I know I’m a naughty girl because I haven’t written in over a month and a half, but things have been wild around here! I’ll update on the happenings in a minute, but first I want to share the theme of my Tuesday: black magic.
Do people practice it? Are there conventions? I would say “sí” to both of those questions if we were in America, and now I can agree that its prevalent down here in Paraguay too. My host mom’s family thinks people in their house are acting extra weird these days. One brother (who is mentally challenged) was talking “crazy” as he would describe his dreams to leave home and pursue a career as a professional mariachi singer. Another sister (who, pardon my French, is kind of a wench) was being a wench to everyone all the time. Another sister, who is 20 and completely in love with her boyfriend, is thinking about getting hitched this spring and won’t let anything or anyone stand in her way. Clearly, all of these elements only lead to one conclusion: SOMEONE PUT A CURSE ON THE HOUSE AND ITS INHABITANTS!
So they called in what I would call a witch doctor. She only works with natural remedies and her favorite pastime is looking at picturess and saying something creepy/harmful/mean about that person. (p.s. she hasn’t inspected my picture… who knows the combination of adjectives she’d use!!) So this woman came over Saturday and succeeded in freaking out everyone in the family. Between two mattresses she found a skeleton doll with a black sash around it and a little piece of paper that named the husband and wife of the house (yes, their real names were on it apparently) and said that they will die. The woman dug up out of the broken concrete floor in another room a little man and woman hugging (with black sashes of course) and a candle in the middle. She cracked open the base of the candle and found another little piece of paper that said everyone in the house that marries should never be happy with their partners. Then, on top of the giant meat freezer… lots of little papers with bad wishes written on them.
So my host mom’s family doesn’t know what to think. Did someone put a hex on the house and the people that live there? And by putting said hex little weird trophies all of the sudden appeared? In my opinion, hell no but what do you say? I told my host mom… Toti (her mentally retarded brother) had parasites (fact) that were cutting off oxygen to the brain. Nuni is a wench, has been and will continue to be. And Lamia is crazy in love and people do and say silly things when they’re that passionate for someone. No little dolly will change who these people are or how they treat others. On top of that, their mom died just a few months ago. Everyone is trying to figure out how to live his or her lives without that very important person in it.
But it gets better… My host mom claims that her mother-in-law (my extremely evil, rumor spreading neighbor) has a big old book on black magic that she’s studied. This book even convinced her to try to kill her own father and her kids found out and stopped her. Who even knows if that one’s true or just her mother-in-law lying like she always does.
In summary, black magic is a friend to some (i.e. me) because it can give a little humor to sometimes dull/slow life out here.
Other happenings…
CATHERINE LYNN GABLE WILL BE HERE IN 2 DAYS!! She, at this moment in time, hasn’t received her visa to actually enter Paraguay but those of the consulate swear it will get there before her evening flight tomorrow. Let’s hope that’s true! We’ll be spending 4 days here in Paraguay, a couple days in Argentina and then some more beach time in Uruguay. It’s basically the only thing that I’ve been looking forward to for about 3 months, so I’m ready to go!!
Over the weekend (when I sadly missed the black magic scavenger hunt) I want down south to Encarnación, Paraguay for our annual Thanksgiving weekend of mayhem. Its basically the one time of year when the majority of the volunteers (180 in the country and about 150 attended) can get to know one another, share a drink or two, and do what a lot of us don’t get to do enough of: RELAX. Volunteers cook the Friday night Thanksgiving meal so we had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie and even cranberry sauce. I’m not sure how they get the ingredients down here for some of it, but all that matters is we all love eating it! We have an Olympics among the different groups of volunteers and even a talent show. Needless to say its like I’m back at West Virginia Association of Student Councils conference so I’m happy as a clam.
Around here, projects are numerous and time consuming. I’m currently drawing/painting a 2m x 4m (6.5 ft x 13ft) map of the world at the school, writing a grant for $5,000 for my handmade clothing group so they can build a space to work, teach and grow in, (They’re doing great by the way and look for a website about them soon!) continuing to loathe the women’s committee (but luckily we’re taking a month hiatus for the holidays), and still teaching computer classes 10 hours a week. Some days I can’t sleep because there is so much I still want to do and fitting it in seems nearly impossible at times. But again, I’m happy to busy rather than bored.
In personal news, I finally dropped the lbs that I put on during training. As Juan kindly (he’s really not mean… he claimed later that I say that so he thought he could say that and not offend me. Little does he understand how complicated our statements regarding weight are!) told me yesterday “Realmente estuviste gigante cuando llegaste.” Which roughly translates to “when you got here you were massively overweight like a beached whale.” I had to laugh, and then punch him of course. Also, my hair is really long. You all wouldn’t even recognize me! I must admit that I miss the bob-ish style I’ve always kept but letting the hair grow is like a little experiment. We’ll see how long I can hold out before chopping it all off.
In Peace Corps news I was invited to go on an overnight trip with our Director to check out a project with the American-Paraguayan Chamber of Commerce and figure out how and when PC can be incorporated. The project is teaching groups of men and women to read and I really enjoyed myself, plus I got to see a little more of the country! The ladies we were with are half-European and half-Paraguayan and totally loaded. We spent the night on the 7,700 hectare (19,000+ acre) ranch of one of the ladies and I was so star struck. I just haven’t been in contact with Paraguayans that are filthy rich like that. She even called her brother, and he flew in on their personal plane!! They do mostly cattle and reforestation (which if you have patience, like 15 years, you can make a fortune on) and on top of that, they have 4 other ridiculously impressive ranches in Paraguay. Totally not what I thought I’d ever experience in Peace Corps!
I was also the only volunteer from my sector to participate in interviews for our new boss. We interviewed 6 extremely impressive people on paper, but in the end I only liked 1. We should have a new Director of my sector by January. Then I can start my campaign for another year in the Peace Corps Asunción office. We’ll see how that one works out.
What all is going on there? Congrats to all the democrats out there because now I don’t have to fear returning to the states (whenever that time comes), but I do continue to worry about (one day) getting a job. What is UP with the economy? A happy belated Thanksgiving to all friends and family, and an advanced Merry Christmas as well. I think of you all often and look forward to hearing updates from everyone.
P.S. I FINALLY have Internet at the coop and its wireless so as the queen of all things technology related in these parts, I also have access to it at home. Hopefully that will make blog writing more frequent and it will definitely make email writing more rapid.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Harry Potter style dark arts... friends or foe?
I know I’m a naughty girl because I haven’t written in over a month and a half, but things have been wild around here! I’ll update on the happenings in a minute, but first I want to share the theme of my Tuesday: black magic.
Do people practice it? Are there conventions? I would say “sí” to both of those questions if we were in America, and now I can agree that its prevalent down here in Paraguay too. My host mom’s family thinks people in their house are acting extra weird these days. One brother (who is mentally challenged) was talking “crazy” as he would describe his dreams to leave home and pursue a career as a professional mariachi singer. Another sister (who, pardon my French, is kind of a wench) was being a wench to everyone all the time. Another sister, who is 20 and completely in love with her boyfriend, is thinking about getting hitched this spring and won’t let anything or anyone stand in her way. Clearly, all of these elements only lead to one conclusion: SOMEONE PUT A CURSE ON THE HOUSE AND ITS INHABITANTS!
So they called in what I would call a witch doctor. She only works with natural remedies and her favorite pastime is looking at picturess and saying something creepy/harmful/mean about that person. (p.s. she hasn’t inspected my picture… who knows the combination of adjectives she’d use!!) So this woman came over Saturday and succeeded in freaking out everyone in the family. Between two mattresses she found a skeleton doll with a black sash around it and a little piece of paper that named the husband and wife of the house (yes, their real names were on it apparently) and said that they will die. The woman dug up out of the broken concrete floor in another room a little man and woman hugging (with black sashes of course) and a candle in the middle. She cracked open the base of the candle and found another little piece of paper that said everyone in the house that marries should never be happy with their partners. Then, on top of the giant meat freezer… lots of little papers with bad wishes written on them.
So my host mom’s family doesn’t know what to think. Did someone put a hex on the house and the people that live there? And by putting said hex little weird trophies all of the sudden appeared? In my opinion, hell no but what do you say? I told my host mom… Toti (her mentally retarded brother) had parasites (fact) that were cutting off oxygen to the brain. Nuni is a wench, has been and will continue to be. And Lamia is crazy in love and people do and say silly things when they’re that passionate for someone. No little dolly will change who these people are or how they treat others. On top of that, their mom died just a few months ago. Everyone is trying to figure out how to live his or her lives without that very important person in it.
But it gets better… My host mom claims that her mother-in-law (my extremely evil, rumor spreading neighbor) has a big old book on black magic that she’s studied. This book even convinced her to try to kill her own father and her kids found out and stopped her. Who even knows if that one’s true or just her mother-in-law lying like she always does.
In summary, black magic is a friend to some (i.e. me) because it can give a little humor to sometimes dull/slow life out here.
Other happenings…
CATHERINE LYNN GABLE WILL BE HERE IN 2 DAYS!! She, at this moment in time, hasn’t received her visa to actually enter Paraguay but those of the consulate swear it will get there before her evening flight tomorrow. Let’s hope that’s true! We’ll be spending 4 days here in Paraguay, a couple days in Argentina and then some more beach time in Uruguay. It’s basically the only thing that I’ve been looking forward to for about 3 months, so I’m ready to go!!
Over the weekend (when I sadly missed the black magic scavenger hunt) I want down south to Encarnación, Paraguay for our annual Thanksgiving weekend of mayhem. Its basically the one time of year when the majority of the volunteers (180 in the country and about 150 attended) can get to know one another, share a drink or two, and do what a lot of us don’t get to do enough of: RELAX. Volunteers cook the Friday night Thanksgiving meal so we had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie and even cranberry sauce. I’m not sure how they get the ingredients down here for some of it, but all that matters is we all love eating it! We have an Olympics among the different groups of volunteers and even a talent show. Needless to say its like I’m back at West Virginia Association of Student Councils conference so I’m happy as a clam.
Around here, projects are numerous and time consuming. I’m currently drawing/painting a 2m x 4m (6.5 ft x 13ft) map of the world at the school, writing a grant for $5,000 for my handmade clothing group so they can build a space to work, teach and grow in, (They’re doing great by the way and look for a website about them soon!) continuing to loathe the women’s committee (but luckily we’re taking a month hiatus for the holidays), and still teaching computer classes 10 hours a week. Some days I can’t sleep because there is so much I still want to do and fitting it in seems nearly impossible at times. But again, I’m happy to busy rather than bored.
In personal news, I finally dropped the lbs that I put on during training. As Juan kindly (he’s really not mean… he claimed later that I say that so he thought he could say that and not offend me. Little does he understand how complicated our statements regarding weight are!) told me yesterday “Realmente estuviste gigante cuando llegaste.” Which roughly translates to “when you got here you were massively overweight like a beached whale.” I had to laugh, and then punch him of course. Also, my hair is really long. You all wouldn’t even recognize me! I must admit that I miss the bob-ish style I’ve always kept but letting the hair grow is like a little experiment. We’ll see how long I can hold out before chopping it all off.
In Peace Corps news I was invited to go on an overnight trip with our Director to check out a project with the American-Paraguayan Chamber of Commerce and figure out how and when PC can be incorporated. The project is teaching groups of men and women to read and I really enjoyed myself, plus I got to see a little more of the country! The ladies we were with are half-European and half-Paraguayan and totally loaded. We spent the night on the 7,700 hectare (19,000+ acre) ranch of one of the ladies and I was so star struck. I just haven’t been in contact with Paraguayans that are filthy rich like that. She even called her brother, and he flew in on their personal plane!! They do mostly cattle and reforestation (which if you have patience, like 15 years, you can make a fortune on) and on top of that, they have 4 other ridiculously impressive ranches in Paraguay. Totally not what I thought I’d ever experience in Peace Corps!
I was also the only volunteer from my sector to participate in interviews for our new boss. We interviewed 6 extremely impressive people on paper, but in the end I only liked 1. We should have a new Director of my sector by January. Then I can start my campaign for another year in the Peace Corps Asunción office. We’ll see how that one works out.
What all is going on there? Congrats to all the democrats out there because now I don’t have to fear returning to the states (whenever that time comes), but I do continue to worry about (one day) getting a job. What is UP with the economy? A happy belated Thanksgiving to all friends and family, and an advanced Merry Christmas as well. I think of you all often and look forward to hearing updates from everyone.
P.S. I FINALLY have Internet at the coop and its wireless so as the queen of all things technology related in these parts, I also have access to it at home. Hopefully that will make blog writing more frequent and it will definitely make email writing more rapid.
Do people practice it? Are there conventions? I would say “sí” to both of those questions if we were in America, and now I can agree that its prevalent down here in Paraguay too. My host mom’s family thinks people in their house are acting extra weird these days. One brother (who is mentally challenged) was talking “crazy” as he would describe his dreams to leave home and pursue a career as a professional mariachi singer. Another sister (who, pardon my French, is kind of a wench) was being a wench to everyone all the time. Another sister, who is 20 and completely in love with her boyfriend, is thinking about getting hitched this spring and won’t let anything or anyone stand in her way. Clearly, all of these elements only lead to one conclusion: SOMEONE PUT A CURSE ON THE HOUSE AND ITS INHABITANTS!
So they called in what I would call a witch doctor. She only works with natural remedies and her favorite pastime is looking at picturess and saying something creepy/harmful/mean about that person. (p.s. she hasn’t inspected my picture… who knows the combination of adjectives she’d use!!) So this woman came over Saturday and succeeded in freaking out everyone in the family. Between two mattresses she found a skeleton doll with a black sash around it and a little piece of paper that named the husband and wife of the house (yes, their real names were on it apparently) and said that they will die. The woman dug up out of the broken concrete floor in another room a little man and woman hugging (with black sashes of course) and a candle in the middle. She cracked open the base of the candle and found another little piece of paper that said everyone in the house that marries should never be happy with their partners. Then, on top of the giant meat freezer… lots of little papers with bad wishes written on them.
So my host mom’s family doesn’t know what to think. Did someone put a hex on the house and the people that live there? And by putting said hex little weird trophies all of the sudden appeared? In my opinion, hell no but what do you say? I told my host mom… Toti (her mentally retarded brother) had parasites (fact) that were cutting off oxygen to the brain. Nuni is a wench, has been and will continue to be. And Lamia is crazy in love and people do and say silly things when they’re that passionate for someone. No little dolly will change who these people are or how they treat others. On top of that, their mom died just a few months ago. Everyone is trying to figure out how to live his or her lives without that very important person in it.
But it gets better… My host mom claims that her mother-in-law (my extremely evil, rumor spreading neighbor) has a big old book on black magic that she’s studied. This book even convinced her to try to kill her own father and her kids found out and stopped her. Who even knows if that one’s true or just her mother-in-law lying like she always does.
In summary, black magic is a friend to some (i.e. me) because it can give a little humor to sometimes dull/slow life out here.
Other happenings…
CATHERINE LYNN GABLE WILL BE HERE IN 2 DAYS!! She, at this moment in time, hasn’t received her visa to actually enter Paraguay but those of the consulate swear it will get there before her evening flight tomorrow. Let’s hope that’s true! We’ll be spending 4 days here in Paraguay, a couple days in Argentina and then some more beach time in Uruguay. It’s basically the only thing that I’ve been looking forward to for about 3 months, so I’m ready to go!!
