One, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Two, I have a ton of pictures but Webshots has given me a headache for the past month trying to upload just a few! After a many frustrated hours spent here, I finally got a few up. They don´t have captions though... so here´s a recap.
There is a picture of traditional PYan dance and attire. (little sister Romina in the middle)
If Romina has white on or people are in rain gear, it was at her end of the school reception. She got #1 student in her class for the third year in a row! As a reward, her parents bought her a COMPUTER! She is hands down the only almost 9 year old in the campo in the ENTIRE country to get a computer!
Christmas celerbations here happen Christmas Eve. You stay up until midnight drinking beer and then set off fireworks, give everyone hugs and kisses, eat a big meal and go to bed. If you want to have love in the next year, you wear red. I wore a little to humor them.
Its also pineapple time so there is one pictures of the 18-wheeler that pulled in to take our pineapples to Argentina.
Also a few other comic pics like Yoni getting his head stuck in a chair and their version of deocrating for Christmas. Not at ALL like ours!
Love you guys and shoot me an email and let me know you were holidays were swell!
Paraguay Tres
OR
http://travel.webshots.com/album/561913931RaouaE?vhost=travel&start=12
Friday, December 28, 2007
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Saludos a Todos!
Well crew, it’s been a few weeks and I apologize for leaving you on the edge of your seat! I mean, what kind of crazy, wonderful, awkward things are going on in PY with Beva?? No worries, its update time for all of you bloggers!
I was away from site for 12 days… which was fun and exhausting. Every year Peace Corps organizes a Thanksgiving weekend for all the volunteers. The festivity is always held at a great hotel in the southern part of the country, near Encarnación. The place completely reminded me of Jackson’s Mill in West Virginia, but with 3 pools and no bunk beds. But regardless of my student council flashbacks, it was a lot of fun. It was kind of like Animal House meets Earnest Goes to Camp. Whenever you get 130ish Nortes together with swimming, a Thanksgiving meal American style (I must report, no pumpkin roll though!), and a little bit of booze you’re bound to have an outstanding 48 hours. PC Paraguay delivered as usual, and since my group just hit our 6 month mark in country, it was definitely time for a reunion/vacation. I’m already looking forward to next year’s!
Being away from site for that long though, and speaking that much English, quickly took its toll on me. I love being with my friends and having the freedom to be Betsy (as opposed to be Beva, which is less outspoken and a little more wholesome than the Betsy you all know and love), but my life is here. My life is working within my community, studying and practicing the languages, and trying to figure out how I can help my neighbors improve their lives in a sustainable manner. A lot of my friends living in larger cities have no qualms leaving for a few days at a time because when they return, almost no one noticed they were out. I, however, live in very tiny, closely interwoven community. I’m gone for one morning and people start to ask questions! It’s hard to get back in the swing of things too. Language alone leaves me rapidly, not to mention potential projects and future plans discussed with community members that are forgotten after about 7 days if I’m not around. With that said, I probably won’t head back into Asunción until a required meeting with my bosses toward the end of January. It’s expensive and mentally taxing to leave, and for that… I’m sticking around for a long while!
Speaking of projects, I currently have a lot on my plate. Well, it isn’t on my plate quite yet so perhaps I should say I’m preparing to have a lot on my plate! Being a bit of an overachiever (just a bit, right??), I have a lot more planned for my two years, but I also don’t want to look around to see my hand in too many pots and many different activities not getting full attention. But to start it off lightly, I’ve got English classes for 2 hours, 2 days a week. The first class is this coming Tuesday, and I know I should have about 4 girls. If more kids show up, I’ll probably teach more classes. They’ll learn much better when I can give them more attention. Also, next Thursday I’ll have my first women’s committee meeting. I’m super excited about this one because I’ve wanted to do it since I stepped on PYan soil! The hardest thing with getting it off the ground is convincing the women that I’m not their boss and I don’t know more than them. It is their community and their committee, I’m just here to observe and help where I can. I’ve discussed potential projects with enough women that I know we’re going to start out talking about nutrition and making a good garden, and also cooking classes. I’d like to move onto an income generating project, but that will depend on interests. We just hit the peak of pineapple season here though, so if you have any good pineapple recipes… email them my way please! My nearest PC neighbors (Gariety—health, and Sam—education) and I will be starting a radio show on January 11. For those of you that can turn into Gauyaibi 100.7, be sure to listen Fridays from 7-8am (Although I don’t think our station has made it into PodCasts or Satelite Radio just yet! You can always call Steve Jobs and request it be added though!) The radio show will be fun and it will give us a great opportunity to talk about an array of topics from our sectors of business, health, and education, to more taboo topics like condom use, AIDS, gender and development, diversity including race and sexual preference such as homosexuality. Lots going on, but I still haven’t even touched my real interest which is the coop… but I think I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve for them still too!
Christmas and New Years Eve plans have yet to be determined. Pretty sure I´ll stick around here for Christmas because I want to see how they celebrate. Basically its nothing like ours from what I hear. Not a lot of gifts, NO Christmas tree, and a few pathetic lights here or there on a house. Should be interesting! I´d kind of like to be with my friends for NYE, but we´ll see. I´m kind of poor, so I´ll just probably make that call the week of.
There’s a little something that PY is famous for; it’s called chisme (pronounced: cheese-may) and it can be fun or damning, or both!. Chisme is basically rumors, and we’ve all been in 8th grade. We know some rumors are legit, and some rumors are just so people have something to talk about. I was recently clumped into the latter of the groups. I’ve been here in Guayaibi for a solid 3.5 months. I love my family here, and they have all taken me in as one of their own. Pablino and Raquel, although they are young parents themselves, have played all roles in my life from being my confidants and business contacts, to bug killers when my room is infested with wasps, and even mom and dad when they think I’m showing a little too much leg at a coop meeting. That’s why I was slightly overwhelmed when Raquel told me she heard some chisme among the other mom’s at school. Unbeknownst to me, these mothers claim that I’ve been having an affair with her husband, Pablino. I mean, REALLY? At least give me a cute member of my coop that is at well under the age of 35. But I quickly calmed as it wasn’t an interrogation session. Raquel knows better than anyone that it’s just not true. I spend the majority of my days with her, and speak mostly business or jokes with Pablino. I don’t think he’s heard the rumors, because she and I share everything practically and only about 15% makes it to Pablino. And past that, I’m a complete oddity in this community. They’re going to be talking about me regardless, and if some want to associate me with one of my 50 male, coop members, then naturally it would be the one that is closest in proximity and friendship. I can only wait to see what more chisme they can dream up over the next 21 months!
Paraguay also has a tradition previously mentioned in a former blog entry: dating days. Oh yes… every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday a boy will go over and drink terere (the weird weed like powdery mix I love and will never be able to live without after 2 years of Peace Corps!) with the girl’s family. This pretty much goes on for years until they get married. The potential couple is NEVER left alone, and if mom and pap don’t like the boy… he takes a hike! Well, I guess we could say I had my first potential suitor this week. I didn’t even realize it was Tuesday, but he came to Raquel’s asking if the Americana was around to drink terere. Like a good momma, she set us up and let us chat while she supervised from our outdoor kitchen. And the best thing? Not Raquel, Pablino (who actually works with the guy getting loans for land he’s developing next to our house!), nor myself know the poor young man’s name! He never asked me and I never asked him, so he’s just a mystery wannabe boyfriend! The whole thing made me laugh inside, although I showed him respect and chilled for a while drinking our mostly grass-like terere. Poor soul… we’ll see if he comes back, I don’t think I’m interested señor!
Big shout out to my care package masters! Mom, Cathy, Ming, Laurie Sheldon (Kely’s mom), Mary-David and George all win some major cool points! I mean, there are few things sweeter than knowing people care about you enough to send you goodies! Nicely done to all of you, although I think Cathy’s winning the record. She’s a little nutty for sending one 12lbs package followed by a 21lbs package internationally, but dammit do I love her! Please keep them coming because I can always use more things. With upcoming projects, I’m in need of more supply-like materials… so if you want to get a box together, shoot me an email. Thanks again for everything! Postcards are cool too… I ALWAYS need things to remind me of the states!
As for the favorites of the week…
BOOK: A Widow for One Year by John Irving (I’m kind of on an Irving kick)
ALBUM: Sam’s Town by The Killers… I couldn’t just pick one song this time!
AWKWARD MOMENT: thinking an 8 year old was talking about my varicose veins (thanks mom!) when really she was being secretive asking her mom if my shorts were cut by a pair of scissors (Nike made them that way!!)
REVELATION: Rio in May with mom, so look out world… I’m going to be bikini ready!
GUARANI WORD: kaigue (pronounced ka-ee-guay) which means without energy.
I’m without energy: Che kaigue
You’re without energy: Nde kaigue
He/she is without energy: Ikaigue
I was away from site for 12 days… which was fun and exhausting. Every year Peace Corps organizes a Thanksgiving weekend for all the volunteers. The festivity is always held at a great hotel in the southern part of the country, near Encarnación. The place completely reminded me of Jackson’s Mill in West Virginia, but with 3 pools and no bunk beds. But regardless of my student council flashbacks, it was a lot of fun. It was kind of like Animal House meets Earnest Goes to Camp. Whenever you get 130ish Nortes together with swimming, a Thanksgiving meal American style (I must report, no pumpkin roll though!), and a little bit of booze you’re bound to have an outstanding 48 hours. PC Paraguay delivered as usual, and since my group just hit our 6 month mark in country, it was definitely time for a reunion/vacation. I’m already looking forward to next year’s!
Being away from site for that long though, and speaking that much English, quickly took its toll on me. I love being with my friends and having the freedom to be Betsy (as opposed to be Beva, which is less outspoken and a little more wholesome than the Betsy you all know and love), but my life is here. My life is working within my community, studying and practicing the languages, and trying to figure out how I can help my neighbors improve their lives in a sustainable manner. A lot of my friends living in larger cities have no qualms leaving for a few days at a time because when they return, almost no one noticed they were out. I, however, live in very tiny, closely interwoven community. I’m gone for one morning and people start to ask questions! It’s hard to get back in the swing of things too. Language alone leaves me rapidly, not to mention potential projects and future plans discussed with community members that are forgotten after about 7 days if I’m not around. With that said, I probably won’t head back into Asunción until a required meeting with my bosses toward the end of January. It’s expensive and mentally taxing to leave, and for that… I’m sticking around for a long while!
Speaking of projects, I currently have a lot on my plate. Well, it isn’t on my plate quite yet so perhaps I should say I’m preparing to have a lot on my plate! Being a bit of an overachiever (just a bit, right??), I have a lot more planned for my two years, but I also don’t want to look around to see my hand in too many pots and many different activities not getting full attention. But to start it off lightly, I’ve got English classes for 2 hours, 2 days a week. The first class is this coming Tuesday, and I know I should have about 4 girls. If more kids show up, I’ll probably teach more classes. They’ll learn much better when I can give them more attention. Also, next Thursday I’ll have my first women’s committee meeting. I’m super excited about this one because I’ve wanted to do it since I stepped on PYan soil! The hardest thing with getting it off the ground is convincing the women that I’m not their boss and I don’t know more than them. It is their community and their committee, I’m just here to observe and help where I can. I’ve discussed potential projects with enough women that I know we’re going to start out talking about nutrition and making a good garden, and also cooking classes. I’d like to move onto an income generating project, but that will depend on interests. We just hit the peak of pineapple season here though, so if you have any good pineapple recipes… email them my way please! My nearest PC neighbors (Gariety—health, and Sam—education) and I will be starting a radio show on January 11. For those of you that can turn into Gauyaibi 100.7, be sure to listen Fridays from 7-8am (Although I don’t think our station has made it into PodCasts or Satelite Radio just yet! You can always call Steve Jobs and request it be added though!) The radio show will be fun and it will give us a great opportunity to talk about an array of topics from our sectors of business, health, and education, to more taboo topics like condom use, AIDS, gender and development, diversity including race and sexual preference such as homosexuality. Lots going on, but I still haven’t even touched my real interest which is the coop… but I think I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve for them still too!
Christmas and New Years Eve plans have yet to be determined. Pretty sure I´ll stick around here for Christmas because I want to see how they celebrate. Basically its nothing like ours from what I hear. Not a lot of gifts, NO Christmas tree, and a few pathetic lights here or there on a house. Should be interesting! I´d kind of like to be with my friends for NYE, but we´ll see. I´m kind of poor, so I´ll just probably make that call the week of.
There’s a little something that PY is famous for; it’s called chisme (pronounced: cheese-may) and it can be fun or damning, or both!. Chisme is basically rumors, and we’ve all been in 8th grade. We know some rumors are legit, and some rumors are just so people have something to talk about. I was recently clumped into the latter of the groups. I’ve been here in Guayaibi for a solid 3.5 months. I love my family here, and they have all taken me in as one of their own. Pablino and Raquel, although they are young parents themselves, have played all roles in my life from being my confidants and business contacts, to bug killers when my room is infested with wasps, and even mom and dad when they think I’m showing a little too much leg at a coop meeting. That’s why I was slightly overwhelmed when Raquel told me she heard some chisme among the other mom’s at school. Unbeknownst to me, these mothers claim that I’ve been having an affair with her husband, Pablino. I mean, REALLY? At least give me a cute member of my coop that is at well under the age of 35. But I quickly calmed as it wasn’t an interrogation session. Raquel knows better than anyone that it’s just not true. I spend the majority of my days with her, and speak mostly business or jokes with Pablino. I don’t think he’s heard the rumors, because she and I share everything practically and only about 15% makes it to Pablino. And past that, I’m a complete oddity in this community. They’re going to be talking about me regardless, and if some want to associate me with one of my 50 male, coop members, then naturally it would be the one that is closest in proximity and friendship. I can only wait to see what more chisme they can dream up over the next 21 months!
Paraguay also has a tradition previously mentioned in a former blog entry: dating days. Oh yes… every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday a boy will go over and drink terere (the weird weed like powdery mix I love and will never be able to live without after 2 years of Peace Corps!) with the girl’s family. This pretty much goes on for years until they get married. The potential couple is NEVER left alone, and if mom and pap don’t like the boy… he takes a hike! Well, I guess we could say I had my first potential suitor this week. I didn’t even realize it was Tuesday, but he came to Raquel’s asking if the Americana was around to drink terere. Like a good momma, she set us up and let us chat while she supervised from our outdoor kitchen. And the best thing? Not Raquel, Pablino (who actually works with the guy getting loans for land he’s developing next to our house!), nor myself know the poor young man’s name! He never asked me and I never asked him, so he’s just a mystery wannabe boyfriend! The whole thing made me laugh inside, although I showed him respect and chilled for a while drinking our mostly grass-like terere. Poor soul… we’ll see if he comes back, I don’t think I’m interested señor!
Big shout out to my care package masters! Mom, Cathy, Ming, Laurie Sheldon (Kely’s mom), Mary-David and George all win some major cool points! I mean, there are few things sweeter than knowing people care about you enough to send you goodies! Nicely done to all of you, although I think Cathy’s winning the record. She’s a little nutty for sending one 12lbs package followed by a 21lbs package internationally, but dammit do I love her! Please keep them coming because I can always use more things. With upcoming projects, I’m in need of more supply-like materials… so if you want to get a box together, shoot me an email. Thanks again for everything! Postcards are cool too… I ALWAYS need things to remind me of the states!
As for the favorites of the week…
BOOK: A Widow for One Year by John Irving (I’m kind of on an Irving kick)
ALBUM: Sam’s Town by The Killers… I couldn’t just pick one song this time!
