Back in Guarambare! Ahhhh, home sweet home. I spent the last couple days in the Caaguazu region, shadowing PCV Vickie and learning a bit about life in the campo. I met Vickie and her BF Blake at the Asuncion Bus Station Monday morning.Blake lives in a community pretty close to Asuncion that is an afro-paraguayan community, one of the only ones. Interesting little tid bit of Paraguayan history-there are many Paraguayans that believe that there was never slavery in this country because it was more or less erased from the history books a long time ago. I’m not sure of all the details but I know it has a lot to do with the dictatorship and what not, but pretty interesting eh? Anyway, Vickie and Blake and great humans for a bunch of reasons, one of the being they know the value of getting a good meal in Paraguay. For lunch, we went to Asuncion’s China Town and had some lovely chicken and rice-and soy sauce to boot! After some travel, Vickie treated me to “lomitoarabe”, which is what they call doner kebabs here (yes Madrid Kids-they HAVE taken over the world, gracias adios!) which was easily the most delicious thing I had tasted in three weeks. Yes that’s right; I have been here three weeks as of Wednesday! Woa.So we got to her teeny tiny sight that consists of a mile long “main street” with several off shoots that house the majority of the residents. The main street has a smattering of little stores, one of which is a clothing store that is owned by her Argentinian neighbors. We stopped in there to meet the fam, have some terere, discuss local happenings etc. This family was really interesting because instead of moving away from Paraguay to Argentina as so many people do, they decided after nearly twenty years in Buenos Aires to come back to sleepy little Cecilio Baez. Needless to say their teenage daughters are not feeling it, and have been trying to move back since they got here. They were an exceedingly nice family , and there accents were a nice little change up too.
Vickie lives in a cute little green house with her own kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom-perfect size for one person. She doesn’t have a refrigerator which means she has to go grocery shopping A LOT. However, one new thing I learned this week is that eggs don’t actually have to go in the refrigerator right away. Who knew?
I’ve already talked about Paraguayans rain phobia but in this town it seemed a little more valid since nothing was paved and everything got muddy and squishy in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately the massive two day rain storm of yesterday and today inhibited my trip a little bit because there were not too many people around to talk to at the school and the municipality, and Vickie’s girls group cancelled on her which was a bummer but I picked her brain for ideas and things anyway. I got to speak with the director of the school, the mayor, and watch Vickie give several computer classes in the muni as well which was interesting and something I never really considered doing but I surely see the relevance of it now. At night since it was raining so bad I picked Vickie’s brain about various other PC things, and she gave me the latest addition of the Peace Corps Paraguay magazine which is put out every swear in/close of service and is HILARIOUS. It made me really excited to start meeting other PC Paraguayers and to really start getting into the thick of things during service. Also, I realized I totally need to get an external hard drive so I can join the movie and tv show swapping network taking over the nation around here. We watched a couple episodes of How I Met Your Mother and she had a whole bunch of other stuff too. I can definitely see how something like that can maintain your sanity on slow campo nights in the rain.
This morning I jumped on the last bus outta town at 7:15am (the first one leaving at 5am, just to give you a clue as to how isolated this place is) and after a pit stop in a beautiful little city called Oviedo (not quite Vicky Cristina Barcelona but very cute)I hopped on a bus to Asuncion. The rain was SO intense, the most intense it’s been since I’ve been here so thank god Vickie was nice enough to lend me her umbrella or else it could’ve gotten ugly. In Asuncion I took an empanada break and then set out looking for my chariot back to Guarambare. The thing about the Paraguayan bus system is that you’re really never 100% sure you’re on the right bus, going in the right direction, paid the right price etc. There is a fair amount of guess work in all of it which makes it interesting, and in the POURING rain even more interesting. Luckily I picked correctly and made it back to a casi flooded Guarambare just in time for lunch and a siesta! My host aunt or cousin or something, Ali was over for lunch and she is always very warm and funny so I love her company. Some kids in my group are working in her school so she was asking me how they thought the first day went and then I just had a piece of fried chicken and went to off to my glorious nap.Luckily, I woke up just in time to go get ice cream with Ariel, Deide, and Ian’s two host siblings Matias and Velem.Wonderful day, all in all.
Saturday
Yesterday we had a training day at the big center so it was nice to catch up with the health kids and see where and what they’ve been up to the past week or so since we saw them. Most of them went to reallllllly campo places and it was funny to compare experiences. Then we got another really gross and disturbing power point on scabies and worms and bot flies (a fly that bites you and then lays an egg in you and if you don’t get it out the larvae will grow and become a fly IN you!) and other really gross things that may or may not ail you whist in Paraguay. We were all sitting there itching and grossed out the whole time but luckily I got to escape to go get my yellow fever shot and have my interview with Dee, the kind of second in command around here. So I was put out of my misery. After that we all enjoyed a Brahma or two at the little place next to the training center and had a mini celebration for one of the health kid’s birthdays.
Today we had language class early in the morning but it was fun because instead of class we had a little fiesta to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Peace Corps and also El Dia de La MujerParaguaya which was really awesome. We made guacamole with the avocados and limes from the back yard of the school and we bought a cake and made popcorn and invited our families and stuff. A couple people spoke about the history of Peace Corps, the history of the Paraguayan Women’s Day, and also about famous and important women in Peace Corps History. Ian wrote a song in guarani to celebrate the event as well. Then everyone ate and drank and what not and had a great time and we got out of guarani lessons for the day! Hallelujia!
