Life in Villa Madrid is moving right along-up and down and fast and slow as usual but I have more or less adapted to the pace and taking a stroll with my puppy to pass some time doesn’t bother me like it did just a couple weeks ago. Have a particularly lindo puppy such as mine is a great way to meet children and adults alike. Also, the fact that I have him on a leash tends to puzzle people and provoke a lot of conversations I probably wouldn’t have ever had. The most common questions I get are what breed he is (couldn’t tell you, a seven year old boy gave him to me) and, what his name is. I had named him Rugger originally, but since that got more confused reactions from Paraguayans than anything else, and because I had recently finished the entire Rocky series that I had newly purchased, I decided Rocky would be more fitting name for him. This is a much easier name for people to say and some people even know the movie reference so consequently, I’m meeting more and more people and have more people to wave at on my route around the barrio which is a nice feeling. So, despite the slow and frustrating way work goes sometimes, I am feeling more and more at home here. Talk about ways you never thought you would appreciate Sylvester Stallone...
I survived my first pique attack! Pique is a notorious insect that lives in the sand and burrows into your hand and feet with the purpose of laying eggs and reproducing. Its super common among volunteers and Paraguayans alike (it’s shocking I’ve been here for five months (?!) and haven’t gotten one before) and in order to take it out you have to use a needle or tweezers to squeeeeeeze it out. But, you have to be really sure to get it all out or it will continue to hurt and be gross. Luckily, I had a Paraguayan at my disposal to help me take it out so, my pinky finger nail lives to fight another day.
It’s San Juan season here in Paraguay. The past couple weekends, all the local high schools and churches have been holding San Juan festivals which include a lot of food, traditional dancing and music, and of course the ever popular repertoire of San Juan games. Things like sack races, tire races, and other kids games are played all over the place. There is also a lot of fire involved. A hang man stuffed with mini bottle bombs is lit on fire hanging from a tree, and there is even a cow skull (that the kids in the community have to go searching for in the fields and bring back) that they attach to a bunch of sticks, light on fire, and run around and chase little kids with. All in all it’s a really fun and lively festival and a great distraction from the COLD COLD weather we’ve been having here.
To celebrate the fourth of July, a bunch of the volunteers came into Asuncion for some rest and relaxation and to try and remember what it’s like to be American and be warm during the month of July. We ate more food than we should have, took hot showers just because we could (sorry environmental volunteers) and slept late sin verguenza. There was a big picnic at the US embassy with a lot of good food and games and people and as usual we ended up at “Hollywood”-the epicenter of Asuncion’s gay scene. So, for the 6th (?) year in a row, my Fourth of July was filled with techno music and flamboyant friends/drag queens. However, that was about as fourth of july-ish as the weekend got considering it was still VERY cold and well, there weren’t a lot of Americans.
For all my Sayvillian friends/anyone with access to the Suffolk County News: I wrote an article! It should be in there in the next couple weeks- con photos tambien!
Lovin you all, Happy Fourth-Some one drink a blue points for me!!
Monday, July 4, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Day to Day in Paraguay
Time has been weird here these past couple weeks. It has been almost two months since I arrived in site and I’m still balancing the sometimes-busy-sometimes-not pace of my schedule. My agenda’s pages alternate between completely blank and chock full but I’m learning to make better use of the days that I do have free and also to not make the free time I have make me anxious. Most of my time has been spent at the soup kitchen, with the youth group, and in the library. Things are moving slowly but surely with each project and although I’ve encountered way more bureaucracy than I ever expected, I’m confident in the direction things are moving.
I’ve also been spending a fair amount of time at the church and with the catechism classes. While I have to limit my involvement there as to not appear as though I have a religious agenda (there are a lot of religiously affiliated white people running around Limpio so it is a mistake that could easily be made) its been a really great way to meet people of all ages and to experience something that is undeniably a part of Paraguayan culture. Interestingly, there are not the same ideas about separation of church and state that exists in the United States. In fact, one of the hymns they sing is called “God Bless Paraguay”. Religion and Catholicism are as much a part of being Paraguayan as drinking terere and eating mandioca. The masses are lively and filled with music which I also really love. The priest is Italian so it’s nice to have another foreign working in the community to relate to on those “oh, paraguay” types of things.
The weather has been COLD here as of late. And I mean really cold. Showering is the least favorite part of every (ok, every other) day. Leaving my sleeping bag in the morning is a miracle a lot of times. Who would’ve thought South America would make me jealous of NY weather.
