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!
Monday, September 17, 2007
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
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