Over the weekend (when I sadly missed the black magic scavenger hunt) I want down south to Encarnación, Paraguay for our annual Thanksgiving weekend of mayhem. Its basically the one time of year when the majority of the volunteers (180 in the country and about 150 attended) can get to know one another, share a drink or two, and do what a lot of us don’t get to do enough of: RELAX. Volunteers cook the Friday night Thanksgiving meal so we had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie and even cranberry sauce. I’m not sure how they get the ingredients down here for some of it, but all that matters is we all love eating it! We have an Olympics among the different groups of volunteers and even a talent show. Needless to say its like I’m back at West Virginia Association of Student Councils conference so I’m happy as a clam.
Around here, projects are numerous and time consuming. I’m currently drawing/painting a 2m x 4m (6.5 ft x 13ft) map of the world at the school, writing a grant for $5,000 for my handmade clothing group so they can build a space to work, teach and grow in, (They’re doing great by the way and look for a website about them soon!) continuing to loathe the women’s committee (but luckily we’re taking a month hiatus for the holidays), and still teaching computer classes 10 hours a week. Some days I can’t sleep because there is so much I still want to do and fitting it in seems nearly impossible at times. But again, I’m happy to busy rather than bored.
In personal news, I finally dropped the lbs that I put on during training. As Juan kindly (he’s really not mean… he claimed later that I say that so he thought he could say that and not offend me. Little does he understand how complicated our statements regarding weight are!) told me yesterday “Realmente estuviste gigante cuando llegaste.” Which roughly translates to “when you got here you were massively overweight like a beached whale.” I had to laugh, and then punch him of course. Also, my hair is really long. You all wouldn’t even recognize me! I must admit that I miss the bob-ish style I’ve always kept but letting the hair grow is like a little experiment. We’ll see how long I can hold out before chopping it all off.
In Peace Corps news I was invited to go on an overnight trip with our Director to check out a project with the American-Paraguayan Chamber of Commerce and figure out how and when PC can be incorporated. The project is teaching groups of men and women to read and I really enjoyed myself, plus I got to see a little more of the country! The ladies we were with are half-European and half-Paraguayan and totally loaded. We spent the night on the 7,700 hectare (19,000+ acre) ranch of one of the ladies and I was so star struck. I just haven’t been in contact with Paraguayans that are filthy rich like that. She even called her brother, and he flew in on their personal plane!! They do mostly cattle and reforestation (which if you have patience, like 15 years, you can make a fortune on) and on top of that, they have 4 other ridiculously impressive ranches in Paraguay. Totally not what I thought I’d ever experience in Peace Corps!
I was also the only volunteer from my sector to participate in interviews for our new boss. We interviewed 6 extremely impressive people on paper, but in the end I only liked 1. We should have a new Director of my sector by January. Then I can start my campaign for another year in the Peace Corps Asunción office. We’ll see how that one works out.
What all is going on there? Congrats to all the democrats out there because now I don’t have to fear returning to the states (whenever that time comes), but I do continue to worry about (one day) getting a job. What is UP with the economy? A happy belated Thanksgiving to all friends and family, and an advanced Merry Christmas as well. I think of you all often and look forward to hearing updates from everyone.
P.S. I FINALLY have Internet at the coop and its wireless so as the queen of all things technology related in these parts, I also have access to it at home. Hopefully that will make blog writing more frequent and it will definitely make email writing more rapid.
Harry Potter style dark arts... friends or foe?
I know I’m a naughty girl because I haven’t written in over a month and a half, but things have been wild around here! I’ll update on the happenings in a minute, but first I want to share the theme of my Tuesday: black magic.
Do people practice it? Are there conventions? I would say “sí” to both of those questions if we were in America, and now I can agree that its prevalent down here in Paraguay too. My host mom’s family thinks people in their house are acting extra weird these days. One brother (who is mentally challenged) was talking “crazy” as he would describe his dreams to leave home and pursue a career as a professional mariachi singer. Another sister (who, pardon my French, is kind of a wench) was being a wench to everyone all the time. Another sister, who is 20 and completely in love with her boyfriend, is thinking about getting hitched this spring and won’t let anything or anyone stand in her way. Clearly, all of these elements only lead to one conclusion: SOMEONE PUT A CURSE ON THE HOUSE AND ITS INHABITANTS!
So they called in what I would call a witch doctor. She only works with natural remedies and her favorite pastime is looking at picturess and saying something creepy/harmful/mean about that person. (p.s. she hasn’t inspected my picture… who knows the combination of adjectives she’d use!!) So this woman came over Saturday and succeeded in freaking out everyone in the family. Between two mattresses she found a skeleton doll with a black sash around it and a little piece of paper that named the husband and wife of the house (yes, their real names were on it apparently) and said that they will die. The woman dug up out of the broken concrete floor in another room a little man and woman hugging (with black sashes of course) and a candle in the middle. She cracked open the base of the candle and found another little piece of paper that said everyone in the house that marries should never be happy with their partners. Then, on top of the giant meat freezer… lots of little papers with bad wishes written on them.
So my host mom’s family doesn’t know what to think. Did someone put a hex on the house and the people that live there? And by putting said hex little weird trophies all of the sudden appeared? In my opinion, hell no but what do you say? I told my host mom… Toti (her mentally retarded brother) had parasites (fact) that were cutting off oxygen to the brain. Nuni is a wench, has been and will continue to be. And Lamia is crazy in love and people do and say silly things when they’re that passionate for someone. No little dolly will change who these people are or how they treat others. On top of that, their mom died just a few months ago. Everyone is trying to figure out how to live his or her lives without that very important person in it.
But it gets better… My host mom claims that her mother-in-law (my extremely evil, rumor spreading neighbor) has a big old book on black magic that she’s studied. This book even convinced her to try to kill her own father and her kids found out and stopped her. Who even knows if that one’s true or just her mother-in-law lying like she always does.
In summary, black magic is a friend to some (i.e. me) because it can give a little humor to sometimes dull/slow life out here.
Other happenings…
CATHERINE LYNN GABLE WILL BE HERE IN 2 DAYS!! She, at this moment in time, hasn’t received her visa to actually enter Paraguay but those of the consulate swear it will get there before her evening flight tomorrow. Let’s hope that’s true! We’ll be spending 4 days here in Paraguay, a couple days in Argentina and then some more beach time in Uruguay. It’s basically the only thing that I’ve been looking forward to for about 3 months, so I’m ready to go!!
Over the weekend (when I sadly missed the black magic scavenger hunt) I want down south to Encarnación, Paraguay for our annual Thanksgiving weekend of mayhem. Its basically the one time of year when the majority of the volunteers (180 in the country and about 150 attended) can get to know one another, share a drink or two, and do what a lot of us don’t get to do enough of: RELAX. Volunteers cook the Friday night Thanksgiving meal so we had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie and even cranberry sauce. I’m not sure how they get the ingredients down here for some of it, but all that matters is we all love eating it! We have an Olympics among the different groups of volunteers and even a talent show. Needless to say its like I’m back at West Virginia Association of Student Councils conference so I’m happy as a clam.
Around here, projects are numerous and time consuming. I’m currently drawing/painting a 2m x 4m (6.5 ft x 13ft) map of the world at the school, writing a grant for $5,000 for my handmade clothing group so they can build a space to work, teach and grow in, (They’re doing great by the way and look for a website about them soon!) continuing to loathe the women’s committee (but luckily we’re taking a month hiatus for the holidays), and still teaching computer classes 10 hours a week. Some days I can’t sleep because there is so much I still want to do and fitting it in seems nearly impossible at times. But again, I’m happy to busy rather than bored.
In personal news, I finally dropped the lbs that I put on during training. As Juan kindly (he’s really not mean… he claimed later that I say that so he thought he could say that and not offend me. Little does he understand how complicated our statements regarding weight are!) told me yesterday “Realmente estuviste gigante cuando llegaste.” Which roughly translates to “when you got here you were massively overweight like a beached whale.” I had to laugh, and then punch him of course. Also, my hair is really long. You all wouldn’t even recognize me! I must admit that I miss the bob-ish style I’ve always kept but letting the hair grow is like a little experiment. We’ll see how long I can hold out before chopping it all off.
In Peace Corps news I was invited to go on an overnight trip with our Director to check out a project with the American-Paraguayan Chamber of Commerce and figure out how and when PC can be incorporated. The project is teaching groups of men and women to read and I really enjoyed myself, plus I got to see a little more of the country! The ladies we were with are half-European and half-Paraguayan and totally loaded. We spent the night on the 7,700 hectare (19,000+ acre) ranch of one of the ladies and I was so star struck. I just haven’t been in contact with Paraguayans that are filthy rich like that. She even called her brother, and he flew in on their personal plane!! They do mostly cattle and reforestation (which if you have patience, like 15 years, you can make a fortune on) and on top of that, they have 4 other ridiculously impressive ranches in Paraguay. Totally not what I thought I’d ever experience in Peace Corps!
I was also the only volunteer from my sector to participate in interviews for our new boss. We interviewed 6 extremely impressive people on paper, but in the end I only liked 1. We should have a new Director of my sector by January. Then I can start my campaign for another year in the Peace Corps Asunción office. We’ll see how that one works out.
What all is going on there? Congrats to all the democrats out there because now I don’t have to fear returning to the states (whenever that time comes), but I do continue to worry about (one day) getting a job. What is UP with the economy? A happy belated Thanksgiving to all friends and family, and an advanced Merry Christmas as well. I think of you all often and look forward to hearing updates from everyone.
P.S. I FINALLY have Internet at the coop and its wireless so as the queen of all things technology related in these parts, I also have access to it at home. Hopefully that will make blog writing more frequent and it will definitely make email writing more rapid.
Do people practice it? Are there conventions? I would say “sí” to both of those questions if we were in America, and now I can agree that its prevalent down here in Paraguay too. My host mom’s family thinks people in their house are acting extra weird these days. One brother (who is mentally challenged) was talking “crazy” as he would describe his dreams to leave home and pursue a career as a professional mariachi singer. Another sister (who, pardon my French, is kind of a wench) was being a wench to everyone all the time. Another sister, who is 20 and completely in love with her boyfriend, is thinking about getting hitched this spring and won’t let anything or anyone stand in her way. Clearly, all of these elements only lead to one conclusion: SOMEONE PUT A CURSE ON THE HOUSE AND ITS INHABITANTS!
So they called in what I would call a witch doctor. She only works with natural remedies and her favorite pastime is looking at picturess and saying something creepy/harmful/mean about that person. (p.s. she hasn’t inspected my picture… who knows the combination of adjectives she’d use!!) So this woman came over Saturday and succeeded in freaking out everyone in the family. Between two mattresses she found a skeleton doll with a black sash around it and a little piece of paper that named the husband and wife of the house (yes, their real names were on it apparently) and said that they will die. The woman dug up out of the broken concrete floor in another room a little man and woman hugging (with black sashes of course) and a candle in the middle. She cracked open the base of the candle and found another little piece of paper that said everyone in the house that marries should never be happy with their partners. Then, on top of the giant meat freezer… lots of little papers with bad wishes written on them.
So my host mom’s family doesn’t know what to think. Did someone put a hex on the house and the people that live there? And by putting said hex little weird trophies all of the sudden appeared? In my opinion, hell no but what do you say? I told my host mom… Toti (her mentally retarded brother) had parasites (fact) that were cutting off oxygen to the brain. Nuni is a wench, has been and will continue to be. And Lamia is crazy in love and people do and say silly things when they’re that passionate for someone. No little dolly will change who these people are or how they treat others. On top of that, their mom died just a few months ago. Everyone is trying to figure out how to live his or her lives without that very important person in it.
But it gets better… My host mom claims that her mother-in-law (my extremely evil, rumor spreading neighbor) has a big old book on black magic that she’s studied. This book even convinced her to try to kill her own father and her kids found out and stopped her. Who even knows if that one’s true or just her mother-in-law lying like she always does.
In summary, black magic is a friend to some (i.e. me) because it can give a little humor to sometimes dull/slow life out here.
Other happenings…
CATHERINE LYNN GABLE WILL BE HERE IN 2 DAYS!! She, at this moment in time, hasn’t received her visa to actually enter Paraguay but those of the consulate swear it will get there before her evening flight tomorrow. Let’s hope that’s true! We’ll be spending 4 days here in Paraguay, a couple days in Argentina and then some more beach time in Uruguay. It’s basically the only thing that I’ve been looking forward to for about 3 months, so I’m ready to go!!
Over the weekend (when I sadly missed the black magic scavenger hunt) I want down south to Encarnación, Paraguay for our annual Thanksgiving weekend of mayhem. Its basically the one time of year when the majority of the volunteers (180 in the country and about 150 attended) can get to know one another, share a drink or two, and do what a lot of us don’t get to do enough of: RELAX. Volunteers cook the Friday night Thanksgiving meal so we had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie and even cranberry sauce. I’m not sure how they get the ingredients down here for some of it, but all that matters is we all love eating it! We have an Olympics among the different groups of volunteers and even a talent show. Needless to say its like I’m back at West Virginia Association of Student Councils conference so I’m happy as a clam.
Around here, projects are numerous and time consuming. I’m currently drawing/painting a 2m x 4m (6.5 ft x 13ft) map of the world at the school, writing a grant for $5,000 for my handmade clothing group so they can build a space to work, teach and grow in, (They’re doing great by the way and look for a website about them soon!) continuing to loathe the women’s committee (but luckily we’re taking a month hiatus for the holidays), and still teaching computer classes 10 hours a week. Some days I can’t sleep because there is so much I still want to do and fitting it in seems nearly impossible at times. But again, I’m happy to busy rather than bored.
In personal news, I finally dropped the lbs that I put on during training. As Juan kindly (he’s really not mean… he claimed later that I say that so he thought he could say that and not offend me. Little does he understand how complicated our statements regarding weight are!) told me yesterday “Realmente estuviste gigante cuando llegaste.” Which roughly translates to “when you got here you were massively overweight like a beached whale.” I had to laugh, and then punch him of course. Also, my hair is really long. You all wouldn’t even recognize me! I must admit that I miss the bob-ish style I’ve always kept but letting the hair grow is like a little experiment. We’ll see how long I can hold out before chopping it all off.
In Peace Corps news I was invited to go on an overnight trip with our Director to check out a project with the American-Paraguayan Chamber of Commerce and figure out how and when PC can be incorporated. The project is teaching groups of men and women to read and I really enjoyed myself, plus I got to see a little more of the country! The ladies we were with are half-European and half-Paraguayan and totally loaded. We spent the night on the 7,700 hectare (19,000+ acre) ranch of one of the ladies and I was so star struck. I just haven’t been in contact with Paraguayans that are filthy rich like that. She even called her brother, and he flew in on their personal plane!! They do mostly cattle and reforestation (which if you have patience, like 15 years, you can make a fortune on) and on top of that, they have 4 other ridiculously impressive ranches in Paraguay. Totally not what I thought I’d ever experience in Peace Corps!
I was also the only volunteer from my sector to participate in interviews for our new boss. We interviewed 6 extremely impressive people on paper, but in the end I only liked 1. We should have a new Director of my sector by January. Then I can start my campaign for another year in the Peace Corps Asunción office. We’ll see how that one works out.
