Things down here...

Well I suppose I should stop making promises about how I’m going to write more often because for some reason it always seems to slip my mind. Not that I don’t think of home and all my people there often, I guess its just that thanks to Skype and email and all that jazz I really haven’t felt too far away. Things have been well, loco. I almost don’t know where to start. I got back from Buenos Aires and Punta del Este and was feeling a bit lethargic, to say the least. Projects weren’t really moving along, summer break was still going on, and it was HOT (like hotter than I ever thought I´d be hot). Y despues, I started having some troubles around the Villa as well. Even now many months later I can´t tell you why I ended up in the situation I did and in an effort to not play the victim nor place blame I’ll just say this: it was time to get out of the Villa (don’t worry family I was never in any serious danger). After some talking with the jefes, I decided that I wouldn’t move my site all together but instead just move into the center of the city, so that I could continue the work that I was doing in the Municipality, and also utilize some of the connections that I had made at the high schools in the center. Then began the search for a house which was in short, a nightmare. Two weeks of drudging around what felt like every barrio in Limpio looking for an acceptable house had lead to nothing but finally I got in touch with my good friend Fulvia who had been out on maternity leave but, as it turns out had a mother in law with an apartment she was looking to rent. The upsides were: a big and lindo space with plenty of room for my things, a great location to be able to work in various places, air conditioning (!!) and it is VERY secure. The down side: because of its location she wanted an arm and a leg for it and since it’s a second floor apartment, running water is non existent. Although the down sides where significant, the two week searched had come up too dry for me to turn it down and so it was time for yet another move. Three hours, three men, and a very precarious pulley system (yes, pulley system) later, I was moved into my new house. At first, things were slow…and lonely….and I didn’t know what to do. BUT after some running around and networking and presenting of ideas to various people, the move has proved to be really great for me in a lot of ways. I am closer to a lot of resources and can more easily communicate with a lot of people who I had wanted to work with the past year, but had never gotten the chance to. My schedule in many ways has gone for 0 to 100 in just a month. I have been able to organize a lot more projects and a lot more variety of projects now that I am here and while the pace of life is for sure slower than it was for me in New York, I think I have found more or less my happy in place in terms of balance between work and play. Don’t get me wrong, there are still down moments (people saying they are going to do something and then not doing it seems to be a national epidemic; however, I´m learning to look at it through a more refined cultural lens and it has begun to bother me less and less) but at this point I can safely say that perseverance is a quality that I have acquired in this first year as a volunteer. Both mentally and physically I have been tested like I probably (hopefully) will never be again. I´ve had stomach problems, and headaches, and more mosquito bites than you´ll ever want to imagine-which ultimately resulted in Dengue Fever and a whole week in bed. I also apparently have psoriasis of the heel region. But on the upside I’ve lost almost forty pounds since the day I set foot in this country and when I’m not sick I feel great! This first year has been a loco one. The days are slow but the weeks are fast and I feel more and more at home each day. I´ve always been someone to put down roots and make connections wherever I happen to be but I think I doubted how real this Peace Corps experience would be for me. I suppose the mobs of stray dogs, the various annoying men, and the gallons of greasy food I encounter everyday will never seem completely normal to me but somehow all of that has more or less faded into the background and I have come to focus on, appreciate, and love the beautiful and friendly parts of Paraguay. And that’s that for now I think. Until next time che gentekuera, Jaimee