Fourth of July is rapidly approaching and everyone is getting pumped. There is a big party at the embassy and although I’m sure it won’t be bathing suit weather, it will be a nice and relaxing weekend to speak some English and catch up with some folks. Hopefully there will be Budweiser and not Brahma so we can celebrate properly. After that July is going to fly by. I am helping another volunteer with a camp in her community the week following the fourth, and then my friends are coming to visit for my birthday and then a week of in service training back in good old Guarambare!
I really appreciate all the emails/real mails I’ve been getting from everyone and I promise I will figure out where the post office in Limpio is soon and respond to you all!!
Love always,
Jaimee
I’ve also been spending a fair amount of time at the church and with the catechism classes. While I have to limit my involvement there as to not appear as though I have a religious agenda (there are a lot of religiously affiliated white people running around Limpio so it is a mistake that could easily be made) its been a really great way to meet people of all ages and to experience something that is undeniably a part of Paraguayan culture. Interestingly, there are not the same ideas about separation of church and state that exists in the United States. In fact, one of the hymns they sing is called “God Bless Paraguay”. Religion and Catholicism are as much a part of being Paraguayan as drinking terere and eating mandioca. The masses are lively and filled with music which I also really love. The priest is Italian so it’s nice to have another foreign working in the community to relate to on those “oh, paraguay” types of things.
The weather has been COLD here as of late. And I mean really cold. Showering is the least favorite part of every (ok, every other) day. Leaving my sleeping bag in the morning is a miracle a lot of times. Who would’ve thought South America would make me jealous of NY weather.
Fourth of July is rapidly approaching and everyone is getting pumped. There is a big party at the embassy and although I’m sure it won’t be bathing suit weather, it will be a nice and relaxing weekend to speak some English and catch up with some folks. Hopefully there will be Budweiser and not Brahma so we can celebrate properly. After that July is going to fly by. I am helping another volunteer with a camp in her community the week following the fourth, and then my friends are coming to visit for my birthday and then a week of in service training back in good old Guarambare!
I really appreciate all the emails/real mails I’ve been getting from everyone and I promise I will figure out where the post office in Limpio is soon and respond to you all!!
Love always,
Jaimee
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Bicentenario or Bust!
So Saturday May 14th was the day-Paraguay’s big bicentennial celebration, 200 years free from the Spaniards. VERY big news. There were parades and dances and concerts and chipa being prepared all over the country but then….it rained. In fact, it POURED (at least in Limpio) for most of the morning. So all the parading and what not was cancelled
Luckily, it stopped raining in time for the Patron Saint Parade in Villa Madrid so I made my way down to the church, stopping at the hamburger sale to raise money so that all of Villa Madrid will have running water-a cause I FULLY support. The parade was to be followed by what was described to me as “a small festival”, which lasted about three hours, and I left early.
The rest of the week I continued to run around doing things in la villa. My english class is filling up so that should start en seguida. I brought “mobile libraries” to a couple of classes and read to the kids which they all seemed to enjoy. I had a meeting planned with the Director of the prison but we went out there and he wasn’t there-majorly Paraguayan but also a major bummer. To be continued….
At my house this week, my task was to puppy proof my yard. He is getting bigger, and more curious so I needed to find a way to not only keep him in, but keep the other variety of animals that wander around my barrio out. My first thought was to simply train him to stay inside the gate. I had little success with that and quickly got tired of chasing him into my neighbor’s store. So, I decided to stack some extra buckets I had laying around against the fence. This worked for a couple hours, until he realized he could knock over the buckets. The third time is proving to be the charm, I have no assembled a very sturdy structure made of buckets, boxes, and very heavy rocks I gathered from the yard. It’s worked for almost a whole twelve hours now-please stand by. And yes, he still pees on my floor.
Since they suspended the festivities last Saturday, they decided to re-do it all this Friday-cancelled school, the whole nine. The parade was really really really long and all the schools in Limpio were in it. After that, it was site presentation time for me. Your site presentation is when your coordinators from your sector (for me, education and youth development) come and tell the community a little bit about Peace Corps and what the volunteer is in the community to do, and not do (motos, drugs etc). There was a decent turn out to the meeting, mostly kids but I guess that more or less reflects the population of people I’ve been spending my time with thus far. I made some really rico guacamole and bought cookies and soda and all went pretty smoothly. Afterwards I went back into Limpio with Ruben and Juan, the guys who work at CAMUANI, to watch the dance festival which was really beautiful and probably one of the more cultural things I’ve done since I’ve gotten here. Also, por suerte, I happened to mention to Juan and Ruben that I wanted to paint the outside of my house and without skipping a beat they offered to come over the next day to paint for me. So, Saturday consisted of me feeding them terere while they painted my house a lovely orange color. Not a bad deal, terere for a free house painting.