We have the afternoon off so Ellie and I are going to show Luisito a thing or two about making papas fritas and then we’re going to watch the big important soccer game-Cerro vs. Olimpia. The whole country is at odds about this match because its between the two most popular teams in the country so it should be pretty exciting. I’ve become a Cerro fan because I’d probably get the locks changed on me if I wasn’t. So- yay Cerro!! The rest of the weekend I plan on spending verrrrrrrytranquilo and finally finishing my book! We’ve all begun a massive book trade so hopefully I’ll be able to trade mine for something new and interesting. Someone got a huge package yesterday from the Peace Corps office and we were all so jealous but her mom spent like a million dollars getting it here in a week so I’m not sure if it’ll be worth it to send things DHL. The post office ladies are coming this Wednesday so I can finally send out my letters! Apparently there is a post office in Guarambare but in typical Paraguayan fashion no one really seems to know exactly when its open and closed so I figure I’ll just wait until they come to us.
Miss and love you all, look for some letters in the next couple weeks!
Paz,
Himay
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Asuncion and rainy days
Thursday
So I survived my first trip to la capital! We all went on a little scavenger hunt of Asuncion and the surrounding areas today. Each pair was assigned a couple tasks to go see whilst navigating the jungle that is the Paraguayan bus system. We are all a little concerned going into it considering the tales of Tuesday when the Rural Health and Sanitation training group had the same assignment. A lot of people got really lost and were late arriving to the Peace Corps Office, two girls were detained at the embassy for an hour until the Marines finally believed they were Peace Corps Trainees (note to all travelers: don’t take pictures at an embassy) AND someone passed out on the way home. All in all: not the most successful of days.
None the less we all got up super early and caught buses out of Guarambare between 6 and 7 aka Paraguayan rush hour. Luckily for us Guarambare is at the beginning of the line so we got seats in the front near the driver so we could see and also tell the driver where we needed to get off, because obviously having pre-determined bus stops would make the world way too simple. So we were on our way, cell phone, ipod, and jewelry-less as to not make ourselves targets on the buses for theft. I was nursing my first Paraguayan illness so I can’t say I was looking forward to the bus but it turned out the definitely be one of the most culturally enriching things I have done thus far here. Businessman, young people, moms and children, vendors, beggars-you name it they got it on the Paraguayan buses. The roads are rocky and windy but there is for sure something really predictable about the morning commute-no matter how hectic and aroutine it may have seemed to us. And then the baby vomited. Like I said, the roads are rocky and bumpy and windy and it really is enough to give anyone bus sickness, especially a little kid who doesn’t even have his own two feet on the ground. Luckily for me I happened to just turn my head as the cute little boy I had noticed getting on the bus earlier because of his cute ringlets, let out a lovely milky substance in one big heave. Also luckily for me, while I don’t think my feet could’ve gotten any closer, he didn’t puke on my feet. And a third lucky thing is, this baby’s puke didn’t smell so bad so it didn’t turn my stomach or anything. Wow, I’m really becoming a glass half full person already here in Paraguay.
So we arrived at “Shopping del Sol”, a huge American style mall complete with McDonalds AND Burger King but considering the state of my health I decided to pass on both . Next time for sure. Ps. as far as my research has shown thus far, NO t bell in Paraguay. DOWNGRADE. We meandered about the mall looking for book stores which was what our assignment was. Books are freakin expensive here, its no wonder so few people read and write well. Then we headed to the national professional development office which was a big, impressive building but not that interesting otherwise. We collected some info from the secretary and went on our way.
We arrived pretty early at the Peace Corps Office so Gustavo the security man with the master plan let us go on the internet-fo free! Once everyone else arrived we sat in another series of lectures and things about mail (if you’re gonna send a package send it DHL or I won’t get it for like two months) internet, rules of the internet, registered with the state department so they know we’re in the country, learned about the resources the offices have at our disposal, and finally we found out where our Peace Corps Volunteers visits are going to be next week! I am headed to Department Caaguazu, about four hours to the east of Asuncion to observe and shadow an education volunteer in her day to day life. I am super excited to be doing something more hands on, and plus it’s always cool to meet current volunteers. The bus ride is about four hours from Asuncion but luckily for me she is going to be in Asuncion that day, so we are going to travel together.
After those exciting announcements we went to a really chuci and really rico ice cream place and then headed back to Guarambare just in time to get inside before the rain.