AWKWARD MOMENT: thinking an 8 year old was talking about my varicose veins (thanks mom!) when really she was being secretive asking her mom if my shorts were cut by a pair of scissors (Nike made them that way!!)
REVELATION: Rio in May with mom, so look out world… I’m going to be bikini ready!
GUARANI WORD: kaigue (pronounced ka-ee-guay) which means without energy.
I’m without energy: Che kaigue
You’re without energy: Nde kaigue
He/she is without energy: Ikaigue
Monday, November 12, 2007
its´s been a long time and i shouldn´t have left you without a dope beat to step to
First off, a hundred apologies for not writing sooner. Internet time has been sparse, but I finally have a few minutes to type up this novel! Read on if you have the time, if not... the blog´s not going anywhere!
COOP news is kind of complicated. My host dad/treasurer of the cooperative and I sat down a few weeks ago. I had questions involving finances and then it ended up being a conversation about my future work. He basically told me that he and the president, also his best friend, had no idea why they asked for a volunteer. I mean, that´s always good news when I´m hear for two years! It doesn´t frustrate me at all, because I see holes in their business practices, its just a matter of bringing them up slowly and delicately. A few weeks after that, we got some REALLY good news! Some government organization is giving our COOP 3 or 4 computers since I´m living in the community! They are specifically for me to teach technical classes! I´m stoked about that and although I´m not getting too excited until I see that the computers are actually located in my community. PYans don´t do anything quickly!
A few weeks ago I had a real cultural experience. A little something they call rezos. I have been to a TON here, but actually helped with one! Basically, when someone dies you have 9 days of mourning. They don´t sit around crying, but they do get together every afternoon to say the entire rosary. And this is right after someone dies AND every year after that. So the last day is a big production. They usually have a celebration of sorts with music and prayers and of course, the rosary. They also give out cookies, candy, and this special PYan bread called chipa. Chipa consists of flour, animal fat, cheese, corn flour, and anise. Oh, and a TON of manual labor too. I stayed at my host mom´s family´s house and got up at 2:45am to start kneading the dough! I mean... my arms were sore! Basically they have t make hundreds of pieces of this stuff (http://www.webescuela.edu.py/Contenido/Fotos/CocTipica_chipa2.jpg) because every kid within walking distance will show up for free food. Its also cooked in a wood fire outside, known as a tatakua (http://www.cockaigne.demon.co.uk/santamaria/images/tatakuafood.jpg) Its all a lot of work, but def something I was glad to help out with! I didn´t managed to take pictures because I was elbow deep in dough for 12 hours but luckily, we´ll do it again next year!
Can we touch on relationships again please? I´ve become very close with my host mom´s family. They are all close to my age and they´re just down right FUN! In addition to her parents as well, whom have adopted me as one of their own. They live about 15k away, so I don´t get to see them all the time, but they visit a lot. Well the parents have told me they want me to be a part of their family forever, and I know I will be. But they´re looking for something a little more concrete, as in marring a son! They´re only half joking, and I´m sure when I tell them I´m never living here they would change their mind. But there is one son that is 25 (the other two are 20 and 35) and he really does have a massive crush on me. His name is Juan, and I don´t think I could wish for a more typical South American name! He asks me out a lot but since I can´t ride on motorcycles, nothing ever comes of his asking. Most PYan men are really obnoxious with huge egos and uneducated and work in the fields, but Juan graduated high school and has taken a lot of technical courses. I am DEFINITELY not dating this guy, but they are all trying hard to make it happen! There are some serious consequences to dating in site though. A friend of mine about 15k away has a boyfriend, and that´s all anyone talks about. She has trouble working too because the community is always talking about them being together. I want my community to say that I am hard working and trying to speak guarani, not that I´m moving my way through the locals!
Second tarantula murdered. Wasp infestation about once a week in my house and I don´t know where they are coming from. Gotta love NATURE!
My nearest PC neighbor (Gariety and she´s a health volunteer) and I decided to go to a birthday party the other night. There was dancing, and of course I wasn´t going to say no to an opportunity to shake my thing! We danced for a solid two hours and my host mom said the next morning in church, all the girls were talking about how the Americanas really knew how to bust a move! RIGHT ON!
I spent a week farther out in the campo, back to the days of latrines and cold showers. It was a really great opportunity to practice more guarani and get to know more members and families of my coop. I can tell within 2 minutes of the male of the house is interested or not interested in working with a woman, so I made sure to make notes of the ones I can probably forget about in general. Just like West Virginia, the farther back into the hills you go, generally speaking the people are poorer. We´re talking 10 to 12 kids and barely enough food for 2. Its hard to see but makes me proud to be trying to change the lives of the people here!!
Many of you have asked what you can send me. So here is a random list of goodies. I have everything I NEED, so let it be known that these are WANTS and nothing more!
Chai tea (I miss making lattes with Kyle!!)
cookbooks WITHOUT gourmet ingredients
postcards
pictures
magazines (trash or intellectual)
macaroni and cheese (if you want to go all out, Velveeta!)
peanut butter (almost impossible here!)
Nutella
letters!!!
Orbitz gum
Wintergreen mints
any spices especially exotic or Indian or Asian varities
any condiments... GOOD honey mustard, bbq sauce, salsa, etc.
Ralph Lauren perfume in Cool
any clothes in dry weave for outdoors HOT weather (size M or 8)
I´ll update that list as random things pop into my head! Thanks again to all of you that have sent me packages and notes. They are highly appreciated and makes me smile every time! Cathy, naturally, is holding down the record I believe! Love her!!
And now for my current reads and revelations...
Book: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (LOVING it! Thanks CLG!)
Song: Brothers on a Hotel Bed by Death Cab for Cutie (shout out to MING!)
Relevation: Going to India the year of my 28th birthday
Favorite word in guarani: ndoikoi (doy-koy) which basically means a lot of things... it doesn´t work, it doesn´t live, it doesn´t taste good. (this positive of this word, aka it works, it lives, it tastes great! is oiko, pronounced oy-ko)
Again, I think of you all often and keep the emails and updates coming my way!
COOP news is kind of complicated. My host dad/treasurer of the cooperative and I sat down a few weeks ago. I had questions involving finances and then it ended up being a conversation about my future work. He basically told me that he and the president, also his best friend, had no idea why they asked for a volunteer. I mean, that´s always good news when I´m hear for two years! It doesn´t frustrate me at all, because I see holes in their business practices, its just a matter of bringing them up slowly and delicately. A few weeks after that, we got some REALLY good news! Some government organization is giving our COOP 3 or 4 computers since I´m living in the community! They are specifically for me to teach technical classes! I´m stoked about that and although I´m not getting too excited until I see that the computers are actually located in my community. PYans don´t do anything quickly!
A few weeks ago I had a real cultural experience. A little something they call rezos. I have been to a TON here, but actually helped with one! Basically, when someone dies you have 9 days of mourning. They don´t sit around crying, but they do get together every afternoon to say the entire rosary. And this is right after someone dies AND every year after that. So the last day is a big production. They usually have a celebration of sorts with music and prayers and of course, the rosary. They also give out cookies, candy, and this special PYan bread called chipa. Chipa consists of flour, animal fat, cheese, corn flour, and anise. Oh, and a TON of manual labor too. I stayed at my host mom´s family´s house and got up at 2:45am to start kneading the dough! I mean... my arms were sore! Basically they have t make hundreds of pieces of this stuff (http://www.webescuela.edu.py/Contenido/Fotos/CocTipica_chipa2.jpg) because every kid within walking distance will show up for free food. Its also cooked in a wood fire outside, known as a tatakua (http://www.cockaigne.demon.co.uk/santamaria/images/tatakuafood.jpg) Its all a lot of work, but def something I was glad to help out with! I didn´t managed to take pictures because I was elbow deep in dough for 12 hours but luckily, we´ll do it again next year!
Can we touch on relationships again please? I´ve become very close with my host mom´s family. They are all close to my age and they´re just down right FUN! In addition to her parents as well, whom have adopted me as one of their own. They live about 15k away, so I don´t get to see them all the time, but they visit a lot. Well the parents have told me they want me to be a part of their family forever, and I know I will be. But they´re looking for something a little more concrete, as in marring a son! They´re only half joking, and I´m sure when I tell them I´m never living here they would change their mind. But there is one son that is 25 (the other two are 20 and 35) and he really does have a massive crush on me. His name is Juan, and I don´t think I could wish for a more typical South American name! He asks me out a lot but since I can´t ride on motorcycles, nothing ever comes of his asking. Most PYan men are really obnoxious with huge egos and uneducated and work in the fields, but Juan graduated high school and has taken a lot of technical courses. I am DEFINITELY not dating this guy, but they are all trying hard to make it happen! There are some serious consequences to dating in site though. A friend of mine about 15k away has a boyfriend, and that´s all anyone talks about. She has trouble working too because the community is always talking about them being together. I want my community to say that I am hard working and trying to speak guarani, not that I´m moving my way through the locals!
Second tarantula murdered. Wasp infestation about once a week in my house and I don´t know where they are coming from. Gotta love NATURE!
My nearest PC neighbor (Gariety and she´s a health volunteer) and I decided to go to a birthday party the other night. There was dancing, and of course I wasn´t going to say no to an opportunity to shake my thing! We danced for a solid two hours and my host mom said the next morning in church, all the girls were talking about how the Americanas really knew how to bust a move! RIGHT ON!
I spent a week farther out in the campo, back to the days of latrines and cold showers. It was a really great opportunity to practice more guarani and get to know more members and families of my coop. I can tell within 2 minutes of the male of the house is interested or not interested in working with a woman, so I made sure to make notes of the ones I can probably forget about in general. Just like West Virginia, the farther back into the hills you go, generally speaking the people are poorer. We´re talking 10 to 12 kids and barely enough food for 2. Its hard to see but makes me proud to be trying to change the lives of the people here!!
Many of you have asked what you can send me. So here is a random list of goodies. I have everything I NEED, so let it be known that these are WANTS and nothing more!
Chai tea (I miss making lattes with Kyle!!)
cookbooks WITHOUT gourmet ingredients
postcards
pictures
magazines (trash or intellectual)
macaroni and cheese (if you want to go all out, Velveeta!)
peanut butter (almost impossible here!)
Nutella
letters!!!
Orbitz gum
Wintergreen mints
any spices especially exotic or Indian or Asian varities
any condiments... GOOD honey mustard, bbq sauce, salsa, etc.
Ralph Lauren perfume in Cool
any clothes in dry weave for outdoors HOT weather (size M or 8)
I´ll update that list as random things pop into my head! Thanks again to all of you that have sent me packages and notes. They are highly appreciated and makes me smile every time! Cathy, naturally, is holding down the record I believe! Love her!!
And now for my current reads and revelations...
Book: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (LOVING it! Thanks CLG!)
Song: Brothers on a Hotel Bed by Death Cab for Cutie (shout out to MING!)
Relevation: Going to India the year of my 28th birthday
Favorite word in guarani: ndoikoi (doy-koy) which basically means a lot of things... it doesn´t work, it doesn´t live, it doesn´t taste good. (this positive of this word, aka it works, it lives, it tastes great! is oiko, pronounced oy-ko)
Again, I think of you all often and keep the emails and updates coming my way!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
adventures in the campo!
Its been quite a couple of weeks! I´ve been busy, but have managed to upload pictures too so please follow the link at the bottom of my blog to see visual evidence of the fun and friends here in PY!
I had a trip into the capital, Asunción, about two weeks ago. It was really entertaining and great to see my friends that I´ve missed for 6 weeks, but it´s not my home. My home is here, out in the middle of no where, and after 3 days I was more than ready to return to my tranquil life. We did manage to see another movie, and go to an American restaurant... yes, we chose HOOTER´S! Turns out they play American football, so we went for that and seriously stayed for the wings!
At my house we have a pretty extensive love triangle going on, and I may be the one who benefits! We have two male dogs and one female. The girl, Chickitita, was on a type of birth control which is in the form of a shot and given to her every six months. They tried to give it to her and a few drops didn´t go in her hip, and she went into heat that night. We didn´t know who the daddy would be, but the giant dog, Tobi, has been really protective of her and naps with her during the day so looks like we know who big poppa is! In four months I may have a pupi!! (Puppy in spanish but pronounced poopy)
I´m sans a daily schedule so I´ve invented my own. Its been working pretty well and gives me a lot more direction with my days. Time for coop info is in there, as well as language study, visiting the school, talking with neighbors, exercise and of course.. CHE TIEMPO! (me time, in Guarani)
Last week I had my first brush with death. Yes, I killed a tarantula! I´m sure its of of many to come, but let it be known world... I screamed like a school girl throughout the entire process! I woke up to find it in my bathroom halfway under my trash can. I stared in disbelief for a solid 15 minutes debating my strategic attack. I eventually opted for one tennis shoe (why not both? your guess is as good as mine!) because I had the most control over my foot. Brooms seemed risky and I didn´t want it to charge at me! So I smashed it, with my right foot, and squealed!! The I had to scoop it up with cardboard and through it outside, all the while shivers ran down my spine. Good times!!
Yesterday was a blast! Real campo day for me! Got up at 4am to kill a cow! I had seen this before, so it was a little less traumatic since I knew what to expect. I will however, never eat the stomach again. I had tried it, and didn´t exactly enjoy the flavor, but now that I´ve seen them push probably 40lbs of poop out of it then just rinse with a hose and boil to it? I think I´m done, thanks! I also helped them prepare blood sausages... which I politely tried but also, won´t be requesting. They basically take the liver, heart and some other internal organs... grind them up, mix them with the cow´s blood then throw the concoction back into the small intestines. Yummy! My family was picking at it all day saying how good it was. Knowing the process just takes away the flavor for me.
Peace Corps has asked me to come into Asunción Monday to help them write an annual report for PC Washington, D.C. so I look forward to enjoying two days and three nights on their dollar! I also hope to pick up materials about bananas and pineapples so I can better understand the work of my farmers, potential projects for the women´s committee, materials to teach English when school gets out here in November, and information about a PC scholarship for my guarani teacher who is the perfect candidate! Its for any female in the country that has a desire to continue their education, and she´s more than qualified because she´s in hair school and becoming a teacher at the same time while still fitting in a few lesson for me each week. She´s great!
I´ve been doing a lot of reading, but I´ll start from here on out updated on my book selections.
Currently Reading: Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
Comments: hands down one of the subtly funniest books I´ve read to date!
And here are the pics.... They don´t all have captions right now because the computer is being slow, but the house ones are kind of obvious... before, and the glory that is NOW!
Peace Corps Paraguay Dos
I love you all and please keep the emails, notes, and packages coming!
I had a trip into the capital, Asunción, about two weeks ago. It was really entertaining and great to see my friends that I´ve missed for 6 weeks, but it´s not my home. My home is here, out in the middle of no where, and after 3 days I was more than ready to return to my tranquil life. We did manage to see another movie, and go to an American restaurant... yes, we chose HOOTER´S! Turns out they play American football, so we went for that and seriously stayed for the wings!
