have plans of making a latrine calendar of all our latrines.
David’s flower garden. I’m going to be needing seeds from the states. This isn’t related to flowers, but I would also like to introduce sweet corn and different types of pumpkins and squash. It would probably be more of a novelty, but at least I could eat it even if it wasn’t popular.
Rooster perched on the board where the Molino is. They love it when seeds are ground up.
They have some beautiful butterflies here.
L to R—David, Jordan, Kevin, and Dan. We visited David for Long Field practice. We spend 5 days in David’s site getting a feel for life as a volunteer. We had a great time. I even learned how to play Escoba de quince. It’s a fun card game. They use the Spanish deck of cards. In this picture we are preparing our ”Mapa del Finca’s”. Last Wednesday, we gave presentations on composting (abonera), shade structures (media sombra), and summer gardening. It was very successful with over 40 women in attendance from the 3 women’s committees that David works with. We suspect they really came for the cake that we raffled off, but they still came. They asked some questions and sadly my Guaraní wasn’t sufficient to comprehend and formulate an answer. They were patient with our Guaraní. The little kids love my “check for learning game”. I drew pictures of things and asked them to categorize what could and couldn’t be composted. We had 3 rotating groups. Dan and I were in a group and we got practice 3 times.
My part of the barrio is getting a new street. By new street I mean stone laid street. It beats walking through the beach every day. The families that live along the street are paying for it and in order to raise money they put on a dance show. My host sister, cousins, and neighbors danced in it. There was plenty of traditional dances and reggaeton.
This is my “Dia de Practica” contact. She is such a sweet lady and this is her family. Two Friday’s ago I did a Soy cooking demonstration with her. I wrote some information, in Guarani, about the benefits of soy. We then made apply soy milk juice and soy empanadas. I used the herbs from my Grandma Graham in the states and they were absolutely delicious! Heterei!
Yep that’s an owl, a real live owl. That was my same reaction.
Enormous toads grace this place. My little host sister wouldn’t dare get any closer as much as I tried.
I learned a few more words and phrases this weekend too. Ara rembe (are ah rim bay) this means sunrise and literally translates to suns lips and resa y(res-ah oo)means tears and literally translates to eye water. I get asked a lot if I cry or am sad—not that I look it, but whenever they see my pictures and I tell the Paraguayans about my boyfriend they are curious. I just say avy’ai (ah-voo-eye), I am happy. I also learned, or rather wrote down a few tongue twisters, one doesn’t even use your tongue to pronounce the words! I can’t wait to be fluent. It really is a beautiful language even if it sounds goofy sometimes.
This coming Wednesday I will find out my future sit and this Friday I will be visiting my future site for 5 days. I am nervously excited. I’m excited because training is almost over and I finally get to start my service, but I’m nervous because my language skills are not very good and I’m going to be out there without any other Americans.
Let me share a few more pictures with you. (from the top)
David’s little house. The Cropees have all kinds of plans for filming Campo houses. We filmed David’s first—hilarious! We also have plans of making a latrine calendar of all our latrines.
David’s flower garden. I’m going to be needing seeds from the states. This isn’t related to flowers, but I would also like to introduce sweet corn and different types of pumpkins and squash. It would probably be more of a novelty, but at least I could eat it even if it wasn’t popular.
Rooster perched on the board where the Molino is. They love it when seeds are ground up.
They have some beautiful butterflies here.
L to R—David, Jordan, Kevin, and Dan. We visited David for Long Field practice. We spend 5 days in David’s site getting a feel for life as a volunteer. We had a great time. I even learned how to play Escoba de quince. It’s a fun card game. They use the Spanish deck of cards. In this picture we are preparing our ”Mapa del Finca’s”. Last Wednesday, we gave presentations on composting (abonera), shade structures (media sombra), and summer gardening. It was very successful with over 40 women in attendance from the 3 women’s committees that David works with. We suspect they really came for the cake that we raffled off, but they still came. They asked some questions and sadly my Guaraní wasn’t sufficient to comprehend and formulate an answer. They were patient with our Guaraní. The little kids love my “check for learning game”. I drew pictures of things and asked them to categorize what could and couldn’t be composted. We had 3 rotating groups. Dan and I were in a group and we got practice 3 times.
My part of the barrio is getting a new street. By new street I mean stone laid street. It beats walking through the beach every day. The families that live along the street are paying for it and in order to raise money they put on a dance show. My host sister, cousins, and neighbors danced in it. There was plenty of traditional dances and reggaeton.