Saturday night was my new german amiga, Tina’s, birthday. We had a really delicious asado and chatted a bit. The director of the school they work at is very involved in Habitat for Humanity Paraguay so hopefully we will do some work together once I get more involved with the youth groups around here.
Sunday I got my sorry self outta bed at 730 because I had been invited to the mass to get introduced to the Sunday school classes. It turns out there are a TON of kids involved in the church in this community so my tiredness proved well worth it and my Sundays became charla-filled for the next couple weekends. Also, they are having a volleyball tournament next weekend that I am VERY excited about.
Seems like all for now.
Missing and loving you all, as always.
Luckily, it stopped raining in time for the Patron Saint Parade in Villa Madrid so I made my way down to the church, stopping at the hamburger sale to raise money so that all of Villa Madrid will have running water-a cause I FULLY support. The parade was to be followed by what was described to me as “a small festival”, which lasted about three hours, and I left early.
The rest of the week I continued to run around doing things in la villa. My english class is filling up so that should start en seguida. I brought “mobile libraries” to a couple of classes and read to the kids which they all seemed to enjoy. I had a meeting planned with the Director of the prison but we went out there and he wasn’t there-majorly Paraguayan but also a major bummer. To be continued….
At my house this week, my task was to puppy proof my yard. He is getting bigger, and more curious so I needed to find a way to not only keep him in, but keep the other variety of animals that wander around my barrio out. My first thought was to simply train him to stay inside the gate. I had little success with that and quickly got tired of chasing him into my neighbor’s store. So, I decided to stack some extra buckets I had laying around against the fence. This worked for a couple hours, until he realized he could knock over the buckets. The third time is proving to be the charm, I have no assembled a very sturdy structure made of buckets, boxes, and very heavy rocks I gathered from the yard. It’s worked for almost a whole twelve hours now-please stand by. And yes, he still pees on my floor.
Since they suspended the festivities last Saturday, they decided to re-do it all this Friday-cancelled school, the whole nine. The parade was really really really long and all the schools in Limpio were in it. After that, it was site presentation time for me. Your site presentation is when your coordinators from your sector (for me, education and youth development) come and tell the community a little bit about Peace Corps and what the volunteer is in the community to do, and not do (motos, drugs etc). There was a decent turn out to the meeting, mostly kids but I guess that more or less reflects the population of people I’ve been spending my time with thus far. I made some really rico guacamole and bought cookies and soda and all went pretty smoothly. Afterwards I went back into Limpio with Ruben and Juan, the guys who work at CAMUANI, to watch the dance festival which was really beautiful and probably one of the more cultural things I’ve done since I’ve gotten here. Also, por suerte, I happened to mention to Juan and Ruben that I wanted to paint the outside of my house and without skipping a beat they offered to come over the next day to paint for me. So, Saturday consisted of me feeding them terere while they painted my house a lovely orange color. Not a bad deal, terere for a free house painting.
Saturday night was my new german amiga, Tina’s, birthday. We had a really delicious asado and chatted a bit. The director of the school they work at is very involved in Habitat for Humanity Paraguay so hopefully we will do some work together once I get more involved with the youth groups around here.
Sunday I got my sorry self outta bed at 730 because I had been invited to the mass to get introduced to the Sunday school classes. It turns out there are a TON of kids involved in the church in this community so my tiredness proved well worth it and my Sundays became charla-filled for the next couple weekends. Also, they are having a volleyball tournament next weekend that I am VERY excited about.
Seems like all for now.
Missing and loving you all, as always.
Friday, May 13, 2011
A Little Bit Of This....
So life has been a weird mix of slow and fast. I’m mostly settled into the house, although I haven’t gotten around to painting yet. I’ve been kind of meandering my way through the schools, the comedor, and the community center having meetings and seeing what type of work people want to do with me. The percentage of awkward interactions has gone down significantly, thank dios. I had a meeting with all the professors and they seemed interested enough in working with me so I went back and made a schedule with them to bring books from the library into each of their classes to read with the kids. The idea being that the kids would later come seek out the books at the library-vamos a ver. I had offered to teach an English class at the community center and when Fulvia, the director, went to the municipality to talk to the director of local development, she not only approved the class at the community center, but asked that I teach on at the municipality as well-so my days may end up being filled with a lot of teaching at least for the time being.
