The Adventures of Betsy

goodbye group, hello 13 more months

2009-08-19T11:30:00.006-04:00

As per my Dad’s request, I’m finally updating my blog! I can’t believe I haven’t written since May, but things have been rather busy in these parts of South America.

As of last Friday (Aug 14) I am now the proud mother of 18 new volunteers! My trainees are no officially at site and doing their jobs. We had a nice swearing-in ceremony at the Ambassador’s house just down the street. Here is a picture of them all with myself, my boss Elisa, our Assistant Carola, the Ambassador and our PC Paraguay boss Don right after we ate the most delicious cake in the country!

This day was also a sad day, however. The 13 other people that were my friends and family said goodbye. A few are sticking around, but my two closest friends (Gina and Brennan) left for bigger things somewhere else. I already miss them both a lot, but such is life! Here are 2 pictures. Brennan and I doing what we do best: EAT, and Gina and I with our old boss Fernando and our friend Shawn.

But I still have a group of volunteers under my wing that have another year to go. Just last week they were in the office for a meeting and I continued to win them over with my baked goods. I truly believe that is the key to anyone’s heart! And now that I live in the city and can get better (not great) ingredients for cooking/baking, I’m turning into a regular Julia Childs! I’ve been cooking up all kinds of tasty dishes. I’m going to really test my skills though this Dec when I attempt to make a full Christmas feast. Wish me luck! Last night I made steamed carrots with a complimentary blue cheese sauce and we renamed the apartment. We were referring to it as Hotel Betsy (especially since the waffle maker started to be used!) but now we’ve decided it’s classier than that. Now we’re the Sheraton II.

Speaking of fine hotels, this was maybe the most exciting month of my life! My gym frequently has raffles and this month, I WON! The prize? A weekend for 2 in the nicest hotel in the country! I’m going to make my reservation for right after Christmas when it’s hot as hell and I’ll really want air-conditioning and a fancy pool. Pretty cool right? (It’s the Sheraton, hence why my apartment is now Sheraton II)

Speaking of fine hotels, this was maybe the most exciting month of my life! My gym frequently has raffles and this month, I WON! The prize? A weekend for 2 in the nicest hotel in the country! I’m going to make my reservation for right after Christmas when it’s hot as hell and I’ll really want air-conditioning and a fancy pool. Pretty cool right? (It’s the Sheraton, hence why my apartment is now Sheraton II)

I still really love my job, so it's nice to have training over so we can get back out on the road to do one year visits for some of our volunteers and present our new ones to their communities. I'll be traveling 3-4 days a week until late October.

Its not all work and no play though. In just over a week I'm heading to beautiful Peru with one Ms. K. Meghan Hughes from my days at USC! We're both looking forward to some serious bonding time and over course exploring Lima, Cuzco, Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca. Should be fun! And at the end of October I'll stamp my passport yet again and head to Brazil with Cathy and Carmella from home. Cathy's visited me and Argentina last December but you can't keep to best friends away from one another for too long! We'll be celebrating Carmella's last months without the (new) ball and chain. Her May wedding will be fun though!

As I may have mentioned to some of you, I WAS planning on going home for the holidays but I have since changed that plan. With Carmella's wedding in May and maybe Makenna's in June it just makes sense to wait and go home to warm weather, boat trips with Dad, and plenty of time for friends and family all on the PC's dollar. So, if you can't wait until then to see me... come on down! My once abundance of vacation days are now dwindling quickly, but I'll always try to make time if I can! Hopefully Dan the Man Curry will be stepping on Paraguayan soil sometime between now and my May trip home, so that will make my various Paraguayan families very happy and his one female offspring happy too!

Please send me an email and tell me what's going on there. I miss everyone, although I still can't believe I'm about to finish my THIRD winter here in Paraguay. How quickly time flies when you're having fun :)

Blogging more often

2009-05-10T12:57:00.005-04:00

I'm all moved in, although I haven't taken pictures yet. The owner just painted the place so the walls are a little naked. I want to TRY to decorate a bit before I show off my new pad to the entire world!

Wrapping up in site was a breeze. I finally finished my world map, which was 2 m x 4m and fun/a lot of work:

I've been traveling a lot with my boss, Elisa, so it's nice to check out some of the scenery across the country. Paraguay is completely flat in some areas and rolling hills in others. I still haven't figured out if there is a pattern or not.

Swine flu hasn't hit Paraguay yet, although they did make all volunteers and office staff get regular flu shots. I didn't want to but they forced it on me, and it gave me the flu just like I feared! I've had horrible body aches for 3 days and I'm hoping it all goes away because I've got a life to live that doesn't involve a lot of ibuprofen consumption!

Also last week we hosted an in-service training session for the co-op volunteers (Rural Economic Development) and their Paraguay contacts. Each sector does a meeting like this once a year, and it's always very helpful to the volunteers and their counterparts!

I hope you're all doing well and celebrating Mother's Day in the proper forms! Send me an email and let me know what I'm missing back at home :)

Moving to the Big Top!

2009-04-26T16:22:00.002-04:00

I'm officially the newest member on staff at the Peace Corps Paraguay office! I started last week and will move all of my things down from my site and into a GORGEOUS apartment this coming Friday, May 1. It's so nice to be moving up in location, opportunities within Peace Corps, and pay.

My job title is called Peace Corps Volunteer Coordinator, so basically I need to be ready 24 hours a day to handle any and all questions/problems/issues with volunteers in the Co-opertive/Municipality sector. I've only been on the job less than a week, but its already exciting! We have new volunteers coming at the end of May, so my boss (Elisa) and I are really busting butts to get their sites developed. That means a LOT of travel! I'm finally getting to see all of Paraguay, so that is another advantage. A typical week means that I'll travel 3 days and be in the office for 2.

One of the other deals with this job is that I have to dedicate 20% of my time to a non-gov organization of my choice. I'm stronger in the business/co-op sector so I've been encourage to move towards learning more about municipal services. I've chosen a program called Procicla which focuses on getting local communities/municipalities the resources and infrastructure they need to recycle. Clearly a theme that has interested me since I was a kid, so I hope to be of use to them.

My apartment is the nicest place in Paraguay! It's a little expensive, but it's only 3 blocks from the office and in a VERY safe neighborhood.... and since I'm living on my own, the aforementioned characteristics are more important than price! Once I get moved in I'll take some pics and post them online. Since I'll have over 17 months in Asuncion, I'm going to make sure its well decorated too :) I have an extra bedroom and I'm ready for guests!

My official close of service date is now Sept 2010. But don't worry because I'll be in the US for a month around Christmas and New Years, and then again in May for Carmella's wedding and my cousin Dusty's wedding. I also have 40 days of vacation to burn through, and will be starting in August (hopefully) with a most definitely entertaining trip with Meghan. For the first time in a long time, I feel excited about each day and the coming months!

My email address has changed, so please update it in your address book to betsy.a.curry@gmail.com I have a Peace Corps account as well, but it's only work related emails. My address also hasn't changed, so don't be afraid to send a house warming care package :)

Betsy Curry, PCVC
162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal Lopez
Asuncion 1580 Paraguay

My cell is also the same: +1 595 971 349 970

Please send me an email and let me know how all of you are doing as well :) Lots of besos (kisses) from Paraguay!

embroidery takes up most of my time

2009-04-07T09:15:00.002-04:00

Hello world! Last week I was finally able to upload more pictures of the clothing making. I´m hoping I´ll have a real website built by the end of the month.

Enjoy and place your orders with me whenever!

Men´s samples:

by paraguaysmellslikecurry

Women´s samples:

by paraguaysmellslikecurry

So I´ll be spending this week scanning ALL possible designs into the computer so when we do get our website, customization of the shirts or dresses or table clothes will be much easier!

Hope you´re all doing well!

a much needed update!

2009-03-08T20:25:00.000-04:00

It’s hard to believe that I let myself avoid blogging since January! Bad bad Betsy!!

A lot has been going on, which is why my writing time hasn’t taken a priority. Here’s an update…

I just got back from a FABULOUS vacation in the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!! It was such a refreshing break from life here, which has been a little tumultuous (another reason I haven’t felt like writing a blog). The reason I went back for such a quick trip (8 days) was to be a sneaky granddaughter ☺ My grandpa Getz turned 90 on March 1st and I had been planning since early last fall to make the trip to surprise him. He was very shocked along with everyone else on the Getz side! The trip wouldn’t have been possible without the support of my grandpa’s wife, Irene, my personal travel agent Kyle Bohman, my best friend and temporary chauffer Cathy Gable, and as usual Mom, Dad and Carolyn. Thanks for everything!!

While in America I hit all the best “hot spots” like McHappy’s donuts, Don Emilio’s, and Taco Bell. I also probably consumed my weight in honey mustard! It was so nice to eat unnecessarily over-processed food for a few days! I even got to visit with my very good friends from high school and even one from college, so that made the trip extra special too! I miss everyone and everything about America, but as I realized when I got back to Paraguay: this is my life now. Its kind of annoying because I’m ready for a change of pace and location, but for now my life and work is in the middle of no where surrounded by banana plants!

As for my work, the co-op is doing well. We’re currently going through the first steps of project with a value somewhere near $300,000. That is a HUGE undertaking and luckily my guys have a lot of outside help. Basically new and stricter international sanitation laws will be in affect starting 2010 and if we don’t majorly up our standards we can’t export to Argentina, which is where my boys make more money. Also, upping sanitation will open other doors for exporting. So we have this project that starts with a tractor for fumigating the fields (yes! It’s a John Deere and my co-op guys wanted to make sure Kyle knows!) and will continue with the purchase of a parcel of land and constructing our own packages/cleaning center. Its all very complicated because the chosen piece of land currently has no access to electricity or water but it has to be at least so many meters away from polluting humans, so we can’t change it. I’m officially done in August and they’ve set that as their finish date so I can aid/see/document the entire process. It’s all very exciting actually!!

My computer center is a hot mess though. We’re down on enrollment but I have no desire to find new kids because they won’t even get the first of the four courses completed in my time here. We fired our lying, cheating secretary, which was necessary but a bummer because at least she spoke Guaraní and helped out with teaching (albeit horribly!). So I recruited another teacher and taught her the course 6 hours at a time only to have her turn her back too. Women are famous for crap like that. She wants to make more money, but we have no way of paying her more. She’s also not technically qualified to make more cash. She also shares transportation with her husband, which is a bigger problem than pay. So now I’m back at square one with no one to teach other than myself and without enough class income to pay for our monthly Internet bill. Grand!

The sewing group had some ups and downs as well, but we’re on an up so I hope it can stay that way for the next couple of months. I just got confirmation that a U.S. org is going to find us a volunteer to build us a website, which is fantastic! That’s the next step for them and the only method to sell more in dollars. Once the site is in development, I can start talking to banks and get that ball rolling. I am always taking orders, however, if you are interested! I’m going to try to upload more pics on my picture site to show off our latest work, but our Internet is painfully slow here. I’ll get to it though! Women shirts are $35 and men’s $40, plus shipping which is determined by weight. PLEASE let me know if you are interested! We do literally all colors and styles; so let me know what you’re looking for! Feel free to send “orders” to betsy.a.curry@gmail.com.