This is my “Dia de Practica” contact. She is such a sweet lady and this is her family. Two Friday’s ago I did a Soy cooking demonstration with her. I wrote some information, in Guarani, about the benefits of soy. We then made apply soy milk juice and soy empanadas. I used the herbs from my Grandma Graham in the states and they were absolutely delicious! Heterei!
Yep that’s an owl, a real live owl. That was my same reaction.
Enormous toads grace this place. My little host sister wouldn’t dare get any closer as much as I tried.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Today I learned the importance of wearing beekeeping equipment the proper way. We were inspecting the hives (both langstroth and batay style) and I kept finding bees in my suit. My friends helped me smash them before they stung me. Our hives are in good shape and we even were able to spot the queen in one hive. The egg laying patterns were good indicating a healthy queen (it’s a circular pattern) and plenty of new queen’s had just chewed their way out of a split hive ( a portion of a strong hive was moved to a second box). I even got to cut old wax from a Langstroth hive.
While walking back from the apiary we stopped to pick some giant blackberries (see picture)
We were supposed to do a wild swarm capture, but unfortunately someone discovered the tree with the bees and stole all the honey thus destroying the hive. You can imagine our sadness because not only were we not able to expand our number of hives, but all those bees would die.
While walking back from the apiary we stopped to pick some giant blackberries (see picture)
We were supposed to do a wild swarm capture, but unfortunately someone discovered the tree with the bees and stole all the honey thus destroying the hive. You can imagine our sadness because not only were we not able to expand our number of hives, but all those bees would die.
(Top tp bottom)
Hibiscus flower near my training facility.
Mi Casa—my room is the window on the right. Our dinner table is on the porch. Our dog is on the right. His name is Cookie. My sister, brother, and sister-in-law are all in the background.
So delicious. I helped Mirian (sister-in-law) chop up the potatoes, onion, garlic, and tomatoes to lay on top of the chicken.
We’re going to cook some chicken over the charcoal.
This is my room complete with mosquito netting on top. Those are my pictures from Julie hanging near my bed. And of course I brought a few frisbee’s with me too.
Hibiscus flower near my training facility.
Mi Casa—my room is the window on the right. Our dinner table is on the porch. Our dog is on the right. His name is Cookie. My sister, brother, and sister-in-law are all in the background.
So delicious. I helped Mirian (sister-in-law) chop up the potatoes, onion, garlic, and tomatoes to lay on top of the chicken.
We’re going to cook some chicken over the charcoal.
This is my room complete with mosquito netting on top. Those are my pictures from Julie hanging near my bed. And of course I brought a few frisbee’s with me too.
(top to bottom)
Peace Corps HQ
Eating lunch at the mall in Asuncion. Yes, those are McDonald’s French fries. You’d think we wouldn’t want fried food much less McDonald’s given the organic slant on our agriculture approach. False wanting something familiar wins out. I ate food from a make your own pasta place—so delicious!
Hanging trains are popular in Paraguay too! Just for you Grandpa. This is at the mall in Asuncion
Queso Paraguaya…not my favorite cheese, but it’s good if it’s mixed with food.
Kendall and I eat homemade ice cream at the farm
Peace Corps HQ
Eating lunch at the mall in Asuncion. Yes, those are McDonald’s French fries. You’d think we wouldn’t want fried food much less McDonald’s given the organic slant on our agriculture approach. False wanting something familiar wins out. I ate food from a make your own pasta place—so delicious!
Hanging trains are popular in Paraguay too! Just for you Grandpa. This is at the mall in Asuncion
Queso Paraguaya…not my favorite cheese, but it’s good if it’s mixed with food.
Kendall and I eat homemade ice cream at the farm
(Top to bottom)
A few more photo’s to sum up my Paraguayan life
Puppies!! They would be sold for 500 mil guarani’s each. That’s about $100. They’re purebred.
Permaculture farm. This is a biodigestor. Basically pig poop and water are put into it. The gas is used to cook with and other byproduct is used to feed the worms which break down the input into organic matter (this is a separate location not in the biodigestor). It’s a very sustainable and economical system.
Our tour guide holds up the bag that is full of poop. This is set on top of the organic matter when it’s decomposed enough to be used. The fresh poop draws the worms out of the soil and into the poop and thus they can be removed because the poop is kept on the bag.