At my house we have a pretty extensive love triangle going on, and I may be the one who benefits! We have two male dogs and one female. The girl, Chickitita, was on a type of birth control which is in the form of a shot and given to her every six months. They tried to give it to her and a few drops didn´t go in her hip, and she went into heat that night. We didn´t know who the daddy would be, but the giant dog, Tobi, has been really protective of her and naps with her during the day so looks like we know who big poppa is! In four months I may have a pupi!! (Puppy in spanish but pronounced poopy)
I´m sans a daily schedule so I´ve invented my own. Its been working pretty well and gives me a lot more direction with my days. Time for coop info is in there, as well as language study, visiting the school, talking with neighbors, exercise and of course.. CHE TIEMPO! (me time, in Guarani)
Last week I had my first brush with death. Yes, I killed a tarantula! I´m sure its of of many to come, but let it be known world... I screamed like a school girl throughout the entire process! I woke up to find it in my bathroom halfway under my trash can. I stared in disbelief for a solid 15 minutes debating my strategic attack. I eventually opted for one tennis shoe (why not both? your guess is as good as mine!) because I had the most control over my foot. Brooms seemed risky and I didn´t want it to charge at me! So I smashed it, with my right foot, and squealed!! The I had to scoop it up with cardboard and through it outside, all the while shivers ran down my spine. Good times!!
Yesterday was a blast! Real campo day for me! Got up at 4am to kill a cow! I had seen this before, so it was a little less traumatic since I knew what to expect. I will however, never eat the stomach again. I had tried it, and didn´t exactly enjoy the flavor, but now that I´ve seen them push probably 40lbs of poop out of it then just rinse with a hose and boil to it? I think I´m done, thanks! I also helped them prepare blood sausages... which I politely tried but also, won´t be requesting. They basically take the liver, heart and some other internal organs... grind them up, mix them with the cow´s blood then throw the concoction back into the small intestines. Yummy! My family was picking at it all day saying how good it was. Knowing the process just takes away the flavor for me.
Peace Corps has asked me to come into Asunción Monday to help them write an annual report for PC Washington, D.C. so I look forward to enjoying two days and three nights on their dollar! I also hope to pick up materials about bananas and pineapples so I can better understand the work of my farmers, potential projects for the women´s committee, materials to teach English when school gets out here in November, and information about a PC scholarship for my guarani teacher who is the perfect candidate! Its for any female in the country that has a desire to continue their education, and she´s more than qualified because she´s in hair school and becoming a teacher at the same time while still fitting in a few lesson for me each week. She´s great!
I´ve been doing a lot of reading, but I´ll start from here on out updated on my book selections.
Currently Reading: Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
Comments: hands down one of the subtly funniest books I´ve read to date!
And here are the pics.... They don´t all have captions right now because the computer is being slow, but the house ones are kind of obvious... before, and the glory that is NOW!
Peace Corps Paraguay Dos
I love you all and please keep the emails, notes, and packages coming!
Thursday, October 4, 2007
And the adventure continues!
So let´s just walk through an average morning of Betsy trying to get to the internet, shall we? Great... So my alarm blares in my ear at a lovely 4:45am. I turn it off, wash my face and brush my teeth in just enough time to make it outside to see if the bus will even show up today. Last night was the first night in my house (woo hoo!) but while I´m bus waiting, I like to chat so I go over to neighbors house. Every time I hear a large vehicle trekking through our bumpy, dirt road I have to run out to the road so i don´t miss it. Usually there are 1-3 false alarms, but then it comes trucking down the road. This morning, I say goodbye to my family/neighbors as the bus driver´s little assistant guy is saying something to me as the bus continues to COAST on. I swear I hear ¨no brakes,¨ but can´t be sure yet that brakes in English is the same as in español. Regardless, the americana is a little confused and trying to figure out what they want me to do as the bus stops and clearly, is no longer functioning. Great! Is this my fault? I was the one they were slowing down for? Its right in front of my house? Needless to say, I feel awful and can do nothing about it.
So what´s the next logical step when you have a bus stranded 11km from the paved road with 15ish passengers, mostly old men and women? That´s right... flag down my host dad/neighbor (I´m switching to ¨neighbor¨ since I am now living solo, although I still consider them my family closest friends!) He´s a good guy, so he offers his truck. That´s right, his truck and a rope that looked a little too thin for my liking pulled that giant bus to a few different locations while the guys pushed at various, specified times. Eventually, after about 45 minutes of this potentially Beva-caused charade, we get to little hill in the road big enough to push us down and we start the engine. After this, I realize he was correct... he did mean brakes and if I even make it town to write my blog it will be a miracle! We sped through those country roads like the Dukes of Hazard, picking up zero passengers, including my nearest PC neighbor that had to walk 5km to the main road and get another bus (with working brakes, I´m sure.) The bus driver didn´t feel like slowing down over the 45 minute bus ride to town, but I made it alive so that´s exciting!
Oh buses in Paraguay...
As for updates, its been an interesting two weeks. After my last entry, I received a phone call from the PC office. Turns out the director of the coop and municipality volunteers, and our director of security for PY responsible for the safety of all 140 volunteers were fired. Misuse of government computers was the reason, but what that means is still very unclear. To make that day even brighter, my favorite doctor in the office (who worked there for 28 years and 9 months) quit. Why go to work if your buddies aren´t there? The PC/PY office lost 3 great paraguayan employees and its going to be hard to adjust without them! They were all great guys. To top of the week, we had a guy from our small 16 person training group quit. He was a coop volunteer, so now we´re down to a whopping 6. He was 35 and didn´t feel he could continue to do this for two years, so he fled back to DC. He´ll miss out, but we all choose our own paths!
After 6 days of painting, almost 4.000.000Gs (about $720), 631 songs on my iPod and a lot of sweat, my house is basically ready! I still need to buy fans and get them installed, but I slept there last night and although I think rats live in the roof of my kitchen, I´m still loving my house! Its great to have my Independence back, although my family/neighbors are sad that I´m not in there house. I thought Raquel (my host ¨mom¨) was going to cry last night, but I´m not far and still spend a lot of time with them. I´m glad to be on my own so I will be able to work on my projects in peace (3 and 8 year olds can be distracting... who would have known??) and explore other neighborhoods. Preparing my own food without judgement and exercising will be great! My first cooked meal was curried rice... appropriate, although I had to ask myself... am I in Peace Corps INDIA??
Speaking of projects, I basically have my next two year planned out in secondary projects but still have NO clue what do with the coop! That will come in due time, but for now I´m focusing on starting a women´s committee, a youth committee, and lots of activities for the school that´s near me including teaching English during the summer, doing health presentations (I´ll start with dental health next week!), art classes, and my big thing is a culture class once a month! These won´t all hit me at once, but at least I´m starting to get the ball rolling.
Speaking of art, I need your help! My years of Dance Marathon fundraising has left me no shame when it comes to asking for money! I´m starting to work with a committee here that is working to raise money for cameras kits so students here can learn more about photography and we can learn how they visual their world! Its called Ahecha, which is ¨I see¨ in Guarani. The project was inspired by the documentary Born in Brothels, which if you haven´t seen I HIGHLY recommend! It was a favorite during my social work studies at USC. Below is a link, and if you can give a small (or large!) donation I would really appreciate it. There is so little creative energy in this country, so us Peace Corps volunteers are trying to generate it one project at a time. Its the first committee within the PC/PY world that has really sparked my interest. I love art so much and it can be so important for development, but its rarely expressed here. We´re trying to raise just over $5,000 which is pennies compared to my old DM goal of $100,000! Help us reach this goal too if you can, and I thank you in advance! Donations can be made by clicking this link:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=526-179®ion=latinamerica
Well someone buy some ice skates and ship them to Satan... I actually went to church last week! It probably been a solid 10 years since I willingly went to church, but I want to experience every aspect of life here so I gladly got up Sunday morning and went. Turns out the kids here play the same game I loved as a child before Sunday school... kick the dead tarantula! Yep, that´s what they did in the TINY church with about 40 chairs and 20 church goers. I wish I would have had my camera! The service lasted about 2 hours and although there was an apparent priest upfront (90% of the country is Catholic), there were 2 guys in the congregation that actually felt what they were thinking was more important so they would often interrupt the priest mid sentence to present their views on the topic. It was all in Guarani so I didn´t understand 99% of what was said, but somehow they got on the topic of women in politics. That got all 20 people chatting up a storm! Not a good idea to put down women when without them you´d have a church of 2 long winded men! It was an interesting morning to say the least!
Tomorrow up I´m early again to catch a hopefully working bus to Asunción. Its been 6 weeks since I´ve been into the city and its time to pick up packages (hopefully!), mail, and more importantly... see my friends! My group of trainees is spread out and I´m the only one that hasn´t seen anyone else, so I´m more than excited to be reunited! Thanks for continuing to keep me in your thoughts and look for another update in a few weeks!
So what´s the next logical step when you have a bus stranded 11km from the paved road with 15ish passengers, mostly old men and women? That´s right... flag down my host dad/neighbor (I´m switching to ¨neighbor¨ since I am now living solo, although I still consider them my family closest friends!) He´s a good guy, so he offers his truck. That´s right, his truck and a rope that looked a little too thin for my liking pulled that giant bus to a few different locations while the guys pushed at various, specified times. Eventually, after about 45 minutes of this potentially Beva-caused charade, we get to little hill in the road big enough to push us down and we start the engine. After this, I realize he was correct... he did mean brakes and if I even make it town to write my blog it will be a miracle! We sped through those country roads like the Dukes of Hazard, picking up zero passengers, including my nearest PC neighbor that had to walk 5km to the main road and get another bus (with working brakes, I´m sure.) The bus driver didn´t feel like slowing down over the 45 minute bus ride to town, but I made it alive so that´s exciting!
Oh buses in Paraguay...
As for updates, its been an interesting two weeks. After my last entry, I received a phone call from the PC office. Turns out the director of the coop and municipality volunteers, and our director of security for PY responsible for the safety of all 140 volunteers were fired. Misuse of government computers was the reason, but what that means is still very unclear. To make that day even brighter, my favorite doctor in the office (who worked there for 28 years and 9 months) quit. Why go to work if your buddies aren´t there? The PC/PY office lost 3 great paraguayan employees and its going to be hard to adjust without them! They were all great guys. To top of the week, we had a guy from our small 16 person training group quit. He was a coop volunteer, so now we´re down to a whopping 6. He was 35 and didn´t feel he could continue to do this for two years, so he fled back to DC. He´ll miss out, but we all choose our own paths!
After 6 days of painting, almost 4.000.000Gs (about $720), 631 songs on my iPod and a lot of sweat, my house is basically ready! I still need to buy fans and get them installed, but I slept there last night and although I think rats live in the roof of my kitchen, I´m still loving my house! Its great to have my Independence back, although my family/neighbors are sad that I´m not in there house. I thought Raquel (my host ¨mom¨) was going to cry last night, but I´m not far and still spend a lot of time with them. I´m glad to be on my own so I will be able to work on my projects in peace (3 and 8 year olds can be distracting... who would have known??) and explore other neighborhoods. Preparing my own food without judgement and exercising will be great! My first cooked meal was curried rice... appropriate, although I had to ask myself... am I in Peace Corps INDIA??
Speaking of projects, I basically have my next two year planned out in secondary projects but still have NO clue what do with the coop! That will come in due time, but for now I´m focusing on starting a women´s committee, a youth committee, and lots of activities for the school that´s near me including teaching English during the summer, doing health presentations (I´ll start with dental health next week!), art classes, and my big thing is a culture class once a month! These won´t all hit me at once, but at least I´m starting to get the ball rolling.
Speaking of art, I need your help! My years of Dance Marathon fundraising has left me no shame when it comes to asking for money! I´m starting to work with a committee here that is working to raise money for cameras kits so students here can learn more about photography and we can learn how they visual their world! Its called Ahecha, which is ¨I see¨ in Guarani. The project was inspired by the documentary Born in Brothels, which if you haven´t seen I HIGHLY recommend! It was a favorite during my social work studies at USC. Below is a link, and if you can give a small (or large!) donation I would really appreciate it. There is so little creative energy in this country, so us Peace Corps volunteers are trying to generate it one project at a time. Its the first committee within the PC/PY world that has really sparked my interest. I love art so much and it can be so important for development, but its rarely expressed here. We´re trying to raise just over $5,000 which is pennies compared to my old DM goal of $100,000! Help us reach this goal too if you can, and I thank you in advance! Donations can be made by clicking this link:
https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=526-179®ion=latinamerica
Well someone buy some ice skates and ship them to Satan... I actually went to church last week! It probably been a solid 10 years since I willingly went to church, but I want to experience every aspect of life here so I gladly got up Sunday morning and went. Turns out the kids here play the same game I loved as a child before Sunday school... kick the dead tarantula! Yep, that´s what they did in the TINY church with about 40 chairs and 20 church goers. I wish I would have had my camera! The service lasted about 2 hours and although there was an apparent priest upfront (90% of the country is Catholic), there were 2 guys in the congregation that actually felt what they were thinking was more important so they would often interrupt the priest mid sentence to present their views on the topic. It was all in Guarani so I didn´t understand 99% of what was said, but somehow they got on the topic of women in politics. That got all 20 people chatting up a storm! Not a good idea to put down women when without them you´d have a church of 2 long winded men! It was an interesting morning to say the least!
Tomorrow up I´m early again to catch a hopefully working bus to Asunción. Its been 6 weeks since I´ve been into the city and its time to pick up packages (hopefully!), mail, and more importantly... see my friends! My group of trainees is spread out and I´m the only one that hasn´t seen anyone else, so I´m more than excited to be reunited! Thanks for continuing to keep me in your thoughts and look for another update in a few weeks!
Monday, September 17, 2007
Blowing their minds...
Greetings from the real dirty South! (Formerly, I just considered South Carolin the dirty South but then I started to live in a country without santiation systems and I quickly changed my mind!)
Tomorrow is 4 months at site and I can hardly believe it. My time here is going so quickly and so slow at the same time. Luckily, that´s pretty normal for a volunteer that is the first in a community like myself.
My house is SOOO close to being complete that I think about it all the time. Today I´m supposed to get the doors and electricity, so hopefully they´ll actually show up! They were supposed to come everyday for the past week, but I´m feeling optomistic! My bathroom was completed in a record 5 days and its beautiful. Its green and white and I can´t wait to blow the Paraguayan mind by keeping it clean with the one product they fear most: BLEACH!! I purchased all of my furniture (a bed, mattress, bedside table, dinner table for 6, 4 chairs, and a wardrobe for my clothes) for a whopping 800.000 Gs ($160!) I´m got my kitchen furniture unfinished so I can exercise a little creative energy in my kitchen. I´m currently toying with a Jackson Pollock inspired motif with black, yellow and white. Maybe even a little bit of his famous drip method as well! I have a ton of time to work it out, so no rushes on buying paint just yet. Also, I recently had my roof fixed and it wasn´t done well. After the first rain in 3 months I went to inspect and there was water all over the kitchen floor. Great!
Daily life is painfully slow at times, but if I learn new words in Spanish or Guarani, then I consider it a success. As the mission of the PC, 2/3 is just sharing cultures so even if I´m not doing anything directly for the COOP yet, I´m still accomplishing 60% of my goals! My host mom and I talk A LOT. She likes to sit in my room sometimes and listen to me talk on the phone in English, which at first made me uncomfortable, but now I´m used to it. I think she´s a little jealous that I´m not much younger than she (she´s 30) and I´m living a completely different, more worldly lifestyle. She´s great though and I introduced her to tuna and what the nutritional value info on packages means, so that´s helpful to expand her horizons!
And now its time for a Guarani lesson:
Che róga (my house)
Cherera Beva (my name is Beva)
Che peteĩ voluntaria Cuerpo de Pazpegua (I´m a volunteer of Peace Corps)
Amba´apohina Cooperativa ndive (I´m working with the coop)
Aiko familia Bogado ndive koaĝa (I live with the Bogado family now)
Don´t you feel a little more cultured already??