What all is going on there? Congrats to all the democrats out there because now I don’t have to fear returning to the states (whenever that time comes), but I do continue to worry about (one day) getting a job. What is UP with the economy? A happy belated Thanksgiving to all friends and family, and an advanced Merry Christmas as well. I think of you all often and look forward to hearing updates from everyone.
P.S. I FINALLY have Internet at the coop and its wireless so as the queen of all things technology related in these parts, I also have access to it at home. Hopefully that will make blog writing more frequent and it will definitely make email writing more rapid.
Monday, October 13, 2008
October update
So here we are back again at another blog. I’d like to do this more than once a month, but lack of internet has kept me from being an outstanding blogger.
Moving on…
Things are up and down as always. Juan and his family are doing fine, and thank you for everyone’s support and kind words. Hopefully I don’t have to go through all of that again anytime soon. Another 9 days of praying and 1 unnaturally early morning of chipa making is right around the corner though. The two-year anniversary of their sister’s death starts the 21st, but I’ll probably be less involved. Maybe I’ll partake in the chipa production because it’s a great forearm workout, but that’s about it.
The women’s committee is moving along. I completed my project promises, so I’m hoping the rumor spreading ladies will lay low for a while. The project is a 10-page work of art that our local Ministry of Ag director said was more than impressive. Thanks! I also hooked the ladies up with our Governor and they presented it without flaw. He said that he’d give them everything they wanted and more, they just have to wait until January comes and the new fiscal year begins. All good news! I’m sure they’ll find more rumors to spread, but for the time being its ok.
My embroidery ladies are learning a lot and I just secured more class time for free. There is a government sponsored (I think) organization that is required to teach technical courses, but they don’t like to leave Asunción. I made my way to their central office twice and we requested 2 weeks of class. When the callback was made to see what they thought, we were totally denied. But within minutes a branch office called our teacher and said there was money available if we worked quickly. So we’re not up for 2 weeks of class, we’re up for 2 MONTHS and the ladies are happy. I also worked it out with the coop that the ladies can join which, if they deicide to become members, will be a win-win situation. The coop is looking for more ladies (they currently only have 3 out of 100 members) and I’ve taken it upon myself to expand their services to include things that would interest women. This embroidery/making clothes thing fits right into the coops goals, so it’s a great match. The women will also have more progression opportunities because their backbone will be a well-known, well-established cooperative. The ladies wanted to take the week to think about it, and I’m a little nervous because the families are so political here. (i.e. there is a guy in our community that I seriously loathe. He causes problems in the coop, school, and even within my women’s committee. But some husbands are buddies with him, and I fear they won’t let their wives enter the coop because he’s currently making waves. Silly because it will lessen the likelihood of my ladies actually making money from these lovely tops/blouses/shirts, but such is life when you live in the Paraguayan campo.)
So the embroidery group has a name. Chachí! (pronounced sha-shI.) It’s the name of our street, a flower that looks more like a small palm tree, and my new homework. As suggested by my dad, I’m going to design a pamphlet of sorts to distribute in the states. Dad suggested trying to sell in Rehobeth Beach, DE so we’ll start there. Also, his secretary mentioned 10,000 Villages which is a non-profit business that sells handicrafts from all over the world with all proceeds going directly back to the producers. There is a store in Columbia and I shopped there a few times. I’ve been in touch with Mrs. USC Mary-David Fox about getting into the international department or, more specifically, the South American Studies department, to see if any avenues are open. They can also sell for individual order and my bff (a.k.a. best friend FOREVER) Cathy is coming in December and can bring said individual orders back with her right in time for Christmas. I’m currently compiling pictures and below is the link to what I have so far. I haven´t finished Dad´s and Carolyns, but that will be added in the next month or so. (Prices vary by style but range anywhere from $25 - $80)
Handmade Clothing
So its time to make my more than one year evaluation so here it goes…
COOP: My coop was kind of a conundrum since day one, and things haven’t become clearer but I guess they are getting better. I’ve designed my own work and purpose, with still very little guidance from the dudes that run it, but they aren’t bad people. If I can get more ladies to join, I will consider it two years of success!
LIFE: I have a great little house and have great neighbors that take care of me. I sometimes wonder if they’ve let me become too involved in their lives, but its better than being lonely I guess. There are many volunteers that don’t have patience for the little Paraguayan quirks, but I’ve learned to brush most of them off. I have Juan too, which has been a MAJOR help with my language skills. In our time together he’s matured a lot and will start studying law in the next couple of months, which will vastly improve his future here.
SCHOOL: Its not a requirement to work in the school, but mine is such a mess that I try to do a little here and there. I’ve done dental health presentations, anti-parasite presentations, and will start painting a giant world map coupled with mini-cultural lessons at the end of the school year (think end of November) so I’m really looking forward to that. I helped them construct and paint a kitchen for the school and also brought in a school garden project from Plan International. Cooking and nutrition classes are on the radar too but will probably have to wait until the school year starts again in February.
OTHER: I started the women’s committee last Feb. and its been more of a headache than anything else, but there is potential still. They’ve managed to present the $60,000 chicken coop project that I wrote, which is what they wanted since our first meeting. We’ll see if they stay together through the long haul though. The embroidery group is great too because in most homes the males make 100% of the income, so this gives the females a chance to make a little cash flow too. I’m helping a fellow volunteer teach her youth group basic accounting and hope to start working one afternoon a week with another women’s committee a few streets down that is growing too quickly to keep track of the business aspects of their organization.
NEW: In an hour or so I have a meeting with fellow volunteers to expand an idea that a Paraguayan gave me and asked me to run with. In general, his idea is that in 2020 Paraguay has a troop of volunteers. To sum it up, Paraguayans don’t do anything without getting paid, ever. In the US we are raised to believe that sometimes knowledge learned is more than money earned (kind of poetic, right? Did I make that up? Somehow I don’t think so.) So to start out, we’re going to try to form an internship program. Young people ages 16-22 are the target market. We’d have to start out with goal/career development because most young people have no idea where to begin, but its as simple as determining likes and dislikes. From there we talk about what it means to be a volunteer and then each Peace Corps volunteer will work out possible internships in our communities or nearby. It will be a 6 months to a year program. We’ll see how the meeting goes, but brainstorming is how everything starts!
SANITY: I’m generally happy, although I feel bi-polar 90% of the time due to extreme good and bad within my community, but this is all totally normal. I’m still considering a 3rd year of work, but only because it won’t be in my community. Staying here for a 3rd year may make me go mad, but in the city I can learn and do a lot more. Peace Corps gives us great support from all sides, although the boss of my sector just left us for another job. If you recall, my boss when I got here was abruptly fired after 20+ years of work. The guy that just left us, Fernando, was with us since January and was fantastic but is friends with people of the political party that just got elected after 60+ years of trying to be elected so he’ll be helping the country in other ways now. So yet again, we are without leadership in my sector but Peace Corps does a really good job of not letting us feel abandoned. So we move on...
BOOKS READ: 20ish
TARANTUALS KILLED: 5
SCORPIONS DISCOVERED IN BATHROOM: 3 (but all the size of my finger nail)
So that is the update. If you guys have any more questions for me, just let me know! Thank you all for your continued support and I hope to be getting lots of requests for new handmade shirts!
Moving on…
Things are up and down as always. Juan and his family are doing fine, and thank you for everyone’s support and kind words. Hopefully I don’t have to go through all of that again anytime soon. Another 9 days of praying and 1 unnaturally early morning of chipa making is right around the corner though. The two-year anniversary of their sister’s death starts the 21st, but I’ll probably be less involved. Maybe I’ll partake in the chipa production because it’s a great forearm workout, but that’s about it.
The women’s committee is moving along. I completed my project promises, so I’m hoping the rumor spreading ladies will lay low for a while. The project is a 10-page work of art that our local Ministry of Ag director said was more than impressive. Thanks! I also hooked the ladies up with our Governor and they presented it without flaw. He said that he’d give them everything they wanted and more, they just have to wait until January comes and the new fiscal year begins. All good news! I’m sure they’ll find more rumors to spread, but for the time being its ok.
My embroidery ladies are learning a lot and I just secured more class time for free. There is a government sponsored (I think) organization that is required to teach technical courses, but they don’t like to leave Asunción. I made my way to their central office twice and we requested 2 weeks of class. When the callback was made to see what they thought, we were totally denied. But within minutes a branch office called our teacher and said there was money available if we worked quickly. So we’re not up for 2 weeks of class, we’re up for 2 MONTHS and the ladies are happy. I also worked it out with the coop that the ladies can join which, if they deicide to become members, will be a win-win situation. The coop is looking for more ladies (they currently only have 3 out of 100 members) and I’ve taken it upon myself to expand their services to include things that would interest women. This embroidery/making clothes thing fits right into the coops goals, so it’s a great match. The women will also have more progression opportunities because their backbone will be a well-known, well-established cooperative. The ladies wanted to take the week to think about it, and I’m a little nervous because the families are so political here. (i.e. there is a guy in our community that I seriously loathe. He causes problems in the coop, school, and even within my women’s committee. But some husbands are buddies with him, and I fear they won’t let their wives enter the coop because he’s currently making waves. Silly because it will lessen the likelihood of my ladies actually making money from these lovely tops/blouses/shirts, but such is life when you live in the Paraguayan campo.)
So the embroidery group has a name. Chachí! (pronounced sha-shI.) It’s the name of our street, a flower that looks more like a small palm tree, and my new homework. As suggested by my dad, I’m going to design a pamphlet of sorts to distribute in the states. Dad suggested trying to sell in Rehobeth Beach, DE so we’ll start there. Also, his secretary mentioned 10,000 Villages which is a non-profit business that sells handicrafts from all over the world with all proceeds going directly back to the producers. There is a store in Columbia and I shopped there a few times. I’ve been in touch with Mrs. USC Mary-David Fox about getting into the international department or, more specifically, the South American Studies department, to see if any avenues are open. They can also sell for individual order and my bff (a.k.a. best friend FOREVER) Cathy is coming in December and can bring said individual orders back with her right in time for Christmas. I’m currently compiling pictures and below is the link to what I have so far. I haven´t finished Dad´s and Carolyns, but that will be added in the next month or so. (Prices vary by style but range anywhere from $25 - $80)
Handmade Clothing
So its time to make my more than one year evaluation so here it goes…
COOP: My coop was kind of a conundrum since day one, and things haven’t become clearer but I guess they are getting better. I’ve designed my own work and purpose, with still very little guidance from the dudes that run it, but they aren’t bad people. If I can get more ladies to join, I will consider it two years of success!
LIFE: I have a great little house and have great neighbors that take care of me. I sometimes wonder if they’ve let me become too involved in their lives, but its better than being lonely I guess. There are many volunteers that don’t have patience for the little Paraguayan quirks, but I’ve learned to brush most of them off. I have Juan too, which has been a MAJOR help with my language skills. In our time together he’s matured a lot and will start studying law in the next couple of months, which will vastly improve his future here.
SCHOOL: Its not a requirement to work in the school, but mine is such a mess that I try to do a little here and there. I’ve done dental health presentations, anti-parasite presentations, and will start painting a giant world map coupled with mini-cultural lessons at the end of the school year (think end of November) so I’m really looking forward to that. I helped them construct and paint a kitchen for the school and also brought in a school garden project from Plan International. Cooking and nutrition classes are on the radar too but will probably have to wait until the school year starts again in February.
OTHER: I started the women’s committee last Feb. and its been more of a headache than anything else, but there is potential still. They’ve managed to present the $60,000 chicken coop project that I wrote, which is what they wanted since our first meeting. We’ll see if they stay together through the long haul though. The embroidery group is great too because in most homes the males make 100% of the income, so this gives the females a chance to make a little cash flow too. I’m helping a fellow volunteer teach her youth group basic accounting and hope to start working one afternoon a week with another women’s committee a few streets down that is growing too quickly to keep track of the business aspects of their organization.
NEW: In an hour or so I have a meeting with fellow volunteers to expand an idea that a Paraguayan gave me and asked me to run with. In general, his idea is that in 2020 Paraguay has a troop of volunteers. To sum it up, Paraguayans don’t do anything without getting paid, ever. In the US we are raised to believe that sometimes knowledge learned is more than money earned (kind of poetic, right? Did I make that up? Somehow I don’t think so.) So to start out, we’re going to try to form an internship program. Young people ages 16-22 are the target market. We’d have to start out with goal/career development because most young people have no idea where to begin, but its as simple as determining likes and dislikes. From there we talk about what it means to be a volunteer and then each Peace Corps volunteer will work out possible internships in our communities or nearby. It will be a 6 months to a year program. We’ll see how the meeting goes, but brainstorming is how everything starts!
SANITY: I’m generally happy, although I feel bi-polar 90% of the time due to extreme good and bad within my community, but this is all totally normal. I’m still considering a 3rd year of work, but only because it won’t be in my community. Staying here for a 3rd year may make me go mad, but in the city I can learn and do a lot more. Peace Corps gives us great support from all sides, although the boss of my sector just left us for another job. If you recall, my boss when I got here was abruptly fired after 20+ years of work. The guy that just left us, Fernando, was with us since January and was fantastic but is friends with people of the political party that just got elected after 60+ years of trying to be elected so he’ll be helping the country in other ways now. So yet again, we are without leadership in my sector but Peace Corps does a really good job of not letting us feel abandoned. So we move on...
BOOKS READ: 20ish
TARANTUALS KILLED: 5
SCORPIONS DISCOVERED IN BATHROOM: 3 (but all the size of my finger nail)
So that is the update. If you guys have any more questions for me, just let me know! Thank you all for your continued support and I hope to be getting lots of requests for new handmade shirts!
Friday, September 19, 2008
Life Lessons
September Blog
Where to start with this entry? I lot has been going on and I’ve learned a lot of cultural lessons, so this will probably be a doozy of a blog!
Wednesday, Sept 3 around 7:30am Juan called to tell me that his mother passed away. She had been in the hospital for over a month and I had visited her right after my vacation in July. She had been in only a week but I still had hope. In late August I visited again and I knew there wasn’t much more time. The loss came as a shock to her family. I immediately went next door to my closest friend (and Juan’s sister) Raquel’s to comfort her. We cried together and she prepared to go to her parent’s house which is about 15km away. It was mid morning and the only bus out is at 5:30am, so it was a little more difficult for me to get out of here to be with her and Juan. I ended up walking in about 85ºF weather for over an hour to another volunteer’s house. I had to take a water break so I hung out with her for another hour before a truck came by to take me the rest of the way.
As my dad told me, I was about to learn how Paraguayans mourn…
Once I got to their house they had cleaned and were waiting around for the body to get there. Even at 11am they hadn’t even taken the body out of her room!! Her body and the family made it around 6pm (coming from Asunción) and my learning began. Most Americans put a lot less emphasis on the body of a person. Their body is just an empty shell because their spirit is gone. To Paraguayans, it’s all about the body. As long as the body is there, it’s like their mom remains on earth. Her daughters kept screaming and yelling through their tears at her to “OPYTATA!!!” (stay!! in Guarani.) Family started showing up long before the body made it and they kept coming all night long so it was very hard to see people that I know so well have to deal with their grief in such a public way. (I really can’t emphasis enough how much screaming and wailing takes place.) We are so much more private about our feelings and with most families having at least 5 kids in Paraguay, there is never privacy. Their mom alone had 16 brothers and sisters and when you add that to all of the cousins and family friends it gets to be overwhelming to me!