Kendall and I eat homemade ice cream at the farm
My cousin Raquel (waving) and her friend.
A few more photo’s to sum up my Paraguayan life
Puppies!! They would be sold for 500 mil guarani’s each. That’s about $100. They’re purebred.
Permaculture farm. This is a biodigestor. Basically pig poop and water are put into it. The gas is used to cook with and other byproduct is used to feed the worms which break down the input into organic matter (this is a separate location not in the biodigestor). It’s a very sustainable and economical system.
Our tour guide holds up the bag that is full of poop. This is set on top of the organic matter when it’s decomposed enough to be used. The fresh poop draws the worms out of the soil and into the poop and thus they can be removed because the poop is kept on the bag.
Kendall and I eat homemade ice cream at the farm
My cousin Raquel (waving) and her friend.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
I’m sure you are curious what has been happening recently since all I posted the other day were pictures that should have been posted a long time ago. I’m sorry they’re all out of order. When I get a chance I will try to remedy that.
Let me give you an update about why I haven’t been writing (besides that fact that I’ve been Skyping Jeremy). Last week they gave us a vacation of sorts. Each of us trainees was assigned to visit another PCV. It was a 4 day trip just to get away from the daily grind of language and tech training. It was also to give us a better perspective of our future life as a volunteer. I visited Lara, a beekeeping volunteer. She’s been here about 9 months. Her situations has been pretty difficult, but through it all she’s managed to stay positive.
The first day I met up with her she took me to lunch at a Japanese restaurant. (there’s a Japanese colony about an 1 hour from her site). The sushi, won-tons, fried fish, and salad were a delicious break from the normal Paraguayan fare. We didn’t go right to her site. We spent the night with another PCV, Megan and her PCT Amy (both are beekeepers, Amy is a fellow trainee). Megan cooked for us and we had Polenta and carrot cake and some Pomelo wine and Ginger beer to wash it down. She’s quite the cook and I got several recipes from her. That evening we went to a dance party. It was not what I was expecting. It was in a large gym. There were all ages and everyone who was dancing, danced in long lines facing each other. It was kind of like an awkward high school dance. We joined in the dancing, but kept to our own group. We trainees hadn’t had the Paraguayan culture norms lecture yet and I nearly got roped into dancing with some random guy. Megan got me out of that awkward scenario. At another point some boys were trying to take a picture with me in it. We quickly dodged out of that. Overall, we had a great time.
The next day we did a little beekeeping. Lara and I caught a bus to her site. We had a great time cooking together. We even cooked with Kumanda yvyra’i. You’re probably wondering what that is and how to pronounce it. (coo-mawn-dah oo-voo-rah-e) is also known as pigeon pea and the name literally translates to little tree. It’s a great abono verde or green manure. Not only does it provide nutrients to the soil and break up hard pan, but the beans can be used for human or animal consumption. They’re picked green for human consumption and the taste and texture remind me of Edimame. It takes a long time to shell every little bean, but when cooked in a wine sauce with cabbage and other veggies, it sure was a nice change. For dinner Lara made bean hamburgers with queso Paraguayan. Paraguayan cheese doesn’t have a lot of flavor. It’s more a texture thing. The other day our professor brought us French cheese for a snack. We devoured it. There is a widow who lives in our main training town. She was married to a Frenchman and he taught her how to make cheese. Random, but I thought I would share.
A nice lawn is clean swept dirt. I used a machete and helped Lara clean her patio of weeds.
My time away was over all too quickly.
Let me give you an update about why I haven’t been writing (besides that fact that I’ve been Skyping Jeremy). Last week they gave us a vacation of sorts. Each of us trainees was assigned to visit another PCV. It was a 4 day trip just to get away from the daily grind of language and tech training. It was also to give us a better perspective of our future life as a volunteer. I visited Lara, a beekeeping volunteer. She’s been here about 9 months. Her situations has been pretty difficult, but through it all she’s managed to stay positive.