I had my official site presentation last Wednesday. It was great to see my boss, Rubén, because he´s a great guy to work with. He basically just went over the no motorcycle and no drugs policy. He also went over my resume (that I translated to Spanish a few months ago) so they knew a little bit of my history working with businesses. They had time to ask questions, and of course 40 men only had one question: is it permitted for her to get a Paraguayan boyfriend? The good news, is that we had almost 100% participation at the meeting and Rubén said that was the most people he´s seen this year in giving this presentations. They clearly want me here and I can´t wait until I can speak Guarani and actually get to work with them! Rubén also brought all of my bags up, so its really nice to have my entire ¨life¨ back. My little sister sat next me while I went through it and was mesmerized but all the ¨exotic¨ things I have like a spray that makes ironing unnecessary, and reuseable batteries.
This week or next week, I´ll be living another family just to get to know another area of our campo and another family. There area a lot of decisions going on with my house, which is why I may delay, but we´ll see.
Well, that´s about it from down here. Keep the emails coming and send care packages if you want! I could use a little pop culture!
Tomorrow is 4 months at site and I can hardly believe it. My time here is going so quickly and so slow at the same time. Luckily, that´s pretty normal for a volunteer that is the first in a community like myself.
My house is SOOO close to being complete that I think about it all the time. Today I´m supposed to get the doors and electricity, so hopefully they´ll actually show up! They were supposed to come everyday for the past week, but I´m feeling optomistic! My bathroom was completed in a record 5 days and its beautiful. Its green and white and I can´t wait to blow the Paraguayan mind by keeping it clean with the one product they fear most: BLEACH!! I purchased all of my furniture (a bed, mattress, bedside table, dinner table for 6, 4 chairs, and a wardrobe for my clothes) for a whopping 800.000 Gs ($160!) I´m got my kitchen furniture unfinished so I can exercise a little creative energy in my kitchen. I´m currently toying with a Jackson Pollock inspired motif with black, yellow and white. Maybe even a little bit of his famous drip method as well! I have a ton of time to work it out, so no rushes on buying paint just yet. Also, I recently had my roof fixed and it wasn´t done well. After the first rain in 3 months I went to inspect and there was water all over the kitchen floor. Great!
Daily life is painfully slow at times, but if I learn new words in Spanish or Guarani, then I consider it a success. As the mission of the PC, 2/3 is just sharing cultures so even if I´m not doing anything directly for the COOP yet, I´m still accomplishing 60% of my goals! My host mom and I talk A LOT. She likes to sit in my room sometimes and listen to me talk on the phone in English, which at first made me uncomfortable, but now I´m used to it. I think she´s a little jealous that I´m not much younger than she (she´s 30) and I´m living a completely different, more worldly lifestyle. She´s great though and I introduced her to tuna and what the nutritional value info on packages means, so that´s helpful to expand her horizons!
And now its time for a Guarani lesson:
Che róga (my house)
Cherera Beva (my name is Beva)
Che peteĩ voluntaria Cuerpo de Pazpegua (I´m a volunteer of Peace Corps)
Amba´apohina Cooperativa ndive (I´m working with the coop)
Aiko familia Bogado ndive koaĝa (I live with the Bogado family now)
Don´t you feel a little more cultured already??
I had my official site presentation last Wednesday. It was great to see my boss, Rubén, because he´s a great guy to work with. He basically just went over the no motorcycle and no drugs policy. He also went over my resume (that I translated to Spanish a few months ago) so they knew a little bit of my history working with businesses. They had time to ask questions, and of course 40 men only had one question: is it permitted for her to get a Paraguayan boyfriend? The good news, is that we had almost 100% participation at the meeting and Rubén said that was the most people he´s seen this year in giving this presentations. They clearly want me here and I can´t wait until I can speak Guarani and actually get to work with them! Rubén also brought all of my bags up, so its really nice to have my entire ¨life¨ back. My little sister sat next me while I went through it and was mesmerized but all the ¨exotic¨ things I have like a spray that makes ironing unnecessary, and reuseable batteries.
This week or next week, I´ll be living another family just to get to know another area of our campo and another family. There area a lot of decisions going on with my house, which is why I may delay, but we´ll see.
Well, that´s about it from down here. Keep the emails coming and send care packages if you want! I could use a little pop culture!
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
2 down, 102 to go...
Two weeks completed at site, so that means its time to update! Internet is about a 45 minute bus ride away, but when I do come I usually spend a few hours to get updated on everything, so be sure to keep the emails coming! (betsy.curry@yahoo.com)
I´m living with the Bogado family for a few weeks. They´re super great to me and I´m really happy. My area is VERY poor but they have money due to excellent farming practices, so their house is brick and they have two bathrooms. Most houses around me are wooden with dirt floors and a hole and the backyard. Romina (8) is the cute daughter of the house and very overdramatic gripping her chest and gasping as we go through photos in my español National Geographics. Yony (3, pronounced Jonny) loves to speak through screaming at the top of his lungs and he pissed on my foot the other day because he thought it was funny. Raquel (30) is the mom and my only friend. We´ve been getting up at 5am everyday so I can teach her pilates. Pablino (35) is the dad and VERY hardworking. He´s always out in their fields, but is always ready to explain something to me when I need it.
In a few months I´ll move into the house next to theirs. I need to put a lot of expenses into it, so donations to my house fund can be sent to my parents! :) I live so far out that I´m going to make sure I´m comfortable with my surrounds. The good news is that I don´t have to pay rent after I get it the way I want it, so that´s comforting! My coop is great though and has offered to pay for a little bit of the place. I was told that I was going to help them so they wanted to help me too. What a great community to be in!
My area has a school so once I can speak the language (Guarani, no spanish here!) then I want to start a monthly class on cultures around the world. They get zero of that here, so I´d like to introduce them to all of the reasons why I love to travel and explore this great earth! I may need help from some of you out there, so I´ll let you know as that develops over the next few months. I´ve always been in touch with 2 volunteers near me and I think we´re going to start a radio show. We´re all in different fields (health, education and business) so I think we have a lot to share with the people of Guayaibi!
My former language partner, Brennan, and I have started a weight loss challenge! Three months of now we have a mandatory reconnect with our group members, and that´s when we weigh in. The 5am pilates definitely sets me ahead of him, but we´ll see! My host mom wanted to weigh herself the other day so I imagined we´d use some kind of scale used for cattle. NOPE! There was a crazy contraption that you hooked into a tree and tied a rope around literally holding yourself and sitting in the rope at the same time. What a trip!
Paging Dr. Beva! Somehow my family inferred that I know everything about health since I was almost a health volunteer in Morocco. Um, NO! They took me over to the grandmother´s house and continued to reference an ¨operation¨ that I knew everything about. I mean, i say ¨sí¨ a lot when I don´t know whats going on... so I could only imagine what this meant! They ended up getting out a stehascope and blood pressure cuff. I don´t know how that works! I debated 100 things in my head. Do I admit I don´t know what to do? Do I call Cathy and quickly get it explained? Do I just lie? For reasons unknown to me, I was really calm with the idea of just winging it. I mean, I´ve seen it done... how hard can this be? Luckily, the cuff was about 50 years old and broken so I didn´t have to go through with my massive lie but what an experience! I ended up just going through her most recent blood tests and some old xrays and pointing out things that weren´t there or saying things that I can´t verify are true about the blood. Good times!!
Everything asks when I´m getting a boyfriend. No time soon is always my response! The language, my coop, my house and then I´ll think about the other aspects to life. But in reality, I´m 99.9% I couldn´t date a Paraguayan. They legitimately believe mayo is a flavor (not a condiment) and that Christianity is the only religion in the world. No thanks boys!
So my house will have an extra bedroom, so have November I´m open for business! I would seriously love for anyone to visit, just let me know when!
Also, I´ve discovered that I LOVE getting mail! Please send anything! A letter, pictures of the states, things to decorate my new house since I have nothing, candy... whatever! Mail makes me think people have actually noticed I´m gone!
My address is
Betsy Curry, PCV
Cuerpo de Paz
162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. López
Asuncsión 1580, Paraguay
South America
OH! And MOST importantly I FINALLY added a few photos!
Paraguay Uno
Check them out and you´ll have a tiny taste of life here
I´m living with the Bogado family for a few weeks. They´re super great to me and I´m really happy. My area is VERY poor but they have money due to excellent farming practices, so their house is brick and they have two bathrooms. Most houses around me are wooden with dirt floors and a hole and the backyard. Romina (8) is the cute daughter of the house and very overdramatic gripping her chest and gasping as we go through photos in my español National Geographics. Yony (3, pronounced Jonny) loves to speak through screaming at the top of his lungs and he pissed on my foot the other day because he thought it was funny. Raquel (30) is the mom and my only friend. We´ve been getting up at 5am everyday so I can teach her pilates. Pablino (35) is the dad and VERY hardworking. He´s always out in their fields, but is always ready to explain something to me when I need it.
In a few months I´ll move into the house next to theirs. I need to put a lot of expenses into it, so donations to my house fund can be sent to my parents! :) I live so far out that I´m going to make sure I´m comfortable with my surrounds. The good news is that I don´t have to pay rent after I get it the way I want it, so that´s comforting! My coop is great though and has offered to pay for a little bit of the place. I was told that I was going to help them so they wanted to help me too. What a great community to be in!
My area has a school so once I can speak the language (Guarani, no spanish here!) then I want to start a monthly class on cultures around the world. They get zero of that here, so I´d like to introduce them to all of the reasons why I love to travel and explore this great earth! I may need help from some of you out there, so I´ll let you know as that develops over the next few months. I´ve always been in touch with 2 volunteers near me and I think we´re going to start a radio show. We´re all in different fields (health, education and business) so I think we have a lot to share with the people of Guayaibi!
My former language partner, Brennan, and I have started a weight loss challenge! Three months of now we have a mandatory reconnect with our group members, and that´s when we weigh in. The 5am pilates definitely sets me ahead of him, but we´ll see! My host mom wanted to weigh herself the other day so I imagined we´d use some kind of scale used for cattle. NOPE! There was a crazy contraption that you hooked into a tree and tied a rope around literally holding yourself and sitting in the rope at the same time. What a trip!
Paging Dr. Beva! Somehow my family inferred that I know everything about health since I was almost a health volunteer in Morocco. Um, NO! They took me over to the grandmother´s house and continued to reference an ¨operation¨ that I knew everything about. I mean, i say ¨sí¨ a lot when I don´t know whats going on... so I could only imagine what this meant! They ended up getting out a stehascope and blood pressure cuff. I don´t know how that works! I debated 100 things in my head. Do I admit I don´t know what to do? Do I call Cathy and quickly get it explained? Do I just lie? For reasons unknown to me, I was really calm with the idea of just winging it. I mean, I´ve seen it done... how hard can this be? Luckily, the cuff was about 50 years old and broken so I didn´t have to go through with my massive lie but what an experience! I ended up just going through her most recent blood tests and some old xrays and pointing out things that weren´t there or saying things that I can´t verify are true about the blood. Good times!!
Everything asks when I´m getting a boyfriend. No time soon is always my response! The language, my coop, my house and then I´ll think about the other aspects to life. But in reality, I´m 99.9% I couldn´t date a Paraguayan. They legitimately believe mayo is a flavor (not a condiment) and that Christianity is the only religion in the world. No thanks boys!
So my house will have an extra bedroom, so have November I´m open for business! I would seriously love for anyone to visit, just let me know when!
Also, I´ve discovered that I LOVE getting mail! Please send anything! A letter, pictures of the states, things to decorate my new house since I have nothing, candy... whatever! Mail makes me think people have actually noticed I´m gone!
My address is
Betsy Curry, PCV
Cuerpo de Paz
162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. López
Asuncsión 1580, Paraguay
South America
OH! And MOST importantly I FINALLY added a few photos!
Paraguay Uno
Check them out and you´ll have a tiny taste of life here
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
the beginning has come...
So its been quite a couple of days in Asuncion!
Our swearing-in ceremony was Friday morning and pretty quick. Since its the 40th anniversary of PC PY, the national director came down from Washington. He gave a nice little speach, our PY country director spoke, the embassador swore us in all at the same time, and we were out of there! They had a GREAT cake at the reception, and knowing me I'll probably remember that over the years over the actual ceremony!
The rest of our nights here were left to being out on the town. Its hard to remember that I'm in a third wold country/the Peace Corps when I can go to a movie theater and see Transformers in English TWO DAYS IN ROW! I mean, if you haven't seen that movie... its totally worth it. Best $2 movie EVER! Call me Jarrod Curry, but it was spectacular! We also ate at a fantastic Mexican place on Friday night and a charasceria last night. Basically, its a giant buffet where guys just walk around with swords of different kinds of meat. Its sooo delicious too!! We all broke a cardinal rule though. We ate sushi and steak tar tar in a land locked country. I'm still standing though!
EARLY Monday morning was the 40th anniversary celebration. Not extremely exciting either, but my group makes everything fun. Today is the first day that I leave to live in Guayaivi permanently, and its going to be so hard to stay away from my friends. We've had some unbelieveable moments in training and this past weekend in Asuncion gave us a few more classic memories. As I've said, there are 16 of us but there is a group of about 8-10 people that continually entertain one another. I've already had to say goodbye to a few, and although we're in the same country and we'll see each other once every two months or so... its still tough to know that life is changing SO drastically.
As for communication, I know have a cell phone and my area has great service so PLEASE call... speaking English will become very rare starting tonight. Also, I spoke with a volunteer that lives near me and she was giving me the low down on the computer situation. Turns out I'll have to take the 5:30am bus to a town that's about 30 minutes away. Then I'll have to wait around until a ciber opens and get everything done and back into town by noon. Good times! So the moral of the story? Emails are going to be less frequent, but please call!!
Well, my 30 minutes on the PC library computer is up. I hope you're all doing well and enjoying life as much as I am!
Our swearing-in ceremony was Friday morning and pretty quick. Since its the 40th anniversary of PC PY, the national director came down from Washington. He gave a nice little speach, our PY country director spoke, the embassador swore us in all at the same time, and we were out of there! They had a GREAT cake at the reception, and knowing me I'll probably remember that over the years over the actual ceremony!
The rest of our nights here were left to being out on the town. Its hard to remember that I'm in a third wold country/the Peace Corps when I can go to a movie theater and see Transformers in English TWO DAYS IN ROW! I mean, if you haven't seen that movie... its totally worth it. Best $2 movie EVER! Call me Jarrod Curry, but it was spectacular! We also ate at a fantastic Mexican place on Friday night and a charasceria last night. Basically, its a giant buffet where guys just walk around with swords of different kinds of meat. Its sooo delicious too!! We all broke a cardinal rule though. We ate sushi and steak tar tar in a land locked country. I'm still standing though!
EARLY Monday morning was the 40th anniversary celebration. Not extremely exciting either, but my group makes everything fun. Today is the first day that I leave to live in Guayaivi permanently, and its going to be so hard to stay away from my friends. We've had some unbelieveable moments in training and this past weekend in Asuncion gave us a few more classic memories. As I've said, there are 16 of us but there is a group of about 8-10 people that continually entertain one another. I've already had to say goodbye to a few, and although we're in the same country and we'll see each other once every two months or so... its still tough to know that life is changing SO drastically.
As for communication, I know have a cell phone and my area has great service so PLEASE call... speaking English will become very rare starting tonight. Also, I spoke with a volunteer that lives near me and she was giving me the low down on the computer situation. Turns out I'll have to take the 5:30am bus to a town that's about 30 minutes away. Then I'll have to wait around until a ciber opens and get everything done and back into town by noon. Good times! So the moral of the story? Emails are going to be less frequent, but please call!!
Well, my 30 minutes on the PC library computer is up. I hope you're all doing well and enjoying life as much as I am!