One interesting part was that there is no funeral home stuff out in the campo. If you live in the city of Asunción, probably, but out into the country things change a bit. A business called La Jardin de la Paz (The Garden of Peace) basically takes care of it all. They fix up the body (which is nude and covered in a white sheet unlike our tradition where someone is buried in their favorite suit), drive it to your house, set it up in your living room with lights and a throw rug (Paraguayans don’t have carpeting in their homes), and even bring a coffee machine with coffee, sugar, etc. and a lot of 2liters of pop. They come back the next day to seal the coffin (there is a metal lid that they melt, in the living room in front of everyone) and take it to the cemetery.
The youngest daughter had been taking care of their mom forever basically. Her mom had diabetes and one failed kidney. She was blind due to the disease and since her hospital entrance, has been unable to walk and has had chronic diarrhea. Lamia, the youngest daughter, has been their almost every single day to bathe her mother, clean her diaper (her mom refused to let the nurses, who were strangers to her, clean her in any form), and feed her. She had the hardest time dealing with the death. She went into convulsions more than once and had to be taken to the hospital 4 times in 2 days. Again, I have never felt grief like they are experiencing, but if I did it would be alone or with one family member or friend. Not in front of every single person I’ve ever known.
The breakdown is something like this when someone in your family dies…
1. The body arrives and for 24 hours you stay with it. No sleeping. People come in and out all night.
2. Caravan to the cemetery where they take the body to certain part first to get one last look. The coffin has a pane of glass (maybe plastic?) directly above the face and covered by wood that is removable. Keep in mind the daughters and sisters are all screaming at the top of their lungs with pleads to stay with them. It made me so uncomfortable. There was no fainting though, although we had some close calls. At the cemetery she’s slid into a pre-made brick and mortar casing. Everyone is on top of the earth, not in it. More screaming until they seal up the hole and then, like flipping a light switch, everyone stops screaming and leaves within 5 minutes. Literally once the body is out of sight, its over.
3. So the day after the burial starts the rezo. Rezo doesn’t really translate to anything because we don’t do it, but it comes from the word rezar which means to pray. For 9 days they have people come over and pray the Hail Mary. Children of the deceased are supposed to pray on their knees each day, but the brothers refused to do it. At the end of each rezo they give out cookies and candies to everyone present. Why? I have no idea.
4. On day 8 we got up at 2am to start making chipa. In a previous blog I talked about chipa, but it’s a bread-type thing made with cornmeal, cheese, animal fat, anis, eggs, salt and some other stuff. Its all mixed by hand and cooked in a giant outdoor brick oven. They were anticipating a lot of people (the last day of the reso, day 9, people from all over come for chipa) so the final count was over 230kg of ingredients!! (That’s 518lbs for those that don’t get the metric system!) That is a lot of mixing and kneading!! My forearms were sore from all of the work!
5. Day 9 was kind of a bust because I thought more actual family members would come, but that wasn’t the case. It was mostly just neighboring kids and family members that wanted chipa, but that always happens.
So what does all of this mean for their family? Lots of things. For two years they can’t dance or basically show any fun publicly. Their sister passed away in October 2006 so they were planning to return to some fun activities, but mom is gone so the rules are back. They also can’t wear anything but dark colors for 2 years. I doubt the brothers will stick to that but the sisters will. They can’t even wear green!! (They took black or blue permanent markers to all shirts or jackets that had red or pink or green on them.)
As a logical person, I had a lot of questions that they couldn’t give me answers to. Why do the do the rezo for 9 days? Is it believe that she’s in purgatory for 9 days so they have to pray to make sure St. Peter (or San Pedro) opens his gates? No, its just the tradition. Why can’t they wear certain colors? Because it’s the tradition. Why do we make so much chipa? Because it’s the tradition. I think a lot of their said cultural traditions are losing meaning with the younger generations because they are starting to expect an explanation too.
So yeah, its been a weird couple of days. I stayed there for 8 nights and it was almost too much. I was ready to get home. I haven’t lived with more than 4 people all of my life, and even then its been 7 years since Jarrod left for college! I come from a culture of personal space and privacy and Juan has 4 very nosey sisters. On top of that, he has about 10 very nosey aunts and they all wanted to know if Juan’s going to America with me. Really? I’m 23. I’m not ready for marriage nor babysitting a 26-year-old Paraguayan in The United States of America, a country he only knows through movies. My head was about to explode!
So that was my 11 day lesson on death in Paraguay. Hopefully it’s a one time experience.
As for what else is new, I hate my women's committee. That's exciting, right? All they want to do is talk poorly about others and myself and the organization. Its gotten to the point that the good ones are dropping out because the bad ones won't shut up. I've had to play mother hen to these women for the past couple of months asking them to lay of the rumors. There have been a lot of frustrated phone calls to my coordinator and if things don't get better in the next month or two, I'm going to call it quits with them because its affecting my work in other areas. We'll see.
However, my embroidery committee is going great! I'm working on getting national funding for our teacher which will results in certificates (which are very valued in PY) for their completed work. I myself have made about 3.5 shirts (I say .5 because Juan's is green and I stopped working on it because his sisters told him he can't wear green for 2 years. He'll wear it before I leave or ELSE!) I've been snapping photos of the finished product and hope to upload those pics pretty soon.
Please let me know what is going on in America! Is all of this crap about Palin really true? She seems SO unqualified. I hope the ladies of our country realize that yes, she may have out genetic make-up but that doesn't make her Hilary or make her even ready to run a McDonald's let alone one of the most important nations in the world! Obama '08! (p.s. Jarrod says that even if Mom votes for McCain he's never talking to her again. Oh Jarrod!)
Where to start with this entry? I lot has been going on and I’ve learned a lot of cultural lessons, so this will probably be a doozy of a blog!
Wednesday, Sept 3 around 7:30am Juan called to tell me that his mother passed away. She had been in the hospital for over a month and I had visited her right after my vacation in July. She had been in only a week but I still had hope. In late August I visited again and I knew there wasn’t much more time. The loss came as a shock to her family. I immediately went next door to my closest friend (and Juan’s sister) Raquel’s to comfort her. We cried together and she prepared to go to her parent’s house which is about 15km away. It was mid morning and the only bus out is at 5:30am, so it was a little more difficult for me to get out of here to be with her and Juan. I ended up walking in about 85ºF weather for over an hour to another volunteer’s house. I had to take a water break so I hung out with her for another hour before a truck came by to take me the rest of the way.
As my dad told me, I was about to learn how Paraguayans mourn…
Once I got to their house they had cleaned and were waiting around for the body to get there. Even at 11am they hadn’t even taken the body out of her room!! Her body and the family made it around 6pm (coming from Asunción) and my learning began. Most Americans put a lot less emphasis on the body of a person. Their body is just an empty shell because their spirit is gone. To Paraguayans, it’s all about the body. As long as the body is there, it’s like their mom remains on earth. Her daughters kept screaming and yelling through their tears at her to “OPYTATA!!!” (stay!! in Guarani.) Family started showing up long before the body made it and they kept coming all night long so it was very hard to see people that I know so well have to deal with their grief in such a public way. (I really can’t emphasis enough how much screaming and wailing takes place.) We are so much more private about our feelings and with most families having at least 5 kids in Paraguay, there is never privacy. Their mom alone had 16 brothers and sisters and when you add that to all of the cousins and family friends it gets to be overwhelming to me!
One interesting part was that there is no funeral home stuff out in the campo. If you live in the city of Asunción, probably, but out into the country things change a bit. A business called La Jardin de la Paz (The Garden of Peace) basically takes care of it all. They fix up the body (which is nude and covered in a white sheet unlike our tradition where someone is buried in their favorite suit), drive it to your house, set it up in your living room with lights and a throw rug (Paraguayans don’t have carpeting in their homes), and even bring a coffee machine with coffee, sugar, etc. and a lot of 2liters of pop. They come back the next day to seal the coffin (there is a metal lid that they melt, in the living room in front of everyone) and take it to the cemetery.
The youngest daughter had been taking care of their mom forever basically. Her mom had diabetes and one failed kidney. She was blind due to the disease and since her hospital entrance, has been unable to walk and has had chronic diarrhea. Lamia, the youngest daughter, has been their almost every single day to bathe her mother, clean her diaper (her mom refused to let the nurses, who were strangers to her, clean her in any form), and feed her. She had the hardest time dealing with the death. She went into convulsions more than once and had to be taken to the hospital 4 times in 2 days. Again, I have never felt grief like they are experiencing, but if I did it would be alone or with one family member or friend. Not in front of every single person I’ve ever known.
The breakdown is something like this when someone in your family dies…
1. The body arrives and for 24 hours you stay with it. No sleeping. People come in and out all night.
2. Caravan to the cemetery where they take the body to certain part first to get one last look. The coffin has a pane of glass (maybe plastic?) directly above the face and covered by wood that is removable. Keep in mind the daughters and sisters are all screaming at the top of their lungs with pleads to stay with them. It made me so uncomfortable. There was no fainting though, although we had some close calls. At the cemetery she’s slid into a pre-made brick and mortar casing. Everyone is on top of the earth, not in it. More screaming until they seal up the hole and then, like flipping a light switch, everyone stops screaming and leaves within 5 minutes. Literally once the body is out of sight, its over.
3. So the day after the burial starts the rezo. Rezo doesn’t really translate to anything because we don’t do it, but it comes from the word rezar which means to pray. For 9 days they have people come over and pray the Hail Mary. Children of the deceased are supposed to pray on their knees each day, but the brothers refused to do it. At the end of each rezo they give out cookies and candies to everyone present. Why? I have no idea.
4. On day 8 we got up at 2am to start making chipa. In a previous blog I talked about chipa, but it’s a bread-type thing made with cornmeal, cheese, animal fat, anis, eggs, salt and some other stuff. Its all mixed by hand and cooked in a giant outdoor brick oven. They were anticipating a lot of people (the last day of the reso, day 9, people from all over come for chipa) so the final count was over 230kg of ingredients!! (That’s 518lbs for those that don’t get the metric system!) That is a lot of mixing and kneading!! My forearms were sore from all of the work!
5. Day 9 was kind of a bust because I thought more actual family members would come, but that wasn’t the case. It was mostly just neighboring kids and family members that wanted chipa, but that always happens.
So what does all of this mean for their family? Lots of things. For two years they can’t dance or basically show any fun publicly. Their sister passed away in October 2006 so they were planning to return to some fun activities, but mom is gone so the rules are back. They also can’t wear anything but dark colors for 2 years. I doubt the brothers will stick to that but the sisters will. They can’t even wear green!! (They took black or blue permanent markers to all shirts or jackets that had red or pink or green on them.)
As a logical person, I had a lot of questions that they couldn’t give me answers to. Why do the do the rezo for 9 days? Is it believe that she’s in purgatory for 9 days so they have to pray to make sure St. Peter (or San Pedro) opens his gates? No, its just the tradition. Why can’t they wear certain colors? Because it’s the tradition. Why do we make so much chipa? Because it’s the tradition. I think a lot of their said cultural traditions are losing meaning with the younger generations because they are starting to expect an explanation too.
So yeah, its been a weird couple of days. I stayed there for 8 nights and it was almost too much. I was ready to get home. I haven’t lived with more than 4 people all of my life, and even then its been 7 years since Jarrod left for college! I come from a culture of personal space and privacy and Juan has 4 very nosey sisters. On top of that, he has about 10 very nosey aunts and they all wanted to know if Juan’s going to America with me. Really? I’m 23. I’m not ready for marriage nor babysitting a 26-year-old Paraguayan in The United States of America, a country he only knows through movies. My head was about to explode!
So that was my 11 day lesson on death in Paraguay. Hopefully it’s a one time experience.
As for what else is new, I hate my women's committee. That's exciting, right? All they want to do is talk poorly about others and myself and the organization. Its gotten to the point that the good ones are dropping out because the bad ones won't shut up. I've had to play mother hen to these women for the past couple of months asking them to lay of the rumors. There have been a lot of frustrated phone calls to my coordinator and if things don't get better in the next month or two, I'm going to call it quits with them because its affecting my work in other areas. We'll see.
However, my embroidery committee is going great! I'm working on getting national funding for our teacher which will results in certificates (which are very valued in PY) for their completed work. I myself have made about 3.5 shirts (I say .5 because Juan's is green and I stopped working on it because his sisters told him he can't wear green for 2 years. He'll wear it before I leave or ELSE!) I've been snapping photos of the finished product and hope to upload those pics pretty soon.
Please let me know what is going on in America! Is all of this crap about Palin really true? She seems SO unqualified. I hope the ladies of our country realize that yes, she may have out genetic make-up but that doesn't make her Hilary or make her even ready to run a McDonald's let alone one of the most important nations in the world! Obama '08! (p.s. Jarrod says that even if Mom votes for McCain he's never talking to her again. Oh Jarrod!)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Tsk Tsk Beva!
Shame on me for not updating my blog for a month, but its not easy! Yes, I have my computer now and a computer center with 4 machines to use but it’s the getting to the internet part that has been a little rough. My apologies 1000 times over!!
I’ve had a few interesting experiences these past few weeks. First, lets talk about the fun stuff. VACATION! Dad, Carolyn, Nanny and I met up in Costa Rica in mid-June. It was a really great get away. Costa Rica is gorgeous and even though we were there during the rainy season (which lasts about 8 months out of the year) we still got to do and see a lot. Its all “eco-tourism” so most activities are outside or on the water. The best tour was a zipline in the rainforest. We were going from tree to tree suspended in the air like pros! The only real dud of a tour was our monkey tour which was apparently famous because we see so many monkeys and they do such kooky things but it will remain famous in our minds for coming up short. It was after a morning rain and we couldn’t get a single monkey to come to our boat. I guess we’ll just have to try again some other time!
Before I left I organized a class for the women in my community to study traditional Paraguayan embroidery. I love it! Myself, and other volunteer, and 12 moms and young ladies from my community worked at it for a week. There are some people that just can’t do it. It’s a lot about mathematics, symmetry, and creativity. Right up my ally! The teacher loved me so she also left me a sample fabric to practice while on vacation. I would probably say I’ve done about 50 or so different styles and we’re having more classes at the end of this month. If you want a shirt, let me know! Send me an email (betsy.curry@yahoo.com) and we can start personalizing size, color and design. Once I get some completed pieces, I’ll take pictures and post them on-line so you can all see the awesome-ness of it!
I came back to find the mother of my boyfriend in the hospital. She’s been in and out over the past couple of years and even in my time here I’ve seen her go through some rough times. She has diabetes which has lead her to blindness, a kidney that doesn’t work and another that is barely holding on, and gull stones. I went with Juan to the hospital to stay for a couple of days and take care of her. What a difference as compared to the hospitals I’ve seen in the states. This place is dirty, there are 3 people to a very small room and no dividers or privacy. A bathroom is attached to all rooms but it’s the responsibility of the families to clean the bathroom (which was nasty) and rooms. The families buy every little medicine and syringe the nurses need to give her, and the pharmacies aren’t even on-site. They’re about a 15 minute walk from the hospital. But what I think disgusted me the most was watching the nurses administer the drugs. If there was a syringe full of whatever and it had a little bit left, THEY JUST SQUIRTED IT ON THE FLOOR! The floors were covered and weird colors and spots and I could hardly watch them. As of now his mom has been in the hospital for over a month. I donated blood so she could continue her dialysis, which she just started recently. There is a major shortage of blood donors and basically people only give when someone in their family is sick. Even then, if 2 people donate 1 goes to the person requested and 1 goes into the blood bank. It all reminded me of my days in the auxiliary gym at Parkersburg High doing Red Cross blood drives!