The time I don’t spend working has been very relaxing and tranquil. I usually go to the cantina at the school every day to spend time with Elvira, Nilsa, and whichever of the daughters has come to help that day. Yanina hasn’t been around this week though because she has dengue (yikess!) so she has been at her aunt’s house who lives closer to the hospital.
This weekend Johanna and Ian came to visit and we had a nice afternoon of wine, coke, and delicious avocado sandwiches. Sunday I went to Altos, where Sherita lives, to watch a soccer game that her brother was playing in. It’s a beautiful city and the ride from here to there is scenic and lovely and made me really fall a little bit in love with this country. It was one of the “holy shit this is where I am and this is what I’m doing” moments that I’ve had occasionally since I’ve been here. They’re really great to have and especially to reflect back on especially when for example, my water doesn’t turn on for a day or so and my dog pees all over my house and I want to eat cheese other than queso paraguay and I can’t, and my frustration approaches critical mass. The “this is where I am and this is what I’m doing” moments are really great, and keep it all in perspective.
The water has been super unreliable this week which originally was VERY annoying but I got over it and have more or less accepted bucket bathing as a way of life now-check that one off the life to do list.
I bought rice from the dispensa next door the other night and soon realized that I had never made rice without following the directions on the box but luckily with some Peace Corps flexibility and quick thinking, I made myself a nice rice, corn, and pea salad. And the puppy liked it too.
Meli, Claudia, Rugger, and I embarked on a journey to the vet this week to get Rugger vaccinated. We had to get on a public bus (the list of weird things I have traveled with on one of those is growing rapidly) which the puppy was less than thrilled with but after some writhing and crying we finally got there and got him all fixed up by a very nice Paraguayan vet. Luckily on the way home he was too tired to continue writhing so we made it home without any casualties. Now if I could just get him to pee outside!
So we got a lot of warning about “la hora paraguaya” and the “abiss of service” and things like that. Basically they were warning us to NOT expect an American standard 40 hour work week once we got into site. Despite these warnings, I still am finding myself with anxiety/guilt over the relatively small amount of work that I have been doing on a day to day basis. I (naturally) have been making a mini schedule for myself every day, most of the time involving one task in the morning and one task in the afternoon. While this does help me feel somewhat accomplished at the end of the day, each task doesn’t really ever take more than an hour or two. Going to the comedor- two hours max, meeting with the teachers at the school-solid 20 minutes no mas, going to the community center to get a phone number/check on the enrollment in my English class-about 7-12 minutes depending on how fast I walk/how much small talk I make with the guy at the front desk. These have been some of the tasks I’ve been doing on a fairly regular basis these past couple weeks so, as you can see- there is NO such thing as 9-5 around here. They waves of guilt come and go but I try and use my down time as productively as possible (which my internet modem does NOTHING to help). There are several dirt roads that run off the Ruta just north of my community that I hope to explore in the coming weeks, and I also have not made it down to the river yet.
Another volunteer who lives close to me, Amy, and I went to the jail a couple km up the road from my sight to see if the director was interested in working with us. We trekked the twenty minutes in from the ruta and handed our IDs to the guards at the front gate. The director greeted us and we sat and chatted for a while about the improvements he was interested in making in the prison and how we could possibly help. He is super friendly and open to us so hopefully we will be able to do some interesting things with the prisoners. Definitely add this to the list of things I thought I wouldn’t be doing in the Peace Corps.
I met some German people who are volunteering as English teachers in a high school in Limpio. We met them on a bus and of course their rubia-ness and short and t shirts immediately stood out to us. As soon as we figured out they weren’t Peace Corps volunteers we were VERY confused and decided to see what they were all about. There are five of them here, all working in the same school. We went and had dinner together and got to know each other a bit-it was so nice to have social interaction in English again!
Well, I think this is all for now. I will report on all the bicentennial activities after the weekend!!
The time I don’t spend working has been very relaxing and tranquil. I usually go to the cantina at the school every day to spend time with Elvira, Nilsa, and whichever of the daughters has come to help that day. Yanina hasn’t been around this week though because she has dengue (yikess!) so she has been at her aunt’s house who lives closer to the hospital.
