Friday, June 25, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
If you don't know someone's name...it's probably not a good idea to guess...
This past week I had training out in the Chaco with my Paraguayan contact (not the isolated part, but far enough away that I can say I’ve been to the Chaco). When I arrived at the training school in Cerrito on Wednesday, I checked in with Gloria and Doug. They asked for my contacts name.
“Andres,” I said.
“Last name?”
“I can’t remember. Maybe Dominquez”. Gloria wrote that down.
Right after I asked Andres and he told me his last name is Insaurralde. I told Gloria and she said she’d change it.
Jump forward a few days to Friday evening. All the classes are over. We spent every evening adding to our farm maps brainstorming how to incorporate new ideas. To conclude Gloria, Doug, and Homi announced everyone’s names and gave certificates. Amid the applause Kai Andres shows me his certificate and to my horror it said “Andres Dominquez”. Kai Andres straight faced and serious simply states, “That’s not my name”. He doesn’t seem offended, but I feel terrible because I know how much Paraguayan’s love certificates (hence why I have a certificate for decorating shoes and I am sure I will get another when I finish my dance class). Later, I can hardly tell Doug and Gloria about the mistake because I am laughing so hard. They all agree that it’s a bad mistake, but it is pretty funny at the same time. Gloria said she could print another one. It serves me right for guessing at his name at the beginning.
“Andres,” I said.
“Last name?”
“I can’t remember. Maybe Dominquez”. Gloria wrote that down.
Right after I asked Andres and he told me his last name is Insaurralde. I told Gloria and she said she’d change it.
Jump forward a few days to Friday evening. All the classes are over. We spent every evening adding to our farm maps brainstorming how to incorporate new ideas. To conclude Gloria, Doug, and Homi announced everyone’s names and gave certificates. Amid the applause Kai Andres shows me his certificate and to my horror it said “Andres Dominquez”. Kai Andres straight faced and serious simply states, “That’s not my name”. He doesn’t seem offended, but I feel terrible because I know how much Paraguayan’s love certificates (hence why I have a certificate for decorating shoes and I am sure I will get another when I finish my dance class). Later, I can hardly tell Doug and Gloria about the mistake because I am laughing so hard. They all agree that it’s a bad mistake, but it is pretty funny at the same time. Gloria said she could print another one. It serves me right for guessing at his name at the beginning.
Getting home (June 21, 2010)
In trying to make my life less difficult I often end up making things more complicated and stressful. Let me tell you about getting home this past Monday.
On Monday morning I made it to O’Leary around 8:30am. The weather was threatening rain, but when I asked about my busses I was told both the 10:30am and 1:00pm busses were running. My 1pm bus was not in its usual position up on the side road in all its decrepit glory, but I decided to try to make the early bus since it would pass directly in front of my house.
After buying Saraki’s rabies vaccine (they packed it on ice--nothing beats do-it-yourself vet work), I climbed the hill to Nathan’s house. It’s hard to see volunteers leave and Nathan is heading out, although not home. Since he’s not having a follow-up he gave his things to all of us current volunteers. Kristen (a new early education volunteer) helped me carry all my things down to the terminal at 10:30am. Sure enough that bus wasn’t running after all. Rather than carry everything back up to Nathan’s we put it on the back of the 1:00pm bus which by now had resumed its position. I talked to the kid to verify the leave time and gave him some money.
