Hello once again friends and family…it has been A WHILE. The cold has passed (thank dios) and we are now in full-fledged spring (meaning about 90 degrees and humid most days). Luckily my shower has been functioning quite swimmingly and I’m averaging about three showers a day most days to keep cool/odor-less.
So I guess the biggest development in the past couple months has been that I moved! The house that I was in previously was quite literally falling apart at the seams (walls disintegrating around me, bathroom breaking every other day, etc.) SO with the help of my friend from the community center, I found a house right in front of the volleyball court. It’s nothing too chuchi but it’s bigger and well maintained and has a walled in yard which helps me feel a lot safer and happier. It also (drum roll please) has running hot water ALL the time! But probably the best thing about it is that every afternoon people come to play volleyball and listen to music right in my front yard which gives it have a very cozy feeling of community. We’ve also organized ourselves as a plaza commission for the maintenance and amplification of the plaza (we’re hoping for more lighting, benches, garbage cans etc.) which makes me feel like a real part of the neighborhood. Last weekend they had a tournament to raise money and let me tell you-these people know how to play. As someone who’s been involved in organized sports my whole life and has spent countless hours drilling and practicing and working on technique, it was pretty impressive to see how good these people had come to be without anything that Americans would consider “formal” training. Just goes to show, maybe we aren’t always right after all….
I’ve been feeling very Paraguayan lately. I’ve been drinking a lot of terere, eating a lot of white bread, playing a lot of volley, going to a lot of church, washing my own laundry, dancing a lot cumbia, and I’ve even began walking into the center of town (gasp!) instead of taking the bus like I was previously doing. I’ve become much less resistant to the lifestyle in general, a natural part of integration and adjustment I suppose. There are still things that bother the hell out of me and probably always will, but getting to know the little details of life around here has made me feel much more a part of the barrio.
So I have been in sight just a few days over six months thus far. They say that right around six months volunteers usually go into a periodic depression but luckily for me mine hit about month 4 and a half (hence the major absence in posting). At this point, the thrill and novelty of life here has all but worn off, and the new things to discover have become fewer and farther between. I’ve experienced my fair share of failures and disappointments in terms of work, and have still yet to discover what my “big” project is going to be in my time here. People know me, I know them but let’s face it-after only six months communicating with people in another language how well do you really know them? I’m learning pretty quickly who can be trusted and who can’t be, who genuinely wants to work and who doesn’t, and who is really running things around here. All of these things contributed to what I thought was a serious (now looking back not so serious) reevaluation of what the HELL I was doing here. There were quite a few tears and many phone calls and skype sessions, but luckily today I can say I survived my first Peace Corps depression-hooray!
Another occurrence in my life that I’m sure also contributed to the four and a half month nose dive was that I had to put down my puppy, Rugger. Having dogs here is difficult, there are a lot of diseases and going to a vet is expensive. Rugger had been sick for about a month or two and finally was beginning to suffer, jolting me out of my denial and making me realize I was doing the wrong thing by keeping him around. Having never had a dog before, it was a mildly traumatic experience and I was totally over dramatic about it (PS-my inner latina is alive and well down here, no one worry) but it’s all for the better now. Just yesterday, my friend Gerardo gifted me one of his puppies, a little golden nugget named Goofy. So, all is well in my patio once again.
In terms of work, my major endeavor at the moment is a personal development class at the local jail that I’m teaching with my fellow volunteer, Amy. Talk about things I never thought I’d do in my life, it has been a super interesting experience. The jail is small, only about 130 inmates. On the grounds they have a bread making factory, a garden, a beautiful church, huge soccer field, and a lot of recreational space as well. If I didn’t know it was a jail, I’d think it was a country club. There are about 15-20 students in the class depending on the day, and we have been working a lot with values, goals, self-esteem, and employment. They are WAY more participatory and interested than any of the school aged or high school aged kids I’ve worked with so each class is really interesting. Hopefully after this we are going to start with some basic vocational training and some more specific job skills since many of them are going to be getting out in early January.
My English class continues to be extremely crowded, which is a blessing and a curse. I now have two classes-one beginner and one intermediate. The interest levels vary greatly throughout the class and as I’ve said before, I don’t feel like teaching English to kids an hour a week is a very sustainable practice but, at the same time, I don’t want to deny them the chance to learn since there are kids who seem truly interested.
The library and the comedor have been uphill battles (yes, still) but I’ve been dealing with my frustration levels much better recently. I’m hoping to get a summer reading “camp” once or twice a week at the library and I’ve been taking some books down to the comedor and just reading with the kids, nothing too formal but they are happy to have the stimulation it seems and are always sad to see me go.
There have been a lot teacher strikes going on here in the past couple weeks, which has been pretty detrimental to their already weakened education system here. An article in the paper said almost two million kids missed class over more than a week because of the strike. Things remain unresolved as well and they are now threatening to strike indefinitely if they don’t get what they want. Stay tuned….
I’ve recently discovered the wonderful world of San Bernadino-the lake town that is about an hour and a half bus ride away from me to the east. During the summer it’s a rich tourist town for Asuncion’s richest people but it is also a great place to escape for the day with some terere and some comida. Since the heat has hit I’ve been there twice and it has been both a physical and mental treat to say the least. The lake reminds me of my grandparent’s lake in northern Maine, so it also has a bit of a nostalgic value for me as well. I recently found out you can rent boats and jet skis for super cheap also!
That seems to be all for now, I promise it won’t be this long before you hear from me again!
Loving and missing you all, as always
Jaim
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