School is back in session as of last week. I’m going to try to pound out the nutrition classes I was planning on doing last year and maybe get the garden going, but I’m not much of a green thumb so I’ll be recruiting parents and other PCVolunteers to help out with that one. I started the 2m x 4m world map painting back in November but then someone stole my supplies from a classroom (even though when I left them there, it was locked). I didn’t get new supplies until Feb. but I had already done the brunt of the work. Now it’s just finishing up the sweet paint job but its going to look pretty amazing. I then want to do mini cultural classes with some of the older kids, so lets hope there is enough time!

As for what happens next? I’ve officially been here 22 of my 27 months, but I’m not exactly ready to leave. Ever heard of the economy in the states? Probably not because its NEVER in the news there or internationally, but basically I’m not interested in fighting that fight. I did my time at Hardee’s, and it sounds like that is the only type of job still hiring. I’ve completed my application for a position here in the capital, Asunción. It’s a volunteer management position and is more leadership based, which I’m much better suited to, than my current work,. I was trained to be a leader, not a bug bite infest, sweating, agricultural goddess! I won’t interview until late March but wish me luck! If I get it, I get to leave my site early (a blessing and a curse) to move to the city (yes please!) and then I would be here for another full year, with an end of service date sometime in August 2010. I will also get one month of MANDATORY leave to the good ‘ol U. S. of A. so I’d take that around Christmas/New Years to not have to be here for another. It truly isn’t my bag. I’d also plan another trip back to the states in May 2010 as my good friend Carmella Wright is getting married (and I’m in the wedding!) and my cousin Dusty Getz as well. I’ve missed out on a lot of holidays and family/friend time and I refuse to miss those big events in May! So we’ll see how things pan out…

I haven’t done this for a while, so here’s your current Betsy info:

GUARANí WORD OF THE DAY: haikue, which is pronounced like its spelled. We say this when something is surprising or unbelievable.
Example…
-Person 1: I just ate 15 hotdogs
-Person 2: haikue!

BOOK: A Time to Kill by John Grisham (but like a 16 year old I loved Twilight and just bought book #2 in the states!)

TUNES: Ben Folds has an album that’s new to me and I still adore him.

SPIDERS IN MY BATHROOM AFTER VACATION: 7, of various sizes

CURRENT SEWING PROJECT IS FOR: Irene (although I’ve already done ones for Cathy, Mom, Dad, Carolyn, and three more that were sold to make extra profit for the co-op) Again, let me know if you want one too!!

Well I think that’s it for now. Please let me know what’s going on with all of you and I’ll try my best to get pics up over the next couple of weeks. I love and miss you all, and thanks again for everyone that made my trip home possible and fun!

Guest Blog Author!

2009-01-02T09:44:00.002-03:00

This blog entry has a combination of authors... myself and Cathy Gable, my best friend who is now a nurse in Pittsburgh, PA. Let's start with her view of Paraguay and our vacation...

My arrival to Paraguay was uneventful, a few wrongs turns but I made it to PY about 18 hours after leaving the states WITH my luggage! B met me at the gate, and it was so amazing to see her after 18 LONG months! We explored some of Asunción, which in itself is bustling. I discovered that Paraguayans drive around like maniacs, the buses are insanely crowded, and little kids try to trick you into buying their items. I was introduced to terere, a culture tea-esque drink, at the Peace Corps office. I was worried, it certainly looked similar to pond water and B mentioned that I may think it tastes like grass. Yet, it was delicious! I was able to watch it be prepared when we bought some from a vendor in the street. By vendor I mean 2 young children with a bag of herbs, ice, water from a sketchy bucket and guampas (that's what you drink it out of). Our trip back to B's campo required a 3 hour bus ride on a "luxury bus." I quickly learned that Paraguayans have no regard for personal space. Our next bus was packed like sardines. I did notice that the men of this country are gracious only in regards to giving up their seat on the bus for a woman. That was much appreciated.

We met B's friend Julio (the ONE taxi driver in town) who drove us the remainder of the dusty road to her house. Everyone in PY drives a moto (motorcycle) like they have a death sentence, with no helmets no doubt! I stand out everywhere, being a light skinned girl with light eyes..I guess a boring Caucasian can be exotic somewhere!

B's house..I can describe it as tranquilo. The surroundings are so peaceful; the most beautiful sunsets and starry nights. Imagine no lights and no pollution to block your view! Everyone here lives such a simple life. I met B's host family.. Pablino and Raquel and their children, Romina and Yony (the spoiled man of the house). I always thought B was exaggerating how horrible Yony was..but it's all true. Before I left I wanted to spank him. It is so evident here that men and woman are in no way equal. I took a tour of the bananas and pineapple fields the next day. I tasted the most amazing pineapple- core and all, it was white and delicious! It's nothing like what we eat in America...I don't know what "pineapples" I have been eating, but it's apparent I have been tricked.

I thought the language barrier would be much harder to handle. I have minimal Spanish skills. But I was surprised how much I understood through context, hand gestures and commonalities to Italian and French which I have a much better grasp. When that failed, B was always around to translate. But that doesn't mean I wasn't frustrated! It's so hard when you can't fully communicate and I hated feeling like the arrogant American who only knows English.

Friday night Romina had a celebration for her 4th grade graduation. We helped Raquel cook traditional Paraguayan food, which was entertaining. I learned that I have a special skill for deep frying. Empanadas were my favorite treat. As a nurse and understanding nutrition, the Paraguayans are severely lacking. Everything is deep fried, filled with salt and fat and any veggies are lost of all their nutritional value. I would be 300 pound if I lived there, easily. At Romina's graduation I had my first taste of the jealously of the Paraguayan women. Pablino asked me what I thought of Paraguay and Betsy was translating. We probably had a 30 second conversation, and from that Raquel was convinced that everyone was "staring" and talking about us. I didn't know any of this until after the fact. But Betsy seemed to know. She said that we should sit on the side the same side of the table as Raquel, because we are going to cause problems. Again..the genders are NOT equal. So frustrating!! I had a small taste of the drama that B battles on a daily basis.

On Sunday we left riding in Juan's truck filled with bananas for the market in Asunsion. We probably drove 15 miles an hour..it took us 5 hours to get to the capital (should only take 3). Sunday night we met up with some other Peace Corps volunteers for drinks and food. It was nice to have some English speakers around.

Monday we flew out to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where we stayed in a really awesome hostel in a great location..and it had a rooftop bar, always a plus!

Tuesday we did some exploring of BA, it had the most beautiful architecture. We spent most of the day shopping on Florida St. We boycotted the custom of eating at 11 or midnight and had an amazing meal of pizza and wine.

Wednesday we visited the Recoletta area, and the cemetery where Eva Perone is buried. Don't cry for me Argentina..anyone? The mausoleums are beautifully constructed, but a little morbid to be surrounded by miles of death. We were propositioned to enter a mausoleum by a man who was cleaning, it's ridiculous how large they are inside. But I could see my life flash before me. The last thing I plan to do is die or be trapped in someone else's grave. So we politely declined that offer. That night we had a hostel BBQ which was a great place to meet people. We ended up going out to a pretty ridiculous club with a few fellow travelers. We learned first hand the advances of the Argentinean men.

On Thursday we went shopping again..everything is so cheap in American dollars, it's hard to resist! We ate at this notoriously tourist establishment (can't remember the name) (Betsy comment: Desnivel... GO THERE!) which was famous for their meats and fried provolone. Let me talk about fried provolone for a hot minute..one of my favorite finds from South America! It's delicious; we all know my love for cheese! I ordered a meal that came with a fried banana..also surprisingly amazing. Who knew? We also experience some authentic Tango dancing that night at Cafe Tortoni, a short walk from our hostel on Mayo Avenue.

Friday we left BA for Colonia via Buquebus which is similar to airplane but on water. Traveling on the Buquebus was interesting..no assigned seats? That would never fly in America. We had a few hours to kill in Colonia before we had to leave for Montevideo. Colonia is a quaint little town, had a delightful lunch of wine and pasta. We then ventured to Motevideo to visit Mary Kinsler. In Montevideo we walked around, there are about a million plazas, B treated Mary and I to a nice dinner with amazing fondu!

On Saturday we left Montevideo to Punta Del Diablo (Devil's Point in English) on another bus. Punta Del Diablo is my favorite from our trip, absolutely breathtaking! We spent a few hours on the beach and ended up sunburned. We ate at the local bar/restaurant where B and I ended up sampling almost every dessert available, our favorite was chocolate mousse. We also ventured to that bar later that night for a live band, too much wine, and unwanted advances from a few Uruguayan gentlemen. (Betsy comment: ALL South American men wanted some Cathy in their lives, it's true!)

We spent most of Sunday hanging around the hostel, it was a little overcast and I had a little wine hangover. On Monday we returned to BA with a 5 hour bus ride AND first class on the Boquebus..free champagne and all. We also went back for round two of smoked provolone. Yes, it's that amazing!

Tuesday we did some last minute shopping with some jewelry vendors and hit up Florida Street once again. Then B left for her 18 hour bus ride back to Paraguay in the afternoon. I hung around my hostel with a few guys from London who were also waiting for their flights and I flew out from BA at almost midnight.

My trip in itself was incredible. I was eager to see how Betsy lived, and have the opportunity to experience a small piece of her life. Now that I have lived with her for a few days, I have a much better understanding of her everyday life and frustrations. Our vacation was also amazing. My only issue was returning to American where I missed my connecting flight home due to our tight security. But I eventually made it home, all limbs and organs intact..with some great memories of a wonderful time down South with my best friend.

Thanks again for writing that Cathy and I agree... GREAT VACATION! I had only really traveled with my parents since I've been down here, so it was a change to spend my days with my BFF. We're already planning another trip back to Punta del Diablo, so let us know if you're interested!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to all! I made it through Christmas just fine but got a little sad new years eve day. Here its all about family and I'm so far away from mine! Also, the only family that was coming over to my host family's house belong to my host dad's side and I don't like any of them. They are the WORST about being completely judgmental to everything I do and wear. I'm also completely bored with the food and music and just couldn't get myself excited to pass new years here with them. I got over it eventually, avoided all the people I didn't like, and went to bed early so it wasn't that bad.

Yesterday afternoon we went to a balneario, which is an area by a stream where someone has set up volleyball courts. People just hang out, drink beer if you're of age, "swim" in the water that is only about 5 ft deep and play volleyball. I had been to one other, but where we went yesterday was much more quaint. We went with a few different couples and it was fine until we played volleyball. I've had issues playing with them before, but I knew it was going to be a repeat of those days. Because of cultural differences, in my opinion, the men completely talk down to the women. It happens all day long but I don't really realize it because no one talks down to me... until we play volleyball. Every time I make one little mistake, Juan comments on it. I'm sure in his head, his little comments are positive but to me they are only condescending. He doesn't play perfectly and I don't say a word if it goes out of bounds or he's too slow to get to a pass. But, every 5 seconds he feels the need to correct everything I do. So, after an hour of this I usually explode. And, although I'm embarrassed to admit it, the same thing happened yesterday. I completely cussed him out in English and he knew exactly what I was saying. Its just NOT FUN for me when he does it and its just another thing between our cultures that I can't accept or deny. Shortly after i apologized and we all agreed to do more swimming, but I think I just need to stop playing with him. Its all fun until we start to lose and he points he finger only at me when its his fault 50% of the time too. Stupid boys!!!

It hasn't rained for about 2 months but it start to sprinkle yesterday. It stopped for a few hours and picked up again this morning, but I'm hoping for more. We really need a few good days of rain to bring all the crops back up to speed.