Last Thursday was another strange experience. We had a freak hailstorm that may have ruined a lot of income for my farming community. The weird thing was that it hit only on certain streets and areas. It completely bore holes through a lot of fiberglass roofing (which almost every family has) and destroyed a lot of banana and pineapple. Normally exporting banana would go through October but this is the last week because very few have the quality needed to export. My host dad’s field wasn’t hit too badly so I think he should still be able to sell in-country, but a lot of farmers are devastated. And if there is banana to sell, there is no money, and that means I’m worried a lot of my computer class students will have to drop out. A mother asked me about credit but these people are so deep in debt for other things, I can’t allow myself to give them more. On top of that, I don’t want to leave my coop worse-off financially than when I came. We’ll see how all of this plays out. Pineapple season isn’t until November or December, so only time will tell how those damaged fields hold up.
Now onto what’s coming up… I will start an 8 week nutrition program in September at my school. My school is basically a mess so the plan is to do that but we’ll see what barriers present themselves. I’m also doing anti-parasite presentations starting next week. Maybe only 1-2 hours of teaching, but its so common here that its necessary. The women’s committee is on its way to having 35 chicken coops! I’m responsible for writing the project request (with their help of course!) and its almost done. All in all it’s a very expensive project that honestly isn’t sustainable but its what all the ladies want so I’m going for it with them. I have constant problems with the ladies because they just love rumors and actually spent an entire meeting talking me and rumors that are made up. I put an end to that quickly but there are about 10 that I really like and wish we could just drop the other 25 and move on. Being a part of this committee reminded my why I never lasted in sorority life!! I’m still not doing much outside of computer classes for the coop. My contact also just left to take a new job so I worry that I’ll be doing even less than before. Its been over a year in my site though (can you believe it!?!?!) so at least I’m not as green as I was and I know the people I need to know to get things accomplished.
Reflecting at my one year in-site mark and I’m pretty pleased. Most days aren’t simple and easy, but that keeps me on my toes. I’m learning more and more about myself daily, which is an important bonus to life thousands of miles away from friends and family. I miss you all and I’m looking forward to visits from many of you. Please keep in touch with all you’re doing as well!!
Oh! And I need to give two shout outs! Congrats to Nicole Modeen for her wedding to Adam Hark and another congrats to Angela Brunicardi that just go engaged to her boyfriend and best friend Brandon Doss! Hopefully I’ll be able to make it to that throw down… I’m already imagining the menu!
I’ve also updated my pictures. I’ll try to update a vacation one sometime soon. Check it out! Just click the pic or the link below where is says paraguaysmellslikecurry
by paraguaysmellslikecurry
I’ve had a few interesting experiences these past few weeks. First, lets talk about the fun stuff. VACATION! Dad, Carolyn, Nanny and I met up in Costa Rica in mid-June. It was a really great get away. Costa Rica is gorgeous and even though we were there during the rainy season (which lasts about 8 months out of the year) we still got to do and see a lot. Its all “eco-tourism” so most activities are outside or on the water. The best tour was a zipline in the rainforest. We were going from tree to tree suspended in the air like pros! The only real dud of a tour was our monkey tour which was apparently famous because we see so many monkeys and they do such kooky things but it will remain famous in our minds for coming up short. It was after a morning rain and we couldn’t get a single monkey to come to our boat. I guess we’ll just have to try again some other time!
Before I left I organized a class for the women in my community to study traditional Paraguayan embroidery. I love it! Myself, and other volunteer, and 12 moms and young ladies from my community worked at it for a week. There are some people that just can’t do it. It’s a lot about mathematics, symmetry, and creativity. Right up my ally! The teacher loved me so she also left me a sample fabric to practice while on vacation. I would probably say I’ve done about 50 or so different styles and we’re having more classes at the end of this month. If you want a shirt, let me know! Send me an email (betsy.curry@yahoo.com) and we can start personalizing size, color and design. Once I get some completed pieces, I’ll take pictures and post them on-line so you can all see the awesome-ness of it!
I came back to find the mother of my boyfriend in the hospital. She’s been in and out over the past couple of years and even in my time here I’ve seen her go through some rough times. She has diabetes which has lead her to blindness, a kidney that doesn’t work and another that is barely holding on, and gull stones. I went with Juan to the hospital to stay for a couple of days and take care of her. What a difference as compared to the hospitals I’ve seen in the states. This place is dirty, there are 3 people to a very small room and no dividers or privacy. A bathroom is attached to all rooms but it’s the responsibility of the families to clean the bathroom (which was nasty) and rooms. The families buy every little medicine and syringe the nurses need to give her, and the pharmacies aren’t even on-site. They’re about a 15 minute walk from the hospital. But what I think disgusted me the most was watching the nurses administer the drugs. If there was a syringe full of whatever and it had a little bit left, THEY JUST SQUIRTED IT ON THE FLOOR! The floors were covered and weird colors and spots and I could hardly watch them. As of now his mom has been in the hospital for over a month. I donated blood so she could continue her dialysis, which she just started recently. There is a major shortage of blood donors and basically people only give when someone in their family is sick. Even then, if 2 people donate 1 goes to the person requested and 1 goes into the blood bank. It all reminded me of my days in the auxiliary gym at Parkersburg High doing Red Cross blood drives!
Last Thursday was another strange experience. We had a freak hailstorm that may have ruined a lot of income for my farming community. The weird thing was that it hit only on certain streets and areas. It completely bore holes through a lot of fiberglass roofing (which almost every family has) and destroyed a lot of banana and pineapple. Normally exporting banana would go through October but this is the last week because very few have the quality needed to export. My host dad’s field wasn’t hit too badly so I think he should still be able to sell in-country, but a lot of farmers are devastated. And if there is banana to sell, there is no money, and that means I’m worried a lot of my computer class students will have to drop out. A mother asked me about credit but these people are so deep in debt for other things, I can’t allow myself to give them more. On top of that, I don’t want to leave my coop worse-off financially than when I came. We’ll see how all of this plays out. Pineapple season isn’t until November or December, so only time will tell how those damaged fields hold up.
Now onto what’s coming up… I will start an 8 week nutrition program in September at my school. My school is basically a mess so the plan is to do that but we’ll see what barriers present themselves. I’m also doing anti-parasite presentations starting next week. Maybe only 1-2 hours of teaching, but its so common here that its necessary. The women’s committee is on its way to having 35 chicken coops! I’m responsible for writing the project request (with their help of course!) and its almost done. All in all it’s a very expensive project that honestly isn’t sustainable but its what all the ladies want so I’m going for it with them. I have constant problems with the ladies because they just love rumors and actually spent an entire meeting talking me and rumors that are made up. I put an end to that quickly but there are about 10 that I really like and wish we could just drop the other 25 and move on. Being a part of this committee reminded my why I never lasted in sorority life!! I’m still not doing much outside of computer classes for the coop. My contact also just left to take a new job so I worry that I’ll be doing even less than before. Its been over a year in my site though (can you believe it!?!?!) so at least I’m not as green as I was and I know the people I need to know to get things accomplished.
Reflecting at my one year in-site mark and I’m pretty pleased. Most days aren’t simple and easy, but that keeps me on my toes. I’m learning more and more about myself daily, which is an important bonus to life thousands of miles away from friends and family. I miss you all and I’m looking forward to visits from many of you. Please keep in touch with all you’re doing as well!!
Oh! And I need to give two shout outs! Congrats to Nicole Modeen for her wedding to Adam Hark and another congrats to Angela Brunicardi that just go engaged to her boyfriend and best friend Brandon Doss! Hopefully I’ll be able to make it to that throw down… I’m already imagining the menu!
I’ve also updated my pictures. I’ll try to update a vacation one sometime soon. Check it out! Just click the pic or the link below where is says paraguaysmellslikecurry
by paraguaysmellslikecurry
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
SUPER lengthy blog
I’ve had a lot of problems getting to internet, so this blog is a little dicey. Directly below are my most recent comments, and further down is a blog I wrote on June 1.
So, most of my blogs are pretty upbeat and positive… which accurately describes my basic outlook on life. Even when I’ve had a bad day, I usually get over it quickly because few things last forever. There is no point in always being the Debbie Downer of every situation, although it is fun to throw in a few snarky comments every once in awhile! But basically, I want to let it be known that life down here isn’t always rainbows and unicorns.
One of the things Peace Corps stresses a lot during training is the emotional rollercoaster often experienced during service. I had my doubt during training, but now with over 10 months in my assigned community I can definitely attest to this claim. It’s not a day of happiness then a day of sadness, it’s much more sporadic. We’re talking for 10 minutes all you want to do is yell out your frustrations and then your only care in the world is how delicious that pineapple in your fridge will be. One of the most difficult things as well is that Paraguayans don’t understand and don’t use the word frustrated. They’ll say angry or nervous, but frustrado never comes out. Therefore, it’s hard to describe to someone else the feeling of not being understood, not understanding, not caring, caring too much, and everything else all thrown into a big pot of the word frustrated.
Volunteers talk a lot about why Peace Corps has been in Paraguay for a strong 40 years. Are we not doing our job correctly? Should we be doing more? Should we do less? And really, there are so many things out of our hands. I, as most of you know, am very direct. If I have something to say, I will say it and to your face. There is no point in holding things in for a days or even years when it can be talked about and dealt with within minutes. Paraguayans however loathe direct communication. When my host dad wants Juan to do something, he tells his wife to tell Juan. When there is a meeting regarding the coop, does the president or treasurer pass on the word? Nope, they usually let it slip by and then ask why I wasn’t there when I had no idea at all. When someone has an idea in my women’s committee, do they tell me or the president? Nope, they wait until they tell 10 of their friends who then relay it to us. You get the point. Clear and continuous communication is so vital and necessary for growth, and we really take for granted what we’ve been taught.
So here’s what is actually going on now…
WOMEN’S COMMITTEE:
Slowly but surely we’re getting all of our local and national recognition papers together. Who knew so much red tape could exist! I’ve brought in a lot of people to speak to them and motivate. Most have never been involved in a committee of any kind, so there is a lot to learn. I have a lot of problems with the ladies because they love a good cat fight. They’d never admit that but nothing makes them happier than talking about the other ladies, then some get mad and want to quit and it’s all games. I didn’t like junior high, but apparently I’m back in it for a few more years. The good thing is that we’re slowly making some progress. I think we’re going to move to doing 2 or 3 projects and not just chicken coops. They coops aren’t realistic in the long run, but in typical Paraguayan fashion whomever speaks the loudest decides the actions of the group. Basically every Friday at 4pm (about when our meetings end) I’d like a pedicure and a margarita and a pizza from Uno’s just to distress.
COOP:
Computer classes are going well. It just gets a little sticky when it rains because we can’t have class and I don’t want them to get behind. In total I have 14 students which will only increase with time.
KYLE:
We had SO much fun! He’s writing an entry for my blog about his adventure here, so I’ll be sure to post that as soon as I can! I miss him already but he was a huge hit. Lying is always fun too and I really do think we could pass for distance cousins like I claimed!
SCHOOL:
The principal here is absolutely worthless. She sells off materials given to the students just to make a profit for her pocket. The parent org that she supervises hasn’t paid the electric bill in MONTHS so the kids can’t turn on the lights in the school. And she loves to piss off the parents any way possible. She did the same to me this week as well but it is just what I’ve come to expect. My PC neighbor and I did manage to forget about her and do a day-long dental health presentation last Thursday. I’m here to teach and I’m not going to be deterred by some worthless principal. The kids loved dental health and we got some great pictures. In addition to the free toothbrushes, we also gave out handmade school bags filled with supplies for the kids. Being in the school for an entire day made me have new respect for all teachers. I mean, what great birth control! My PC neighbor, Gariety, and I had to come home and toss back a few beers just to calm down again! Thank you again to First Lutherean Church in Parkersburg, WV and my mom and Irene for being big helpers too!
Next week I kick off a school garden project in conjunction with Plan International. Plan Int’l is an org dedicated to helping poor children all over the world with most donations coming from the US, Europe and Australia. It’s a big project so it will be fun and definitely a little trying I’m sure. While the veggies are growing I’ll have plenty of time to do presentations on nutrition and then cooking classes too.
THIS JUST IN:
It’s just tentative but the US Ambassador to Paraguay has requested to visit one volunteer and I was chosen! Its hard to get him, but in addition to the Ambassador they are also trying to get the future President of PY and the future governor of my “state,” both of which start in August. I REALLY hope it works out because face time with the two most important people in this country could do so much for my projects! As always, if there is rain there is no meeting at all but everyone say a little (religious or non-religious) prayer for me for Wednesday, June 25 in the morning!
As you may have noticed, I couldn’t even make a complete blog entry playing the Melancholy Meghan role (sorry Meg… you know I love my alliteration!) Damn me and my love of good news and exclamation points!!
Here is the blog I wrote a few weeks ago too…
JUNE 1 BLOG ENTRY (much more positive!)
Hello world! I just want everyone to know that I am currently typing from a brand new computer in my coop!! It´s so exciting to finally have my 3 new babies up and running. Yesterday, I also had my first informational meeting. The weather was bad, but I had 7 new students turn out and we got ourselves organized. I start class this week! More are interested, so I hope to get them signed up this week as well. And the best news ever? With just the 7 that showed up we´ll make enough monthly revenue to pay for the Internet!! That is a process that could take another 3 months to actually get out here, but I´m hopeful that it will happen eventually!
I was catching up on Zachery Scott´s blog last week and his office will also be receiving Internet. He is a dear friend and current Peace Corps volunteer in Mozambique. Zachery mentioned his doubts about introducing such an advanced technology, but I never once considered the fact that having easy access to Internet would “take away from” my Peace Corps experience. The Internet is such a valuable tool and I can finally introduce my coop members to new technologies regarding pineapples and bananas, other organizations that may be able to aid us financially, and most importantly, information on new markets that may give way to higher prices for our products. Increasing the quality of the product and the price is the name of the game, and the Internet will contribute immensely!
Regarding packages, I was asked to expand on potenial food shipments. Here is a list of things that would make me happy and that I miss a lot!!
Syrup, Bisquick mix, marinades for veggies or meats, sauce packets for rice or pasta, hot chocolate (it´s winter here!!), Cinnamon Life cereal, honey mustard sauce, salsa, all international-esque foods, 100 calorie packs of anything sweet, INSTANT JELL-O PUDDING BOXES, alcoholic drink mixes (for the occasional visit from a PC volunteer) and spices. Also if someone could finance a Starbuck´s café on my street, I would be very happy!
Also, Kyle is bringing my computer so that means I can watch DVDs on these cold evenings that start getting dark at 5pm! Two of my PC neighbors and I have a collection started that is shared between the 3 of us. We are always looking for additions!! Any category will get watched... old, new, comedy, tragedy, action, love story... you get the point.