Friday
Today was our first “dia de practica” in the schools in Guarambare. We were split up into three different groups and assigned to teachers who were supposed to go and interview, in addition to interviewing the director of the school about the history of the institution. And we got to make a map! Although we had three sick soldiers who couldn’t make it, we still spent the afternoon out and about at the schools. My school was called The Defenders of The Chaco, the Chaco being the big desert that takes up the north of the country and the defenders being the soldiers who fought in The War of the Chaco against Bolivia, our neighbor to the north. It is a public school which ironically means it gets next to no funding from the national government, other than daily milk and bread for the students and “kits” which contain very nominal supplies to get them through the year. There are about 400 kids who attend my school, 200 in the morning “turno” and 200 in the afternoon, both lasting about 4 hours each. This was essentially an elementary school with grades preschool to 9th in it. My teachers name is Carmen and she has been teaching fourth grade in this school for 17 years. We talked a lot about the school system, where their funding comes from, literacy and gender issues, and what she would like to see changed. Ironically again although we had just spent a fair amount of time talking about literacy, she said she would most like the
recess area made bigger, so that the kids were not that crowded during their break. After this interview we all went to talk to the director who gave us the run-down of the history of the school, pictures and all. She also gave us a little tour so we could make our map and told us all about the recent renovations that had been made on the school-all paid for by the Paraguayan version of the PTA. There is a group like this in every school because they are responsible for the cleaning, maintenance, and anything else that the kids need other than milk and bread. So needless to say, parent involvement is pretty imperative in a functioning public school down here.
Afterwards we all came back to the training center and compared experiences. We all went to public schools so we all encountered a lot of the same issues of poverty, literacy, and the weird internal conflict between the Guarani that many of the children speak at home, the Spanish that they are taught in at school, the barrier to learning that this dynamic seems to create.
Saturday
So I had a lot of grand plans to teach some rugby to the kids in the neighborhood and also was super excited about going to my first quincinera. However, as soon as it started raining I soon found out that Paraguayans suffer from something similiar to Wicked Witch of the West syndrome and so the rain cancelled all existing plans for the rest of the day. It was all good though, we spent the night tranquilopa playing spanish scrabble with some other trainees and some of jovenes from the area. Monday we are all leaving on our first big excursion out of Guarambare which is very exciting.
Also, I posted pics to facebook and am going to try to upload them to Picassa as well for all the non facebookers out there. We'll see how the internet connection holds up.
So I survived my first trip to la capital! We all went on a little scavenger hunt of Asuncion and the surrounding areas today. Each pair was assigned a couple tasks to go see whilst navigating the jungle that is the Paraguayan bus system. We are all a little concerned going into it considering the tales of Tuesday when the Rural Health and Sanitation training group had the same assignment. A lot of people got really lost and were late arriving to the Peace Corps Office, two girls were detained at the embassy for an hour until the Marines finally believed they were Peace Corps Trainees (note to all travelers: don’t take pictures at an embassy) AND someone passed out on the way home. All in all: not the most successful of days.
None the less we all got up super early and caught buses out of Guarambare between 6 and 7 aka Paraguayan rush hour. Luckily for us Guarambare is at the beginning of the line so we got seats in the front near the driver so we could see and also tell the driver where we needed to get off, because obviously having pre-determined bus stops would make the world way too simple. So we were on our way, cell phone, ipod, and jewelry-less as to not make ourselves targets on the buses for theft. I was nursing my first Paraguayan illness so I can’t say I was looking forward to the bus but it turned out the definitely be one of the most culturally enriching things I have done thus far here. Businessman, young people, moms and children, vendors, beggars-you name it they got it on the Paraguayan buses. The roads are rocky and windy but there is for sure something really predictable about the morning commute-no matter how hectic and aroutine it may have seemed to us. And then the baby vomited. Like I said, the roads are rocky and bumpy and windy and it really is enough to give anyone bus sickness, especially a little kid who doesn’t even have his own two feet on the ground. Luckily for me I happened to just turn my head as the cute little boy I had noticed getting on the bus earlier because of his cute ringlets, let out a lovely milky substance in one big heave. Also luckily for me, while I don’t think my feet could’ve gotten any closer, he didn’t puke on my feet. And a third lucky thing is, this baby’s puke didn’t smell so bad so it didn’t turn my stomach or anything. Wow, I’m really becoming a glass half full person already here in Paraguay.
So we arrived at “Shopping del Sol”, a huge American style mall complete with McDonalds AND Burger King but considering the state of my health I decided to pass on both . Next time for sure. Ps. as far as my research has shown thus far, NO t bell in Paraguay. DOWNGRADE. We meandered about the mall looking for book stores which was what our assignment was. Books are freakin expensive here, its no wonder so few people read and write well. Then we headed to the national professional development office which was a big, impressive building but not that interesting otherwise. We collected some info from the secretary and went on our way.
We arrived pretty early at the Peace Corps Office so Gustavo the security man with the master plan let us go on the internet-fo free! Once everyone else arrived we sat in another series of lectures and things about mail (if you’re gonna send a package send it DHL or I won’t get it for like two months) internet, rules of the internet, registered with the state department so they know we’re in the country, learned about the resources the offices have at our disposal, and finally we found out where our Peace Corps Volunteers visits are going to be next week! I am headed to Department Caaguazu, about four hours to the east of Asuncion to observe and shadow an education volunteer in her day to day life. I am super excited to be doing something more hands on, and plus it’s always cool to meet current volunteers. The bus ride is about four hours from Asuncion but luckily for me she is going to be in Asuncion that day, so we are going to travel together.
After those exciting announcements we went to a really chuci and really rico ice cream place and then headed back to Guarambare just in time to get inside before the rain.