This weekend Johanna and Ian came to visit and we had a nice afternoon of wine, coke, and delicious avocado sandwiches. Sunday I went to Altos, where Sherita lives, to watch a soccer game that her brother was playing in. It’s a beautiful city and the ride from here to there is scenic and lovely and made me really fall a little bit in love with this country. It was one of the “holy shit this is where I am and this is what I’m doing” moments that I’ve had occasionally since I’ve been here. They’re really great to have and especially to reflect back on especially when for example, my water doesn’t turn on for a day or so and my dog pees all over my house and I want to eat cheese other than queso paraguay and I can’t, and my frustration approaches critical mass. The “this is where I am and this is what I’m doing” moments are really great, and keep it all in perspective.
The water has been super unreliable this week which originally was VERY annoying but I got over it and have more or less accepted bucket bathing as a way of life now-check that one off the life to do list.
I bought rice from the dispensa next door the other night and soon realized that I had never made rice without following the directions on the box but luckily with some Peace Corps flexibility and quick thinking, I made myself a nice rice, corn, and pea salad. And the puppy liked it too.
Meli, Claudia, Rugger, and I embarked on a journey to the vet this week to get Rugger vaccinated. We had to get on a public bus (the list of weird things I have traveled with on one of those is growing rapidly) which the puppy was less than thrilled with but after some writhing and crying we finally got there and got him all fixed up by a very nice Paraguayan vet. Luckily on the way home he was too tired to continue writhing so we made it home without any casualties. Now if I could just get him to pee outside!
So we got a lot of warning about “la hora paraguaya” and the “abiss of service” and things like that. Basically they were warning us to NOT expect an American standard 40 hour work week once we got into site. Despite these warnings, I still am finding myself with anxiety/guilt over the relatively small amount of work that I have been doing on a day to day basis. I (naturally) have been making a mini schedule for myself every day, most of the time involving one task in the morning and one task in the afternoon. While this does help me feel somewhat accomplished at the end of the day, each task doesn’t really ever take more than an hour or two. Going to the comedor- two hours max, meeting with the teachers at the school-solid 20 minutes no mas, going to the community center to get a phone number/check on the enrollment in my English class-about 7-12 minutes depending on how fast I walk/how much small talk I make with the guy at the front desk. These have been some of the tasks I’ve been doing on a fairly regular basis these past couple weeks so, as you can see- there is NO such thing as 9-5 around here. They waves of guilt come and go but I try and use my down time as productively as possible (which my internet modem does NOTHING to help). There are several dirt roads that run off the Ruta just north of my community that I hope to explore in the coming weeks, and I also have not made it down to the river yet.
Another volunteer who lives close to me, Amy, and I went to the jail a couple km up the road from my sight to see if the director was interested in working with us. We trekked the twenty minutes in from the ruta and handed our IDs to the guards at the front gate. The director greeted us and we sat and chatted for a while about the improvements he was interested in making in the prison and how we could possibly help. He is super friendly and open to us so hopefully we will be able to do some interesting things with the prisoners. Definitely add this to the list of things I thought I wouldn’t be doing in the Peace Corps.
I met some German people who are volunteering as English teachers in a high school in Limpio. We met them on a bus and of course their rubia-ness and short and t shirts immediately stood out to us. As soon as we figured out they weren’t Peace Corps volunteers we were VERY confused and decided to see what they were all about. There are five of them here, all working in the same school. We went and had dinner together and got to know each other a bit-it was so nice to have social interaction in English again!
Well, I think this is all for now. I will report on all the bicentennial activities after the weekend!!
Monday, May 2, 2011
Home Improvement Paraguay
So this week was mostly dedicated to making my house into a place I am going to be happy to be for the next two year: no small feat around these parts. My major obstacles: a broken bed, many a broken window, a gate-less fence, and just general aesthetics. Por suerte, the bed wasn’t as complicated as a problem as I anticipated so after a quick stop at the muebleria (furniture store) I was ready to go in the sleeping department (and as most of you who know me well know, this is a VERY important department). The broken windows were a bit more complicated. I thought I was in the money because there was a big place that said “glass store” (in Spanish) right across the ruta from my barrio so I decided to support the locals and walked over there to talk to them-no one home. About three hours later I went back and again, no dice. So the next morning I called my landlord to get the name of his glass guy. I mustered all my Spanish speaking skills and gave them a call and after a couple perdons? And otra vezs? We finally decided that they would come the next morning at eight am to give me an estimate. I woke up early and got all dressed and ready to be a big responsible home improver and eight turned into nine turned into ten and I finally gave up on them coming. Only slightly annoyed at this point, I decided to call them back assuming that it was very possible that I hadn’t understood what they had said. So I called again and they said they would come by “en seguida” which in Paraguay means, well no one really knows what it means, which is the problem with it. About two pm (smack in the middle of my siesta) the glass man came a clappin’. He walked around and measured it all and gave the estimate-something a little less than a hundred American dollars for 25 (yes, that’s right 25) pieces of broken glass that needed replacing. A couple hours, several reminder phone calls, and A LOT of banging and dust later-I am the proud owner of new windows, with curtains and everything! Que suerte, I know.