I did post some pictures of vacation and some other ones from around the house, so feel free to check them out with this link:

by paraguaysmellslikecurry

Look for a post about the hand-sewn shirts my ladies are doing too. I'm meeting with the president of a bank this week to figure out how to accept credit card payments online. If you know of anyone that has ideas or can help with website design, please have them email me at betsy.curry@yahoo.com because that's what we need and something I've never really had a hand in.

I love and miss you all and hope all of you enjoyed the holiday season.

Harry Potter style dark arts... friends or foe?

2008-12-02T20:57:00.002-03:00

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.

Harry Potter style dark arts... friends or foe?

2008-12-02T20:57:00.001-03:00

Harry Potter style dark arts... friends or foe?

2008-12-02T20:57:00.000-03:00

October update

2008-10-13T13:35:00.003-04:00

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!

Life Lessons

2008-09-19T10:54:00.003-04:00

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!)

Tsk Tsk Beva!

2008-08-13T09:34:00.002-04:00

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

SUPER lengthy blog

2008-06-24T08:17:00.000-04:00

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!

Over a month since my last update?? Mí MAL!

2008-05-21T07:22:00.003-04:00

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!

finally an update on visual aids!

2008-04-04T08:17:00.003-04:00

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

volei, anyone?

2008-03-24T07:50:00.003-04:00

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!!

update´i

2008-02-20T07:51:00.003-03:00

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!!

Rainy days and little activity

2008-01-30T07:27:00.000-03:00

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

picture update!

2007-12-28T09:56:00.000-03:00

One, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Two, I have a ton of pictures but Webshots has given me a headache for the past month trying to upload just a few! After a many frustrated hours spent here, I finally got a few up. They don´t have captions though... so here´s a recap.

There is a picture of traditional PYan dance and attire. (little sister Romina in the middle)

If Romina has white on or people are in rain gear, it was at her end of the school reception. She got #1 student in her class for the third year in a row! As a reward, her parents bought her a COMPUTER! She is hands down the only almost 9 year old in the campo in the ENTIRE country to get a computer!

Christmas celerbations here happen Christmas Eve. You stay up until midnight drinking beer and then set off fireworks, give everyone hugs and kisses, eat a big meal and go to bed. If you want to have love in the next year, you wear red. I wore a little to humor them.

Its also pineapple time so there is one pictures of the 18-wheeler that pulled in to take our pineapples to Argentina.

Also a few other comic pics like Yoni getting his head stuck in a chair and their version of deocrating for Christmas. Not at ALL like ours!

Love you guys and shoot me an email and let me know you were holidays were swell!

Paraguay Tres

OR

http://travel.webshots.com/album/561913931RaouaE?vhost=travel&start=12

Saludos a Todos!

2007-12-13T07:45:00.000-03:00

Well crew, it’s been a few weeks and I apologize for leaving you on the edge of your seat! I mean, what kind of crazy, wonderful, awkward things are going on in PY with Beva?? No worries, its update time for all of you bloggers!

I was away from site for 12 days… which was fun and exhausting. Every year Peace Corps organizes a Thanksgiving weekend for all the volunteers. The festivity is always held at a great hotel in the southern part of the country, near Encarnación. The place completely reminded me of Jackson’s Mill in West Virginia, but with 3 pools and no bunk beds. But regardless of my student council flashbacks, it was a lot of fun. It was kind of like Animal House meets Earnest Goes to Camp. Whenever you get 130ish Nortes together with swimming, a Thanksgiving meal American style (I must report, no pumpkin roll though!), and a little bit of booze you’re bound to have an outstanding 48 hours. PC Paraguay delivered as usual, and since my group just hit our 6 month mark in country, it was definitely time for a reunion/vacation. I’m already looking forward to next year’s!

Being away from site for that long though, and speaking that much English, quickly took its toll on me. I love being with my friends and having the freedom to be Betsy (as opposed to be Beva, which is less outspoken and a little more wholesome than the Betsy you all know and love), but my life is here. My life is working within my community, studying and practicing the languages, and trying to figure out how I can help my neighbors improve their lives in a sustainable manner. A lot of my friends living in larger cities have no qualms leaving for a few days at a time because when they return, almost no one noticed they were out. I, however, live in very tiny, closely interwoven community. I’m gone for one morning and people start to ask questions! It’s hard to get back in the swing of things too. Language alone leaves me rapidly, not to mention potential projects and future plans discussed with community members that are forgotten after about 7 days if I’m not around. With that said, I probably won’t head back into Asunción until a required meeting with my bosses toward the end of January. It’s expensive and mentally taxing to leave, and for that… I’m sticking around for a long while!

Speaking of projects, I currently have a lot on my plate. Well, it isn’t on my plate quite yet so perhaps I should say I’m preparing to have a lot on my plate! Being a bit of an overachiever (just a bit, right??), I have a lot more planned for my two years, but I also don’t want to look around to see my hand in too many pots and many different activities not getting full attention. But to start it off lightly, I’ve got English classes for 2 hours, 2 days a week. The first class is this coming Tuesday, and I know I should have about 4 girls. If more kids show up, I’ll probably teach more classes. They’ll learn much better when I can give them more attention. Also, next Thursday I’ll have my first women’s committee meeting. I’m super excited about this one because I’ve wanted to do it since I stepped on PYan soil! The hardest thing with getting it off the ground is convincing the women that I’m not their boss and I don’t know more than them. It is their community and their committee, I’m just here to observe and help where I can. I’ve discussed potential projects with enough women that I know we’re going to start out talking about nutrition and making a good garden, and also cooking classes. I’d like to move onto an income generating project, but that will depend on interests. We just hit the peak of pineapple season here though, so if you have any good pineapple recipes… email them my way please! My nearest PC neighbors (Gariety—health, and Sam—education) and I will be starting a radio show on January 11. For those of you that can turn into Gauyaibi 100.7, be sure to listen Fridays from 7-8am (Although I don’t think our station has made it into PodCasts or Satelite Radio just yet! You can always call Steve Jobs and request it be added though!) The radio show will be fun and it will give us a great opportunity to talk about an array of topics from our sectors of business, health, and education, to more taboo topics like condom use, AIDS, gender and development, diversity including race and sexual preference such as homosexuality. Lots going on, but I still haven’t even touched my real interest which is the coop… but I think I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve for them still too!

Christmas and New Years Eve plans have yet to be determined. Pretty sure I´ll stick around here for Christmas because I want to see how they celebrate. Basically its nothing like ours from what I hear. Not a lot of gifts, NO Christmas tree, and a few pathetic lights here or there on a house. Should be interesting! I´d kind of like to be with my friends for NYE, but we´ll see. I´m kind of poor, so I´ll just probably make that call the week of.

There’s a little something that PY is famous for; it’s called chisme (pronounced: cheese-may) and it can be fun or damning, or both!. Chisme is basically rumors, and we’ve all been in 8th grade. We know some rumors are legit, and some rumors are just so people have something to talk about. I was recently clumped into the latter of the groups. I’ve been here in Guayaibi for a solid 3.5 months. I love my family here, and they have all taken me in as one of their own. Pablino and Raquel, although they are young parents themselves, have played all roles in my life from being my confidants and business contacts, to bug killers when my room is infested with wasps, and even mom and dad when they think I’m showing a little too much leg at a coop meeting. That’s why I was slightly overwhelmed when Raquel told me she heard some chisme among the other mom’s at school. Unbeknownst to me, these mothers claim that I’ve been having an affair with her husband, Pablino. I mean, REALLY? At least give me a cute member of my coop that is at well under the age of 35. But I quickly calmed as it wasn’t an interrogation session. Raquel knows better than anyone that it’s just not true. I spend the majority of my days with her, and speak mostly business or jokes with Pablino. I don’t think he’s heard the rumors, because she and I share everything practically and only about 15% makes it to Pablino. And past that, I’m a complete oddity in this community. They’re going to be talking about me regardless, and if some want to associate me with one of my 50 male, coop members, then naturally it would be the one that is closest in proximity and friendship. I can only wait to see what more chisme they can dream up over the next 21 months!

Paraguay also has a tradition previously mentioned in a former blog entry: dating days. Oh yes… every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday a boy will go over and drink terere (the weird weed like powdery mix I love and will never be able to live without after 2 years of Peace Corps!) with the girl’s family. This pretty much goes on for years until they get married. The potential couple is NEVER left alone, and if mom and pap don’t like the boy… he takes a hike! Well, I guess we could say I had my first potential suitor this week. I didn’t even realize it was Tuesday, but he came to Raquel’s asking if the Americana was around to drink terere. Like a good momma, she set us up and let us chat while she supervised from our outdoor kitchen. And the best thing? Not Raquel, Pablino (who actually works with the guy getting loans for land he’s developing next to our house!), nor myself know the poor young man’s name! He never asked me and I never asked him, so he’s just a mystery wannabe boyfriend! The whole thing made me laugh inside, although I showed him respect and chilled for a while drinking our mostly grass-like terere. Poor soul… we’ll see if he comes back, I don’t think I’m interested señor!

Big shout out to my care package masters! Mom, Cathy, Ming, Laurie Sheldon (Kely’s mom), Mary-David and George all win some major cool points! I mean, there are few things sweeter than knowing people care about you enough to send you goodies! Nicely done to all of you, although I think Cathy’s winning the record. She’s a little nutty for sending one 12lbs package followed by a 21lbs package internationally, but dammit do I love her! Please keep them coming because I can always use more things. With upcoming projects, I’m in need of more supply-like materials… so if you want to get a box together, shoot me an email. Thanks again for everything! Postcards are cool too… I ALWAYS need things to remind me of the states!

As for the favorites of the week…
BOOK: A Widow for One Year by John Irving (I’m kind of on an Irving kick)
ALBUM: Sam’s Town by The Killers… I couldn’t just pick one song this time!
AWKWARD MOMENT: thinking an 8 year old was talking about my varicose veins (thanks mom!) when really she was being secretive asking her mom if my shorts were cut by a pair of scissors (Nike made them that way!!)
REVELATION: Rio in May with mom, so look out world… I’m going to be bikini ready!
GUARANI WORD: kaigue (pronounced ka-ee-guay) which means without energy.
I’m without energy: Che kaigue
You’re without energy: Nde kaigue
He/she is without energy: Ikaigue

its´s been a long time and i shouldn´t have left you without a dope beat to step to

2007-11-12T10:59:00.000-03:00

First off, a hundred apologies for not writing sooner. Internet time has been sparse, but I finally have a few minutes to type up this novel! Read on if you have the time, if not... the blog´s not going anywhere!

COOP news is kind of complicated. My host dad/treasurer of the cooperative and I sat down a few weeks ago. I had questions involving finances and then it ended up being a conversation about my future work. He basically told me that he and the president, also his best friend, had no idea why they asked for a volunteer. I mean, that´s always good news when I´m hear for two years! It doesn´t frustrate me at all, because I see holes in their business practices, its just a matter of bringing them up slowly and delicately. A few weeks after that, we got some REALLY good news! Some government organization is giving our COOP 3 or 4 computers since I´m living in the community! They are specifically for me to teach technical classes! I´m stoked about that and although I´m not getting too excited until I see that the computers are actually located in my community. PYans don´t do anything quickly!