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
details of my new universe
Ok! What a great couple of days its been! Here´s the latest...
The ¨retreat¨ with our contacts went well. Alfredo showed up from Guayaivi and he´s the ingenero, which basically means he does the technical side of the coop instead of the labor side. He actually lives in the capital, Asunción, and commutes the 3.5 hours to work there during the week. His brother is actually the mayor of Guayaivi, so I´m sure it will be good to keep up with the two of them! Although my official contact is the President of the coop, I think I´ll be working more closely with Alfredo since he knows all of the logistics including commercialization, communication with the members, financial info and exporting details. The retreat was a lot of fun to interact with excited Paraguayans anxious to get a volunteer of their own. And the best part? During a rousing frisbee game a managed to RIP my only pair of khaki pants right down the butt! Luckily only my American friends saw and, oddly enough, I was the third of our group of trainees to split pants during random activites like frisbee!!
Last Wednesday morning Alfredo and I headed off to Guayaivi. The bus ride was cramped, as usual, because the drivers literally pack passengers in like sardines. In fact, on my ride back this morning, I actually stood in the isle for 2 hours of the trip! As we got to the town, we walked a few yards down a street made of rocks and stopped at the house of Alfredo´s brother for a quick terere (the green tea-ish beverage that will be mentioned a lot throughout the next 2 years!) break while we waited for our ride. His brother´s house is huge and modern and I started to think, this is going to be a lot more chu-chi than I had anticipated! However, when our ride came and we started the 15km trek into my real home base reality set back in. Its all dirt, BUMPY and open. All of the houses have a lot of land, and although I am used to seeing brick homes... almost all in this compañia are wood.
After about 15 minutes in a truck, we finally hit the ¨compound¨ of the Bogado family. Behind a sturdy 5 foot wall is a set of 4 houses. This was the first time I had ever seen a wall like this considering 99% of all other homes in this country just have a fence if they´re lucky, and mostly just a giant yard. The homes belong to my new hosts (Raquel and Pablino), Paublino´s parents and two homes that are empty. His sister is living in Argentina and I´ve been told I´m going to be given her house. Sweet!! Paublino´s house is SUPER nice though, which was somewhat of a relief. He´s the treasurer of the coop and knows his farming business! Its sometimes difficult to convince farmers to invest in fertilizers because they don´t believe the investment will improve the quality of their product that much. Pablino definitely understands though and has stacks of fertilizer bags all around and his increased economic status is apparent too!
First thing is first though with a guest in Paraguay...what´s for dinner? Raquel decided chicken would be ideal, so we headed to her backyard. I was super excited because their yard is filled with all of the fruit trees I´ve come to love here... passion fruit, oranges, lemons, grapefruit and mangos. What tasty real estate! She grabbed a chicken and asked me to do the honors. I didn´t know what do to!! Luckily, I can still play the dumb card on that one because I haven´t killed a chicken yet. She laughed and gave me a lesson and made me promise the next time would be me doing the work! And, as is custom, the guest gets the best part. For me, it was a part I didn´t even know people ate... her sack of eggs. I choked it down, but all I could think was someone eating MY eggs! Random connection, I know... but what a welcome!
We also OFFICIALLY changed my name for the LAST time (I promise!) My other PC trainees and I had been joking about Beva since we liked Eva but should keep the B. I kid you not, the first thing I asked my new hosts was to give suggestions and the FIRST name out sans my suggestions was Beva!! So... Beva it is!
The only bathroom in the house is through Raquel´s and Pablino´s bedroom. My bladder could tell I was worried about this and of course, needed relief around 4am. I spotted a latrine outside during daylight hours so I found my only source of light (my travel alarm clock!) and made me way outside. The next morning, Raquel said she heard me get up and that it was silly. I should just walk through their room! But also, I needn´t worry because her husband was out that minute buying supplies for a bathroom. Yep, they´re building me my own bathroom! How crazy! They have two great kids... Romina (8) and Yony (3), pronounced Jonny in español. Romina immediately fell in love with me and holds my hand everywhere we go. She´s very intelligent so I can tell we´re going to have a great relationship over the next 2 years!
Yony´s a character and his relationship with Romina reminded me of the spats Jarrod and I used to have. He actually did a pretty Jarrod-esque move the other day too. In the middle of an open field where his mom and I were digging up mandioca (the potato family staple here), he just started pushing me. I looked down and couldn´t really figure out what he was doing as he was screaming MOVE BEVA MOVE! Then he said the only words you need to hear from a 3 year old... peepee!! Surrounded by nothingness I was forced to relocate to he could relieve himself where he wished. Oh the graces of being recently pottytrained!
My days were spent talking with the Bogado family and meeting other members of the coop. We´ve agreed that my first month, more or less, will be spent with their family. After that, I´ll rotate for a few weeks just to get to know some of the other members and their families. The VP actually asked me over for lunch on Sunday, and he and I had an at length conversation about exporting situations, communications woes, and how quality means everything when selling fruits. He´s a talker but he has a lot of passion when he speaks, so I´m gonig to enjoy his company a lot.
My outlying street of Guayaivi is pretty much what I expected. Two buses come in a day (5am and 11am) and the nearest place to buy and resemblence of groceries is a solid 20 minute walk. There is, however, a health volunteer about 7km on the road out to the Ruta. She wasn´t in but I´m excited to talk to her too and do a lot of collaborating since originally I wanted to be a health volunteer. There is a school very close to mine so I´m already beginning to entertain the idea of having cultural classes. There is so much these people are cut off from, so I´d like to bring it to them with a monthly lesson about a specific country including music, dance, and of course food! I may be calling on some of you to contribute info, but that´s a ways off. First I need to speak better Guarani!
So what´s next? Not much actually. Two weeks of sparse classes and excursions, then its swearing in on the 17th. Its the 40th Year Anniversary of PC volunteers in PY, so the Chair of PC is coming down from Washington and all the PY dignitaries are supposed to show some face too. Should be VERY memorable! After that, my friends and I will spend 4 wild nights in the capital city indulging in all that we can. I heard a rumor that the food I´m missing most is available, so I will be on the hunt for hummus! There is also a zoo that is apparently similar to stepping into the wild and a few movie theaters too. We´ll be doing it all before all we have to connect our lives is a text message.
I´m loving this but I´m still missing all of you! Please email if you can and continue to enjoy this great world of ours!
The ¨retreat¨ with our contacts went well. Alfredo showed up from Guayaivi and he´s the ingenero, which basically means he does the technical side of the coop instead of the labor side. He actually lives in the capital, Asunción, and commutes the 3.5 hours to work there during the week. His brother is actually the mayor of Guayaivi, so I´m sure it will be good to keep up with the two of them! Although my official contact is the President of the coop, I think I´ll be working more closely with Alfredo since he knows all of the logistics including commercialization, communication with the members, financial info and exporting details. The retreat was a lot of fun to interact with excited Paraguayans anxious to get a volunteer of their own. And the best part? During a rousing frisbee game a managed to RIP my only pair of khaki pants right down the butt! Luckily only my American friends saw and, oddly enough, I was the third of our group of trainees to split pants during random activites like frisbee!!
Last Wednesday morning Alfredo and I headed off to Guayaivi. The bus ride was cramped, as usual, because the drivers literally pack passengers in like sardines. In fact, on my ride back this morning, I actually stood in the isle for 2 hours of the trip! As we got to the town, we walked a few yards down a street made of rocks and stopped at the house of Alfredo´s brother for a quick terere (the green tea-ish beverage that will be mentioned a lot throughout the next 2 years!) break while we waited for our ride. His brother´s house is huge and modern and I started to think, this is going to be a lot more chu-chi than I had anticipated! However, when our ride came and we started the 15km trek into my real home base reality set back in. Its all dirt, BUMPY and open. All of the houses have a lot of land, and although I am used to seeing brick homes... almost all in this compañia are wood.
After about 15 minutes in a truck, we finally hit the ¨compound¨ of the Bogado family. Behind a sturdy 5 foot wall is a set of 4 houses. This was the first time I had ever seen a wall like this considering 99% of all other homes in this country just have a fence if they´re lucky, and mostly just a giant yard. The homes belong to my new hosts (Raquel and Pablino), Paublino´s parents and two homes that are empty. His sister is living in Argentina and I´ve been told I´m going to be given her house. Sweet!! Paublino´s house is SUPER nice though, which was somewhat of a relief. He´s the treasurer of the coop and knows his farming business! Its sometimes difficult to convince farmers to invest in fertilizers because they don´t believe the investment will improve the quality of their product that much. Pablino definitely understands though and has stacks of fertilizer bags all around and his increased economic status is apparent too!
First thing is first though with a guest in Paraguay...what´s for dinner? Raquel decided chicken would be ideal, so we headed to her backyard. I was super excited because their yard is filled with all of the fruit trees I´ve come to love here... passion fruit, oranges, lemons, grapefruit and mangos. What tasty real estate! She grabbed a chicken and asked me to do the honors. I didn´t know what do to!! Luckily, I can still play the dumb card on that one because I haven´t killed a chicken yet. She laughed and gave me a lesson and made me promise the next time would be me doing the work! And, as is custom, the guest gets the best part. For me, it was a part I didn´t even know people ate... her sack of eggs. I choked it down, but all I could think was someone eating MY eggs! Random connection, I know... but what a welcome!
We also OFFICIALLY changed my name for the LAST time (I promise!) My other PC trainees and I had been joking about Beva since we liked Eva but should keep the B. I kid you not, the first thing I asked my new hosts was to give suggestions and the FIRST name out sans my suggestions was Beva!! So... Beva it is!
The only bathroom in the house is through Raquel´s and Pablino´s bedroom. My bladder could tell I was worried about this and of course, needed relief around 4am. I spotted a latrine outside during daylight hours so I found my only source of light (my travel alarm clock!) and made me way outside. The next morning, Raquel said she heard me get up and that it was silly. I should just walk through their room! But also, I needn´t worry because her husband was out that minute buying supplies for a bathroom. Yep, they´re building me my own bathroom! How crazy! They have two great kids... Romina (8) and Yony (3), pronounced Jonny in español. Romina immediately fell in love with me and holds my hand everywhere we go. She´s very intelligent so I can tell we´re going to have a great relationship over the next 2 years!
Yony´s a character and his relationship with Romina reminded me of the spats Jarrod and I used to have. He actually did a pretty Jarrod-esque move the other day too. In the middle of an open field where his mom and I were digging up mandioca (the potato family staple here), he just started pushing me. I looked down and couldn´t really figure out what he was doing as he was screaming MOVE BEVA MOVE! Then he said the only words you need to hear from a 3 year old... peepee!! Surrounded by nothingness I was forced to relocate to he could relieve himself where he wished. Oh the graces of being recently pottytrained!
My days were spent talking with the Bogado family and meeting other members of the coop. We´ve agreed that my first month, more or less, will be spent with their family. After that, I´ll rotate for a few weeks just to get to know some of the other members and their families. The VP actually asked me over for lunch on Sunday, and he and I had an at length conversation about exporting situations, communications woes, and how quality means everything when selling fruits. He´s a talker but he has a lot of passion when he speaks, so I´m gonig to enjoy his company a lot.
My outlying street of Guayaivi is pretty much what I expected. Two buses come in a day (5am and 11am) and the nearest place to buy and resemblence of groceries is a solid 20 minute walk. There is, however, a health volunteer about 7km on the road out to the Ruta. She wasn´t in but I´m excited to talk to her too and do a lot of collaborating since originally I wanted to be a health volunteer. There is a school very close to mine so I´m already beginning to entertain the idea of having cultural classes. There is so much these people are cut off from, so I´d like to bring it to them with a monthly lesson about a specific country including music, dance, and of course food! I may be calling on some of you to contribute info, but that´s a ways off. First I need to speak better Guarani!
So what´s next? Not much actually. Two weeks of sparse classes and excursions, then its swearing in on the 17th. Its the 40th Year Anniversary of PC volunteers in PY, so the Chair of PC is coming down from Washington and all the PY dignitaries are supposed to show some face too. Should be VERY memorable! After that, my friends and I will spend 4 wild nights in the capital city indulging in all that we can. I heard a rumor that the food I´m missing most is available, so I will be on the hunt for hummus! There is also a zoo that is apparently similar to stepping into the wild and a few movie theaters too. We´ll be doing it all before all we have to connect our lives is a text message.
I´m loving this but I´m still missing all of you! Please email if you can and continue to enjoy this great world of ours!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
I have a home!!!
Its been an really eventful complete of days! Yesterday the language staff took us on all day field trips to keep our minds off of our super important afternoon tell-all. It didn´t really work as my 15 passenger van of trainees sat in silence most of the day. Luckily, 3pm finally rolled around. They normally bring in the kid that cried the year before to talk about how their expectations weren´t met but now they love it. Apparently, 4 girls cried last year but they all early terminated within a few months, so that´s kind of funny! The volunteer was super nice though and wait it all boils down to is that our assignment is still just a bunch of words on some paper. We´ll get there and things may change or contacts may change. As usual, just go with the flow and be FLEXIBLE!
With that said, I didn´t cry but they´ll probably have me giving that speech next year. I´m not disappointed by any means, my assignment just isn´t what I had imagined at all. I´m the newest resident of Calle 2.000 Xaxi, Guayaibí (pronounced gua-ja-i-vi), which is in the department of San Pedro. San Pedro is the poorest department, so I´m glad I can help somewhere that really needs it! I´ll be working with a coopertive, Coopertiva Guayaibí Unidos, that is an agriculture coop with 80 members--VERY small. They produce mostly bananas and pineapples in the region and do some exporting to Argentina. As of now, I am told that want a volunteer because they´re interesting in improving farming productivity, exporting efficiency, and beginning to export tomatos. And the icing on the cake, I´m the most campo out of the 16 people in my training group!! That means that I´m living in the most remote area which I didn´t expect but I´m totally up for the challenge! My ¨city¨ has 400 people... so I´m sure they´re all going to know me! The second smallest site of the group has 2,000. Your pay is determined by how large your site is, and only 3 of us are at the rock bottom pay, which is 1.200.000 Gs a month. Its going to take a while to get over the novelty of being paid over 1.000.000 a month!! Also, I´m pretty excited because with a site so small I´ll be fluent in Guarani. I´ve kind of been holding off because a lot of people never even speak it, but it will be my form of contact I´m sure! I´ll try to throw in a Guarani lesson each time I write. Here´s today´s: Mba´eichapa is how you say ¨how are you¨ and the typical response is Ipora, which means good/well. Also, throw in a thumbs up too with it. They love the thumbs up here!!
Of the other 15 trainees, everyone is close to someone else other than myself and two others. Thats probably a good thing though because I really love some of the people in my group, and it will be better for us to be away from each other just for intergration purposes. And I´ll stay out of trouble too! :)
Other than that, we did some bee keeping this week and that was interesting. I´m not sure if I will have any of that in my site, but its definitely a trip! Even in full gear, which can be seen on Facebook, I still can´t get over the annoying sound of a ton of bees buzzing around my face! Ick!
This morning we had a a really early start. There have been bets floating around about a friend of mine sucking on cow teet. 5:30am was the magic hour apparently! I finally accomplished a life long dream of learning how to milk a cow (its sooo hard and I was horrible! Milk ALL over my feet... the squirt power is outrageously strong and unpreditable for amatures!) And my friend will put mouth to udder. The best part, our friend´s mom didn´t even think it was weird. Will said ¨and now like a baby cow?¨ in Guarani and she didn´t think twice. There were four of us there and we were crying we were laughing so hard. His payment for the best, another trainee, Andrew, has to kick 9 chickens. Kind of a random currency but should be entertaining too! Tons of great pictures that will have to be uploaded another day!!
