November flew!

Well the month of November just ended… cant believe it! Work wise it was a pretty slow month. It’s the last month of school so all the kids are preparing and taking final exams, so it wasn’t a great time to be teaching. However I did become quite popular overnight from all the neighbor kids after I put up my hammock in my house. Its prefect spot where you can just sit and swing and watch the passerbyers on the street… and there is a great wall that you can push off to get a nice swing in! I also did some home improvements and made a shelf out of materials I found in my backyard- bricks and pieces of wood! I was pretty proud of myself! And now I feel so much more organized and its really nice to have things off the floor, because it really humid. (you can view all these new photos on my facebook!)

Other than that its been a pretty chill month. Hung out with people a lot, played with Tutti, who is getting soooo big! She really is growing really fast. She loves being in the hammock with me when I’m reading, its fun to snuggle with someone- since snuggling with boys is out of the question :) I did have more training in Asuncion which was kinda ridiculous, a waste of my time in my opinion. I wanted more HOW to do projects and ideas and we basically just got taught at- with stuff I already knew. But three days of boredom turned into three days of extreme fun. We spent Thanksgiving at a hotel close to the city of Encarnacion. It was absolutely beautiful, set up in the rolling green hills, beautiful trees everywhere. I felt a little bit like I was in the forest. And the rooms were really nice. I stayed with four of my closest girlfriends and had a wonderful room situation! There were three pools at the hotel which we utilized every day. It was beautiful weather and for a second I forgot I was in Paraguay! I was in charge of coordinating all of the activities, which turned out very very well, and I think everyone was very happy/impressed by my creativity and organization! They don’t call me party planner #1 for nothing! And then I was overwhelmingly nominated to run and organize the whole entire thing next year… its more work, but I didn’t have much choice! But I have really great ideas for next year, so it will be great! So on the return home I was kinda sad to be leaving my best friends… and the sweet awesome pool and floaty toys. But it was nice to be home in my house and reunited with Tutti again. In the next two weeks I have a lot of parties, graduations and events to attend so it should fly by, and then I will be in the United States of America!

Aiko Pora!

My title means, “I live well” in Guarani. Life is good here in Paraguay. I had a very successful Sexual Education series in the middle school in October. It was really great because I ended up not doing too much of the talking. I was accompanied by at least one nurse every charla that knew more than me, especially in the vocabulary sense. But that is great on so many levels because that is our goal here in Peace Corps. To train sustainability, and I was more of just the motivation and organization part of the charlas. But we were able to barrow a projector from the local government and use the sweet technology of a powerpoint presentation! I’ve told some of my friends that I’ve been making powerpoints and they always ask me if I’m really living in Paraguay… its not very typical for people in the campo to have technology like that! So that has been a big success… and I know the kids are learning a lot. It is such an important subject for them, because it is a problem here. And so many times teenagers think they are invisible and that sexually transmitted disease wont happen to them, but the percentage of people that have HIV/AIDS in Paraguay is the same as in the United States. Other than that I’ve been working and already have permission to turn the lot next to my house into a volleyball court! Sweet! All I have to do is look for someone who has some wood we can use for poles, buy a net and make some lines! I’m very excited about it, its going to be my summer activities with the kids. My friends and I have also starting planning our travelling summer camps! We’ll have to save that until we all get back from our xmas vacations though!

Great news about my house… I now have ALL my doors! It is very exciting; my owner just finished installing all of them yesterday. Its really nice to have a door that locks to my bathroom. I just feel super safe now! And this afternoon I’m going to the store to buy a new light for the bathroom because it doesn’t work! Ha… there is always something right! But its progress, and the Safety and Security Coordinator for Peace Corps was at my house last week. Him and the director of all Paraguay dropped me off at home after a meeting we had in Pilar and at that point I didn’t have doors and he was very worried about it, but I just sent him and email and he is very happy that I now have them!