Since my neighbor just happens to be a carpenter, I decided he would be the man to talk to about my gate. I went over to speak with him about it and he gave me another “en seguida” so hopefully I’ll have myself a gate before the end of the century. As for the walls, a quick trip to Mercado 4 in Asuncion fixed that right up with some fabric for wall hangings and even a pretty new table cloth! My host mom took me get curtains made, too. I was originally planning on being really guapa and making them myself but then my host mom told me they were only one dollar each to get made so that changed my mind right quick. I did some other things like get a nice fruit basket and make book ends out of candles and old wine bottles and before I knew it, the whole house was really coming together. My next obstacle is a place to hang my hammock. There are several trees in my yard but none of them seem to have the correct distance/branch height to hang up my hammock comfortably. Stay tuned….
On Paraguayan buses, I have often been amazed what people are able to carry while simultaneously paying the driver, feeding their child, texting, and eating chipa. So when I decided I needed to go to the hardware store to get paint I thought to myself-why not just bring it on the bus? Turns out, this hardware store only had paint in HUGE quantities that weighed A LOT. The woman checking me out was pretty surprised when she asked me where my car was and I told her no car, just the good old bus for me. This is when I realized I may have an issue. I managed to heave it on and off the bus myself and too many minutes and a lot of sweat later-I finally heaved it onto my porch. This experience was bad but weirdly gratifying so when I went back into town the next day to get chairs for my porch I again thought to myself-why not just bring it on the bus? The woman at this store responded with similar shock when I let her know that I’d be returning to my house “en collective no mas”. The problem this time; however, was not the weight but the width rather-the chairs were about a quarter inch skinnier than the door of the bus which meant it took an awkwardly long time getting both on and off the bus. BUT-I am now able to sit on my porch and read a book and drink terere SO-I am just going to hope I never see anyone who was on that bus ever again. Que verguenza!
I decided to start taking advantage of the very long straight Ruta right near my house for running purposes which was well, painful at first but I’ve finally ran far enough to get to a really beautiful bridge overlooking the river which gives me motivation to keep going.
I took my first trip to the Comedor this week with my contact, Victor, and his adorable siblings-Luz, Daisey, and Diosnel. I met a bunch of the kids and hung out and played this weird slap card game thing which the point of is to slap the cards on the table in such a way that they flip over and then you get to keep that card, person with the most cards at the end of the game wins. I know it sounds weird but its hours of entertainment I promise you.
The weekend consisted of house training my new puppy (!) that Victors little brothers and sisters gave me. I named him rugger and hopefully one day soon he will learn to not pee in my house. Also this weekend I went to my first VAC meeting. VAC stands for Volunteer Advisory Committee and each different region of the country has one so all the volunteers can keep in touch with each other, collaborate with one another and well, get together and eat and drink more or less.
hasta pronto mis amores
Jaim
Since my neighbor just happens to be a carpenter, I decided he would be the man to talk to about my gate. I went over to speak with him about it and he gave me another “en seguida” so hopefully I’ll have myself a gate before the end of the century. As for the walls, a quick trip to Mercado 4 in Asuncion fixed that right up with some fabric for wall hangings and even a pretty new table cloth! My host mom took me get curtains made, too. I was originally planning on being really guapa and making them myself but then my host mom told me they were only one dollar each to get made so that changed my mind right quick. I did some other things like get a nice fruit basket and make book ends out of candles and old wine bottles and before I knew it, the whole house was really coming together. My next obstacle is a place to hang my hammock. There are several trees in my yard but none of them seem to have the correct distance/branch height to hang up my hammock comfortably. Stay tuned….