So this week I´ll visit Guayaibí. We meet our contacts on Tuesday and have an overnight retreat with them at a center near here. Mine is the president of the coop and hopefully has patience since my Guarani SUCKS right now! Then Wednesday morning its off to our new homes for 5 days. I´ll get living arrangements together as well. We have to live with a family for the first 3 months and I´m planning on rotating houses every 2 weeks so I can get to know as many people as possible. We swear in on 17August and will spend 4 wild nights in Asunción before getting to our real jobs 21August. Wish me luck and keep the emails coming!
Oh, and one more note, although Ana was working for a while I´m doing yet another name change. Turns out Aña means devil in Guaurani. The Paraguayos don´t have a problem with Ana, but I do! Its Eva now... still sweet and simple (just like me! ha!)
With that said, I didn´t cry but they´ll probably have me giving that speech next year. I´m not disappointed by any means, my assignment just isn´t what I had imagined at all. I´m the newest resident of Calle 2.000 Xaxi, Guayaibí (pronounced gua-ja-i-vi), which is in the department of San Pedro. San Pedro is the poorest department, so I´m glad I can help somewhere that really needs it! I´ll be working with a coopertive, Coopertiva Guayaibí Unidos, that is an agriculture coop with 80 members--VERY small. They produce mostly bananas and pineapples in the region and do some exporting to Argentina. As of now, I am told that want a volunteer because they´re interesting in improving farming productivity, exporting efficiency, and beginning to export tomatos. And the icing on the cake, I´m the most campo out of the 16 people in my training group!! That means that I´m living in the most remote area which I didn´t expect but I´m totally up for the challenge! My ¨city¨ has 400 people... so I´m sure they´re all going to know me! The second smallest site of the group has 2,000. Your pay is determined by how large your site is, and only 3 of us are at the rock bottom pay, which is 1.200.000 Gs a month. Its going to take a while to get over the novelty of being paid over 1.000.000 a month!! Also, I´m pretty excited because with a site so small I´ll be fluent in Guarani. I´ve kind of been holding off because a lot of people never even speak it, but it will be my form of contact I´m sure! I´ll try to throw in a Guarani lesson each time I write. Here´s today´s: Mba´eichapa is how you say ¨how are you¨ and the typical response is Ipora, which means good/well. Also, throw in a thumbs up too with it. They love the thumbs up here!!
Of the other 15 trainees, everyone is close to someone else other than myself and two others. Thats probably a good thing though because I really love some of the people in my group, and it will be better for us to be away from each other just for intergration purposes. And I´ll stay out of trouble too! :)
Other than that, we did some bee keeping this week and that was interesting. I´m not sure if I will have any of that in my site, but its definitely a trip! Even in full gear, which can be seen on Facebook, I still can´t get over the annoying sound of a ton of bees buzzing around my face! Ick!
This morning we had a a really early start. There have been bets floating around about a friend of mine sucking on cow teet. 5:30am was the magic hour apparently! I finally accomplished a life long dream of learning how to milk a cow (its sooo hard and I was horrible! Milk ALL over my feet... the squirt power is outrageously strong and unpreditable for amatures!) And my friend will put mouth to udder. The best part, our friend´s mom didn´t even think it was weird. Will said ¨and now like a baby cow?¨ in Guarani and she didn´t think twice. There were four of us there and we were crying we were laughing so hard. His payment for the best, another trainee, Andrew, has to kick 9 chickens. Kind of a random currency but should be entertaining too! Tons of great pictures that will have to be uploaded another day!!
So this week I´ll visit Guayaibí. We meet our contacts on Tuesday and have an overnight retreat with them at a center near here. Mine is the president of the coop and hopefully has patience since my Guarani SUCKS right now! Then Wednesday morning its off to our new homes for 5 days. I´ll get living arrangements together as well. We have to live with a family for the first 3 months and I´m planning on rotating houses every 2 weeks so I can get to know as many people as possible. We swear in on 17August and will spend 4 wild nights in Asunción before getting to our real jobs 21August. Wish me luck and keep the emails coming!
Oh, and one more note, although Ana was working for a while I´m doing yet another name change. Turns out Aña means devil in Guaurani. The Paraguayos don´t have a problem with Ana, but I do! Its Eva now... still sweet and simple (just like me! ha!)
Saturday, July 21, 2007
mucho información!
First off, I need to appologize for not writing sooner. Its been very busy around here and its tough to find the 20 minutes it takes to write these dialogues. On the up side though, life has been moving along nicely!
Two weeks ago we visited a volunteer in Ybycui which is about 2 hours from here. We just went for an overnight tech excursion to learn about his co-op. It also doesn´t hurt that just up the road from him there is a great national park too! His co-op is mostly working with giving out credits to farmers but he is trying to start a few income generating projects for the group as well, so it was interesting to brainstorm the possibilities and likelihood of each. While in Ybycui, we all witnessed our first cow killing. We got up at 4:30am and it was worth it! Not that I am totally into killing animals or anything, but I realize how important meat is to the families in this country and how many families will benefit from one cow. I couldn´t take pictures but the boys did, so one day I may share. Mary, the only other girl in my training group, also witnessed a pig killing with me with the family we were spending the night with. Two large animals killed in less than 12 hours kind of made us angels of death or something! The park we visted on the way out of town was nice. Reminded me of all of our national parks in WV. There was a waterfall right off the road and we trekked another 1km or so up to a much more exotic one. Very tranquil!
Aside from our classes another trainee and I have been working with a strawberry farmer. This week we´re actually giving him a presenation about how he can improve his business by expanding into jams too. Actually, this afternoon we´re making jam with his wife. She´s super sweet and her daughter is too, so that should be fun!
A family in our pueblo had a Quince last weekend. It was actually fun this time considering I´ve been to one before that was a total drag and a wedding that was equally boring. It was smaller and almost completely comprised of families we are familiar with, so that could have easily made the difference!
I´ve spent the last 5 days in Valenzuela visiting another volunteer for what they call Long Field Practice. We had to prepare mini presentation (refered to as charla here) to the organization that volunteer works for. Four of us were at her site and my topic was financing an internet cafe. It went well and its super easy when you´re giving a charla to a group of grandmas! Might I add, I´m completely coveting the volunteer´s project! She gets to work with a women´s organization 80% of the time and a credit co-op 20% of the time. The women´s organization (AMUR) is completely great! It was like being at camp for a week and I was the best camper! We made recycled paper, soap, and cooked a few traditional Paraguayan dishes too. I loved it!! They also have computer, sewing, and leather working classes as well. In fact, we had aopo´i(s) (a hand-made shirt that is a favorite of the locals) made for 60.000Gs which is roughly $12! I´ve never had anything customized before, so it was a treat! My host family for the week was amazing as well! The mom, Ña Elsa, is probably the best cook in that village. She even made me homemade ice cream! We also visited another one of the org´s members that is really well off... and I mean REALLY! Her house was huge and surrounded by acres and acres and acres of caña dulce, which can be made into sugar, molasses, and liquor. That´s how she and her husband had so much money. In addition to a giant house, TONS of land, a dishwasher, two kitches and their own factories to process the caña, they also had pure bread dogs (which you NEVER see here... muts everywhere!), a POOL and a slew of exotic pets. Everything from an ostrich to bunnies, exotic birds and giant turtles, and even their very own MONKEY! It was completely surreal and I had to ask myself... am I really in the Peace Corps? Apparently there are bubbles like this throughout the country where you just find people with money. Valenzuela is actually socioeconomically well off compared to a lot of other pueblos, but this house really blew my mind. We ended our week by cooking an American breakfast. It was nice to be the host for once because we are always the guests in this country and rarely ever get to cook for others. We made pancakes, bacon and omeletes for our host moms. They couldn´t understand why would ever have a meal without bread or mandioca (the standard potato-esque veggie eaten with all foods here) during a meal.
My Spanish is coming along nicely, although I still have a lot to learn with Guarani. I can hold down conversations about women in politics, how long it will take to recoup your losses after investing in an internet cafe, domestic violence, and what its like to be from parents that are divorced. Not bad for only 7 weeks here!! I´m learning more and more each day though and there will be no stopping that process for most likely two years!
This Friday (SIX short days!) I learn where my home will be. I´ve requested a larger area, 5 hours or less from the capital and to not replace a current volunteer but we´ll see what kind of curve ball they throw my way. Its a complete gamble, but I´m very excited! I really like it here and to think I could be writing from Morocco!!(which was my original Peace Corps destination!) This country needs a lot of work but the people are so hospitable and kind. Its going to be a good two years! Once we learn our future location and assignment, we have another couple of days of training and then set off on our own to visit for 5 days. I´m sure then it will really set in what kind of adventure I´m really on.
I hope all of you are doing well and please try to email me if you can. Bueno suerte! :) (which means good luck!)
Two weeks ago we visited a volunteer in Ybycui which is about 2 hours from here. We just went for an overnight tech excursion to learn about his co-op. It also doesn´t hurt that just up the road from him there is a great national park too! His co-op is mostly working with giving out credits to farmers but he is trying to start a few income generating projects for the group as well, so it was interesting to brainstorm the possibilities and likelihood of each. While in Ybycui, we all witnessed our first cow killing. We got up at 4:30am and it was worth it! Not that I am totally into killing animals or anything, but I realize how important meat is to the families in this country and how many families will benefit from one cow. I couldn´t take pictures but the boys did, so one day I may share. Mary, the only other girl in my training group, also witnessed a pig killing with me with the family we were spending the night with. Two large animals killed in less than 12 hours kind of made us angels of death or something! The park we visted on the way out of town was nice. Reminded me of all of our national parks in WV. There was a waterfall right off the road and we trekked another 1km or so up to a much more exotic one. Very tranquil!
Aside from our classes another trainee and I have been working with a strawberry farmer. This week we´re actually giving him a presenation about how he can improve his business by expanding into jams too. Actually, this afternoon we´re making jam with his wife. She´s super sweet and her daughter is too, so that should be fun!
A family in our pueblo had a Quince last weekend. It was actually fun this time considering I´ve been to one before that was a total drag and a wedding that was equally boring. It was smaller and almost completely comprised of families we are familiar with, so that could have easily made the difference!
I´ve spent the last 5 days in Valenzuela visiting another volunteer for what they call Long Field Practice. We had to prepare mini presentation (refered to as charla here) to the organization that volunteer works for. Four of us were at her site and my topic was financing an internet cafe. It went well and its super easy when you´re giving a charla to a group of grandmas! Might I add, I´m completely coveting the volunteer´s project! She gets to work with a women´s organization 80% of the time and a credit co-op 20% of the time. The women´s organization (AMUR) is completely great! It was like being at camp for a week and I was the best camper! We made recycled paper, soap, and cooked a few traditional Paraguayan dishes too. I loved it!! They also have computer, sewing, and leather working classes as well. In fact, we had aopo´i(s) (a hand-made shirt that is a favorite of the locals) made for 60.000Gs which is roughly $12! I´ve never had anything customized before, so it was a treat! My host family for the week was amazing as well! The mom, Ña Elsa, is probably the best cook in that village. She even made me homemade ice cream! We also visited another one of the org´s members that is really well off... and I mean REALLY! Her house was huge and surrounded by acres and acres and acres of caña dulce, which can be made into sugar, molasses, and liquor. That´s how she and her husband had so much money. In addition to a giant house, TONS of land, a dishwasher, two kitches and their own factories to process the caña, they also had pure bread dogs (which you NEVER see here... muts everywhere!), a POOL and a slew of exotic pets. Everything from an ostrich to bunnies, exotic birds and giant turtles, and even their very own MONKEY! It was completely surreal and I had to ask myself... am I really in the Peace Corps? Apparently there are bubbles like this throughout the country where you just find people with money. Valenzuela is actually socioeconomically well off compared to a lot of other pueblos, but this house really blew my mind. We ended our week by cooking an American breakfast. It was nice to be the host for once because we are always the guests in this country and rarely ever get to cook for others. We made pancakes, bacon and omeletes for our host moms. They couldn´t understand why would ever have a meal without bread or mandioca (the standard potato-esque veggie eaten with all foods here) during a meal.
My Spanish is coming along nicely, although I still have a lot to learn with Guarani. I can hold down conversations about women in politics, how long it will take to recoup your losses after investing in an internet cafe, domestic violence, and what its like to be from parents that are divorced. Not bad for only 7 weeks here!! I´m learning more and more each day though and there will be no stopping that process for most likely two years!
This Friday (SIX short days!) I learn where my home will be. I´ve requested a larger area, 5 hours or less from the capital and to not replace a current volunteer but we´ll see what kind of curve ball they throw my way. Its a complete gamble, but I´m very excited! I really like it here and to think I could be writing from Morocco!!(which was my original Peace Corps destination!) This country needs a lot of work but the people are so hospitable and kind. Its going to be a good two years! Once we learn our future location and assignment, we have another couple of days of training and then set off on our own to visit for 5 days. I´m sure then it will really set in what kind of adventure I´m really on.
I hope all of you are doing well and please try to email me if you can. Bueno suerte! :) (which means good luck!)
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Mba´éichapa!
Its been a week or so since my last update, and I appologize. Its not always easy to get to a computer, and past that... sometimes there is just nothing new to report!
As you may be able to tell by the title of this entry, I´ve breezed through Spanish classes and as of yesterday I am fully in Guarani territory! Its definitely a very difficult language to say because there are 9 ¨nasal¨ letters that are a terror to pronounce correctly. Past that, many words can have different meetings. Heê means yes, and He´e means rico (rich, as in rich food). Since its an indigenous langauge, they don´t have a complete list of vocab so a few are pulled from Spanish. Its still rough! Luckily, my host grandfather speaks almost no Spanish, so I can practice on him all the time. I´ll keep you posted on my progress!
Big SHOUT OUT to one very special Zachery Scott. He sent a letter weeks ago and it was the first piece of mail I´ve received! Dad sent a letter and a packages ages ago, but they haven´t shown up. Actually, I was notified today that my package is in Asunción, but I have to go through 100 steps to get it. Hopefully I can have it in my posession by next week. The things a PCT has to go through to get some deodorant!
Saturday morning we got up early (we were on the road by 6:30am) to drive to THE Chaco! The Chaco makes up about 80% of the land but only about 5-10% of the population lives there. Its was somewhat barren, but we didn´t go in very deep. About 20km across the ¨border¨ there is an Agricultural School to teach young boys and girl better farming methods. It was the ultimate summer camp location too! They had beautiful yellow dorms dotting the landscape and everything farm related you can think of. We explore fish breeding ponds, every vegetable and fruit on earth, cows, chickens, goats, and much more. However, my favorite (and my mom will be proud!) were the baby PIGS! They are soooo cute, however last night we found one in our neighborhood, and I´m sorry to report the babies squeel just as much as the adults. A real let down! My friend has promised to train a midget pig (but I want it to always be a baby!) to not squeel and then give it to me next year for my birthday. The crazy thing is that is a perfectly normal gift! Actually, its probably too nice of a gift.... we´ll see if he actually comes through next April though.
After our Chaco trip we headed to Ascunción to spend the night. We stayed in a relatively nice two star hotel for 55.000 Gs a night ($11). The PC has a special deal with them always, which is great to know! Normally it would cost 3 times that. I think we all took showers for 20 minutes, 2-3 times while there too. Having the pressure was heaven! We wanted some non-PY food too, so we sought out an all you can eat Chinese restaraunt. We paid almost as much as we did for our room for that one meal, but it was totally worth it to have sweet and sour chicken, dim sum, and veggies!