A few weeks ago I had a real cultural experience. A little something they call rezos. I have been to a TON here, but actually helped with one! Basically, when someone dies you have 9 days of mourning. They don´t sit around crying, but they do get together every afternoon to say the entire rosary. And this is right after someone dies AND every year after that. So the last day is a big production. They usually have a celebration of sorts with music and prayers and of course, the rosary. They also give out cookies, candy, and this special PYan bread called chipa. Chipa consists of flour, animal fat, cheese, corn flour, and anise. Oh, and a TON of manual labor too. I stayed at my host mom´s family´s house and got up at 2:45am to start kneading the dough! I mean... my arms were sore! Basically they have t make hundreds of pieces of this stuff (http://www.webescuela.edu.py/Contenido/Fotos/CocTipica_chipa2.jpg) because every kid within walking distance will show up for free food. Its also cooked in a wood fire outside, known as a tatakua (http://www.cockaigne.demon.co.uk/santamaria/images/tatakuafood.jpg) Its all a lot of work, but def something I was glad to help out with! I didn´t managed to take pictures because I was elbow deep in dough for 12 hours but luckily, we´ll do it again next year!

Can we touch on relationships again please? I´ve become very close with my host mom´s family. They are all close to my age and they´re just down right FUN! In addition to her parents as well, whom have adopted me as one of their own. They live about 15k away, so I don´t get to see them all the time, but they visit a lot. Well the parents have told me they want me to be a part of their family forever, and I know I will be. But they´re looking for something a little more concrete, as in marring a son! They´re only half joking, and I´m sure when I tell them I´m never living here they would change their mind. But there is one son that is 25 (the other two are 20 and 35) and he really does have a massive crush on me. His name is Juan, and I don´t think I could wish for a more typical South American name! He asks me out a lot but since I can´t ride on motorcycles, nothing ever comes of his asking. Most PYan men are really obnoxious with huge egos and uneducated and work in the fields, but Juan graduated high school and has taken a lot of technical courses. I am DEFINITELY not dating this guy, but they are all trying hard to make it happen! There are some serious consequences to dating in site though. A friend of mine about 15k away has a boyfriend, and that´s all anyone talks about. She has trouble working too because the community is always talking about them being together. I want my community to say that I am hard working and trying to speak guarani, not that I´m moving my way through the locals!

Second tarantula murdered. Wasp infestation about once a week in my house and I don´t know where they are coming from. Gotta love NATURE!

My nearest PC neighbor (Gariety and she´s a health volunteer) and I decided to go to a birthday party the other night. There was dancing, and of course I wasn´t going to say no to an opportunity to shake my thing! We danced for a solid two hours and my host mom said the next morning in church, all the girls were talking about how the Americanas really knew how to bust a move! RIGHT ON!

I spent a week farther out in the campo, back to the days of latrines and cold showers. It was a really great opportunity to practice more guarani and get to know more members and families of my coop. I can tell within 2 minutes of the male of the house is interested or not interested in working with a woman, so I made sure to make notes of the ones I can probably forget about in general. Just like West Virginia, the farther back into the hills you go, generally speaking the people are poorer. We´re talking 10 to 12 kids and barely enough food for 2. Its hard to see but makes me proud to be trying to change the lives of the people here!!

Many of you have asked what you can send me. So here is a random list of goodies. I have everything I NEED, so let it be known that these are WANTS and nothing more!

Chai tea (I miss making lattes with Kyle!!)
cookbooks WITHOUT gourmet ingredients
postcards
pictures
magazines (trash or intellectual)
macaroni and cheese (if you want to go all out, Velveeta!)
peanut butter (almost impossible here!)
Nutella
letters!!!
Orbitz gum
Wintergreen mints
any spices especially exotic or Indian or Asian varities
any condiments... GOOD honey mustard, bbq sauce, salsa, etc.
Ralph Lauren perfume in Cool
any clothes in dry weave for outdoors HOT weather (size M or 8)

I´ll update that list as random things pop into my head! Thanks again to all of you that have sent me packages and notes. They are highly appreciated and makes me smile every time! Cathy, naturally, is holding down the record I believe! Love her!!

And now for my current reads and revelations...

Book: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (LOVING it! Thanks CLG!)
Song: Brothers on a Hotel Bed by Death Cab for Cutie (shout out to MING!)
Relevation: Going to India the year of my 28th birthday
Favorite word in guarani: ndoikoi (doy-koy) which basically means a lot of things... it doesn´t work, it doesn´t live, it doesn´t taste good. (this positive of this word, aka it works, it lives, it tastes great! is oiko, pronounced oy-ko)

Again, I think of you all often and keep the emails and updates coming my way!

adventures in the campo!

2007-10-18T08:28:00.000-04:00

Its been quite a couple of weeks! I´ve been busy, but have managed to upload pictures too so please follow the link at the bottom of my blog to see visual evidence of the fun and friends here in PY!

I had a trip into the capital, Asunción, about two weeks ago. It was really entertaining and great to see my friends that I´ve missed for 6 weeks, but it´s not my home. My home is here, out in the middle of no where, and after 3 days I was more than ready to return to my tranquil life. We did manage to see another movie, and go to an American restaurant... yes, we chose HOOTER´S! Turns out they play American football, so we went for that and seriously stayed for the wings!

At my house we have a pretty extensive love triangle going on, and I may be the one who benefits! We have two male dogs and one female. The girl, Chickitita, was on a type of birth control which is in the form of a shot and given to her every six months. They tried to give it to her and a few drops didn´t go in her hip, and she went into heat that night. We didn´t know who the daddy would be, but the giant dog, Tobi, has been really protective of her and naps with her during the day so looks like we know who big poppa is! In four months I may have a pupi!! (Puppy in spanish but pronounced poopy)

I´m sans a daily schedule so I´ve invented my own. Its been working pretty well and gives me a lot more direction with my days. Time for coop info is in there, as well as language study, visiting the school, talking with neighbors, exercise and of course.. CHE TIEMPO! (me time, in Guarani)

Last week I had my first brush with death. Yes, I killed a tarantula! I´m sure its of of many to come, but let it be known world... I screamed like a school girl throughout the entire process! I woke up to find it in my bathroom halfway under my trash can. I stared in disbelief for a solid 15 minutes debating my strategic attack. I eventually opted for one tennis shoe (why not both? your guess is as good as mine!) because I had the most control over my foot. Brooms seemed risky and I didn´t want it to charge at me! So I smashed it, with my right foot, and squealed!! The I had to scoop it up with cardboard and through it outside, all the while shivers ran down my spine. Good times!!

Yesterday was a blast! Real campo day for me! Got up at 4am to kill a cow! I had seen this before, so it was a little less traumatic since I knew what to expect. I will however, never eat the stomach again. I had tried it, and didn´t exactly enjoy the flavor, but now that I´ve seen them push probably 40lbs of poop out of it then just rinse with a hose and boil to it? I think I´m done, thanks! I also helped them prepare blood sausages... which I politely tried but also, won´t be requesting. They basically take the liver, heart and some other internal organs... grind them up, mix them with the cow´s blood then throw the concoction back into the small intestines. Yummy! My family was picking at it all day saying how good it was. Knowing the process just takes away the flavor for me.

Peace Corps has asked me to come into Asunción Monday to help them write an annual report for PC Washington, D.C. so I look forward to enjoying two days and three nights on their dollar! I also hope to pick up materials about bananas and pineapples so I can better understand the work of my farmers, potential projects for the women´s committee, materials to teach English when school gets out here in November, and information about a PC scholarship for my guarani teacher who is the perfect candidate! Its for any female in the country that has a desire to continue their education, and she´s more than qualified because she´s in hair school and becoming a teacher at the same time while still fitting in a few lesson for me each week. She´s great!

I´ve been doing a lot of reading, but I´ll start from here on out updated on my book selections.

Currently Reading: Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
Comments: hands down one of the subtly funniest books I´ve read to date!

And here are the pics.... They don´t all have captions right now because the computer is being slow, but the house ones are kind of obvious... before, and the glory that is NOW!

Peace Corps Paraguay Dos

I love you all and please keep the emails, notes, and packages coming!

And the adventure continues!

2007-10-04T09:49:00.000-04:00

So let´s just walk through an average morning of Betsy trying to get to the internet, shall we? Great... So my alarm blares in my ear at a lovely 4:45am. I turn it off, wash my face and brush my teeth in just enough time to make it outside to see if the bus will even show up today. Last night was the first night in my house (woo hoo!) but while I´m bus waiting, I like to chat so I go over to neighbors house. Every time I hear a large vehicle trekking through our bumpy, dirt road I have to run out to the road so i don´t miss it. Usually there are 1-3 false alarms, but then it comes trucking down the road. This morning, I say goodbye to my family/neighbors as the bus driver´s little assistant guy is saying something to me as the bus continues to COAST on. I swear I hear ¨no brakes,¨ but can´t be sure yet that brakes in English is the same as in español. Regardless, the americana is a little confused and trying to figure out what they want me to do as the bus stops and clearly, is no longer functioning. Great! Is this my fault? I was the one they were slowing down for? Its right in front of my house? Needless to say, I feel awful and can do nothing about it.

So what´s the next logical step when you have a bus stranded 11km from the paved road with 15ish passengers, mostly old men and women? That´s right... flag down my host dad/neighbor (I´m switching to ¨neighbor¨ since I am now living solo, although I still consider them my family closest friends!) He´s a good guy, so he offers his truck. That´s right, his truck and a rope that looked a little too thin for my liking pulled that giant bus to a few different locations while the guys pushed at various, specified times. Eventually, after about 45 minutes of this potentially Beva-caused charade, we get to little hill in the road big enough to push us down and we start the engine. After this, I realize he was correct... he did mean brakes and if I even make it town to write my blog it will be a miracle! We sped through those country roads like the Dukes of Hazard, picking up zero passengers, including my nearest PC neighbor that had to walk 5km to the main road and get another bus (with working brakes, I´m sure.) The bus driver didn´t feel like slowing down over the 45 minute bus ride to town, but I made it alive so that´s exciting!

Oh buses in Paraguay...

As for updates, its been an interesting two weeks. After my last entry, I received a phone call from the PC office. Turns out the director of the coop and municipality volunteers, and our director of security for PY responsible for the safety of all 140 volunteers were fired. Misuse of government computers was the reason, but what that means is still very unclear. To make that day even brighter, my favorite doctor in the office (who worked there for 28 years and 9 months) quit. Why go to work if your buddies aren´t there? The PC/PY office lost 3 great paraguayan employees and its going to be hard to adjust without them! They were all great guys. To top of the week, we had a guy from our small 16 person training group quit. He was a coop volunteer, so now we´re down to a whopping 6. He was 35 and didn´t feel he could continue to do this for two years, so he fled back to DC. He´ll miss out, but we all choose our own paths!

After 6 days of painting, almost 4.000.000Gs (about $720), 631 songs on my iPod and a lot of sweat, my house is basically ready! I still need to buy fans and get them installed, but I slept there last night and although I think rats live in the roof of my kitchen, I´m still loving my house! Its great to have my Independence back, although my family/neighbors are sad that I´m not in there house. I thought Raquel (my host ¨mom¨) was going to cry last night, but I´m not far and still spend a lot of time with them. I´m glad to be on my own so I will be able to work on my projects in peace (3 and 8 year olds can be distracting... who would have known??) and explore other neighborhoods. Preparing my own food without judgement and exercising will be great! My first cooked meal was curried rice... appropriate, although I had to ask myself... am I in Peace Corps INDIA??