Friday
Today was our first “dia de practica” in the schools in Guarambare. We were split up into three different groups and assigned to teachers who were supposed to go and interview, in addition to interviewing the director of the school about the history of the institution. And we got to make a map! Although we had three sick soldiers who couldn’t make it, we still spent the afternoon out and about at the schools. My school was called The Defenders of The Chaco, the Chaco being the big desert that takes up the north of the country and the defenders being the soldiers who fought in The War of the Chaco against Bolivia, our neighbor to the north. It is a public school which ironically means it gets next to no funding from the national government, other than daily milk and bread for the students and “kits” which contain very nominal supplies to get them through the year. There are about 400 kids who attend my school, 200 in the morning “turno” and 200 in the afternoon, both lasting about 4 hours each. This was essentially an elementary school with grades preschool to 9th in it. My teachers name is Carmen and she has been teaching fourth grade in this school for 17 years. We talked a lot about the school system, where their funding comes from, literacy and gender issues, and what she would like to see changed. Ironically again although we had just spent a fair amount of time talking about literacy, she said she would most like the
recess area made bigger, so that the kids were not that crowded during their break. After this interview we all went to talk to the director who gave us the run-down of the history of the school, pictures and all. She also gave us a little tour so we could make our map and told us all about the recent renovations that had been made on the school-all paid for by the Paraguayan version of the PTA. There is a group like this in every school because they are responsible for the cleaning, maintenance, and anything else that the kids need other than milk and bread. So needless to say, parent involvement is pretty imperative in a functioning public school down here.
Afterwards we all came back to the training center and compared experiences. We all went to public schools so we all encountered a lot of the same issues of poverty, literacy, and the weird internal conflict between the Guarani that many of the children speak at home, the Spanish that they are taught in at school, the barrier to learning that this dynamic seems to create.
Saturday
So I had a lot of grand plans to teach some rugby to the kids in the neighborhood and also was super excited about going to my first quincinera. However, as soon as it started raining I soon found out that Paraguayans suffer from something similiar to Wicked Witch of the West syndrome and so the rain cancelled all existing plans for the rest of the day. It was all good though, we spent the night tranquilopa playing spanish scrabble with some other trainees and some of jovenes from the area. Monday we are all leaving on our first big excursion out of Guarambare which is very exciting.
Also, I posted pics to facebook and am going to try to upload them to Picassa as well for all the non facebookers out there. We'll see how the internet connection holds up.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
This first full week of language and training has been exhuauuussttinggg. BUT, it seems that we are now getting into more of the meat and potatoes of technical training, rather than just hearing about the things we can and can’t do and getting a lot of shots and paperwork so that is awesome news. Yesterday several current education volunteers came to training to show us a bunch of the different things that they do in their schools and communities so that was really interesting. Also, we got to make sweet frames out of recycled magazines and cardboard AND plant some basil that hopefully I won’t kill. We also got our first major assignment: start a community group doing whatever type of activity you want. So naturally, I am planning on converting all the little soccer players in my neighborhood to ruggers. And trust me, this will be nothing short of a religious intervention-I am considering asking the two Mormon missionaries next door for strategy advice. I’m going to spend this weekend/week talking to kids in the neighborhood about it and hopefully next Saturday we can have our first practica. I only have one ball but I figure they’re won’t be too many kids and I’m also going to ask Riso, a guy in the rural health group who played rugby for Vassar (go figure) for some help. Joanna, another girl in my group, wants to start an ultimate Frisbee club so we were thinking that maybe we could combine forces their too.
I spent a lot of time after school with my sibs this week. We went to a seven year olds birthday party where everyone was trying to hook me up with the policeman who lives next door and there was no beer because the party was for a seven year old-so that was awesomely awkward. However the good thing was I met a lot of people in the neighborhood so I recognize a lot more of the faces I see around every day which is nice. My sibs and I have also been doing a lot of music sharing-they are SO into lady gaga which is amazing. They also like to serenade me-see below por favor. They are very Paraguayan in their sense of personal space-which is that they don’t have one. They are always in my room and on my bed and asking me what I am doing so sometimes I have to just lie and say I am going to sleep so I can have a second of silence; most of the time I really enjoy their company, though. They also are very Paraguayan in the sense that they love to gossip. One of our directors told us the first day that chisme (gossip) is the national sport and futbol is the national religion. Well he nailed that one on the head. The amount of gossip that flies around my house in any given day is enough for three telenovelas- who’s cheating on who, who died, who had a baby, who used to be cheating on who, who’s hair salon is the best, anything is fair game. And since my madre is a door to door clothing merchant gathering the chisme from all over town is just another day’s work. It’s a very funny and entertaining part of the culture for sure.
My sister got her laptop that she won in the princess contest fixed so she’s been glued to that for a couple days now. They keep saying something about wifi-but I see nada of this so far. It’s ok though, people are getting really internet crazy because it’s so easily accessible but I’m trying to make the break clean and early just in case I get sent to the campo and don’t see a computer for the next two years. Also it costs money that I will probably soon run out of.