In other news, Kyle Bohman visits this week!! It´s been a little difficult preparing for a male to visit me though. I´ve had to fib just a tiny, weeny bit and say he´s my cousin. I´ll still catch some flack because Paraguayans love rumors and a few will choose not to believe my lie but whatever. I also feel really bad for Juan because he´ll catch a lot more crap than me. The employees that work next door will undoubtedly tease him about his girl having another male staying with her. Juan and I have had enough conversations to make my head explode regarding Kyle being JUST a friend and nothing more, but Paraguayans by nature are very untrusting and jealous. Two things that give me a massive headache! All in all, it should be an interesting couple of days, but ultimately I don´t care what Paraguayans say. Kyle really is like a family member to me and his friendship in my life will always mean a lot more than my temporary life here. As an added bonus for all of my blog “fans,” I will ask each visitor to write an entry in my blog from their perspective. Kyle´s up to bat first! Expect that in a week or two.
Speaking of life here, I´m starting to seriously consider staying a third year. I know I just hit my one year mark (May 31), but we all know I´m a planner! I really enjoy español and the best way to become completely fluent is to keep on speaking it! There is a 3rd year opportunity to work in the Peace Corps office and live in the capital city of Asunción. The job is considered a coordinator position and I think I´d do much better at that than what I´m doing now. It´s more leadership based because you are guiding and managing other volunteers in the field. It´s also working in a professional setting that´s a little more structured. On top of that the official language of the office is Spanish, so I´d get damn good. AND you always get to travel to visit other volunteers and all of the cars are standards so I would FINALLY learn how to drive a stick! The latter isn´t that importan, but it is something I need to learn! Again, this rambling is very pre-mature but I´m always making note of my options.
That´s my little update for now! I hope all of you are doing well, have good health, and are happy. I know I´ve got all three going on down here!
So, most of my blogs are pretty upbeat and positive… which accurately describes my basic outlook on life. Even when I’ve had a bad day, I usually get over it quickly because few things last forever. There is no point in always being the Debbie Downer of every situation, although it is fun to throw in a few snarky comments every once in awhile! But basically, I want to let it be known that life down here isn’t always rainbows and unicorns.
One of the things Peace Corps stresses a lot during training is the emotional rollercoaster often experienced during service. I had my doubt during training, but now with over 10 months in my assigned community I can definitely attest to this claim. It’s not a day of happiness then a day of sadness, it’s much more sporadic. We’re talking for 10 minutes all you want to do is yell out your frustrations and then your only care in the world is how delicious that pineapple in your fridge will be. One of the most difficult things as well is that Paraguayans don’t understand and don’t use the word frustrated. They’ll say angry or nervous, but frustrado never comes out. Therefore, it’s hard to describe to someone else the feeling of not being understood, not understanding, not caring, caring too much, and everything else all thrown into a big pot of the word frustrated.
Volunteers talk a lot about why Peace Corps has been in Paraguay for a strong 40 years. Are we not doing our job correctly? Should we be doing more? Should we do less? And really, there are so many things out of our hands. I, as most of you know, am very direct. If I have something to say, I will say it and to your face. There is no point in holding things in for a days or even years when it can be talked about and dealt with within minutes. Paraguayans however loathe direct communication. When my host dad wants Juan to do something, he tells his wife to tell Juan. When there is a meeting regarding the coop, does the president or treasurer pass on the word? Nope, they usually let it slip by and then ask why I wasn’t there when I had no idea at all. When someone has an idea in my women’s committee, do they tell me or the president? Nope, they wait until they tell 10 of their friends who then relay it to us. You get the point. Clear and continuous communication is so vital and necessary for growth, and we really take for granted what we’ve been taught.
So here’s what is actually going on now…
WOMEN’S COMMITTEE:
Slowly but surely we’re getting all of our local and national recognition papers together. Who knew so much red tape could exist! I’ve brought in a lot of people to speak to them and motivate. Most have never been involved in a committee of any kind, so there is a lot to learn. I have a lot of problems with the ladies because they love a good cat fight. They’d never admit that but nothing makes them happier than talking about the other ladies, then some get mad and want to quit and it’s all games. I didn’t like junior high, but apparently I’m back in it for a few more years. The good thing is that we’re slowly making some progress. I think we’re going to move to doing 2 or 3 projects and not just chicken coops. They coops aren’t realistic in the long run, but in typical Paraguayan fashion whomever speaks the loudest decides the actions of the group. Basically every Friday at 4pm (about when our meetings end) I’d like a pedicure and a margarita and a pizza from Uno’s just to distress.
COOP:
Computer classes are going well. It just gets a little sticky when it rains because we can’t have class and I don’t want them to get behind. In total I have 14 students which will only increase with time.
KYLE:
We had SO much fun! He’s writing an entry for my blog about his adventure here, so I’ll be sure to post that as soon as I can! I miss him already but he was a huge hit. Lying is always fun too and I really do think we could pass for distance cousins like I claimed!
SCHOOL:
The principal here is absolutely worthless. She sells off materials given to the students just to make a profit for her pocket. The parent org that she supervises hasn’t paid the electric bill in MONTHS so the kids can’t turn on the lights in the school. And she loves to piss off the parents any way possible. She did the same to me this week as well but it is just what I’ve come to expect. My PC neighbor and I did manage to forget about her and do a day-long dental health presentation last Thursday. I’m here to teach and I’m not going to be deterred by some worthless principal. The kids loved dental health and we got some great pictures. In addition to the free toothbrushes, we also gave out handmade school bags filled with supplies for the kids. Being in the school for an entire day made me have new respect for all teachers. I mean, what great birth control! My PC neighbor, Gariety, and I had to come home and toss back a few beers just to calm down again! Thank you again to First Lutherean Church in Parkersburg, WV and my mom and Irene for being big helpers too!
Next week I kick off a school garden project in conjunction with Plan International. Plan Int’l is an org dedicated to helping poor children all over the world with most donations coming from the US, Europe and Australia. It’s a big project so it will be fun and definitely a little trying I’m sure. While the veggies are growing I’ll have plenty of time to do presentations on nutrition and then cooking classes too.
THIS JUST IN:
It’s just tentative but the US Ambassador to Paraguay has requested to visit one volunteer and I was chosen! Its hard to get him, but in addition to the Ambassador they are also trying to get the future President of PY and the future governor of my “state,” both of which start in August. I REALLY hope it works out because face time with the two most important people in this country could do so much for my projects! As always, if there is rain there is no meeting at all but everyone say a little (religious or non-religious) prayer for me for Wednesday, June 25 in the morning!
As you may have noticed, I couldn’t even make a complete blog entry playing the Melancholy Meghan role (sorry Meg… you know I love my alliteration!) Damn me and my love of good news and exclamation points!!
Here is the blog I wrote a few weeks ago too…
JUNE 1 BLOG ENTRY (much more positive!)
Hello world! I just want everyone to know that I am currently typing from a brand new computer in my coop!! It´s so exciting to finally have my 3 new babies up and running. Yesterday, I also had my first informational meeting. The weather was bad, but I had 7 new students turn out and we got ourselves organized. I start class this week! More are interested, so I hope to get them signed up this week as well. And the best news ever? With just the 7 that showed up we´ll make enough monthly revenue to pay for the Internet!! That is a process that could take another 3 months to actually get out here, but I´m hopeful that it will happen eventually!
I was catching up on Zachery Scott´s blog last week and his office will also be receiving Internet. He is a dear friend and current Peace Corps volunteer in Mozambique. Zachery mentioned his doubts about introducing such an advanced technology, but I never once considered the fact that having easy access to Internet would “take away from” my Peace Corps experience. The Internet is such a valuable tool and I can finally introduce my coop members to new technologies regarding pineapples and bananas, other organizations that may be able to aid us financially, and most importantly, information on new markets that may give way to higher prices for our products. Increasing the quality of the product and the price is the name of the game, and the Internet will contribute immensely!
Regarding packages, I was asked to expand on potenial food shipments. Here is a list of things that would make me happy and that I miss a lot!!
Syrup, Bisquick mix, marinades for veggies or meats, sauce packets for rice or pasta, hot chocolate (it´s winter here!!), Cinnamon Life cereal, honey mustard sauce, salsa, all international-esque foods, 100 calorie packs of anything sweet, INSTANT JELL-O PUDDING BOXES, alcoholic drink mixes (for the occasional visit from a PC volunteer) and spices. Also if someone could finance a Starbuck´s café on my street, I would be very happy!
Also, Kyle is bringing my computer so that means I can watch DVDs on these cold evenings that start getting dark at 5pm! Two of my PC neighbors and I have a collection started that is shared between the 3 of us. We are always looking for additions!! Any category will get watched... old, new, comedy, tragedy, action, love story... you get the point.
In other news, Kyle Bohman visits this week!! It´s been a little difficult preparing for a male to visit me though. I´ve had to fib just a tiny, weeny bit and say he´s my cousin. I´ll still catch some flack because Paraguayans love rumors and a few will choose not to believe my lie but whatever. I also feel really bad for Juan because he´ll catch a lot more crap than me. The employees that work next door will undoubtedly tease him about his girl having another male staying with her. Juan and I have had enough conversations to make my head explode regarding Kyle being JUST a friend and nothing more, but Paraguayans by nature are very untrusting and jealous. Two things that give me a massive headache! All in all, it should be an interesting couple of days, but ultimately I don´t care what Paraguayans say. Kyle really is like a family member to me and his friendship in my life will always mean a lot more than my temporary life here. As an added bonus for all of my blog “fans,” I will ask each visitor to write an entry in my blog from their perspective. Kyle´s up to bat first! Expect that in a week or two.
Speaking of life here, I´m starting to seriously consider staying a third year. I know I just hit my one year mark (May 31), but we all know I´m a planner! I really enjoy español and the best way to become completely fluent is to keep on speaking it! There is a 3rd year opportunity to work in the Peace Corps office and live in the capital city of Asunción. The job is considered a coordinator position and I think I´d do much better at that than what I´m doing now. It´s more leadership based because you are guiding and managing other volunteers in the field. It´s also working in a professional setting that´s a little more structured. On top of that the official language of the office is Spanish, so I´d get damn good. AND you always get to travel to visit other volunteers and all of the cars are standards so I would FINALLY learn how to drive a stick! The latter isn´t that importan, but it is something I need to learn! Again, this rambling is very pre-mature but I´m always making note of my options.
That´s my little update for now! I hope all of you are doing well, have good health, and are happy. I know I´ve got all three going on down here!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Over a month since my last update?? Mí MAL!
So my father recently let me know that I´ve been out of the blog scene. Sorry!! Things have actually been busy here and internet time as been even less than normal. I do have good news though, and writing should be easier because...
I HAVE A COMPUTER CENTER!!!!!!!!!!!! I just installed our 3 brand new computers yesterday and although we don´t have internet (yet!), I will be able to type blogs and emails in advance now. I´m SUPER excited too! I´ve been waiting for this to happen since September `07 and typically Paraguayan projects are very slow. At least it´s real now though! The rest of my time will be spent teaching the future teachers for classes and begging and pleading for internet. It´s exciting though! The money for the center was donated by a non-prof called ACDI/VOCA, and they help coops all over South America. I´ve been asked to document the progress and in typical Betsy/Kyle style... I think I´ll not just take pictures, but make them a movie as a thank you! I love technology!
Lots going on in other areas too. My women´s committee is in the process of finalizing all of the local and national recognition forms. Just one more to go, and then we can get funding from anyone anywhere. I´ve been doing a lot of talk/research about chicken coops too because that is their number one project goal. Who would have thought that I´d be calculating how much corn needs to be planted to support 50 chickens in 37 houses?! But that´s my life now! Chickens, chickens, chickens!
Paraguay recently had an election and in the opposing party finally won. The future pres is a really nice guy and our new governor is the former mayor of my community. People in my community are buddies with the two new politicos, and it´s really exciting to see the changes around me. They don´t even go into office until August, but already we´re getting new roads and 2 ¨free¨ hospitals are in the works for the Asunción area. I hope this positive progress continues, and I believe it will!
Just got back from my first vacation in almost 1 year!! I met up with mom and her friend Yvonne just on the borders of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. We checked out the falls (it´s the longest in the world... 1.8 miles... and beautiful!!) from the Argentinian side and Brazilian side. Then it was off to Rio de Janeiro!! LOVED IT! I´d think about moving there but I don´t speak Portuguese! It´s white sands surrounded by lush, green mountains. It´s apparently pretty dangerous, although it never left like it. Only 5 quick days together and it was back to PY. Although I must admit, I did miss my simple little life here.
So what´s on the radar for the future? Our new training groups comes at the end of the month, so I´ll be in and out of Asunción a lot. I´ve been asked to come in at least twice to give a few presentations (#1 role of women on the farm, #2 starting/working with/motivating groups). I guess all of those years of PHS Student Gov, USC Student Gov/Carolina Productions/Dance Marathon skills are finally going to use outside of college! I´ll also be starting dental health classes within the next 2 weeks. Thank you again to my mom and members of First Lutheran Church for donating lots of toothbrushes!! Almost more importantly, I have another vacation too! Costa Rica with Dad, Carolyn, and Nanny is quickly approaching and July and I´m already looking forward to 7 days on the beach!
I´m still frequently asked about care package ideas, and the truth is I don´t NEED anything! But if you have a desire to send something, it will clearly be appreciated! Here are a few ideas...
-Nutella or peanut butter
-anything to cook with like spices, or mixes. I love sauce packets and any and all things with more international flavors!!
-tunes (I have a CD player and can play mp3s too), pop culture mags, DVDs
-any type of office/art/craft/scrapbooking supplies
Thanks again to all of you that email, read the blog (although my updates have been a little spread out), send packages, or are planning visits. I´m very happy here and enjoy my life a lot, but it´s always nice to know I´m being thought of at home.
Picutre update too!!
Almost 1 year here!
I HAVE A COMPUTER CENTER!!!!!!!!!!!! I just installed our 3 brand new computers yesterday and although we don´t have internet (yet!), I will be able to type blogs and emails in advance now. I´m SUPER excited too! I´ve been waiting for this to happen since September `07 and typically Paraguayan projects are very slow. At least it´s real now though! The rest of my time will be spent teaching the future teachers for classes and begging and pleading for internet. It´s exciting though! The money for the center was donated by a non-prof called ACDI/VOCA, and they help coops all over South America. I´ve been asked to document the progress and in typical Betsy/Kyle style... I think I´ll not just take pictures, but make them a movie as a thank you! I love technology!
Lots going on in other areas too. My women´s committee is in the process of finalizing all of the local and national recognition forms. Just one more to go, and then we can get funding from anyone anywhere. I´ve been doing a lot of talk/research about chicken coops too because that is their number one project goal. Who would have thought that I´d be calculating how much corn needs to be planted to support 50 chickens in 37 houses?! But that´s my life now! Chickens, chickens, chickens!
Paraguay recently had an election and in the opposing party finally won. The future pres is a really nice guy and our new governor is the former mayor of my community. People in my community are buddies with the two new politicos, and it´s really exciting to see the changes around me. They don´t even go into office until August, but already we´re getting new roads and 2 ¨free¨ hospitals are in the works for the Asunción area. I hope this positive progress continues, and I believe it will!
Just got back from my first vacation in almost 1 year!! I met up with mom and her friend Yvonne just on the borders of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. We checked out the falls (it´s the longest in the world... 1.8 miles... and beautiful!!) from the Argentinian side and Brazilian side. Then it was off to Rio de Janeiro!! LOVED IT! I´d think about moving there but I don´t speak Portuguese! It´s white sands surrounded by lush, green mountains. It´s apparently pretty dangerous, although it never left like it. Only 5 quick days together and it was back to PY. Although I must admit, I did miss my simple little life here.