Speaking of projects, I basically have my next two year planned out in secondary projects but still have NO clue what do with the coop! That will come in due time, but for now I´m focusing on starting a women´s committee, a youth committee, and lots of activities for the school that´s near me including teaching English during the summer, doing health presentations (I´ll start with dental health next week!), art classes, and my big thing is a culture class once a month! These won´t all hit me at once, but at least I´m starting to get the ball rolling.

Speaking of art, I need your help! My years of Dance Marathon fundraising has left me no shame when it comes to asking for money! I´m starting to work with a committee here that is working to raise money for cameras kits so students here can learn more about photography and we can learn how they visual their world! Its called Ahecha, which is ¨I see¨ in Guarani. The project was inspired by the documentary Born in Brothels, which if you haven´t seen I HIGHLY recommend! It was a favorite during my social work studies at USC. Below is a link, and if you can give a small (or large!) donation I would really appreciate it. There is so little creative energy in this country, so us Peace Corps volunteers are trying to generate it one project at a time. Its the first committee within the PC/PY world that has really sparked my interest. I love art so much and it can be so important for development, but its rarely expressed here. We´re trying to raise just over $5,000 which is pennies compared to my old DM goal of $100,000! Help us reach this goal too if you can, and I thank you in advance! Donations can be made by clicking this link:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=526-179®ion=latinamerica

Well someone buy some ice skates and ship them to Satan... I actually went to church last week! It probably been a solid 10 years since I willingly went to church, but I want to experience every aspect of life here so I gladly got up Sunday morning and went. Turns out the kids here play the same game I loved as a child before Sunday school... kick the dead tarantula! Yep, that´s what they did in the TINY church with about 40 chairs and 20 church goers. I wish I would have had my camera! The service lasted about 2 hours and although there was an apparent priest upfront (90% of the country is Catholic), there were 2 guys in the congregation that actually felt what they were thinking was more important so they would often interrupt the priest mid sentence to present their views on the topic. It was all in Guarani so I didn´t understand 99% of what was said, but somehow they got on the topic of women in politics. That got all 20 people chatting up a storm! Not a good idea to put down women when without them you´d have a church of 2 long winded men! It was an interesting morning to say the least!

Tomorrow up I´m early again to catch a hopefully working bus to Asunción. Its been 6 weeks since I´ve been into the city and its time to pick up packages (hopefully!), mail, and more importantly... see my friends! My group of trainees is spread out and I´m the only one that hasn´t seen anyone else, so I´m more than excited to be reunited! Thanks for continuing to keep me in your thoughts and look for another update in a few weeks!

Blowing their minds...

2007-09-17T09:25:00.000-04:00

Greetings from the real dirty South! (Formerly, I just considered South Carolin the dirty South but then I started to live in a country without santiation systems and I quickly changed my mind!)

Tomorrow is 4 months at site and I can hardly believe it. My time here is going so quickly and so slow at the same time. Luckily, that´s pretty normal for a volunteer that is the first in a community like myself.

My house is SOOO close to being complete that I think about it all the time. Today I´m supposed to get the doors and electricity, so hopefully they´ll actually show up! They were supposed to come everyday for the past week, but I´m feeling optomistic! My bathroom was completed in a record 5 days and its beautiful. Its green and white and I can´t wait to blow the Paraguayan mind by keeping it clean with the one product they fear most: BLEACH!! I purchased all of my furniture (a bed, mattress, bedside table, dinner table for 6, 4 chairs, and a wardrobe for my clothes) for a whopping 800.000 Gs ($160!) I´m got my kitchen furniture unfinished so I can exercise a little creative energy in my kitchen. I´m currently toying with a Jackson Pollock inspired motif with black, yellow and white. Maybe even a little bit of his famous drip method as well! I have a ton of time to work it out, so no rushes on buying paint just yet. Also, I recently had my roof fixed and it wasn´t done well. After the first rain in 3 months I went to inspect and there was water all over the kitchen floor. Great!

Daily life is painfully slow at times, but if I learn new words in Spanish or Guarani, then I consider it a success. As the mission of the PC, 2/3 is just sharing cultures so even if I´m not doing anything directly for the COOP yet, I´m still accomplishing 60% of my goals! My host mom and I talk A LOT. She likes to sit in my room sometimes and listen to me talk on the phone in English, which at first made me uncomfortable, but now I´m used to it. I think she´s a little jealous that I´m not much younger than she (she´s 30) and I´m living a completely different, more worldly lifestyle. She´s great though and I introduced her to tuna and what the nutritional value info on packages means, so that´s helpful to expand her horizons!

And now its time for a Guarani lesson:

Che róga (my house)
Cherera Beva (my name is Beva)
Che peteĩ voluntaria Cuerpo de Pazpegua (I´m a volunteer of Peace Corps)
Amba´apohina Cooperativa ndive (I´m working with the coop)
Aiko familia Bogado ndive koaĝa (I live with the Bogado family now)

Don´t you feel a little more cultured already??

I had my official site presentation last Wednesday. It was great to see my boss, Rubén, because he´s a great guy to work with. He basically just went over the no motorcycle and no drugs policy. He also went over my resume (that I translated to Spanish a few months ago) so they knew a little bit of my history working with businesses. They had time to ask questions, and of course 40 men only had one question: is it permitted for her to get a Paraguayan boyfriend? The good news, is that we had almost 100% participation at the meeting and Rubén said that was the most people he´s seen this year in giving this presentations. They clearly want me here and I can´t wait until I can speak Guarani and actually get to work with them! Rubén also brought all of my bags up, so its really nice to have my entire ¨life¨ back. My little sister sat next me while I went through it and was mesmerized but all the ¨exotic¨ things I have like a spray that makes ironing unnecessary, and reuseable batteries.

This week or next week, I´ll be living another family just to get to know another area of our campo and another family. There area a lot of decisions going on with my house, which is why I may delay, but we´ll see.

Well, that´s about it from down here. Keep the emails coming and send care packages if you want! I could use a little pop culture!

2 down, 102 to go...

2007-09-05T09:29:00.000-04:00

Two weeks completed at site, so that means its time to update! Internet is about a 45 minute bus ride away, but when I do come I usually spend a few hours to get updated on everything, so be sure to keep the emails coming! (betsy.curry@yahoo.com)

I´m living with the Bogado family for a few weeks. They´re super great to me and I´m really happy. My area is VERY poor but they have money due to excellent farming practices, so their house is brick and they have two bathrooms. Most houses around me are wooden with dirt floors and a hole and the backyard. Romina (8) is the cute daughter of the house and very overdramatic gripping her chest and gasping as we go through photos in my español National Geographics. Yony (3, pronounced Jonny) loves to speak through screaming at the top of his lungs and he pissed on my foot the other day because he thought it was funny. Raquel (30) is the mom and my only friend. We´ve been getting up at 5am everyday so I can teach her pilates. Pablino (35) is the dad and VERY hardworking. He´s always out in their fields, but is always ready to explain something to me when I need it.

In a few months I´ll move into the house next to theirs. I need to put a lot of expenses into it, so donations to my house fund can be sent to my parents! :) I live so far out that I´m going to make sure I´m comfortable with my surrounds. The good news is that I don´t have to pay rent after I get it the way I want it, so that´s comforting! My coop is great though and has offered to pay for a little bit of the place. I was told that I was going to help them so they wanted to help me too. What a great community to be in!

My area has a school so once I can speak the language (Guarani, no spanish here!) then I want to start a monthly class on cultures around the world. They get zero of that here, so I´d like to introduce them to all of the reasons why I love to travel and explore this great earth! I may need help from some of you out there, so I´ll let you know as that develops over the next few months. I´ve always been in touch with 2 volunteers near me and I think we´re going to start a radio show. We´re all in different fields (health, education and business) so I think we have a lot to share with the people of Guayaibi!

My former language partner, Brennan, and I have started a weight loss challenge! Three months of now we have a mandatory reconnect with our group members, and that´s when we weigh in. The 5am pilates definitely sets me ahead of him, but we´ll see! My host mom wanted to weigh herself the other day so I imagined we´d use some kind of scale used for cattle. NOPE! There was a crazy contraption that you hooked into a tree and tied a rope around literally holding yourself and sitting in the rope at the same time. What a trip!

Paging Dr. Beva! Somehow my family inferred that I know everything about health since I was almost a health volunteer in Morocco. Um, NO! They took me over to the grandmother´s house and continued to reference an ¨operation¨ that I knew everything about. I mean, i say ¨sí¨ a lot when I don´t know whats going on... so I could only imagine what this meant! They ended up getting out a stehascope and blood pressure cuff. I don´t know how that works! I debated 100 things in my head. Do I admit I don´t know what to do? Do I call Cathy and quickly get it explained? Do I just lie? For reasons unknown to me, I was really calm with the idea of just winging it. I mean, I´ve seen it done... how hard can this be? Luckily, the cuff was about 50 years old and broken so I didn´t have to go through with my massive lie but what an experience! I ended up just going through her most recent blood tests and some old xrays and pointing out things that weren´t there or saying things that I can´t verify are true about the blood. Good times!!

Everything asks when I´m getting a boyfriend. No time soon is always my response! The language, my coop, my house and then I´ll think about the other aspects to life. But in reality, I´m 99.9% I couldn´t date a Paraguayan. They legitimately believe mayo is a flavor (not a condiment) and that Christianity is the only religion in the world. No thanks boys!

So my house will have an extra bedroom, so have November I´m open for business! I would seriously love for anyone to visit, just let me know when!

Also, I´ve discovered that I LOVE getting mail! Please send anything! A letter, pictures of the states, things to decorate my new house since I have nothing, candy... whatever! Mail makes me think people have actually noticed I´m gone!

My address is
Betsy Curry, PCV
Cuerpo de Paz
162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. López
Asuncsión 1580, Paraguay
South America

OH! And MOST importantly I FINALLY added a few photos!

Paraguay Uno

Check them out and you´ll have a tiny taste of life here

the beginning has come...

2007-08-21T11:31:00.000-04:00

So its been quite a couple of days in Asuncion!

Our swearing-in ceremony was Friday morning and pretty quick. Since its the 40th anniversary of PC PY, the national director came down from Washington. He gave a nice little speach, our PY country director spoke, the embassador swore us in all at the same time, and we were out of there! They had a GREAT cake at the reception, and knowing me I'll probably remember that over the years over the actual ceremony!

The rest of our nights here were left to being out on the town. Its hard to remember that I'm in a third wold country/the Peace Corps when I can go to a movie theater and see Transformers in English TWO DAYS IN ROW! I mean, if you haven't seen that movie... its totally worth it. Best $2 movie EVER! Call me Jarrod Curry, but it was spectacular! We also ate at a fantastic Mexican place on Friday night and a charasceria last night. Basically, its a giant buffet where guys just walk around with swords of different kinds of meat. Its sooo delicious too!! We all broke a cardinal rule though. We ate sushi and steak tar tar in a land locked country. I'm still standing though!

EARLY Monday morning was the 40th anniversary celebration. Not extremely exciting either, but my group makes everything fun. Today is the first day that I leave to live in Guayaivi permanently, and its going to be so hard to stay away from my friends. We've had some unbelieveable moments in training and this past weekend in Asuncion gave us a few more classic memories. As I've said, there are 16 of us but there is a group of about 8-10 people that continually entertain one another. I've already had to say goodbye to a few, and although we're in the same country and we'll see each other once every two months or so... its still tough to know that life is changing SO drastically.