The weather was looking more and more threatening and I was nervous they might leave early. I ran a few more errands and would have been on the bus much earlier, but waited to walk back with Nathan and Kristen around 12:30 pm. My heart stopped as I saw that the bus was neither in its place on the hill nor across the street at the terminal. After asking the guys at the terminal we learned the bus had left about 5 minutes ago. Taxi! The taxi driver dumped a 2 liter Niko soda bottle of gas into the engine in the trunk and after a few false starts was able to get the engine going. It chugged and shuddered and I didn’t think we were going to make it across the Ruta much less all the way down Tape Monday fast enough to catch the bus. “Ipya’eve, IPYA’EVE”. Go Faster! “I have to CATCH the bus! All my things are on it,” I explain to the taxi driver again. I made a call to Kai Javier (my community contact and closest neighbor) and explained the situation so he could stop the bus if I didn’t catch it in time. By now the road is just a mud hole, but after fifteen agonizing minutes we see the rusty back of the bus. The taxi driver flashed his headlights. We argued about the price. I threw the money at him, thanked him, and jumped out. All eyes were on me as I found my seat and placed a crate of things beside me. I glanced towards the back and all my other belongings were just where I had left them. I prayed the rain would stop and that Kai Javier’s kids would be at the cruce because I had more than I could possibly carry. We almost got stuck at one point because a sliding moto caused us to lose our momentum while going uphill. It was still raining when we got to my stop. The bus could not go any farther because two large trucks were stuck in the mud at the turn in the road. The man from the sugar cane truck in front of the bus helped me carry all my things to the other side of the road. I just stood in the rain and tried to call Javier. My phone had connection problem. I was trying to figure out what to do when all of a sudden I saw a head emerge from the house at the corner. Soon she and her sister Rocio helped me drag everything up to the porch and out of the rain. They offered me a seat in from of the t.v. and I offered them bananas.
While they watched the soap opera I tried to reach Javier again. Rocio was finally successful and after the show we stood on the porch and waited. Through the mist 3 powder pink ponchos appeared and together Noe, Carmen, Rorro and I slipped and slid through the muddy street with all the things back home—at last!
On Monday morning I made it to O’Leary around 8:30am. The weather was threatening rain, but when I asked about my busses I was told both the 10:30am and 1:00pm busses were running. My 1pm bus was not in its usual position up on the side road in all its decrepit glory, but I decided to try to make the early bus since it would pass directly in front of my house.
After buying Saraki’s rabies vaccine (they packed it on ice--nothing beats do-it-yourself vet work), I climbed the hill to Nathan’s house. It’s hard to see volunteers leave and Nathan is heading out, although not home. Since he’s not having a follow-up he gave his things to all of us current volunteers. Kristen (a new early education volunteer) helped me carry all my things down to the terminal at 10:30am. Sure enough that bus wasn’t running after all. Rather than carry everything back up to Nathan’s we put it on the back of the 1:00pm bus which by now had resumed its position. I talked to the kid to verify the leave time and gave him some money.
The weather was looking more and more threatening and I was nervous they might leave early. I ran a few more errands and would have been on the bus much earlier, but waited to walk back with Nathan and Kristen around 12:30 pm. My heart stopped as I saw that the bus was neither in its place on the hill nor across the street at the terminal. After asking the guys at the terminal we learned the bus had left about 5 minutes ago. Taxi! The taxi driver dumped a 2 liter Niko soda bottle of gas into the engine in the trunk and after a few false starts was able to get the engine going. It chugged and shuddered and I didn’t think we were going to make it across the Ruta much less all the way down Tape Monday fast enough to catch the bus. “Ipya’eve, IPYA’EVE”. Go Faster! “I have to CATCH the bus! All my things are on it,” I explain to the taxi driver again. I made a call to Kai Javier (my community contact and closest neighbor) and explained the situation so he could stop the bus if I didn’t catch it in time. By now the road is just a mud hole, but after fifteen agonizing minutes we see the rusty back of the bus. The taxi driver flashed his headlights. We argued about the price. I threw the money at him, thanked him, and jumped out. All eyes were on me as I found my seat and placed a crate of things beside me. I glanced towards the back and all my other belongings were just where I had left them. I prayed the rain would stop and that Kai Javier’s kids would be at the cruce because I had more than I could possibly carry. We almost got stuck at one point because a sliding moto caused us to lose our momentum while going uphill. It was still raining when we got to my stop. The bus could not go any farther because two large trucks were stuck in the mud at the turn in the road. The man from the sugar cane truck in front of the bus helped me carry all my things to the other side of the road. I just stood in the rain and tried to call Javier. My phone had connection problem. I was trying to figure out what to do when all of a sudden I saw a head emerge from the house at the corner. Soon she and her sister Rocio helped me drag everything up to the porch and out of the rain. They offered me a seat in from of the t.v. and I offered them bananas.