So what´s on the radar for the future? Our new training groups comes at the end of the month, so I´ll be in and out of Asunción a lot. I´ve been asked to come in at least twice to give a few presentations (#1 role of women on the farm, #2 starting/working with/motivating groups). I guess all of those years of PHS Student Gov, USC Student Gov/Carolina Productions/Dance Marathon skills are finally going to use outside of college! I´ll also be starting dental health classes within the next 2 weeks. Thank you again to my mom and members of First Lutheran Church for donating lots of toothbrushes!! Almost more importantly, I have another vacation too! Costa Rica with Dad, Carolyn, and Nanny is quickly approaching and July and I´m already looking forward to 7 days on the beach!
I´m still frequently asked about care package ideas, and the truth is I don´t NEED anything! But if you have a desire to send something, it will clearly be appreciated! Here are a few ideas...
-Nutella or peanut butter
-anything to cook with like spices, or mixes. I love sauce packets and any and all things with more international flavors!!
-tunes (I have a CD player and can play mp3s too), pop culture mags, DVDs
-any type of office/art/craft/scrapbooking supplies
Thanks again to all of you that email, read the blog (although my updates have been a little spread out), send packages, or are planning visits. I´m very happy here and enjoy my life a lot, but it´s always nice to know I´m being thought of at home.
Picutre update too!!
Almost 1 year here!
Friday, April 4, 2008
finally an update on visual aids!
I FINALLY posted some more pictures, although nothing too reviting.
I had a great 23rd bday, and a big thank you to everyone that called, texted, or wrote on my Facebook wall! It was a big day because after 10 months of living here, my mom finally figured out how to use a calling card! Love you Chiquita Bonita!
As for working, there is a lot! Today I start giving gardening presentations with my women´s committee, tomorrow the radio program is all on me as we discuss cooperativas for 30 minutes, and I just got word today that the money came through and I WILL have my computer center in the coop! Only $6,000 was made available from the organization ACDI/VOCA, but they are great people and a potential job resource when I return to the states (their main office is located out of DC). Lots going on... FINALLY!
Enjoy the pictures and please keep the phone calls, texts, and emails coming! They keep me sane! Also, just click the link below that says Paraguay Cinco to see the full pictures and my commentary.
Paraguay Cinco
I had a great 23rd bday, and a big thank you to everyone that called, texted, or wrote on my Facebook wall! It was a big day because after 10 months of living here, my mom finally figured out how to use a calling card! Love you Chiquita Bonita!
As for working, there is a lot! Today I start giving gardening presentations with my women´s committee, tomorrow the radio program is all on me as we discuss cooperativas for 30 minutes, and I just got word today that the money came through and I WILL have my computer center in the coop! Only $6,000 was made available from the organization ACDI/VOCA, but they are great people and a potential job resource when I return to the states (their main office is located out of DC). Lots going on... FINALLY!
Enjoy the pictures and please keep the phone calls, texts, and emails coming! They keep me sane! Also, just click the link below that says Paraguay Cinco to see the full pictures and my commentary.
Paraguay Cinco
Monday, March 24, 2008
volei, anyone?
So its time for my monthly update! I used to be able to update more often, but time just isn´t on my side right now. That is a MAJOR change, but it´s good to actually have things to do!
Mostly though, I´ve been playing a lot of volei! (a.k.a. volleyball) We put in a court in front of my house and try to play daily, but last week we put in a new court at my host mom´s family´s house and it is SWEET! Juan and I spent HOURS working on it and I have pictures to prove our lovely work, but those will be posted a later day. Juan cut down all of these trees and then we made the court outlines and took out all the grass to expose the soft turf underneath. It´s SO much better than my court, but they live about 20km from my house, so I def see a lot more of my own field. No matter where I´m play, it´s great exercise!
The women´s committee is coming along nicely. I´m meeting with the director of the Ministry of Agriculture today. We met two weeks ago too and he´s a really nice guy that has known a lot of volunteers of the years. There are a lot of funds out there to help with committees like mine because my community is so poor. This is great news and horrible news. My ladies think I´m just going to find a project completely free of work on their part. Not likely! The main reason they´re coming to meetings (p.s. I´m up to 37 ladies!) is because they want chicken coops. Why do they want chicken coops? Because another women´s committee down the street has them! This is pretty much how everyone operates here. They want to be exactly like their neighbors in every way possible! Well, this particular committee has been together for almost 7 years. Their president is an amazing woman who is very outgoing and busted ass for 6 years to get them where they are today. And my ladies think they´ll get the same type of project with zero effort. NOT HARDLY!
Another idea that will become a reality is ao´poi classes for women and jr. high/high school aged young ladies. Ao´poi is pretty awesome and a tradition only in PY. Its hand woven designs, that are woven into a fabric that is light and airy. MY idea though is to have them export to the US! I´m doing this apart from the women´s committee because the President is being difficult. She´s not interested in doing it herself, but I´d say a strong 50% (or more!) want to do it. On top of that, I got a professor to come for free and teach us (I said "us" because you can be sure I´m learning too!), so besides paying her gas to get here, it´s a great opportunity! If YOU are interested in having your very own ao´poi from MY community, or know of somewhere they could be sold, let me know! Here are some samples (just copy and paste)... And please remember that we will be making it ALL by hand, so we can make it to fit just you if you want to give your measurements!
more modern styles:
http://images.google.com.py/imgres?imgurl=http://www.catedral.com.py/img/productos/dama/BLUSA1227_pantalon_864_p.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.catedral.com.py/productos-damas.php&h=141&w=94&sz=7&hl=es&start=14&um=1&tbnid=Y8LMb9ZIhLX8UM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=63&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522ao%2Bpoi%2522%26um%3D1%26hl%3Des%26lr%3D%26sa%3DX
males:
http://images.google.com.py/imgres?imgurl=http://www.catedral.com.py/img/productos/dama/BLUSA1227_pantalon_864_p.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.catedral.com.py/productos-damas.php&h=141&w=94&sz=7&hl=es&start=14&um=1&tbnid=Y8LMb9ZIhLX8UM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=63&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522ao%2Bpoi%2522%26um%3D1%26hl%3Des%26lr%3D%26sa%3DX
Table clothes or other things like that can also be adapted. NOW EXCEPTING ORDERS!
What else? What else?
The coop is pretty much not a part of my life. Luckily, I have a two day Peace Corps sponsored meeting with my contact this week. I´m hoping that this will get my work finally started. I literally haven´t done a thing for my coop, and I´d really like it to be the bulk of my work! I have a lot of ideas, but no one to really talk it through with. That´s the job of my contact, but his bro is running for Gov right now so on top of all the regular work he has, he´s also campaigning a bit. The good news though is that if his bro wins, my coop and community could possibly transform into many great things. We´ll see what happens though. (Election Day here is April 20)
We did have an interesting meeting a few weeks ago though. We had people from all over South American come to our coop because some org claims ours is a model for all coops. NOT! But, that´s ok. The sponsoring organization is from the US, so there were Americans too. I found it a little difficult to talk about my work and life without using Spanish words, which gave me a little self entertainment. I got a few business cards and hope to keep up with this group. I didn´t really understand what they did before, but now that I realize their website is in English too, I´m golden!
Not much else to report. Its off to Asunción tomorrow for a few days then back by Friday (hopefully) for my women´s committee meeting. Please let me know what´s going on with all of you!!
Mostly though, I´ve been playing a lot of volei! (a.k.a. volleyball) We put in a court in front of my house and try to play daily, but last week we put in a new court at my host mom´s family´s house and it is SWEET! Juan and I spent HOURS working on it and I have pictures to prove our lovely work, but those will be posted a later day. Juan cut down all of these trees and then we made the court outlines and took out all the grass to expose the soft turf underneath. It´s SO much better than my court, but they live about 20km from my house, so I def see a lot more of my own field. No matter where I´m play, it´s great exercise!
The women´s committee is coming along nicely. I´m meeting with the director of the Ministry of Agriculture today. We met two weeks ago too and he´s a really nice guy that has known a lot of volunteers of the years. There are a lot of funds out there to help with committees like mine because my community is so poor. This is great news and horrible news. My ladies think I´m just going to find a project completely free of work on their part. Not likely! The main reason they´re coming to meetings (p.s. I´m up to 37 ladies!) is because they want chicken coops. Why do they want chicken coops? Because another women´s committee down the street has them! This is pretty much how everyone operates here. They want to be exactly like their neighbors in every way possible! Well, this particular committee has been together for almost 7 years. Their president is an amazing woman who is very outgoing and busted ass for 6 years to get them where they are today. And my ladies think they´ll get the same type of project with zero effort. NOT HARDLY!
Another idea that will become a reality is ao´poi classes for women and jr. high/high school aged young ladies. Ao´poi is pretty awesome and a tradition only in PY. Its hand woven designs, that are woven into a fabric that is light and airy. MY idea though is to have them export to the US! I´m doing this apart from the women´s committee because the President is being difficult. She´s not interested in doing it herself, but I´d say a strong 50% (or more!) want to do it. On top of that, I got a professor to come for free and teach us (I said "us" because you can be sure I´m learning too!), so besides paying her gas to get here, it´s a great opportunity! If YOU are interested in having your very own ao´poi from MY community, or know of somewhere they could be sold, let me know! Here are some samples (just copy and paste)... And please remember that we will be making it ALL by hand, so we can make it to fit just you if you want to give your measurements!
more modern styles:
http://images.google.com.py/imgres?imgurl=http://www.catedral.com.py/img/productos/dama/BLUSA1227_pantalon_864_p.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.catedral.com.py/productos-damas.php&h=141&w=94&sz=7&hl=es&start=14&um=1&tbnid=Y8LMb9ZIhLX8UM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=63&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522ao%2Bpoi%2522%26um%3D1%26hl%3Des%26lr%3D%26sa%3DX
males:
http://images.google.com.py/imgres?imgurl=http://www.catedral.com.py/img/productos/dama/BLUSA1227_pantalon_864_p.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.catedral.com.py/productos-damas.php&h=141&w=94&sz=7&hl=es&start=14&um=1&tbnid=Y8LMb9ZIhLX8UM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=63&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522ao%2Bpoi%2522%26um%3D1%26hl%3Des%26lr%3D%26sa%3DX
Table clothes or other things like that can also be adapted. NOW EXCEPTING ORDERS!
What else? What else?
The coop is pretty much not a part of my life. Luckily, I have a two day Peace Corps sponsored meeting with my contact this week. I´m hoping that this will get my work finally started. I literally haven´t done a thing for my coop, and I´d really like it to be the bulk of my work! I have a lot of ideas, but no one to really talk it through with. That´s the job of my contact, but his bro is running for Gov right now so on top of all the regular work he has, he´s also campaigning a bit. The good news though is that if his bro wins, my coop and community could possibly transform into many great things. We´ll see what happens though. (Election Day here is April 20)
We did have an interesting meeting a few weeks ago though. We had people from all over South American come to our coop because some org claims ours is a model for all coops. NOT! But, that´s ok. The sponsoring organization is from the US, so there were Americans too. I found it a little difficult to talk about my work and life without using Spanish words, which gave me a little self entertainment. I got a few business cards and hope to keep up with this group. I didn´t really understand what they did before, but now that I realize their website is in English too, I´m golden!
Not much else to report. Its off to Asunción tomorrow for a few days then back by Friday (hopefully) for my women´s committee meeting. Please let me know what´s going on with all of you!!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
update´i
Yes, another span of many weeks since my last blog yet again. Sorry world!
I´ve had lots of visitors lately and have more coming my way today. The Director of PC Paraguay, Michael, came by for an afternoon with our new Director of Security, Gustavo. They wanted to see what campo life was like from a security perspective, and quickly discovered no problems where I live! We sent them off with a big crate of delicious pineapples, so they were happy as clams.
The very next week, my new boss visited. His name is Fernando and he´s a really nice guy. Its been hard not having a boss for the past 3-4 months, but Fernando is hitting the ground running! He and our coordinator Chris (a volunteer that stays on for an extra year to work in Asunción with our my coop/municipality group) also enjoyed my community. We had a good meeting with my coop president, VP, tresurer, and my contact. I asked Fernando and Chris to remind my coop boys that I´m not here to work by myself, I´m here to work WITH them. Since then, they´ve been a little better about including me in on conversations regarding the coop, which I appreciate.
Speaking of my coop, we´re moving right along! We recently bought land in Guayaibi, which is about 11km (7ish miles) from our current "office," and have hopes to develop a credit and savings extention of the coop within the next 2-3 years. There are no banks in Guayaibi, so this could be a huge opportunity for us! The only problem? We don´t know a thing about credits! Our members get money for their pineapple and banana only, and its from a 3rd party. In fact, we can´t even get some of our members to pay that 3rd party back! I´m hoping they´ll let me help them plan this out a little and we can start a system of credits and savings where I live first as a test model. We´ll see what happens though!
The coop has had a lot of problems with keeping accountants. One was killed in a tragic car accident, so we retrieved everything from his home in Santani (about 40km from where we live) and hired a new lady that lives about 3 hours away. As you may infer, the education system is so poor that its very hard to find qualified people locally. This woman was kind of sketchy by my standards. Late 20s but dressed like a 14 year old. She worked for one week and the coop paid her 2.000.000 Gs which is more than a lot of people make in 2 MONTHS of work! She hit on socios and my family members. Then to top it off, one random Sunday she was at the treasurer´s house (my host dad´s) at 7am to ask for a loan from the coop. A loan for what? Not too sure, but because my guys didn´t want to say no, they gave her some cash. Now, no one can get in touch with her. She has information we need to pass onto another accountant if she´s not working with us longer, but she´s MIA. But honestly, that´s Paraguay for you! They´re probably the #1 country in being sneaky business associates! Today we´re hoping to find yet another replacement. What a mess!
English class has been going well, although I canceled call last Thursday due to Valentine´s Day and yesterday as well because I´ve got a headcold and can barely think. But my girls are enjoying themselves. They know all about family, colors, numbers, and body parts. I´m hoping to hold a more formal class starting next month. The first day of school for kids here is Monday, but again... the education system is so tarrible that they won´t start learning quite yet. The teachers will make them clean the school, although my family, a few neighbors, and I cleaned the yard at least. Normally, they just let it get overgrown for 3 months and make the kids do all the work. Its horrible!
Speaking of education, and maybe I´m so interested in it because mom, dad and Carolyn all started out as teachers, but I digress... I was recently helping a friend of mine that´s studying to be a teacher. She was working from a social science book published in 1980. The world has changed so much since then! She was also given an assignment to present to the class the boarders of Central American countries. BUT she´d NEVER seen a map before and there was hardly anything in her textbook. I gave her my world map and taughter her how to use it. But seriously, the teachers aren´t trained well so of course the children aren´t either. DISASTER!
I finally got my women´s group of the ground as well. Meeting #1 was a hit when you consider how many ladies showed up (25!!!!) but a miss when it came to communication. I´ve kind of been a bad volunteer and put the guarani studies on the back burner, and it showed! Afterwards, my host dad told me the following week wouldn´t be as successful because women don´t know how to go to meetings. I was all confident thinking he was just being an ignorant male and that women can do it just as well as men, but he was right! Last Saturday, meeting #2, I had a whopping 5 women. Afterwards, my host dad couldn´t wait to give me the I-told-you-so talk. He clarified that women have no patience here, but I also can´t do a women´s committee if no one wants to participate to get the ball rolling. I´ll give it another shot this Saturday of course, so wish me luck!