Sunday was a big Independence Day party at the Embassy. The Embassy is MASSIVE! Its a solid 4 city blocks or more and is apparently the 2nd largest in the world. It was nice to chat with some other volunteers. I must report though that we had our butts kicked in volleyball. Turns out the Marines don´t even play because the Paraguayans murdered them last year. We learned our lesson the hard way. It was embarassing but of cource, FUN! We´ve already begun training so we can regain dignity next year!
This weekend we´re having an overnight at a volunteer´s site to help him with a project then Saturday afternoon we´re going to some great park for a picnic. If its warm, we can even swim! It ill be really nice to get some sun since we´re indoors so much for training. Sunday is my brother´s 9th birthday, but I think I have to miss the celebration because we´re trying our hands at BEEKEEPING! We hear about it a lot since we will most likely be working with farmers or farming families, so I´m really pumped to suit up! The funny thing is though you actually have to make a bee sting you before you can do the work, so apparently its hilarious to watch everyone try to force a bee to sting their arms.
Well, thats about all I have now. Please continue to write and let me know if you have any pressing questions. I´m enjoying myself down here in the sometimes Twilight-esque Zone, and I wish nothing but the best for all of you too!
As you may be able to tell by the title of this entry, I´ve breezed through Spanish classes and as of yesterday I am fully in Guarani territory! Its definitely a very difficult language to say because there are 9 ¨nasal¨ letters that are a terror to pronounce correctly. Past that, many words can have different meetings. Heê means yes, and He´e means rico (rich, as in rich food). Since its an indigenous langauge, they don´t have a complete list of vocab so a few are pulled from Spanish. Its still rough! Luckily, my host grandfather speaks almost no Spanish, so I can practice on him all the time. I´ll keep you posted on my progress!
Big SHOUT OUT to one very special Zachery Scott. He sent a letter weeks ago and it was the first piece of mail I´ve received! Dad sent a letter and a packages ages ago, but they haven´t shown up. Actually, I was notified today that my package is in Asunción, but I have to go through 100 steps to get it. Hopefully I can have it in my posession by next week. The things a PCT has to go through to get some deodorant!
Saturday morning we got up early (we were on the road by 6:30am) to drive to THE Chaco! The Chaco makes up about 80% of the land but only about 5-10% of the population lives there. Its was somewhat barren, but we didn´t go in very deep. About 20km across the ¨border¨ there is an Agricultural School to teach young boys and girl better farming methods. It was the ultimate summer camp location too! They had beautiful yellow dorms dotting the landscape and everything farm related you can think of. We explore fish breeding ponds, every vegetable and fruit on earth, cows, chickens, goats, and much more. However, my favorite (and my mom will be proud!) were the baby PIGS! They are soooo cute, however last night we found one in our neighborhood, and I´m sorry to report the babies squeel just as much as the adults. A real let down! My friend has promised to train a midget pig (but I want it to always be a baby!) to not squeel and then give it to me next year for my birthday. The crazy thing is that is a perfectly normal gift! Actually, its probably too nice of a gift.... we´ll see if he actually comes through next April though.
After our Chaco trip we headed to Ascunción to spend the night. We stayed in a relatively nice two star hotel for 55.000 Gs a night ($11). The PC has a special deal with them always, which is great to know! Normally it would cost 3 times that. I think we all took showers for 20 minutes, 2-3 times while there too. Having the pressure was heaven! We wanted some non-PY food too, so we sought out an all you can eat Chinese restaraunt. We paid almost as much as we did for our room for that one meal, but it was totally worth it to have sweet and sour chicken, dim sum, and veggies!
Sunday was a big Independence Day party at the Embassy. The Embassy is MASSIVE! Its a solid 4 city blocks or more and is apparently the 2nd largest in the world. It was nice to chat with some other volunteers. I must report though that we had our butts kicked in volleyball. Turns out the Marines don´t even play because the Paraguayans murdered them last year. We learned our lesson the hard way. It was embarassing but of cource, FUN! We´ve already begun training so we can regain dignity next year!
This weekend we´re having an overnight at a volunteer´s site to help him with a project then Saturday afternoon we´re going to some great park for a picnic. If its warm, we can even swim! It ill be really nice to get some sun since we´re indoors so much for training. Sunday is my brother´s 9th birthday, but I think I have to miss the celebration because we´re trying our hands at BEEKEEPING! We hear about it a lot since we will most likely be working with farmers or farming families, so I´m really pumped to suit up! The funny thing is though you actually have to make a bee sting you before you can do the work, so apparently its hilarious to watch everyone try to force a bee to sting their arms.
Well, thats about all I have now. Please continue to write and let me know if you have any pressing questions. I´m enjoying myself down here in the sometimes Twilight-esque Zone, and I wish nothing but the best for all of you too!
Friday, June 22, 2007
It´s been a while...
So life has been busy here! Last Wednesday we visited Asuncion, which is the capital of Paraguay, for the first time. That was an adventure and fun! We had a task to complete in pairs, and mine was meeting with a man that runs a company called CAPYME. We were given zero directions and just told what business to report to. We asked around our community and found out what buses to take where, and after walking quite a bit we found it. The guy was AMAZGING! He spoke English (which is almost unheard of here!) and his company helps small or medium sized businesses throughout the country. He wants a volunteer to work at one of his more rural businesses, but apparently the PC hasn´t agreed to that yet. He was really interesting though!
The capital is pretty dirty, just like the rest of the country. Actually, while at lunch an older man stopped me and said I was in the newspaper. He was from FL and said he never forgot a face. I hate to break it to you folks, but I am not famous in Paraguay (yet). It was some other PC volunteer, but apparently the main PC office is doing a lot of advertising for the giant 40th anniversary celebration in August. My swearing in actually! The president of PC will be coming down and its going to be a REALLY big deal!
Over the weekend, I was given the name of a volunteer and where she lived. Again, no real directions, just to find your way to the main bus terminal in Asucion and make it there SOLO. Made it there and got in my 5 hour ride to this volunteer I have never spoken to. Luckily, she was great! It was sooo refreshing to see the actual life of a volunteer. She had a really modest house... only two rooms, no fridge, no running water, a well that we couldn´t drink, and a latrine that was so far away we peed in a bucket at night. And you know what, I LOVED IT! You are one your own, you are doing good work, its just fantastic! I am really looking forward to having that freedom in a few months.
I lived with the volunteer from Saturday until Tuesday, and for Dia de Padre (Fathers Day), we went to a neighbors for asado which is BBQ essential. It was TASTY! Political talk started coming out though and although we all know I´m not a fan of our current administration, we have it way better off than most. W is a complete idiot, but Paraguayans lived under a dictator for 40 years. Strossner taught them to rely on others and never trust the government or any hierarchy of power. If people met in groups of 4 people, the police would come and break them up. This was only ended less than 20 years ago! So the older generations still talk about it, and although I do not think dictatorships are the answer to anything, a lot of people here liked it better. They felt safer in their communities and had a better economy, and thats all they recognize. The corruption is still prevelant here, but its just a lot to understand. It really affects the way I will need to observe others and motivate others, because honestly they are just unaware of all they can do.
This weekend is my first Paraguayan wedding and next weekend is the big 4th of July party at the Embassy! Its a pretty chuchi place, so we are all looking forward to exploring. Apparently the Marines are UBER competitive at volleyball at this party, so we have already signed ourselves up to complete. THEY ARE GOING DOWN!!!
More to come in the future! Also, if you email me and I don´t respond... do not worry! I am loving the updates but finding the time to write back to everyone is really tough! Keep them coming though! They keep me sane and you are all in my thoughts frequently!!
The capital is pretty dirty, just like the rest of the country. Actually, while at lunch an older man stopped me and said I was in the newspaper. He was from FL and said he never forgot a face. I hate to break it to you folks, but I am not famous in Paraguay (yet). It was some other PC volunteer, but apparently the main PC office is doing a lot of advertising for the giant 40th anniversary celebration in August. My swearing in actually! The president of PC will be coming down and its going to be a REALLY big deal!
Over the weekend, I was given the name of a volunteer and where she lived. Again, no real directions, just to find your way to the main bus terminal in Asucion and make it there SOLO. Made it there and got in my 5 hour ride to this volunteer I have never spoken to. Luckily, she was great! It was sooo refreshing to see the actual life of a volunteer. She had a really modest house... only two rooms, no fridge, no running water, a well that we couldn´t drink, and a latrine that was so far away we peed in a bucket at night. And you know what, I LOVED IT! You are one your own, you are doing good work, its just fantastic! I am really looking forward to having that freedom in a few months.
I lived with the volunteer from Saturday until Tuesday, and for Dia de Padre (Fathers Day), we went to a neighbors for asado which is BBQ essential. It was TASTY! Political talk started coming out though and although we all know I´m not a fan of our current administration, we have it way better off than most. W is a complete idiot, but Paraguayans lived under a dictator for 40 years. Strossner taught them to rely on others and never trust the government or any hierarchy of power. If people met in groups of 4 people, the police would come and break them up. This was only ended less than 20 years ago! So the older generations still talk about it, and although I do not think dictatorships are the answer to anything, a lot of people here liked it better. They felt safer in their communities and had a better economy, and thats all they recognize. The corruption is still prevelant here, but its just a lot to understand. It really affects the way I will need to observe others and motivate others, because honestly they are just unaware of all they can do.
This weekend is my first Paraguayan wedding and next weekend is the big 4th of July party at the Embassy! Its a pretty chuchi place, so we are all looking forward to exploring. Apparently the Marines are UBER competitive at volleyball at this party, so we have already signed ourselves up to complete. THEY ARE GOING DOWN!!!
More to come in the future! Also, if you email me and I don´t respond... do not worry! I am loving the updates but finding the time to write back to everyone is really tough! Keep them coming though! They keep me sane and you are all in my thoughts frequently!!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
What´s new in the campo?
Its a holiday for Paraguayans, so we don´t have class. Its a short week too because tomorrow we´re spending the day exploring Ascuncion (the capital) and then on Saturday we leave (SOLO!) to live with another volunteer for a few days. I have no idea where I´ll be sent in the country or what project I´ll be doing with what type of volunteer, but I´m definitely excited!
A group of us traveled to Ita today, which is the closest "city" to our campo of Las Piedras. Its about a 20 minute bus ride. The Cyber wasn´t open yet so we explored. We ended up grabbing a morning snack for 3.000 Guaranis which is equivalent to about 60 cents. And that was for all 4 of us! Everything is so cheap here. Its amazing!
Saturday I was taking my regular siesta and my friend Andrew walked into my room. He was bored so we decided to go on a walk to the local town to see our friends in the Municipal group. As we were meeting up with them we saw a 3 firetrucks. I thought it was a parade! Oh naive Betsy... a 12 year old was thrown 5 yards off his moto and was in the middle of the road. I kid you not, everyone in the city was crowded around him watching. No barriers at all! Motorcycle accidents happen all the time, but I´m so glad it´s a PC rule that we´re not even allowed near them.
Its a month of celebrating San Juan, which I really don´t comprehend. All I know is there are parties every weekend in our campo! Saturday was the first one. Only myself and 2 other guys went, but it was intersting. About 75 dudes ranging from 13-25 years old and only about 20 girls. All of the guys are obsessed with meeting girls! I thought them claiming I was their girlfriend would save me from pushy Parguayans, but it actually does the opposite! I save them!! My friend Andrew was harassed all night by guys trying to hook him up with girls. It was pretty classic!
For the PC we´re required to give a "charla," which is essentially a chat about a business topic. They have to be prepared in a manner that those that can´t read could understand and its supposed to be in Spanish. Pretty much everyone is going in July but I´ve been asked to go THIS Friday! Luckily, I get to speak in English. Its about marketing and needs based assessments, so I should be ok. I´m glad to get it over with though!
Today is the anniversary of my host grandmother´s death. I have no idea when she passed away or how. This morning I was trying to get info out of my little bro about it. To confirm my suspisions that she was dead, I asked "where is you´re grandmother?" And so matter of factly my bro responded "in the cemetary Betsy!" He´s a character but can be a little brat. The boys are waited on by their mothers all their lives, so he´s already experiencing that and loving it.
Not much else to report! As we all know, Teale got engaged so congrats! Kel moves to DC Friday and Kyle´s moving to FL on Monday. So excited for you all!
Are there any questions that you guys have about Paraguay´? I´m running out of material folks!
A group of us traveled to Ita today, which is the closest "city" to our campo of Las Piedras. Its about a 20 minute bus ride. The Cyber wasn´t open yet so we explored. We ended up grabbing a morning snack for 3.000 Guaranis which is equivalent to about 60 cents. And that was for all 4 of us! Everything is so cheap here. Its amazing!
Saturday I was taking my regular siesta and my friend Andrew walked into my room. He was bored so we decided to go on a walk to the local town to see our friends in the Municipal group. As we were meeting up with them we saw a 3 firetrucks. I thought it was a parade! Oh naive Betsy... a 12 year old was thrown 5 yards off his moto and was in the middle of the road. I kid you not, everyone in the city was crowded around him watching. No barriers at all! Motorcycle accidents happen all the time, but I´m so glad it´s a PC rule that we´re not even allowed near them.
Its a month of celebrating San Juan, which I really don´t comprehend. All I know is there are parties every weekend in our campo! Saturday was the first one. Only myself and 2 other guys went, but it was intersting. About 75 dudes ranging from 13-25 years old and only about 20 girls. All of the guys are obsessed with meeting girls! I thought them claiming I was their girlfriend would save me from pushy Parguayans, but it actually does the opposite! I save them!! My friend Andrew was harassed all night by guys trying to hook him up with girls. It was pretty classic!
For the PC we´re required to give a "charla," which is essentially a chat about a business topic. They have to be prepared in a manner that those that can´t read could understand and its supposed to be in Spanish. Pretty much everyone is going in July but I´ve been asked to go THIS Friday! Luckily, I get to speak in English. Its about marketing and needs based assessments, so I should be ok. I´m glad to get it over with though!
Today is the anniversary of my host grandmother´s death. I have no idea when she passed away or how. This morning I was trying to get info out of my little bro about it. To confirm my suspisions that she was dead, I asked "where is you´re grandmother?" And so matter of factly my bro responded "in the cemetary Betsy!" He´s a character but can be a little brat. The boys are waited on by their mothers all their lives, so he´s already experiencing that and loving it.
Not much else to report! As we all know, Teale got engaged so congrats! Kel moves to DC Friday and Kyle´s moving to FL on Monday. So excited for you all!
Are there any questions that you guys have about Paraguay´? I´m running out of material folks!
Saturday, June 9, 2007
down on the farm...
Today we were supposed to have a lesson on Parguayan history, but the professor didn´t show we have a rare Saturday to ourselves. I used the morning hours to make a few phone calls on Skype, so if I random number is on your caller ID... ANSWER IT! Talked to Dad, Carolyn and Taylor and it was great to hear all of your voices!!
The food here is pretty nuts. A favorite drink is a mix of wine, Coke and ice. YUM-Y! Everything we consume is meat based or white... white rice, mandioc (which is a starch relative of the potato) and bread, hard or soft. GREAT! There are also ZERO condiments other than salt and oil. I don´t want to offend my mom too much, but we´re quickly approaching a conversation about the foods she´s pumping into my blood stream. The thing to do is drink mate. Its sort of like green tea but they add different herbs for different problems. there is even one for PMS, although I haven´t tested it yet! When I upload pictures I´ll include ones of us drinking the mate.
My average day is as follows...