On Paraguayan buses, I have often been amazed what people are able to carry while simultaneously paying the driver, feeding their child, texting, and eating chipa. So when I decided I needed to go to the hardware store to get paint I thought to myself-why not just bring it on the bus? Turns out, this hardware store only had paint in HUGE quantities that weighed A LOT. The woman checking me out was pretty surprised when she asked me where my car was and I told her no car, just the good old bus for me. This is when I realized I may have an issue. I managed to heave it on and off the bus myself and too many minutes and a lot of sweat later-I finally heaved it onto my porch. This experience was bad but weirdly gratifying so when I went back into town the next day to get chairs for my porch I again thought to myself-why not just bring it on the bus? The woman at this store responded with similar shock when I let her know that I’d be returning to my house “en collective no mas”. The problem this time; however, was not the weight but the width rather-the chairs were about a quarter inch skinnier than the door of the bus which meant it took an awkwardly long time getting both on and off the bus. BUT-I am now able to sit on my porch and read a book and drink terere SO-I am just going to hope I never see anyone who was on that bus ever again. Que verguenza!
I decided to start taking advantage of the very long straight Ruta right near my house for running purposes which was well, painful at first but I’ve finally ran far enough to get to a really beautiful bridge overlooking the river which gives me motivation to keep going.
I took my first trip to the Comedor this week with my contact, Victor, and his adorable siblings-Luz, Daisey, and Diosnel. I met a bunch of the kids and hung out and played this weird slap card game thing which the point of is to slap the cards on the table in such a way that they flip over and then you get to keep that card, person with the most cards at the end of the game wins. I know it sounds weird but its hours of entertainment I promise you.
The weekend consisted of house training my new puppy (!) that Victors little brothers and sisters gave me. I named him rugger and hopefully one day soon he will learn to not pee in my house. Also this weekend I went to my first VAC meeting. VAC stands for Volunteer Advisory Committee and each different region of the country has one so all the volunteers can keep in touch with each other, collaborate with one another and well, get together and eat and drink more or less.
hasta pronto mis amores
Jaim
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
One down, 103 to go
So I’m mostly all settled in here in Villa Madrid, and having arrived right smack in the middle of Semana Santa, my time has been spent cleaning/organizing/decorating my future home, making chipa, and spending a lot of time in what I can best describe as a Paraguayan sorority house. Myself, my host mother Elvira, my host sisters Meli, Yanina, Claudia, y Mariam, my cousins Nilsa and Johanna, and my poor poor host brother who somehow got stuck sharing a bathroom with us all, Aldo, all live in the same house at the top of the first hill in the first fase of Villa Madrid, Limpio. Villa Madrid is split into three “fases” which indicate the water systems they belong to. The first and third fase’s are biggest, and the third fase is widely considered the poorest of the fase’s, but other than that you would never be able to tell as you pass from one fase to the other.
The thing about training that is interesting is that you experience some form of culture/language shock but of course you still have the buffer of the 47 other Nortes you see on a daily basis. It has occurred to me the past couple days (mostly when I try to speak in Spanglish and no one understands me) that THIS is what cultural/linguistic immersion is all about- being all by yourself with English speakers por lo menos a phone call away, surviving one mildly awkward situation after another, all day long, every day. What makes this experience even more intense is that since school and work are out for the holy week, the house is super full all the time, with new people passing through at any given moment with any variety of Spanish, Guaraní, hugs, besos, and questions for me. In short: things are getting very real around here.
One night my sisters told me all about the seven myths in Paraguayan culture. The Seven mitos include stories about a monster that eats the dead, another one that comes at the siesta to steal and enchant kids who are left alone, and a drunk who you have to leave cana for in your chipa stove every night. These myths are all surviving from come ancient indigenous Guarani culture. They asked me what mitos the United States has but I really couldn’t think of any. I told them the headless horsemen story and how people think you’ll have bad luck if you walk under a ladder but that was all I could muster.
Thursday we did some Chipa making which was super labor intensive and I can’t believe they sell it for cheap on the buses now that I’ve seen how hard it is to make. Chipa is the corny, cheesy, bready goodness that Paraguayans eat at nauseum most days a year and since on Good Friday you aren’t supposed to eat meat, and meat makes up about 70% of the Paraguayan diet, Paraguayans are left to eat the only thing that makes up the other 30%-chipa. It was a fun thing to do with the family though, and the little girls made ducks and lizards out of their dough which was adorable.
Sunday was Pascua but it was a very un-Easter Easter, as Easters go. Everyone slept until eleven (mass is at 7am in Paraguay) and then we had some lunch and made our way over to their grandmother’s house (which was quite literally over the river and through the woods). We drank some terere and ate some more chipa and played some soccer and then made our way back before dark.