As for communication, I know have a cell phone and my area has great service so PLEASE call... speaking English will become very rare starting tonight. Also, I spoke with a volunteer that lives near me and she was giving me the low down on the computer situation. Turns out I'll have to take the 5:30am bus to a town that's about 30 minutes away. Then I'll have to wait around until a ciber opens and get everything done and back into town by noon. Good times! So the moral of the story? Emails are going to be less frequent, but please call!!

Well, my 30 minutes on the PC library computer is up. I hope you're all doing well and enjoying life as much as I am!

details of my new universe

2007-08-08T10:53:00.000-04:00

Ok! What a great couple of days its been! Here´s the latest...

The ¨retreat¨ with our contacts went well. Alfredo showed up from Guayaivi and he´s the ingenero, which basically means he does the technical side of the coop instead of the labor side. He actually lives in the capital, Asunción, and commutes the 3.5 hours to work there during the week. His brother is actually the mayor of Guayaivi, so I´m sure it will be good to keep up with the two of them! Although my official contact is the President of the coop, I think I´ll be working more closely with Alfredo since he knows all of the logistics including commercialization, communication with the members, financial info and exporting details. The retreat was a lot of fun to interact with excited Paraguayans anxious to get a volunteer of their own. And the best part? During a rousing frisbee game a managed to RIP my only pair of khaki pants right down the butt! Luckily only my American friends saw and, oddly enough, I was the third of our group of trainees to split pants during random activites like frisbee!!

Last Wednesday morning Alfredo and I headed off to Guayaivi. The bus ride was cramped, as usual, because the drivers literally pack passengers in like sardines. In fact, on my ride back this morning, I actually stood in the isle for 2 hours of the trip! As we got to the town, we walked a few yards down a street made of rocks and stopped at the house of Alfredo´s brother for a quick terere (the green tea-ish beverage that will be mentioned a lot throughout the next 2 years!) break while we waited for our ride. His brother´s house is huge and modern and I started to think, this is going to be a lot more chu-chi than I had anticipated! However, when our ride came and we started the 15km trek into my real home base reality set back in. Its all dirt, BUMPY and open. All of the houses have a lot of land, and although I am used to seeing brick homes... almost all in this compañia are wood.

After about 15 minutes in a truck, we finally hit the ¨compound¨ of the Bogado family. Behind a sturdy 5 foot wall is a set of 4 houses. This was the first time I had ever seen a wall like this considering 99% of all other homes in this country just have a fence if they´re lucky, and mostly just a giant yard. The homes belong to my new hosts (Raquel and Pablino), Paublino´s parents and two homes that are empty. His sister is living in Argentina and I´ve been told I´m going to be given her house. Sweet!! Paublino´s house is SUPER nice though, which was somewhat of a relief. He´s the treasurer of the coop and knows his farming business! Its sometimes difficult to convince farmers to invest in fertilizers because they don´t believe the investment will improve the quality of their product that much. Pablino definitely understands though and has stacks of fertilizer bags all around and his increased economic status is apparent too!

First thing is first though with a guest in Paraguay...what´s for dinner? Raquel decided chicken would be ideal, so we headed to her backyard. I was super excited because their yard is filled with all of the fruit trees I´ve come to love here... passion fruit, oranges, lemons, grapefruit and mangos. What tasty real estate! She grabbed a chicken and asked me to do the honors. I didn´t know what do to!! Luckily, I can still play the dumb card on that one because I haven´t killed a chicken yet. She laughed and gave me a lesson and made me promise the next time would be me doing the work! And, as is custom, the guest gets the best part. For me, it was a part I didn´t even know people ate... her sack of eggs. I choked it down, but all I could think was someone eating MY eggs! Random connection, I know... but what a welcome!

We also OFFICIALLY changed my name for the LAST time (I promise!) My other PC trainees and I had been joking about Beva since we liked Eva but should keep the B. I kid you not, the first thing I asked my new hosts was to give suggestions and the FIRST name out sans my suggestions was Beva!! So... Beva it is!

The only bathroom in the house is through Raquel´s and Pablino´s bedroom. My bladder could tell I was worried about this and of course, needed relief around 4am. I spotted a latrine outside during daylight hours so I found my only source of light (my travel alarm clock!) and made me way outside. The next morning, Raquel said she heard me get up and that it was silly. I should just walk through their room! But also, I needn´t worry because her husband was out that minute buying supplies for a bathroom. Yep, they´re building me my own bathroom! How crazy! They have two great kids... Romina (8) and Yony (3), pronounced Jonny in español. Romina immediately fell in love with me and holds my hand everywhere we go. She´s very intelligent so I can tell we´re going to have a great relationship over the next 2 years!

Yony´s a character and his relationship with Romina reminded me of the spats Jarrod and I used to have. He actually did a pretty Jarrod-esque move the other day too. In the middle of an open field where his mom and I were digging up mandioca (the potato family staple here), he just started pushing me. I looked down and couldn´t really figure out what he was doing as he was screaming MOVE BEVA MOVE! Then he said the only words you need to hear from a 3 year old... peepee!! Surrounded by nothingness I was forced to relocate to he could relieve himself where he wished. Oh the graces of being recently pottytrained!

My days were spent talking with the Bogado family and meeting other members of the coop. We´ve agreed that my first month, more or less, will be spent with their family. After that, I´ll rotate for a few weeks just to get to know some of the other members and their families. The VP actually asked me over for lunch on Sunday, and he and I had an at length conversation about exporting situations, communications woes, and how quality means everything when selling fruits. He´s a talker but he has a lot of passion when he speaks, so I´m gonig to enjoy his company a lot.

My outlying street of Guayaivi is pretty much what I expected. Two buses come in a day (5am and 11am) and the nearest place to buy and resemblence of groceries is a solid 20 minute walk. There is, however, a health volunteer about 7km on the road out to the Ruta. She wasn´t in but I´m excited to talk to her too and do a lot of collaborating since originally I wanted to be a health volunteer. There is a school very close to mine so I´m already beginning to entertain the idea of having cultural classes. There is so much these people are cut off from, so I´d like to bring it to them with a monthly lesson about a specific country including music, dance, and of course food! I may be calling on some of you to contribute info, but that´s a ways off. First I need to speak better Guarani!

So what´s next? Not much actually. Two weeks of sparse classes and excursions, then its swearing in on the 17th. Its the 40th Year Anniversary of PC volunteers in PY, so the Chair of PC is coming down from Washington and all the PY dignitaries are supposed to show some face too. Should be VERY memorable! After that, my friends and I will spend 4 wild nights in the capital city indulging in all that we can. I heard a rumor that the food I´m missing most is available, so I will be on the hunt for hummus! There is also a zoo that is apparently similar to stepping into the wild and a few movie theaters too. We´ll be doing it all before all we have to connect our lives is a text message.

I´m loving this but I´m still missing all of you! Please email if you can and continue to enjoy this great world of ours!

I have a home!!!

2007-07-28T13:17:00.000-04:00

Its been an really eventful complete of days! Yesterday the language staff took us on all day field trips to keep our minds off of our super important afternoon tell-all. It didn´t really work as my 15 passenger van of trainees sat in silence most of the day. Luckily, 3pm finally rolled around. They normally bring in the kid that cried the year before to talk about how their expectations weren´t met but now they love it. Apparently, 4 girls cried last year but they all early terminated within a few months, so that´s kind of funny! The volunteer was super nice though and wait it all boils down to is that our assignment is still just a bunch of words on some paper. We´ll get there and things may change or contacts may change. As usual, just go with the flow and be FLEXIBLE!

With that said, I didn´t cry but they´ll probably have me giving that speech next year. I´m not disappointed by any means, my assignment just isn´t what I had imagined at all. I´m the newest resident of Calle 2.000 Xaxi, Guayaibí (pronounced gua-ja-i-vi), which is in the department of San Pedro. San Pedro is the poorest department, so I´m glad I can help somewhere that really needs it! I´ll be working with a coopertive, Coopertiva Guayaibí Unidos, that is an agriculture coop with 80 members--VERY small. They produce mostly bananas and pineapples in the region and do some exporting to Argentina. As of now, I am told that want a volunteer because they´re interesting in improving farming productivity, exporting efficiency, and beginning to export tomatos. And the icing on the cake, I´m the most campo out of the 16 people in my training group!! That means that I´m living in the most remote area which I didn´t expect but I´m totally up for the challenge! My ¨city¨ has 400 people... so I´m sure they´re all going to know me! The second smallest site of the group has 2,000. Your pay is determined by how large your site is, and only 3 of us are at the rock bottom pay, which is 1.200.000 Gs a month. Its going to take a while to get over the novelty of being paid over 1.000.000 a month!! Also, I´m pretty excited because with a site so small I´ll be fluent in Guarani. I´ve kind of been holding off because a lot of people never even speak it, but it will be my form of contact I´m sure! I´ll try to throw in a Guarani lesson each time I write. Here´s today´s: Mba´eichapa is how you say ¨how are you¨ and the typical response is Ipora, which means good/well. Also, throw in a thumbs up too with it. They love the thumbs up here!!

Of the other 15 trainees, everyone is close to someone else other than myself and two others. Thats probably a good thing though because I really love some of the people in my group, and it will be better for us to be away from each other just for intergration purposes. And I´ll stay out of trouble too! :)

Other than that, we did some bee keeping this week and that was interesting. I´m not sure if I will have any of that in my site, but its definitely a trip! Even in full gear, which can be seen on Facebook, I still can´t get over the annoying sound of a ton of bees buzzing around my face! Ick!

This morning we had a a really early start. There have been bets floating around about a friend of mine sucking on cow teet. 5:30am was the magic hour apparently! I finally accomplished a life long dream of learning how to milk a cow (its sooo hard and I was horrible! Milk ALL over my feet... the squirt power is outrageously strong and unpreditable for amatures!) And my friend will put mouth to udder. The best part, our friend´s mom didn´t even think it was weird. Will said ¨and now like a baby cow?¨ in Guarani and she didn´t think twice. There were four of us there and we were crying we were laughing so hard. His payment for the best, another trainee, Andrew, has to kick 9 chickens. Kind of a random currency but should be entertaining too! Tons of great pictures that will have to be uploaded another day!!

So this week I´ll visit Guayaibí. We meet our contacts on Tuesday and have an overnight retreat with them at a center near here. Mine is the president of the coop and hopefully has patience since my Guarani SUCKS right now! Then Wednesday morning its off to our new homes for 5 days. I´ll get living arrangements together as well. We have to live with a family for the first 3 months and I´m planning on rotating houses every 2 weeks so I can get to know as many people as possible. We swear in on 17August and will spend 4 wild nights in Asunción before getting to our real jobs 21August. Wish me luck and keep the emails coming!

Oh, and one more note, although Ana was working for a while I´m doing yet another name change. Turns out Aña means devil in Guaurani. The Paraguayos don´t have a problem with Ana, but I do! Its Eva now... still sweet and simple (just like me! ha!)

mucho información!

2007-07-21T10:35:00.000-04:00

First off, I need to appologize for not writing sooner. Its been very busy around here and its tough to find the 20 minutes it takes to write these dialogues. On the up side though, life has been moving along nicely!