Tonight I´ll be hosting 10-15 volunteers from our area. We´ll be cramped in my house, but it´s a good opportunity to network and share ideas. I hope that I can travel a little and do some business "consulting" in other communities as well. I´m fixing 5 pizzas for lunch and burgers (and soy burgers) for dinner. I´m looking forward to hosting, but will it really be fun if I can´t make that famous spinach dip??? Then I´m hoping to hit the volleyball court down the street for some friendly competition. Should def. be fun!
Our radio station will also start in two days. They could only give us a 30 minute slot on Friday mornings, but I´m hoping once we build some street cred and everyone wants to listen to the Nortes, then we can get more airtime. But we´ll see!
I guess I went on a date Sunday? Its really popular for young people to go to what I would call a "swimmin´ hole." (That phrase just reminded everyone I´m from West Virginia I think!) Anyway, Juan and I went and brought along his fun 18 year old sister and a girlfriend of his brother. We drank beer, played some serious 2-on-2 volleyball (and yes, Juan and I DOMINATED. They thought I had never played before, but clearly they don´t know about my days as a Hamilton Jr. High Wildcat!) We then, fully clothed of course, went swimming. I didn´t see one girl in a bathing suit! Most Paraguayans don´t really know how to swim since its a landlocked country and pools aren´t popular, but it was HILARIOUS to watch them try. Watching Juan was like watching Zach Braff in Garden State. Good clean entertainment! We´re already making plans for this weekend and have vowed to play more volley. Rumor has it that my grandma has an extra net in her house somewhere, and if we can find it, we´re going to install it right in my front yard. Where´s Carl Harnish when you need him?
That´s pretty much all to report for now! In March I have a meeting with my contact in Asunción, so that should be helpful for work purposes. I´m also hoping to have a bit of a birthday bash mixing my American buds with Paraguayan amigos in April. Maybe even Kyle Bohman will make it for the festivities! Then its Brazil in May with Mom and Costa Rica in July with Dad. Time is FLYING! The end of Feb is actually 9 months. CRAZINESS!
Here are the currents...
BOOK: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (although I also read Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and Extremely Loud and Incredibily Close by Jonathan Safran Foer recently too)
MUSIC: the iPod has been on shuffle for a long time...
GUARANI: adding ´i to anything means that it´s small. For example, roga´i is a little house (roga=house), mita´i (little kid), tomate´i (little tomato), etc.
Thanks for always thinking of me folks, because I think of you guys all the time!!
I´ve had lots of visitors lately and have more coming my way today. The Director of PC Paraguay, Michael, came by for an afternoon with our new Director of Security, Gustavo. They wanted to see what campo life was like from a security perspective, and quickly discovered no problems where I live! We sent them off with a big crate of delicious pineapples, so they were happy as clams.
The very next week, my new boss visited. His name is Fernando and he´s a really nice guy. Its been hard not having a boss for the past 3-4 months, but Fernando is hitting the ground running! He and our coordinator Chris (a volunteer that stays on for an extra year to work in Asunción with our my coop/municipality group) also enjoyed my community. We had a good meeting with my coop president, VP, tresurer, and my contact. I asked Fernando and Chris to remind my coop boys that I´m not here to work by myself, I´m here to work WITH them. Since then, they´ve been a little better about including me in on conversations regarding the coop, which I appreciate.
Speaking of my coop, we´re moving right along! We recently bought land in Guayaibi, which is about 11km (7ish miles) from our current "office," and have hopes to develop a credit and savings extention of the coop within the next 2-3 years. There are no banks in Guayaibi, so this could be a huge opportunity for us! The only problem? We don´t know a thing about credits! Our members get money for their pineapple and banana only, and its from a 3rd party. In fact, we can´t even get some of our members to pay that 3rd party back! I´m hoping they´ll let me help them plan this out a little and we can start a system of credits and savings where I live first as a test model. We´ll see what happens though!
The coop has had a lot of problems with keeping accountants. One was killed in a tragic car accident, so we retrieved everything from his home in Santani (about 40km from where we live) and hired a new lady that lives about 3 hours away. As you may infer, the education system is so poor that its very hard to find qualified people locally. This woman was kind of sketchy by my standards. Late 20s but dressed like a 14 year old. She worked for one week and the coop paid her 2.000.000 Gs which is more than a lot of people make in 2 MONTHS of work! She hit on socios and my family members. Then to top it off, one random Sunday she was at the treasurer´s house (my host dad´s) at 7am to ask for a loan from the coop. A loan for what? Not too sure, but because my guys didn´t want to say no, they gave her some cash. Now, no one can get in touch with her. She has information we need to pass onto another accountant if she´s not working with us longer, but she´s MIA. But honestly, that´s Paraguay for you! They´re probably the #1 country in being sneaky business associates! Today we´re hoping to find yet another replacement. What a mess!
English class has been going well, although I canceled call last Thursday due to Valentine´s Day and yesterday as well because I´ve got a headcold and can barely think. But my girls are enjoying themselves. They know all about family, colors, numbers, and body parts. I´m hoping to hold a more formal class starting next month. The first day of school for kids here is Monday, but again... the education system is so tarrible that they won´t start learning quite yet. The teachers will make them clean the school, although my family, a few neighbors, and I cleaned the yard at least. Normally, they just let it get overgrown for 3 months and make the kids do all the work. Its horrible!
Speaking of education, and maybe I´m so interested in it because mom, dad and Carolyn all started out as teachers, but I digress... I was recently helping a friend of mine that´s studying to be a teacher. She was working from a social science book published in 1980. The world has changed so much since then! She was also given an assignment to present to the class the boarders of Central American countries. BUT she´d NEVER seen a map before and there was hardly anything in her textbook. I gave her my world map and taughter her how to use it. But seriously, the teachers aren´t trained well so of course the children aren´t either. DISASTER!
I finally got my women´s group of the ground as well. Meeting #1 was a hit when you consider how many ladies showed up (25!!!!) but a miss when it came to communication. I´ve kind of been a bad volunteer and put the guarani studies on the back burner, and it showed! Afterwards, my host dad told me the following week wouldn´t be as successful because women don´t know how to go to meetings. I was all confident thinking he was just being an ignorant male and that women can do it just as well as men, but he was right! Last Saturday, meeting #2, I had a whopping 5 women. Afterwards, my host dad couldn´t wait to give me the I-told-you-so talk. He clarified that women have no patience here, but I also can´t do a women´s committee if no one wants to participate to get the ball rolling. I´ll give it another shot this Saturday of course, so wish me luck!
Tonight I´ll be hosting 10-15 volunteers from our area. We´ll be cramped in my house, but it´s a good opportunity to network and share ideas. I hope that I can travel a little and do some business "consulting" in other communities as well. I´m fixing 5 pizzas for lunch and burgers (and soy burgers) for dinner. I´m looking forward to hosting, but will it really be fun if I can´t make that famous spinach dip??? Then I´m hoping to hit the volleyball court down the street for some friendly competition. Should def. be fun!
Our radio station will also start in two days. They could only give us a 30 minute slot on Friday mornings, but I´m hoping once we build some street cred and everyone wants to listen to the Nortes, then we can get more airtime. But we´ll see!
I guess I went on a date Sunday? Its really popular for young people to go to what I would call a "swimmin´ hole." (That phrase just reminded everyone I´m from West Virginia I think!) Anyway, Juan and I went and brought along his fun 18 year old sister and a girlfriend of his brother. We drank beer, played some serious 2-on-2 volleyball (and yes, Juan and I DOMINATED. They thought I had never played before, but clearly they don´t know about my days as a Hamilton Jr. High Wildcat!) We then, fully clothed of course, went swimming. I didn´t see one girl in a bathing suit! Most Paraguayans don´t really know how to swim since its a landlocked country and pools aren´t popular, but it was HILARIOUS to watch them try. Watching Juan was like watching Zach Braff in Garden State. Good clean entertainment! We´re already making plans for this weekend and have vowed to play more volley. Rumor has it that my grandma has an extra net in her house somewhere, and if we can find it, we´re going to install it right in my front yard. Where´s Carl Harnish when you need him?
That´s pretty much all to report for now! In March I have a meeting with my contact in Asunción, so that should be helpful for work purposes. I´m also hoping to have a bit of a birthday bash mixing my American buds with Paraguayan amigos in April. Maybe even Kyle Bohman will make it for the festivities! Then its Brazil in May with Mom and Costa Rica in July with Dad. Time is FLYING! The end of Feb is actually 9 months. CRAZINESS!
Here are the currents...
BOOK: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (although I also read Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and Extremely Loud and Incredibily Close by Jonathan Safran Foer recently too)
MUSIC: the iPod has been on shuffle for a long time...
GUARANI: adding ´i to anything means that it´s small. For example, roga´i is a little house (roga=house), mita´i (little kid), tomate´i (little tomato), etc.
Thanks for always thinking of me folks, because I think of you guys all the time!!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Rainy days and little activity
My dad called the other morning and mentioned that I hadn´t written in my blog for quite some time. “I guess you´re kind of bored and nothing exciting is happening?” he asked, and to be honest… he´s totally right! Its been completely tranquillo here due to the holidays, and I´m sorry I don´t have more enthralling adventures to report!
We did kill a pig for New Years which was pretty great. It was my second pig killing, but after you get over the shock of your first... the second is kind of fun! I´ve still refused to take an active roll in cutting anything, but I did get some fantastic pictures! I told them the next time, I´m all in so we´ll see if they remember.
Other than that it´s just been kind of rainy, and when it rains the world stops. I used to think that was horrible, but I LOVE IT! It gives me a great excuse to be a little lazy and just stay in bed and catch up on some reading if I feel like it.
I will have my first visitor next month!! I´m really excited that my great former (and perhaps future some day?) roommate is making his way down from his new home in Florida! I wish I could tell you that Kyle and I just can´t live without each other, and although that is somewhat true, he actually works for American Airlines and its a lot easier (and cheaper!) for him to fly down. He´s promised many visits while I´m here, so let´s make sure he keeps his word!
My other fantastic roommate from college, Emily, is also joining the Peace Corps family in February. She´s moving to Malawi, Africa to be in their Environmental Education program. I´m slightly jealous because Malawi is right next to Mozambique where our good friend Zachery Scott is a Peace Corps Non-governmental organization AIDS volunteer. I tell Emily that she´ll have a great time, but who knows what Africa is like? I love it down here, and we´ll all just have to stay posted to her adventure too.
As for work, my 3 other PC neighbors and I managed to get a free show out of the biggest radio station in my area. We´re planning to start next month. It will be a one hour show where we´ll talk about everything from global warming to what´s going on in our neighborhoods. We´ll play any kind of music we want (although I don´t think Paraguayans are ready for any of the Microwave Mixes, right Cathy?) and we just chose our theme song. Don´t judge, because its totally musically based, but it´s Destiny Child´s Bootylicious! Should be a lot of fun, and if you plan on visiting... also plan on being on the show with us!
I´m doing two, 8 day youth camps as well. The days I´ve planned all by myself involve appreciation for nature and trees. I figured that would be more appropriate since kids between 5 and 11 probably don´t want to talk about computerized accounting methods or marketing tactics!
I recently made a trip to Asunción and trekked home with 8 packages! A BIG thank you to Dad and Carolyn, Laurie Sheldon and her family, Stephie, Nicole, Uncle Dave and Aunt Mary Jane. I absolutely loved each pacakge and my family and neighborhood kids were equally excited! Thank you guys for always thinking of me, and as usual... keep them coming! They brighten my weeks! But I am sad to report to Kely that the puppy he sent has not yet made it. I hope it makes it, but it´s been in that box for over a month now!
I´ve been hanging out more with my host mom´s brother, Juan. He´s the one that has been interested since my first weekend here, so we´ll see where things go. He´s a really good guy, and it´s just so typically West Virginian that I may eventually be romantically involved with my “uncle,” right?
Well I´m on coop duty right now so I at least better look like I´m working on coop related activities. Blogs are first though! I love and miss you all. Please continue the emails, phone calls and packages!
PICTURES UPDATED TOO!
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2280806390102107902moXAVH?vhost=good-times
We did kill a pig for New Years which was pretty great. It was my second pig killing, but after you get over the shock of your first... the second is kind of fun! I´ve still refused to take an active roll in cutting anything, but I did get some fantastic pictures! I told them the next time, I´m all in so we´ll see if they remember.
Other than that it´s just been kind of rainy, and when it rains the world stops. I used to think that was horrible, but I LOVE IT! It gives me a great excuse to be a little lazy and just stay in bed and catch up on some reading if I feel like it.
I will have my first visitor next month!! I´m really excited that my great former (and perhaps future some day?) roommate is making his way down from his new home in Florida! I wish I could tell you that Kyle and I just can´t live without each other, and although that is somewhat true, he actually works for American Airlines and its a lot easier (and cheaper!) for him to fly down. He´s promised many visits while I´m here, so let´s make sure he keeps his word!
My other fantastic roommate from college, Emily, is also joining the Peace Corps family in February. She´s moving to Malawi, Africa to be in their Environmental Education program. I´m slightly jealous because Malawi is right next to Mozambique where our good friend Zachery Scott is a Peace Corps Non-governmental organization AIDS volunteer. I tell Emily that she´ll have a great time, but who knows what Africa is like? I love it down here, and we´ll all just have to stay posted to her adventure too.
As for work, my 3 other PC neighbors and I managed to get a free show out of the biggest radio station in my area. We´re planning to start next month. It will be a one hour show where we´ll talk about everything from global warming to what´s going on in our neighborhoods. We´ll play any kind of music we want (although I don´t think Paraguayans are ready for any of the Microwave Mixes, right Cathy?) and we just chose our theme song. Don´t judge, because its totally musically based, but it´s Destiny Child´s Bootylicious! Should be a lot of fun, and if you plan on visiting... also plan on being on the show with us!
I´m doing two, 8 day youth camps as well. The days I´ve planned all by myself involve appreciation for nature and trees. I figured that would be more appropriate since kids between 5 and 11 probably don´t want to talk about computerized accounting methods or marketing tactics!
I recently made a trip to Asunción and trekked home with 8 packages! A BIG thank you to Dad and Carolyn, Laurie Sheldon and her family, Stephie, Nicole, Uncle Dave and Aunt Mary Jane. I absolutely loved each pacakge and my family and neighborhood kids were equally excited! Thank you guys for always thinking of me, and as usual... keep them coming! They brighten my weeks! But I am sad to report to Kely that the puppy he sent has not yet made it. I hope it makes it, but it´s been in that box for over a month now!
I´ve been hanging out more with my host mom´s brother, Juan. He´s the one that has been interested since my first weekend here, so we´ll see where things go. He´s a really good guy, and it´s just so typically West Virginian that I may eventually be romantically involved with my “uncle,” right?
Well I´m on coop duty right now so I at least better look like I´m working on coop related activities. Blogs are first though! I love and miss you all. Please continue the emails, phone calls and packages!
PICTURES UPDATED TOO!
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2280806390102107902moXAVH?vhost=good-times
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