I have learned a lot this week, for example: how many grocery bags I am capable of carrying on a bus, how to light a gas stove without burning my hand/singing my eye lashes, how many nails it takes to successfully hang a clothes line, how to bucket bathe, how many different words Paraguayans have for “mattress”, how to order cheese in grams, and the list keeps on going.
Anyway, one week down, one hundred and three more to go-on to more learning and I will update soon!
Love and miss you all
Jaim
The thing about training that is interesting is that you experience some form of culture/language shock but of course you still have the buffer of the 47 other Nortes you see on a daily basis. It has occurred to me the past couple days (mostly when I try to speak in Spanglish and no one understands me) that THIS is what cultural/linguistic immersion is all about- being all by yourself with English speakers por lo menos a phone call away, surviving one mildly awkward situation after another, all day long, every day. What makes this experience even more intense is that since school and work are out for the holy week, the house is super full all the time, with new people passing through at any given moment with any variety of Spanish, Guaraní, hugs, besos, and questions for me. In short: things are getting very real around here.
One night my sisters told me all about the seven myths in Paraguayan culture. The Seven mitos include stories about a monster that eats the dead, another one that comes at the siesta to steal and enchant kids who are left alone, and a drunk who you have to leave cana for in your chipa stove every night. These myths are all surviving from come ancient indigenous Guarani culture. They asked me what mitos the United States has but I really couldn’t think of any. I told them the headless horsemen story and how people think you’ll have bad luck if you walk under a ladder but that was all I could muster.
Thursday we did some Chipa making which was super labor intensive and I can’t believe they sell it for cheap on the buses now that I’ve seen how hard it is to make. Chipa is the corny, cheesy, bready goodness that Paraguayans eat at nauseum most days a year and since on Good Friday you aren’t supposed to eat meat, and meat makes up about 70% of the Paraguayan diet, Paraguayans are left to eat the only thing that makes up the other 30%-chipa. It was a fun thing to do with the family though, and the little girls made ducks and lizards out of their dough which was adorable.
Sunday was Pascua but it was a very un-Easter Easter, as Easters go. Everyone slept until eleven (mass is at 7am in Paraguay) and then we had some lunch and made our way over to their grandmother’s house (which was quite literally over the river and through the woods). We drank some terere and ate some more chipa and played some soccer and then made our way back before dark.
I have learned a lot this week, for example: how many grocery bags I am capable of carrying on a bus, how to light a gas stove without burning my hand/singing my eye lashes, how many nails it takes to successfully hang a clothes line, how to bucket bathe, how many different words Paraguayans have for “mattress”, how to order cheese in grams, and the list keeps on going.
Anyway, one week down, one hundred and three more to go-on to more learning and I will update soon!
Love and miss you all
Jaim
Monday, April 18, 2011
Trainees No More
So its real deal time now people-no more training wheels, its go big or go home put up or shut up, time to make things happen time. We are officially Peace Corps Volunteers! Friday morning was our swearing in ceremony which took place at the American ambassador’s house which would have been really beautiful except it was freakin pouring like crazy, but we all survived anyway. After the ceremony we had some delicious cake and took pictures then made our way back to the Peace Corps Office to get our cell phones (yay!) internet modems (YAY!!) and bank cards before we all headed to the hotels for the weekend.
We spent the weekend relaxing, exploring, and enjoying before we all head out to our sites tomorrow morning. After all that applying, all that waiting, and all that training we are finally all going out to see what we can make of this all. My packpack is WAY too heavy so the bus ride should be fun/interesting but once I’m there it will be really nice to finally settle in and make my home in Villa Madrid.
This week is Semana Santa so not too much is going to be going on work wise until after Easter which gives us all a nice little buffer of time to adjust and assimilate before the real work begins.
Not too much else to report now, I will keep you all updated on the Semana Santa festivities this week.
Wish me luck!!
Jaim
We spent the weekend relaxing, exploring, and enjoying before we all head out to our sites tomorrow morning. After all that applying, all that waiting, and all that training we are finally all going out to see what we can make of this all. My packpack is WAY too heavy so the bus ride should be fun/interesting but once I’m there it will be really nice to finally settle in and make my home in Villa Madrid.
This week is Semana Santa so not too much is going to be going on work wise until after Easter which gives us all a nice little buffer of time to adjust and assimilate before the real work begins.
Not too much else to report now, I will keep you all updated on the Semana Santa festivities this week.
Wish me luck!!
Jaim
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