The first day I met up with her she took me to lunch at a Japanese restaurant. (there’s a Japanese colony about an 1 hour from her site). The sushi, won-tons, fried fish, and salad were a delicious break from the normal Paraguayan fare. We didn’t go right to her site. We spent the night with another PCV, Megan and her PCT Amy (both are beekeepers, Amy is a fellow trainee). Megan cooked for us and we had Polenta and carrot cake and some Pomelo wine and Ginger beer to wash it down. She’s quite the cook and I got several recipes from her. That evening we went to a dance party. It was not what I was expecting. It was in a large gym. There were all ages and everyone who was dancing, danced in long lines facing each other. It was kind of like an awkward high school dance. We joined in the dancing, but kept to our own group. We trainees hadn’t had the Paraguayan culture norms lecture yet and I nearly got roped into dancing with some random guy. Megan got me out of that awkward scenario. At another point some boys were trying to take a picture with me in it. We quickly dodged out of that. Overall, we had a great time.
The next day we did a little beekeeping. Lara and I caught a bus to her site. We had a great time cooking together. We even cooked with Kumanda yvyra’i. You’re probably wondering what that is and how to pronounce it. (coo-mawn-dah oo-voo-rah-e) is also known as pigeon pea and the name literally translates to little tree. It’s a great abono verde or green manure. Not only does it provide nutrients to the soil and break up hard pan, but the beans can be used for human or animal consumption. They’re picked green for human consumption and the taste and texture remind me of Edimame. It takes a long time to shell every little bean, but when cooked in a wine sauce with cabbage and other veggies, it sure was a nice change. For dinner Lara made bean hamburgers with queso Paraguayan. Paraguayan cheese doesn’t have a lot of flavor. It’s more a texture thing. The other day our professor brought us French cheese for a snack. We devoured it. There is a widow who lives in our main training town. She was married to a Frenchman and he taught her how to make cheese. Random, but I thought I would share.
A nice lawn is clean swept dirt. I used a machete and helped Lara clean her patio of weeds.
My time away was over all too quickly.
Top to bottom
My sister shows off her dance clothes
Making empanadas! They’re better when filled with Carne de Soja (literally soy meat)
My host mom and sister observe my work
Hiking up the mountain. Lara’s water source. Water tasted really good actually. Her trusty canine companion Lady Bug.
Cooking over an open flame. The next day Lara finally got her gas hooked up to her stove
My sister shows off her dance clothes
Making empanadas! They’re better when filled with Carne de Soja (literally soy meat)
My host mom and sister observe my work
Hiking up the mountain. Lara’s water source. Water tasted really good actually. Her trusty canine companion Lady Bug.
Cooking over an open flame. The next day Lara finally got her gas hooked up to her stove
Top to bottom:
My assignment for my first trip to Asuncion. Everyone worked in pairs. The objective: find your own way to Asuncion (without a map) and stop at the places designated on your sheet. You must accomplish this by the time you must be at the Peace Corps headquarters at 12:30. My partner and I were successful except for the first stop which we decided to skip altogether since we missed the main bus terminal. We explored around Mercado 4 instead and spent time looking for where to purchase a cell phone (after awhile the novelty of running through the street at night with my little cousin to my aunt’s house because I got a phone call wears off; especially when I have to sit in a room with sleeping triplets and three other people. Half the time one party would hang up on the other and then I was left to guess who had actually called. I was always told my Mom had called, but this wasn’t always the case). Here’s some pictures to fill in the gaps.
Bucket bath! Sometimes the water pressure isn’t strong enough for a shower or there is no water
Walking home from the beekeepers training center. The sunsets are beautiful.
Demonstrating the proper way to look at both sides of a honeycomb
I’m holding one of my host cousins. She’s a triplet
My assignment for my first trip to Asuncion. Everyone worked in pairs. The objective: find your own way to Asuncion (without a map) and stop at the places designated on your sheet. You must accomplish this by the time you must be at the Peace Corps headquarters at 12:30. My partner and I were successful except for the first stop which we decided to skip altogether since we missed the main bus terminal. We explored around Mercado 4 instead and spent time looking for where to purchase a cell phone (after awhile the novelty of running through the street at night with my little cousin to my aunt’s house because I got a phone call wears off; especially when I have to sit in a room with sleeping triplets and three other people. Half the time one party would hang up on the other and then I was left to guess who had actually called. I was always told my Mom had called, but this wasn’t always the case). Here’s some pictures to fill in the gaps.
Bucket bath! Sometimes the water pressure isn’t strong enough for a shower or there is no water
Walking home from the beekeepers training center. The sunsets are beautiful.
Demonstrating the proper way to look at both sides of a honeycomb
I’m holding one of my host cousins. She’s a triplet
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
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