The money is still a bit of a mystery to me because everything has so many zeros on it. 1 US dollar=5000 Guaranis (or Gs, which is the abbreviation they put on everything-another very funny thing about Paraguay). So, in smaller, even amounts it’s easy to divide but once they start getting up there I get a little confused. There are also coins that the bank discontinued but are still in circulation and I always forget which ones they are so that sucks because I’m sure someone has given them back to me as change figuring I wouldn’t notice but oh well. All the volunteers say to just stop thinking and dollars and I’m probably going to have to give up soon but I just want to make sure I don’t run out of money the first two weeks. There are a lot of other funny things about Paraguay other than the money, mostly surrounding food such as: if you put lime on your food, it will kill some of the calories (HOORAY! IT’S A MIRACLE!) also, you cannot eat a mango after you drink milk or you WILL explode-my neighbor trainee friend Ian found this out the hard way. In addition-watermelon and terere is under no circumstances allowed for fear of the same consequences. I also cannot seem to convince them that mcdonalds is bad for you-my older brother who works in Asuncion eats his “cuarto libra con queso” every day after work, but tells me he is so skinny that it must not be bad for him. I want to find Super Size Me in Spanish so bad.
Tonight is the Valentines Day themed Carnival-so naturally Dede is doing my nails and we’re going to get our hair and fake eye lashes done. I’m nervous but I’m going to embrace it because I think my family thinks I’m kind of a tom boy-surprise surprise. A lot of the people from the group of trainees are going and also Barbara, the volunteer who came back to train us and is staying in my neighbor’s house. This is going to be my first real cultural experience with the jovenes so it should be very exciting and interesting. Dede just told me she doesn’t want to go now because it rained last night and there is too much mud in the streets-I’m sure she’ll come around once she starts doing my nails though.
I really am going to try to put up pictures soon but I feel a little weird walking around with my camera out taking pictures of things these people see every day. I also recently found out that the three guys who sit outside and drink across the street from me all day are professional thieves so I’m not sure I want to be flaunting my electronics, although we do have the policia right next door gracias a dios. I promise pictures are coming though. I am going into Asuncion next Thursday for the first time to see the Peace Corp Office in the embassy (yay!) and do a little scavenger hunt to get to know the city so I will be sure to take some photos of the sights then.
Carnival was a lot of fun and craziness. It was an outdoor club called urbana and there was a DJ and foam and strippers and all kind of crazy things. We didn’t stay too late- apparently the party goes to sun rise. All in all it was a good first night out in Guarambare.
Tuesday is Matias’s, the little boy down the street who lives in Ian’s house birthday so we all went to the soccer field to watch the kids play soccer and have a barbeque. A huge hunk of beef, a whole chicken or two and a bunch of chicken sausages made up the meal along with bread, mandiocha (starchy potato like vegetable that goes with most every meal here) and some beer and whiskey. The boys played and played and played and myself, Ian, Barbara who is still visiting, and a couple other volunteers soaked up some asada (bbq) culture and even jumped in the game a little ourselves. Alberto, Matias’s father, manned the grill and served the drinks. He is quite the party man. Later some of the older men played and my host brother Luisito came down to show off his much advertised skills as well. On the way home we stopped for some really good ice cream around the corner. All in all a lovely Paraguayan day-and I didn’t even get that sunburned!
Attention friends who want to come to South America to see me: we got our lecture about vacation time and stuff this week so I just wanted to keep you updated. First of all they told us that we need a visa that is kind of expensive if we want to go to Brazil (Trev-what do you know of these things?) Also, it seems like it’s a bit more expensive than I was anticipating to get out of Paraguay SO-if you could coordinate your trips that would be muy bien for me and also probably more fun for us as well. Oh yea and I lied, you can come as of July not September sorry I can’t count. Cannot wait to see you all- you would all love this!
Lovin you all big,
Jaimala q.
and now for your viewing pleasure: Arielito y Diedi
I spent a lot of time after school with my sibs this week. We went to a seven year olds birthday party where everyone was trying to hook me up with the policeman who lives next door and there was no beer because the party was for a seven year old-so that was awesomely awkward. However the good thing was I met a lot of people in the neighborhood so I recognize a lot more of the faces I see around every day which is nice. My sibs and I have also been doing a lot of music sharing-they are SO into lady gaga which is amazing. They also like to serenade me-see below por favor. They are very Paraguayan in their sense of personal space-which is that they don’t have one. They are always in my room and on my bed and asking me what I am doing so sometimes I have to just lie and say I am going to sleep so I can have a second of silence; most of the time I really enjoy their company, though. They also are very Paraguayan in the sense that they love to gossip. One of our directors told us the first day that chisme (gossip) is the national sport and futbol is the national religion. Well he nailed that one on the head. The amount of gossip that flies around my house in any given day is enough for three telenovelas- who’s cheating on who, who died, who had a baby, who used to be cheating on who, who’s hair salon is the best, anything is fair game. And since my madre is a door to door clothing merchant gathering the chisme from all over town is just another day’s work. It’s a very funny and entertaining part of the culture for sure.
My sister got her laptop that she won in the princess contest fixed so she’s been glued to that for a couple days now. They keep saying something about wifi-but I see nada of this so far. It’s ok though, people are getting really internet crazy because it’s so easily accessible but I’m trying to make the break clean and early just in case I get sent to the campo and don’t see a computer for the next two years. Also it costs money that I will probably soon run out of.