Two weeks ago we visited a volunteer in Ybycui which is about 2 hours from here. We just went for an overnight tech excursion to learn about his co-op. It also doesn´t hurt that just up the road from him there is a great national park too! His co-op is mostly working with giving out credits to farmers but he is trying to start a few income generating projects for the group as well, so it was interesting to brainstorm the possibilities and likelihood of each. While in Ybycui, we all witnessed our first cow killing. We got up at 4:30am and it was worth it! Not that I am totally into killing animals or anything, but I realize how important meat is to the families in this country and how many families will benefit from one cow. I couldn´t take pictures but the boys did, so one day I may share. Mary, the only other girl in my training group, also witnessed a pig killing with me with the family we were spending the night with. Two large animals killed in less than 12 hours kind of made us angels of death or something! The park we visted on the way out of town was nice. Reminded me of all of our national parks in WV. There was a waterfall right off the road and we trekked another 1km or so up to a much more exotic one. Very tranquil!

Aside from our classes another trainee and I have been working with a strawberry farmer. This week we´re actually giving him a presenation about how he can improve his business by expanding into jams too. Actually, this afternoon we´re making jam with his wife. She´s super sweet and her daughter is too, so that should be fun!

A family in our pueblo had a Quince last weekend. It was actually fun this time considering I´ve been to one before that was a total drag and a wedding that was equally boring. It was smaller and almost completely comprised of families we are familiar with, so that could have easily made the difference!

I´ve spent the last 5 days in Valenzuela visiting another volunteer for what they call Long Field Practice. We had to prepare mini presentation (refered to as charla here) to the organization that volunteer works for. Four of us were at her site and my topic was financing an internet cafe. It went well and its super easy when you´re giving a charla to a group of grandmas! Might I add, I´m completely coveting the volunteer´s project! She gets to work with a women´s organization 80% of the time and a credit co-op 20% of the time. The women´s organization (AMUR) is completely great! It was like being at camp for a week and I was the best camper! We made recycled paper, soap, and cooked a few traditional Paraguayan dishes too. I loved it!! They also have computer, sewing, and leather working classes as well. In fact, we had aopo´i(s) (a hand-made shirt that is a favorite of the locals) made for 60.000Gs which is roughly $12! I´ve never had anything customized before, so it was a treat! My host family for the week was amazing as well! The mom, Ña Elsa, is probably the best cook in that village. She even made me homemade ice cream! We also visited another one of the org´s members that is really well off... and I mean REALLY! Her house was huge and surrounded by acres and acres and acres of caña dulce, which can be made into sugar, molasses, and liquor. That´s how she and her husband had so much money. In addition to a giant house, TONS of land, a dishwasher, two kitches and their own factories to process the caña, they also had pure bread dogs (which you NEVER see here... muts everywhere!), a POOL and a slew of exotic pets. Everything from an ostrich to bunnies, exotic birds and giant turtles, and even their very own MONKEY! It was completely surreal and I had to ask myself... am I really in the Peace Corps? Apparently there are bubbles like this throughout the country where you just find people with money. Valenzuela is actually socioeconomically well off compared to a lot of other pueblos, but this house really blew my mind. We ended our week by cooking an American breakfast. It was nice to be the host for once because we are always the guests in this country and rarely ever get to cook for others. We made pancakes, bacon and omeletes for our host moms. They couldn´t understand why would ever have a meal without bread or mandioca (the standard potato-esque veggie eaten with all foods here) during a meal.

My Spanish is coming along nicely, although I still have a lot to learn with Guarani. I can hold down conversations about women in politics, how long it will take to recoup your losses after investing in an internet cafe, domestic violence, and what its like to be from parents that are divorced. Not bad for only 7 weeks here!! I´m learning more and more each day though and there will be no stopping that process for most likely two years!

This Friday (SIX short days!) I learn where my home will be. I´ve requested a larger area, 5 hours or less from the capital and to not replace a current volunteer but we´ll see what kind of curve ball they throw my way. Its a complete gamble, but I´m very excited! I really like it here and to think I could be writing from Morocco!!(which was my original Peace Corps destination!) This country needs a lot of work but the people are so hospitable and kind. Its going to be a good two years! Once we learn our future location and assignment, we have another couple of days of training and then set off on our own to visit for 5 days. I´m sure then it will really set in what kind of adventure I´m really on.

I hope all of you are doing well and please try to email me if you can. Bueno suerte! :) (which means good luck!)

Mba´éichapa!

2007-07-03T17:07:00.000-04:00

Its been a week or so since my last update, and I appologize. Its not always easy to get to a computer, and past that... sometimes there is just nothing new to report!

As you may be able to tell by the title of this entry, I´ve breezed through Spanish classes and as of yesterday I am fully in Guarani territory! Its definitely a very difficult language to say because there are 9 ¨nasal¨ letters that are a terror to pronounce correctly. Past that, many words can have different meetings. Heê means yes, and He´e means rico (rich, as in rich food). Since its an indigenous langauge, they don´t have a complete list of vocab so a few are pulled from Spanish. Its still rough! Luckily, my host grandfather speaks almost no Spanish, so I can practice on him all the time. I´ll keep you posted on my progress!

Big SHOUT OUT to one very special Zachery Scott. He sent a letter weeks ago and it was the first piece of mail I´ve received! Dad sent a letter and a packages ages ago, but they haven´t shown up. Actually, I was notified today that my package is in Asunción, but I have to go through 100 steps to get it. Hopefully I can have it in my posession by next week. The things a PCT has to go through to get some deodorant!

Saturday morning we got up early (we were on the road by 6:30am) to drive to THE Chaco! The Chaco makes up about 80% of the land but only about 5-10% of the population lives there. Its was somewhat barren, but we didn´t go in very deep. About 20km across the ¨border¨ there is an Agricultural School to teach young boys and girl better farming methods. It was the ultimate summer camp location too! They had beautiful yellow dorms dotting the landscape and everything farm related you can think of. We explore fish breeding ponds, every vegetable and fruit on earth, cows, chickens, goats, and much more. However, my favorite (and my mom will be proud!) were the baby PIGS! They are soooo cute, however last night we found one in our neighborhood, and I´m sorry to report the babies squeel just as much as the adults. A real let down! My friend has promised to train a midget pig (but I want it to always be a baby!) to not squeel and then give it to me next year for my birthday. The crazy thing is that is a perfectly normal gift! Actually, its probably too nice of a gift.... we´ll see if he actually comes through next April though.

After our Chaco trip we headed to Ascunción to spend the night. We stayed in a relatively nice two star hotel for 55.000 Gs a night ($11). The PC has a special deal with them always, which is great to know! Normally it would cost 3 times that. I think we all took showers for 20 minutes, 2-3 times while there too. Having the pressure was heaven! We wanted some non-PY food too, so we sought out an all you can eat Chinese restaraunt. We paid almost as much as we did for our room for that one meal, but it was totally worth it to have sweet and sour chicken, dim sum, and veggies!

Sunday was a big Independence Day party at the Embassy. The Embassy is MASSIVE! Its a solid 4 city blocks or more and is apparently the 2nd largest in the world. It was nice to chat with some other volunteers. I must report though that we had our butts kicked in volleyball. Turns out the Marines don´t even play because the Paraguayans murdered them last year. We learned our lesson the hard way. It was embarassing but of cource, FUN! We´ve already begun training so we can regain dignity next year!

This weekend we´re having an overnight at a volunteer´s site to help him with a project then Saturday afternoon we´re going to some great park for a picnic. If its warm, we can even swim! It ill be really nice to get some sun since we´re indoors so much for training. Sunday is my brother´s 9th birthday, but I think I have to miss the celebration because we´re trying our hands at BEEKEEPING! We hear about it a lot since we will most likely be working with farmers or farming families, so I´m really pumped to suit up! The funny thing is though you actually have to make a bee sting you before you can do the work, so apparently its hilarious to watch everyone try to force a bee to sting their arms.

Well, thats about all I have now. Please continue to write and let me know if you have any pressing questions. I´m enjoying myself down here in the sometimes Twilight-esque Zone, and I wish nothing but the best for all of you too!

It´s been a while...

2007-06-22T09:33:00.000-04:00

So life has been busy here! Last Wednesday we visited Asuncion, which is the capital of Paraguay, for the first time. That was an adventure and fun! We had a task to complete in pairs, and mine was meeting with a man that runs a company called CAPYME. We were given zero directions and just told what business to report to. We asked around our community and found out what buses to take where, and after walking quite a bit we found it. The guy was AMAZGING! He spoke English (which is almost unheard of here!) and his company helps small or medium sized businesses throughout the country. He wants a volunteer to work at one of his more rural businesses, but apparently the PC hasn´t agreed to that yet. He was really interesting though!

The capital is pretty dirty, just like the rest of the country. Actually, while at lunch an older man stopped me and said I was in the newspaper. He was from FL and said he never forgot a face. I hate to break it to you folks, but I am not famous in Paraguay (yet). It was some other PC volunteer, but apparently the main PC office is doing a lot of advertising for the giant 40th anniversary celebration in August. My swearing in actually! The president of PC will be coming down and its going to be a REALLY big deal!

Over the weekend, I was given the name of a volunteer and where she lived. Again, no real directions, just to find your way to the main bus terminal in Asucion and make it there SOLO. Made it there and got in my 5 hour ride to this volunteer I have never spoken to. Luckily, she was great! It was sooo refreshing to see the actual life of a volunteer. She had a really modest house... only two rooms, no fridge, no running water, a well that we couldn´t drink, and a latrine that was so far away we peed in a bucket at night. And you know what, I LOVED IT! You are one your own, you are doing good work, its just fantastic! I am really looking forward to having that freedom in a few months.

I lived with the volunteer from Saturday until Tuesday, and for Dia de Padre (Fathers Day), we went to a neighbors for asado which is BBQ essential. It was TASTY! Political talk started coming out though and although we all know I´m not a fan of our current administration, we have it way better off than most. W is a complete idiot, but Paraguayans lived under a dictator for 40 years. Strossner taught them to rely on others and never trust the government or any hierarchy of power. If people met in groups of 4 people, the police would come and break them up. This was only ended less than 20 years ago! So the older generations still talk about it, and although I do not think dictatorships are the answer to anything, a lot of people here liked it better. They felt safer in their communities and had a better economy, and thats all they recognize. The corruption is still prevelant here, but its just a lot to understand. It really affects the way I will need to observe others and motivate others, because honestly they are just unaware of all they can do.

This weekend is my first Paraguayan wedding and next weekend is the big 4th of July party at the Embassy! Its a pretty chuchi place, so we are all looking forward to exploring. Apparently the Marines are UBER competitive at volleyball at this party, so we have already signed ourselves up to complete. THEY ARE GOING DOWN!!!

More to come in the future! Also, if you email me and I don´t respond... do not worry! I am loving the updates but finding the time to write back to everyone is really tough! Keep them coming though! They keep me sane and you are all in my thoughts frequently!!

What´s new in the campo?

2007-06-12T10:19:00.000-04:00

Its a holiday for Paraguayans, so we don´t have class. Its a short week too because tomorrow we´re spending the day exploring Ascuncion (the capital) and then on Saturday we leave (SOLO!) to live with another volunteer for a few days. I have no idea where I´ll be sent in the country or what project I´ll be doing with what type of volunteer, but I´m definitely excited!

A group of us traveled to Ita today, which is the closest "city" to our campo of Las Piedras. Its about a 20 minute bus ride. The Cyber wasn´t open yet so we explored. We ended up grabbing a morning snack for 3.000 Guaranis which is equivalent to about 60 cents. And that was for all 4 of us! Everything is so cheap here. Its amazing!