While they watched the soap opera I tried to reach Javier again. Rocio was finally successful and after the show we stood on the porch and waited. Through the mist 3 powder pink ponchos appeared and together Noe, Carmen, Rorro and I slipped and slid through the muddy street with all the things back home—at last!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
June 12, 2010
This past week I have been involved more than usual with all things soy. It started off my teaching the women from San Francisco (the next little community over) how to make bread and cookies with soy. This was in preparation for the great giveaway on June 9th by the organization that donated the soy processing machines. Over the next 3 days the ladies in my Mother’s Committee baked bread, cookies, empanadas, pudding, croquettes, and Pelotas---all with soy of course! The bread and cookies were stored in my house to keep hungry children at bay. My house smelled delicious. All the food was a huge hit at the final ceremony were 250 frazadas (blankets) were given to the poorest families of 7 communities. Tio Tom is the organization as we know it, but it is under the Taiwanese organization Buddha’s Light International. They had a camera there so I just might end up on TV in Taiwan. The best part about the day was when one of the women that I had taught how to bake bread came up to me all smiles and handed me a plate with the soy bread they had made using my recipe. She was so proud and it tasted delicious!
Miquel and Jordan visit
(above left) taking a hike with Jordan and Miquel(below) Miquel and I build a compost pile
(left and above right) We all cooked dinner! Jordan was the photographer
Miquel and I bought 5 kilos of garbonzo beans...we keep forgetting that a kilo is 2.2 pounds.
May 28, 2010
Fellow Crop Extensionist PCVs Jordan and Mike came to visit in May. As you can imagine, I enjoyed playing hostess. We ate all kinds of delicious food, explored the forest (poor Mike got stung on the eyelid), Mike demonstrated his compost pile building skills, we visited Rio Monday, and even managed to film my house (video soon to be available). Here are a few pictures from their visit.
One of the most memorable parts of their visit was at the river. Mi abuelo, Kai Eligio, happened to be down by the river and offered to take pictures of us. You would not expect a 70-year-old Paraguayan man who has never used a camera before to be so willing to take pictures. But I felt like my Mom had taught him. He was telling us to move to different spots and he would take several pictures from different angles. It was too funny. After the photo shoot, we invited him to toss the Frisbee around. He was surprisingly very good. His did a wind-up action for his backhand. Jordan got some good actions shots. Oh, it was all too much. I was laughing uncontrollably. I love mi abuelo!
One of the most memorable parts of their visit was at the river. Mi abuelo, Kai Eligio, happened to be down by the river and offered to take pictures of us. You would not expect a 70-year-old Paraguayan man who has never used a camera before to be so willing to take pictures. But I felt like my Mom had taught him. He was telling us to move to different spots and he would take several pictures from different angles. It was too funny. After the photo shoot, we invited him to toss the Frisbee around. He was surprisingly very good. His did a wind-up action for his backhand. Jordan got some good actions shots. Oh, it was all too much. I was laughing uncontrollably. I love mi abuelo!
Granola
Granola
2 cups regular rolled oats
½ cup finely chopped coconut
½ cup coarsely chopped peanuts (not roasted)
½ cup shelled sunflower seeds
¼ cup sesame seeds
¼ cup wheat germ (optional)
¼ cup carne de soja (optional)
½ cup molasses or honey
1/3 cup sunflower oil
Mix everything together except the molasses and sunflower oil. In a separate bowl, stir together the molasses and sunflower oil. Pour it over the oat mixture and stir until evenly coated. Spread evenly in a greased pan (15x10x1 inch baking pan). Bake for 30-35 min at 300˚F until lightly toasted. Stir after 20 min. Let it cool on a large piece of foil before storing. Enjoy with your homemade yogurt and fresh fruit!
2 cups regular rolled oats
½ cup finely chopped coconut
½ cup coarsely chopped peanuts (not roasted)
½ cup shelled sunflower seeds
¼ cup sesame seeds
¼ cup wheat germ (optional)
¼ cup carne de soja (optional)
½ cup molasses or honey
1/3 cup sunflower oil
Mix everything together except the molasses and sunflower oil. In a separate bowl, stir together the molasses and sunflower oil. Pour it over the oat mixture and stir until evenly coated. Spread evenly in a greased pan (15x10x1 inch baking pan). Bake for 30-35 min at 300˚F until lightly toasted. Stir after 20 min. Let it cool on a large piece of foil before storing. Enjoy with your homemade yogurt and fresh fruit!
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