The money is still a bit of a mystery to me because everything has so many zeros on it. 1 US dollar=5000 Guaranis (or Gs, which is the abbreviation they put on everything-another very funny thing about Paraguay). So, in smaller, even amounts it’s easy to divide but once they start getting up there I get a little confused. There are also coins that the bank discontinued but are still in circulation and I always forget which ones they are so that sucks because I’m sure someone has given them back to me as change figuring I wouldn’t notice but oh well. All the volunteers say to just stop thinking and dollars and I’m probably going to have to give up soon but I just want to make sure I don’t run out of money the first two weeks. There are a lot of other funny things about Paraguay other than the money, mostly surrounding food such as: if you put lime on your food, it will kill some of the calories (HOORAY! IT’S A MIRACLE!) also, you cannot eat a mango after you drink milk or you WILL explode-my neighbor trainee friend Ian found this out the hard way. In addition-watermelon and terere is under no circumstances allowed for fear of the same consequences. I also cannot seem to convince them that mcdonalds is bad for you-my older brother who works in Asuncion eats his “cuarto libra con queso” every day after work, but tells me he is so skinny that it must not be bad for him. I want to find Super Size Me in Spanish so bad.
Tonight is the Valentines Day themed Carnival-so naturally Dede is doing my nails and we’re going to get our hair and fake eye lashes done. I’m nervous but I’m going to embrace it because I think my family thinks I’m kind of a tom boy-surprise surprise. A lot of the people from the group of trainees are going and also Barbara, the volunteer who came back to train us and is staying in my neighbor’s house. This is going to be my first real cultural experience with the jovenes so it should be very exciting and interesting. Dede just told me she doesn’t want to go now because it rained last night and there is too much mud in the streets-I’m sure she’ll come around once she starts doing my nails though.
I really am going to try to put up pictures soon but I feel a little weird walking around with my camera out taking pictures of things these people see every day. I also recently found out that the three guys who sit outside and drink across the street from me all day are professional thieves so I’m not sure I want to be flaunting my electronics, although we do have the policia right next door gracias a dios. I promise pictures are coming though. I am going into Asuncion next Thursday for the first time to see the Peace Corp Office in the embassy (yay!) and do a little scavenger hunt to get to know the city so I will be sure to take some photos of the sights then.
Carnival was a lot of fun and craziness. It was an outdoor club called urbana and there was a DJ and foam and strippers and all kind of crazy things. We didn’t stay too late- apparently the party goes to sun rise. All in all it was a good first night out in Guarambare.
Tuesday is Matias’s, the little boy down the street who lives in Ian’s house birthday so we all went to the soccer field to watch the kids play soccer and have a barbeque. A huge hunk of beef, a whole chicken or two and a bunch of chicken sausages made up the meal along with bread, mandiocha (starchy potato like vegetable that goes with most every meal here) and some beer and whiskey. The boys played and played and played and myself, Ian, Barbara who is still visiting, and a couple other volunteers soaked up some asada (bbq) culture and even jumped in the game a little ourselves. Alberto, Matias’s father, manned the grill and served the drinks. He is quite the party man. Later some of the older men played and my host brother Luisito came down to show off his much advertised skills as well. On the way home we stopped for some really good ice cream around the corner. All in all a lovely Paraguayan day-and I didn’t even get that sunburned!
Attention friends who want to come to South America to see me: we got our lecture about vacation time and stuff this week so I just wanted to keep you updated. First of all they told us that we need a visa that is kind of expensive if we want to go to Brazil (Trev-what do you know of these things?) Also, it seems like it’s a bit more expensive than I was anticipating to get out of Paraguay SO-if you could coordinate your trips that would be muy bien for me and also probably more fun for us as well. Oh yea and I lied, you can come as of July not September sorry I can’t count. Cannot wait to see you all- you would all love this!
Lovin you all big,
Jaimala q.
and now for your viewing pleasure: Arielito y Diedi
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Hello All
Reporting here from a very rainy but less freakin hot Guarambare. I’m finding my niche a bit more. Language classes are in full swing and every afternoon this week we have lectures about different adjustments and policies and things. My language teacher is really awesome and sweet and we found out today she is studying English because she wants to come to the US on a Fulbright to do her masters. We are meeting all of our higher ups who seem really nice and enthusiastic about the Peace Corps which is really encouraging. Our schedule for the next ten weeks is super super packed, pretty much down to the minute during the week so the long days are taking some getting used to. I haven’t woken up at seven am consecutive days since high school I don’t think so needless to say, I’m back to my sleep at 930 self. Yesterday five current volunteers came to talk to us about cultural integration and other things like that which was interesting. All the girls told us about how much weight they gained during training which is really terrifying and so I’m making a huge effort to see that that doesn’t happen to me. They all have this really great air of confidence about them, which is intimidating/great and I can’t wait to meet more of them. We got rabies shots and mosquito nets today so that was sweet.
My host family continues to be adorable and great. My little brother, Arielito, painted a picture of me yesterday that I hung up in my room here. My sister and I made empanadas last night and pizza the night before, and she painted my nails this weekend as well. This weekend coming up is the carnival and I’m sure she is going to make sure I’m done up Paraguayan style. My little brother also has a soccer game on Sunday at the community field which is allegedly a sight to be seen-a parent fight broke out last weekend, and there were also a fair amount of tears from the losers. Apparently my brothers team doesn’t win very much but, as my mother likes to put it they “win a lot of experience”. I watched a Paraguayan futbol game last night with my older brother and father, who are Cerro fans. There are three main clubs here-Cerro, Olimpia and one other one but according to my brother Cerro is the only way to go.