6:30am: get up and shower
7:00: drink cafe con leche (but its mostly just sugar) and some hard bread
7:45-11:30: language training, and my language partner Brennan and I pracitcing sarcasm in spanish
11:30-1pm: my favorite time of day... SIESTA!!! (and lunch)
1-5pm: technical training about how to do development and work with groups
5-8: practicing spanish with my fam and playing more Uno than should be legal
8-9 or 10: study Spanish and Guarani, and reading up on developement
I guess this is what I would call living the dream? Ha! Its fun though and I´m still on a high, but they promise a bad day is just around the corner.
This weekend will have more volleyball or soccer and an American dance party. Should be fun! A fellow trainee´s bro is getting married in two weeks, and this morning I got the official invite! I´m PUMPED! Only 3 of us are invited so far... so we´re a pretty big deal! There is also a dude that lives in my community that is Japanese, which is rare. He´s really helped the community a lot and the local school is named after him! He´s in the process of building a pagota on top of a giant hill... so I´m hoping today we can explore it. I´ll let you know!
Keep the emails coming. I love hearing what everyone is doing!
The food here is pretty nuts. A favorite drink is a mix of wine, Coke and ice. YUM-Y! Everything we consume is meat based or white... white rice, mandioc (which is a starch relative of the potato) and bread, hard or soft. GREAT! There are also ZERO condiments other than salt and oil. I don´t want to offend my mom too much, but we´re quickly approaching a conversation about the foods she´s pumping into my blood stream. The thing to do is drink mate. Its sort of like green tea but they add different herbs for different problems. there is even one for PMS, although I haven´t tested it yet! When I upload pictures I´ll include ones of us drinking the mate.
My average day is as follows...
6:30am: get up and shower
7:00: drink cafe con leche (but its mostly just sugar) and some hard bread
7:45-11:30: language training, and my language partner Brennan and I pracitcing sarcasm in spanish
11:30-1pm: my favorite time of day... SIESTA!!! (and lunch)
1-5pm: technical training about how to do development and work with groups
5-8: practicing spanish with my fam and playing more Uno than should be legal
8-9 or 10: study Spanish and Guarani, and reading up on developement
I guess this is what I would call living the dream? Ha! Its fun though and I´m still on a high, but they promise a bad day is just around the corner.
This weekend will have more volleyball or soccer and an American dance party. Should be fun! A fellow trainee´s bro is getting married in two weeks, and this morning I got the official invite! I´m PUMPED! Only 3 of us are invited so far... so we´re a pretty big deal! There is also a dude that lives in my community that is Japanese, which is rare. He´s really helped the community a lot and the local school is named after him! He´s in the process of building a pagota on top of a giant hill... so I´m hoping today we can explore it. I´ll let you know!
Keep the emails coming. I love hearing what everyone is doing!
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
INFO OVERLOAD!
So the language training is super intense... our session today was all on contracting AIDS (which isn´t common here. YES!) and our potential roles in our communities when we´re solo. I found out that the whole "cotton farming assigment" is totally an example and they don´t even do much cotton farming here anymore. Great! As we´ve been told a million times since arrival... BE FLEXIBLE! Nothing is as it seems and you´ll never do what you think you´ll be doing. I´m trying to just keep an open mind, which isn´t hard since the local motto is tranquillo!
I´m making some great friends which is good and bad because in 3 months I´ll be at least an hour, if not a day, from each of them! We are in class 6 days a week so the learning is coming in full force. I just want to be able to speak Spanish, and that will make life much easier at home and traveling!
I taught my little brother Gabriel to play Uno the other night. He kicks my butt now, so maybe that wasn´t a good idea :) My mom doesn´t cook much on her own which is weird because everyone else´s mom packs them full of food. My mom gets someone else to make the empanadas which is what we eat a TON of! (Its meat, eggs, and rice in a deep fried casing). We have a orange tree, a few banana trees and yes... FIVE PIGS! I´m kind of getting used to the latrine too. Its not so bad until I get stomach problems which we are assured will come. GREAT!
Next week we get a treasure hunt with another volunteer in the capital. That will be a task and fun! I´m looking forward to exploring the city though, because we haven´t seen it at all yet. And then next weekend we´re sent out ON OUR OWN to visit another volunteer in the field. That will be rough too but I´m excited to see how its really done. I´m leaning more towards assingments with entreprenuerial women and youth, so hopefully I´ll get to experience that next weekend. Again, it could be ANYTHING!
The more I´m learning about development though, the more I´m loving it. I´m reading all the material I can so maybe this will be yet another career option? Who knows!
As for the phones, there are a few places (not where i live though) where international calls can be made. I´m going to try to figure it out ASAP so I can let mom and dad know I´m ok. Its expensive though so the calls will be quick! Also, they´ve told us that training is the toughest time to keep in touch. We are constantly in class which is away from communication. I´m shooting for once a week!
I love and miss you all... and please keep up the emails! Its great to hear whats going on. Mad props to Meghan and Carolyn for writing... MOM, DAD, Taylor, Kyle, Em, Cathy?? WTF?? :)
I´m making some great friends which is good and bad because in 3 months I´ll be at least an hour, if not a day, from each of them! We are in class 6 days a week so the learning is coming in full force. I just want to be able to speak Spanish, and that will make life much easier at home and traveling!
I taught my little brother Gabriel to play Uno the other night. He kicks my butt now, so maybe that wasn´t a good idea :) My mom doesn´t cook much on her own which is weird because everyone else´s mom packs them full of food. My mom gets someone else to make the empanadas which is what we eat a TON of! (Its meat, eggs, and rice in a deep fried casing). We have a orange tree, a few banana trees and yes... FIVE PIGS! I´m kind of getting used to the latrine too. Its not so bad until I get stomach problems which we are assured will come. GREAT!
Next week we get a treasure hunt with another volunteer in the capital. That will be a task and fun! I´m looking forward to exploring the city though, because we haven´t seen it at all yet. And then next weekend we´re sent out ON OUR OWN to visit another volunteer in the field. That will be rough too but I´m excited to see how its really done. I´m leaning more towards assingments with entreprenuerial women and youth, so hopefully I´ll get to experience that next weekend. Again, it could be ANYTHING!
The more I´m learning about development though, the more I´m loving it. I´m reading all the material I can so maybe this will be yet another career option? Who knows!
As for the phones, there are a few places (not where i live though) where international calls can be made. I´m going to try to figure it out ASAP so I can let mom and dad know I´m ok. Its expensive though so the calls will be quick! Also, they´ve told us that training is the toughest time to keep in touch. We are constantly in class which is away from communication. I´m shooting for once a week!
I love and miss you all... and please keep up the emails! Its great to hear whats going on. Mad props to Meghan and Carolyn for writing... MOM, DAD, Taylor, Kyle, Em, Cathy?? WTF?? :)
Friday, June 1, 2007
FINALLY HERE!
So please stick with me as Paraguay isn´t great on technology. Internet just hit a few years ago and cell phones are the latest rage for those that can afford it. I´ll try to give a recap of my new life...
Miami was short and sweet. I´m in a group of 16, 7 of us (Brennan, Andrew, Stuart, Dave, Will, Mary) though are my core group. I see the other 9 when we´re in our main training station in Guarambare which is just outisde the capital of Asuncion. We come from very diverse backgrounds. Everything form former music compsition major and masters to all-American lacrosse player, business owners and lawyers. I´m the definite baby of the group the. Another guy is 22 but will turn 23 in the Fall.
My group is pretty great! Five boys and two girls, so that is somewhat rare. The guys are all really specactular though and have taken me under their wings. I´ve always been better friends with boys anyway!
We flew from Miami to Buenos Aires and then to Paraguay. A few delays but nothing major. We arrived at the aiport and apparently I won the "Welcome to the Peace Corps Prize!" because BOTH of my pieces of luggage didn´t make it. Luckily I know how to pack so I had some clean underwear for overnight! We were transported to our main training center in Guarambare which is about 45 minutes from the capital. Introductions and then we were out meeting our families.
My family lives in a tiny campo called Las Piedras. My mama is 38 and her name is Esperanza. She lives with her son Gabriel (8) and father Quintino (70). Gabriel can help me with Spanish and Quintino will be a great resource for Guarani, which is the local language. I´m rusty on Spanish and have learned a few Guarani words, but basically my evening consisted of me going through my Spanish dictionary pointing out words. They have a nice house as well. Its about5 rooms all connected via an outdoor walkway. Esperanza manages a tienda (store) out of her home during the days and her father farms nearby.
As I was getting a tour, I also got yet another gold star for having one of two houses (out of all 16 of us!) with an OUTHOUSE! I guess this just points me back to my real WV roots! Its not too bad, although I´ve only used it once and have yet to venture there at night. There is a shower as well but it doesn´t get hot at all. This is what I signed up for though, so bring it on!
Our days will be filled with training. Right now I am in Guarambare, but soon I will only be here once a week. The other 5 days of weekly training (the only day we have off is Sunday) I will be in my campo which has no phone service or Internet Cafe. I´m SLOWLY relearning the Spanish I learned in junior high and high school, and starting to learn other skills as well. Many other trainees are already fluent and so I have had to rely on them a little to explain things. I can understand it far better than I can speak it. I guess the evenings are for studying!
Home life is interesting too. They are really into soap operas! I´m in a rural area as well, so that means lots of roosters (or I call them alL GAMECOCKS!) and cows walking around on the roads and dogs that aren´t pets. The farmers get up around 2am to start their days, so its very noisy all morning. Again, this is what I signed up for! The only things I could really talk to my host family about was my family, a little bit of food talk and where things are. Esperanza said "tu madre es linda!!" which means your mom is pretty, which only makes since considering her given name is Bonita! They also asked if Kyle was my boyfriend and when I said no they said Ben O´Dell was lindo (attractive) and simpactico. Get it Ben!
Anyhoo, please continue to send me emails if you can! If you reply to the email I send you after my blog is updated, it reaches all of us! Just type in betsy.curry@yahoo.com and write me! Hasta Luego!
Miami was short and sweet. I´m in a group of 16, 7 of us (Brennan, Andrew, Stuart, Dave, Will, Mary) though are my core group. I see the other 9 when we´re in our main training station in Guarambare which is just outisde the capital of Asuncion. We come from very diverse backgrounds. Everything form former music compsition major and masters to all-American lacrosse player, business owners and lawyers. I´m the definite baby of the group the. Another guy is 22 but will turn 23 in the Fall.
My group is pretty great! Five boys and two girls, so that is somewhat rare. The guys are all really specactular though and have taken me under their wings. I´ve always been better friends with boys anyway!
We flew from Miami to Buenos Aires and then to Paraguay. A few delays but nothing major. We arrived at the aiport and apparently I won the "Welcome to the Peace Corps Prize!" because BOTH of my pieces of luggage didn´t make it. Luckily I know how to pack so I had some clean underwear for overnight! We were transported to our main training center in Guarambare which is about 45 minutes from the capital. Introductions and then we were out meeting our families.
My family lives in a tiny campo called Las Piedras. My mama is 38 and her name is Esperanza. She lives with her son Gabriel (8) and father Quintino (70). Gabriel can help me with Spanish and Quintino will be a great resource for Guarani, which is the local language. I´m rusty on Spanish and have learned a few Guarani words, but basically my evening consisted of me going through my Spanish dictionary pointing out words. They have a nice house as well. Its about5 rooms all connected via an outdoor walkway. Esperanza manages a tienda (store) out of her home during the days and her father farms nearby.
As I was getting a tour, I also got yet another gold star for having one of two houses (out of all 16 of us!) with an OUTHOUSE! I guess this just points me back to my real WV roots! Its not too bad, although I´ve only used it once and have yet to venture there at night. There is a shower as well but it doesn´t get hot at all. This is what I signed up for though, so bring it on!
Our days will be filled with training. Right now I am in Guarambare, but soon I will only be here once a week. The other 5 days of weekly training (the only day we have off is Sunday) I will be in my campo which has no phone service or Internet Cafe. I´m SLOWLY relearning the Spanish I learned in junior high and high school, and starting to learn other skills as well. Many other trainees are already fluent and so I have had to rely on them a little to explain things. I can understand it far better than I can speak it. I guess the evenings are for studying!
Home life is interesting too. They are really into soap operas! I´m in a rural area as well, so that means lots of roosters (or I call them alL GAMECOCKS!) and cows walking around on the roads and dogs that aren´t pets. The farmers get up around 2am to start their days, so its very noisy all morning. Again, this is what I signed up for! The only things I could really talk to my host family about was my family, a little bit of food talk and where things are. Esperanza said "tu madre es linda!!" which means your mom is pretty, which only makes since considering her given name is Bonita! They also asked if Kyle was my boyfriend and when I said no they said Ben O´Dell was lindo (attractive) and simpactico. Get it Ben!
Anyhoo, please continue to send me emails if you can! If you reply to the email I send you after my blog is updated, it reaches all of us! Just type in betsy.curry@yahoo.com and write me! Hasta Luego!
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Last night home...
Its Monday evening, and my official last night at home for two years! TWO YEARS? I can't believe this time has come so quickly but I'm more excited than anything else! Tomorrow I leave bright and early for a flight to Miami (first class, compliments of Mr. Kyle Bohman!) and then its orientation for a day in a half. I've been told we get to go out on the town on the Peace Corps dollar too! Isn't it nice to know your taxes are going being used wisely :)
Wednesday evening I leave for good. Asuncion here I come! I'm anxious to starting learning about Paraguay's culture and languages. This will be a life altering experience, I have no doubt, so lets get to the altering!
I'll try to notify the masses once I have a cell phone. Otherwise, please email me at betsy.curry@yahoo.com so I know I am loved.
Adios amigos!
Wednesday evening I leave for good. Asuncion here I come! I'm anxious to starting learning about Paraguay's culture and languages. This will be a life altering experience, I have no doubt, so lets get to the altering!
I'll try to notify the masses once I have a cell phone. Otherwise, please email me at betsy.curry@yahoo.com so I know I am loved.
Adios amigos!
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Paraguay Contact Info
The lovely people at the Peace Corps have emailed me a hefty 111 page document about my life in my new home. Below is my address, I thought it would be best to post it now before access to a computer was limited.
Betsy Curry PCT (and after I'm done with training, you'll write PCV)
Cuerpo de Paz
162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. López
Asuncsión 1580, Paraguay
South America
Also, my other big news is that I WILL have a cell phone! I was apprehensive about having this technological cruch, but many current volunteers said it has made them feel much more comfortable. If you're thinking about calling it (I'll be sure to post the # as soon as I get it), I would suggest looking into Skype. It's an online service (skype.com) and worked well for me during my days in Europe.
More info to come...
Betsy Curry PCT (and after I'm done with training, you'll write PCV)
Cuerpo de Paz
162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. López
Asuncsión 1580, Paraguay
South America
Also, my other big news is that I WILL have a cell phone! I was apprehensive about having this technological cruch, but many current volunteers said it has made them feel much more comfortable. If you're thinking about calling it (I'll be sure to post the # as soon as I get it), I would suggest looking into Skype. It's an online service (skype.com) and worked well for me during my days in Europe.
More info to come...
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
And a big shout out...
goes to my technology consultant (dennis) ming who came up with the url title for this blog and kyle for almost peeing his pants when i told him.
more stories to come as i prepare to leave for Paraguay to serve as a rural economic developer for the Peace Corps. I'm leaving May 28, so plan on buying me a drink sometime between now and then!
more stories to come as i prepare to leave for Paraguay to serve as a rural economic developer for the Peace Corps. I'm leaving May 28, so plan on buying me a drink sometime between now and then!
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