Saturday I was taking my regular siesta and my friend Andrew walked into my room. He was bored so we decided to go on a walk to the local town to see our friends in the Municipal group. As we were meeting up with them we saw a 3 firetrucks. I thought it was a parade! Oh naive Betsy... a 12 year old was thrown 5 yards off his moto and was in the middle of the road. I kid you not, everyone in the city was crowded around him watching. No barriers at all! Motorcycle accidents happen all the time, but I´m so glad it´s a PC rule that we´re not even allowed near them.

Its a month of celebrating San Juan, which I really don´t comprehend. All I know is there are parties every weekend in our campo! Saturday was the first one. Only myself and 2 other guys went, but it was intersting. About 75 dudes ranging from 13-25 years old and only about 20 girls. All of the guys are obsessed with meeting girls! I thought them claiming I was their girlfriend would save me from pushy Parguayans, but it actually does the opposite! I save them!! My friend Andrew was harassed all night by guys trying to hook him up with girls. It was pretty classic!

For the PC we´re required to give a "charla," which is essentially a chat about a business topic. They have to be prepared in a manner that those that can´t read could understand and its supposed to be in Spanish. Pretty much everyone is going in July but I´ve been asked to go THIS Friday! Luckily, I get to speak in English. Its about marketing and needs based assessments, so I should be ok. I´m glad to get it over with though!

Today is the anniversary of my host grandmother´s death. I have no idea when she passed away or how. This morning I was trying to get info out of my little bro about it. To confirm my suspisions that she was dead, I asked "where is you´re grandmother?" And so matter of factly my bro responded "in the cemetary Betsy!" He´s a character but can be a little brat. The boys are waited on by their mothers all their lives, so he´s already experiencing that and loving it.

Not much else to report! As we all know, Teale got engaged so congrats! Kel moves to DC Friday and Kyle´s moving to FL on Monday. So excited for you all!

Are there any questions that you guys have about Paraguay´? I´m running out of material folks!

down on the farm...

2007-06-09T10:13:00.001-04:00

Today we were supposed to have a lesson on Parguayan history, but the professor didn´t show we have a rare Saturday to ourselves. I used the morning hours to make a few phone calls on Skype, so if I random number is on your caller ID... ANSWER IT! Talked to Dad, Carolyn and Taylor and it was great to hear all of your voices!!

The food here is pretty nuts. A favorite drink is a mix of wine, Coke and ice. YUM-Y! Everything we consume is meat based or white... white rice, mandioc (which is a starch relative of the potato) and bread, hard or soft. GREAT! There are also ZERO condiments other than salt and oil. I don´t want to offend my mom too much, but we´re quickly approaching a conversation about the foods she´s pumping into my blood stream. The thing to do is drink mate. Its sort of like green tea but they add different herbs for different problems. there is even one for PMS, although I haven´t tested it yet! When I upload pictures I´ll include ones of us drinking the mate.

My average day is as follows...

6:30am: get up and shower
7:00: drink cafe con leche (but its mostly just sugar) and some hard bread
7:45-11:30: language training, and my language partner Brennan and I pracitcing sarcasm in spanish
11:30-1pm: my favorite time of day... SIESTA!!! (and lunch)
1-5pm: technical training about how to do development and work with groups
5-8: practicing spanish with my fam and playing more Uno than should be legal
8-9 or 10: study Spanish and Guarani, and reading up on developement

I guess this is what I would call living the dream? Ha! Its fun though and I´m still on a high, but they promise a bad day is just around the corner.

This weekend will have more volleyball or soccer and an American dance party. Should be fun! A fellow trainee´s bro is getting married in two weeks, and this morning I got the official invite! I´m PUMPED! Only 3 of us are invited so far... so we´re a pretty big deal! There is also a dude that lives in my community that is Japanese, which is rare. He´s really helped the community a lot and the local school is named after him! He´s in the process of building a pagota on top of a giant hill... so I´m hoping today we can explore it. I´ll let you know!

Keep the emails coming. I love hearing what everyone is doing!

INFO OVERLOAD!

2007-06-06T17:02:00.000-04:00

So the language training is super intense... our session today was all on contracting AIDS (which isn´t common here. YES!) and our potential roles in our communities when we´re solo. I found out that the whole "cotton farming assigment" is totally an example and they don´t even do much cotton farming here anymore. Great! As we´ve been told a million times since arrival... BE FLEXIBLE! Nothing is as it seems and you´ll never do what you think you´ll be doing. I´m trying to just keep an open mind, which isn´t hard since the local motto is tranquillo!

I´m making some great friends which is good and bad because in 3 months I´ll be at least an hour, if not a day, from each of them! We are in class 6 days a week so the learning is coming in full force. I just want to be able to speak Spanish, and that will make life much easier at home and traveling!

I taught my little brother Gabriel to play Uno the other night. He kicks my butt now, so maybe that wasn´t a good idea :) My mom doesn´t cook much on her own which is weird because everyone else´s mom packs them full of food. My mom gets someone else to make the empanadas which is what we eat a TON of! (Its meat, eggs, and rice in a deep fried casing). We have a orange tree, a few banana trees and yes... FIVE PIGS! I´m kind of getting used to the latrine too. Its not so bad until I get stomach problems which we are assured will come. GREAT!

Next week we get a treasure hunt with another volunteer in the capital. That will be a task and fun! I´m looking forward to exploring the city though, because we haven´t seen it at all yet. And then next weekend we´re sent out ON OUR OWN to visit another volunteer in the field. That will be rough too but I´m excited to see how its really done. I´m leaning more towards assingments with entreprenuerial women and youth, so hopefully I´ll get to experience that next weekend. Again, it could be ANYTHING!

The more I´m learning about development though, the more I´m loving it. I´m reading all the material I can so maybe this will be yet another career option? Who knows!

As for the phones, there are a few places (not where i live though) where international calls can be made. I´m going to try to figure it out ASAP so I can let mom and dad know I´m ok. Its expensive though so the calls will be quick! Also, they´ve told us that training is the toughest time to keep in touch. We are constantly in class which is away from communication. I´m shooting for once a week!

I love and miss you all... and please keep up the emails! Its great to hear whats going on. Mad props to Meghan and Carolyn for writing... MOM, DAD, Taylor, Kyle, Em, Cathy?? WTF?? :)

FINALLY HERE!

2007-06-01T15:43:00.000-04:00

So please stick with me as Paraguay isn´t great on technology. Internet just hit a few years ago and cell phones are the latest rage for those that can afford it. I´ll try to give a recap of my new life...

Miami was short and sweet. I´m in a group of 16, 7 of us (Brennan, Andrew, Stuart, Dave, Will, Mary) though are my core group. I see the other 9 when we´re in our main training station in Guarambare which is just outisde the capital of Asuncion. We come from very diverse backgrounds. Everything form former music compsition major and masters to all-American lacrosse player, business owners and lawyers. I´m the definite baby of the group the. Another guy is 22 but will turn 23 in the Fall.

My group is pretty great! Five boys and two girls, so that is somewhat rare. The guys are all really specactular though and have taken me under their wings. I´ve always been better friends with boys anyway!

We flew from Miami to Buenos Aires and then to Paraguay. A few delays but nothing major. We arrived at the aiport and apparently I won the "Welcome to the Peace Corps Prize!" because BOTH of my pieces of luggage didn´t make it. Luckily I know how to pack so I had some clean underwear for overnight! We were transported to our main training center in Guarambare which is about 45 minutes from the capital. Introductions and then we were out meeting our families.

My family lives in a tiny campo called Las Piedras. My mama is 38 and her name is Esperanza. She lives with her son Gabriel (8) and father Quintino (70). Gabriel can help me with Spanish and Quintino will be a great resource for Guarani, which is the local language. I´m rusty on Spanish and have learned a few Guarani words, but basically my evening consisted of me going through my Spanish dictionary pointing out words. They have a nice house as well. Its about5 rooms all connected via an outdoor walkway. Esperanza manages a tienda (store) out of her home during the days and her father farms nearby.

As I was getting a tour, I also got yet another gold star for having one of two houses (out of all 16 of us!) with an OUTHOUSE! I guess this just points me back to my real WV roots! Its not too bad, although I´ve only used it once and have yet to venture there at night. There is a shower as well but it doesn´t get hot at all. This is what I signed up for though, so bring it on!

Our days will be filled with training. Right now I am in Guarambare, but soon I will only be here once a week. The other 5 days of weekly training (the only day we have off is Sunday) I will be in my campo which has no phone service or Internet Cafe. I´m SLOWLY relearning the Spanish I learned in junior high and high school, and starting to learn other skills as well. Many other trainees are already fluent and so I have had to rely on them a little to explain things. I can understand it far better than I can speak it. I guess the evenings are for studying!

Home life is interesting too. They are really into soap operas! I´m in a rural area as well, so that means lots of roosters (or I call them alL GAMECOCKS!) and cows walking around on the roads and dogs that aren´t pets. The farmers get up around 2am to start their days, so its very noisy all morning. Again, this is what I signed up for! The only things I could really talk to my host family about was my family, a little bit of food talk and where things are. Esperanza said "tu madre es linda!!" which means your mom is pretty, which only makes since considering her given name is Bonita! They also asked if Kyle was my boyfriend and when I said no they said Ben O´Dell was lindo (attractive) and simpactico. Get it Ben!

Anyhoo, please continue to send me emails if you can! If you reply to the email I send you after my blog is updated, it reaches all of us! Just type in betsy.curry@yahoo.com and write me! Hasta Luego!

Last night home...

2007-05-29T00:13:00.000-04:00

Its Monday evening, and my official last night at home for two years! TWO YEARS? I can't believe this time has come so quickly but I'm more excited than anything else! Tomorrow I leave bright and early for a flight to Miami (first class, compliments of Mr. Kyle Bohman!) and then its orientation for a day in a half. I've been told we get to go out on the town on the Peace Corps dollar too! Isn't it nice to know your taxes are going being used wisely :)

Wednesday evening I leave for good. Asuncion here I come! I'm anxious to starting learning about Paraguay's culture and languages. This will be a life altering experience, I have no doubt, so lets get to the altering!

I'll try to notify the masses once I have a cell phone. Otherwise, please email me at betsy.curry@yahoo.com so I know I am loved.

Adios amigos!

Paraguay Contact Info

2007-05-02T11:05:00.000-04:00

The lovely people at the Peace Corps have emailed me a hefty 111 page document about my life in my new home. Below is my address, I thought it would be best to post it now before access to a computer was limited.

Betsy Curry PCT (and after I'm done with training, you'll write PCV)
Cuerpo de Paz
162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. López
Asuncsión 1580, Paraguay
South America

Also, my other big news is that I WILL have a cell phone! I was apprehensive about having this technological cruch, but many current volunteers said it has made them feel much more comfortable. If you're thinking about calling it (I'll be sure to post the # as soon as I get it), I would suggest looking into Skype. It's an online service (skype.com) and worked well for me during my days in Europe.

More info to come...

And a big shout out...

2007-04-11T00:55:00.000-04:00

goes to my technology consultant (dennis) ming who came up with the url title for this blog and kyle for almost peeing his pants when i told him.

more stories to come as i prepare to leave for Paraguay to serve as a rural economic developer for the Peace Corps. I'm leaving May 28, so plan on buying me a drink sometime between now and then!