This weekend I went with my family to the “country club” which was a huge piece of land with a soccer field (naturally) and three swimming pools and a bar. I met a couple more family members and went for a swing and passed the afternoon very tranquilo. I am getting the feeling my family is very fancy and “chuchi” which is making me a little nervous for the transition to site. I’m going to practice taking only cold showers the last couple weeks so the transition isn’t such a shock.
My host family continues to be adorable and great. My little brother, Arielito, painted a picture of me yesterday that I hung up in my room here. My sister and I made empanadas last night and pizza the night before, and she painted my nails this weekend as well. This weekend coming up is the carnival and I’m sure she is going to make sure I’m done up Paraguayan style. My little brother also has a soccer game on Sunday at the community field which is allegedly a sight to be seen-a parent fight broke out last weekend, and there were also a fair amount of tears from the losers. Apparently my brothers team doesn’t win very much but, as my mother likes to put it they “win a lot of experience”. I watched a Paraguayan futbol game last night with my older brother and father, who are Cerro fans. There are three main clubs here-Cerro, Olimpia and one other one but according to my brother Cerro is the only way to go.
This weekend I went with my family to the “country club” which was a huge piece of land with a soccer field (naturally) and three swimming pools and a bar. I met a couple more family members and went for a swing and passed the afternoon very tranquilo. I am getting the feeling my family is very fancy and “chuchi” which is making me a little nervous for the transition to site. I’m going to practice taking only cold showers the last couple weeks so the transition isn’t such a shock.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Training, family, and Guarambare
Soo I’m here! After a grand total of fourteen hours of flying (NY-Miami-Montevideo-Asuncion) we have finally arrived in the town of Guarambare, a small city (really a large town) about an hour to the south west of the capital city of Asuncion. I’ve been sweating for several days straight now and my headache has not let up since I got here despite the gallons of water I’m drinking so that has become super annoying. I live in a small barrio of this town called Alegre which means happy in Spanish which is weird because in all honesty I have been sad. It’s a lot to process not only being away this long but also the really tremendous task that I’ve undertaken. I feel intimidated by what I’m being asked to do, and like I’ve been saying all along-we’ll see if I am as tough as I think I am. My friend Ian and I were talking on the way home about how long its been since we had applied to the Peace Corps and how we were both trying to reconnect with our more idealistic and stimulated selves now that we had finally arrived. It will take some time I think, but it will happen.
My saving grace has been my lovely host family. I already feel extremely comfortable with them and I know I am going to hate to leave. I have an older brother, Luis, who is 23 and has graduated college although I’m not sure what he does for work because every time I’ve seen him he’s been on his way in from futbol practice. He told me he wants to become and lawyer and go to NY, I told him not to come because lawyers are working in McDonalds right now. I don’t know if he understood my translated sarcasm. I’ve promised him English lessons while I am here so hopefully it will be some good practice with a motivated student before I get on site. Also I have a sister who is 15 and super smart and energetic. She helped me unpack, brought me to get ice cream and use the internet café, and helped me with my homework. She wants to paint my nails and do my hair and keeps telling me how happy she is to finally have a sister which is an amazing feeling. She recently won second place in the princess of guarambare contest and she now has a laptop, a sash, and soon coming wifi to boot! We looked at the mountains of pictures of her quincenera together as well as her introduction video, AND the video of the party. I knew quincineras were a big deal here, but this stuff put super sweet 16 to shame. She had 180 guests and two wardrobe changes for crying out loud. My youngest sibling is a little boy named Francisco and he has a nickname that I keep forgetting too. He is eleven and adorable and protective and walked me to school today and was outside waiting for me when I got home. (which was a little later than he expected and he made sure to tell me how worried he was getting). My parents are lovely and are very interested about the states and my life there which makes me feel very welcome. I also met little baby Luanna who is one of the cousins, she is a little scared of me but I’m sure she’ll come around. I also have two dogs, named Tim and Bravo, and a little orange kitty whose name is escaping me. My room is beautiful, I have a desk and big dresser and a nice night table next to my bed and there is running water and electricity. Needless to say, I am not too uncomfortable-yet.
Training has just been a lot of rules and regulations thus far, but tomorrow we start language classes. I will be in just two weeks of Spanish to refresh and then jump into guarani-which is going to be tough I can already tell. The phonetics are really different and they don’t like vowels very much. It does sound beautiful when someone speaks it well though. Getting back into Spanish has been easier than I thought which is great, although there are of course still moments of confusion in particular when people don’t realize I don’t speak a word of guarani. Many people here speak what they call “jopara” which literally means a mix and is a mix of both Spanish and guarani. My host family is very good about it and for the most part I understand them clearly.Today in our first day of language class we reviewed several pretty simple things, the teacher is more or less letting us tell her what we need to review since the four girls in our group all speak Spanish very well. After that we learned about the national tea, terere. It is a tasty herbal tea that is drank out of a metal straw in a friendship circle formation, each person drinking a small cup of tea and then passing it back to the server to refill for the next person. You can also add various herbal medicines of “yugos” to cure a stomach ache, headache, etc. I have a feeling that not only will I be drinking and enjoying a lot of this tea, but that it will prove very important in forming relationships in this country. Good thing I like it, ha. Some other great cultural things about this country are that they think sleeping and showering as much as you want is perfectly fine. Which is great because I am always tired and sweat doing basically everything but showering. Water is a flat rate here, so everyone showers whenever they feel necessary.
I am hoping to find someone to blow my rugby ball up with soon, and hopefully can start jogging at some point although I forgot running shorts somehow so I may have to go buy them (oh yea mom, if you see this can you send me some!?) My yoga mat is unpacked and I am going to try and start a push up and sit up regiment to wake me up in the mornings, which has been very hard up to now. Hopefully I will start getting used to the heat because it is very, very draining. Reading and writing are also going to be of paramount importance for me especially during this adjustment period. It rained here last night and most of the day today so I am hoping the humidity subsides after this, my joints will be elated.
Don’t worry friends and mom, I know I sound like I’m kind of down and I am, but I am trusting in the process, and am reminding myself that I didn’t do this for a vacation. I love and miss you all-expect letters soon. They tell me it takes about two weeks and I hope to send them out sometime next week when the post lady comes to the training center.
Paz,
Jaimee
My saving grace has been my lovely host family. I already feel extremely comfortable with them and I know I am going to hate to leave. I have an older brother, Luis, who is 23 and has graduated college although I’m not sure what he does for work because every time I’ve seen him he’s been on his way in from futbol practice. He told me he wants to become and lawyer and go to NY, I told him not to come because lawyers are working in McDonalds right now. I don’t know if he understood my translated sarcasm. I’ve promised him English lessons while I am here so hopefully it will be some good practice with a motivated student before I get on site. Also I have a sister who is 15 and super smart and energetic. She helped me unpack, brought me to get ice cream and use the internet café, and helped me with my homework. She wants to paint my nails and do my hair and keeps telling me how happy she is to finally have a sister which is an amazing feeling. She recently won second place in the princess of guarambare contest and she now has a laptop, a sash, and soon coming wifi to boot! We looked at the mountains of pictures of her quincenera together as well as her introduction video, AND the video of the party. I knew quincineras were a big deal here, but this stuff put super sweet 16 to shame. She had 180 guests and two wardrobe changes for crying out loud. My youngest sibling is a little boy named Francisco and he has a nickname that I keep forgetting too. He is eleven and adorable and protective and walked me to school today and was outside waiting for me when I got home. (which was a little later than he expected and he made sure to tell me how worried he was getting). My parents are lovely and are very interested about the states and my life there which makes me feel very welcome. I also met little baby Luanna who is one of the cousins, she is a little scared of me but I’m sure she’ll come around. I also have two dogs, named Tim and Bravo, and a little orange kitty whose name is escaping me. My room is beautiful, I have a desk and big dresser and a nice night table next to my bed and there is running water and electricity. Needless to say, I am not too uncomfortable-yet.
Training has just been a lot of rules and regulations thus far, but tomorrow we start language classes. I will be in just two weeks of Spanish to refresh and then jump into guarani-which is going to be tough I can already tell. The phonetics are really different and they don’t like vowels very much. It does sound beautiful when someone speaks it well though. Getting back into Spanish has been easier than I thought which is great, although there are of course still moments of confusion in particular when people don’t realize I don’t speak a word of guarani. Many people here speak what they call “jopara” which literally means a mix and is a mix of both Spanish and guarani. My host family is very good about it and for the most part I understand them clearly.Today in our first day of language class we reviewed several pretty simple things, the teacher is more or less letting us tell her what we need to review since the four girls in our group all speak Spanish very well. After that we learned about the national tea, terere. It is a tasty herbal tea that is drank out of a metal straw in a friendship circle formation, each person drinking a small cup of tea and then passing it back to the server to refill for the next person. You can also add various herbal medicines of “yugos” to cure a stomach ache, headache, etc. I have a feeling that not only will I be drinking and enjoying a lot of this tea, but that it will prove very important in forming relationships in this country. Good thing I like it, ha. Some other great cultural things about this country are that they think sleeping and showering as much as you want is perfectly fine. Which is great because I am always tired and sweat doing basically everything but showering. Water is a flat rate here, so everyone showers whenever they feel necessary.
I am hoping to find someone to blow my rugby ball up with soon, and hopefully can start jogging at some point although I forgot running shorts somehow so I may have to go buy them (oh yea mom, if you see this can you send me some!?) My yoga mat is unpacked and I am going to try and start a push up and sit up regiment to wake me up in the mornings, which has been very hard up to now. Hopefully I will start getting used to the heat because it is very, very draining. Reading and writing are also going to be of paramount importance for me especially during this adjustment period. It rained here last night and most of the day today so I am hoping the humidity subsides after this, my joints will be elated.
Don’t worry friends and mom, I know I sound like I’m kind of down and I am, but I am trusting in the process, and am reminding myself that I didn’t do this for a vacation. I love and miss you all-expect letters soon. They tell me it takes about two weeks and I hope to send them out sometime next week when the post lady comes to the training center.
Paz,
Jaimee
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