So I’ve been on vacation/traveling basically these last two weeks. First I had a birthday party for a fellow volunteer who is in my Vac group. We went to a town called Cerrito, its in the very south of my department right along the river. We spent one night in a hostel type place just hangin out drinking a few beers! Then in the morning we headed out on a boat to an island for a camping adventure. There were 8 of us and we sun tanned… which turned out to be a horrible idea. No matter how much sun tan lotion you put on the sun is so freakin hot here, I got super burned… especially on my back! Ha! Then it just got so hot we moved to the river, grabbed a drink and sat in the river just hanging out, it was a really really fun day! Then for dinner we made really delicious black bean burgers over a campfire and for dessert had smores! Real smores, like hersey’s chocolate, real marshmallows and state side graham crackers! It was heavenly! We all finally retired to bed either in tents of under mosquito nets… only to be woken up in the middle of the night with my friend Steven telling us its going to rain! And sure enough in about an hour it started down pouring. Well we only had two, two-person tents and only one had a rain flap! So we squeezed 6 people into a tiny tent… needless to say we didn’t sleep much that night! We all woke up tired and covered in sand, but thankfully our boat captain came and got us from the island that morning. My friend Brian (from Pilar) and I headed back to Pilar with a guy that offered us a ride in his truck. Four hours later we arrived just in time for me to hop on another bus towards Asuncion to hang with my friends. I finally made it to Asuncion 6 hours later, exhausted and all I wanted to do was go have dinner with my friends. As I was waiting for the bus it suddenly started down pouring… hard. So I ended up just having a bite to eat by myself across the street from my hotel. Well that down pour turned into extreme water ways flowing down the streets of Asuncion. There were cars stuck in the high water not able to drive, and the ones that could looked like boats the water was so high. So I sat it out in the restaurant by myself, sad, tired and lonely. Then we the weather let up a bit I ventured out and tried to get back home. Well I crossed half the street easily then looked to the other side and the water was at least high calf deep… so I walked up the street a bit to see if it would be less water… I just ended up walking more and getting more and more soaked. When I finally decided to cross the street my flip flop came off in the current and starting floating down the river in the street… so I chased after it all the while soaking my jeans thoroughly! I made it across the street/river and back home to my hotel room I crashed and hoped that the following day would be better. Well it was, I met up with the girls who were getting their hair done… then we went and hung out with Danielle at Don Clark’s house (the director of all Paraguay Peace Corps) until it was time for our Halloween Party! I was Father Time and looked pretty good, everyone knew exactly who I was! We hung out with our friends, drank some cheep red wine and danced all night!! The following day could have been one of the best days I’ve had in Paraguay. I was supposed to go to Guazu Cora to hang with my training family. But the later it got in the day the less we wanted to go. First Andy decided not to go, then Eliza and I thought about it more and decided it was pretty silly to go and come back to Asuncion when we could just wait another day and go tomorrow. It may have also been influenced by the movie Eat Pray Love that we wanted to see that night! So we hopped on the bus and headed to spend time with Danielle. While on the bus we were deciding what to write to our families to tell them we weren’t coming. Andy decided to read aloud what he wrote describing how hes sick and has really bad diarrhea… only he read it to us in Spanish, without realizing that everyone on the bus speaks that language. So he ended up telling the whole bus that he had really bad diarrhea! It was hilarious and we all starting laughing so hard we were crying. It was ridiculous and I’m sure the whole bus thought we were drunk or on some kind of drug! But later we all decided that was exactly what we needed, a really good hard laugh. It put us in such great spirits and made our souls smile  Once with Danielle we hung out with our feet in the pool drinking terere and sharing the stories of the night before. Then later that night we went and watched the movie which we all thought was really good- now I’ve heard different reviews. But when seeing a movie is such a rarity almost anything is good!

Monday Liza and I headed out to Guazu Cora and just hung out with our families. It was really great. We drank way too much terere and it was fabulous. My family had remodeled their house and it was absolutely gorgeous with beautiful railings all around the house and tile floor. And my ma was soooo fat and pregnant! Shes five months now and looking so great! And Alexis is big and walking around everywhere and kinda starting to want to talk! It was a wonderful couple of days catching up with all the families. Liza and I also found something to take home with us… we both got puppies!!! They are brother and sister, two month old. Liza’s mom did research and thinks they are a mix of something and Brazilian terrier. When we got them they were really skinny and covered in fleas! So we took them home and gave them a bath and I proceeded to pick out most all the fleas by hand while Liza sat next to me and freaked out. She thought it was a big mistake to get a puppie, she didn’t know how to care for one… she was so funny. But I calmed her down, took out all the fleas and made sure they had a nice comfy bed to sleep in that night. In the morning I took both puppies to the bus station in Asuncion where I met Liza (she had to run lots of errands that morning in Asuncion and couldn’t do it with a puppie!) well somewhere along the trip both puppies puked all over each other! It was great! So we cleaned them up a bit before we both got on our buses and headed towards home, although I went to Pilar because I had a meeting the next day with the director of PC. The next day I gave Tutti all her anti-parasite shots and got her some food, a collar and vitamins to grow big and strong. And just a week later she is much fatter and full of life and energy and loves sleeping. Shes really cute, I love her and its nice to have company! Although last night she stole my cougar squishy pillow… so now its hers! Shes a pretty good puppy, only problem is she likes to poop in the house in the early mornings… we’re still working on the potty training! But she got to go on vacation to Danielle’s home this last weekend. I met Danielle in her site on Saturday (6th) to help her get readjusted back home. I brought a bunch of groceries with me so she didn’t have to do any food shopping! Then I did dishes, cooked, cleaned, swept! I was really glad I was there, because Danielle was still pretty sick and weak from surgery, so it was great to help out! And we just had a great couple of days together, watching movies, Sex and the City… and just being together! I got back to site yesterday and was really exhausted. Traveling really takes it out of me… and I got home to find my doors on which made me happy but the owner had just stained them, so there was this terrible smell and that only compounded the horrible head ache I already had. But I went to bed extremely early and woke up naturally and cleaned my house and did some chores!

So that’s about what I’ve been doing this last month. Some work, some play and an overall good time. And I cant believe I’ll be home in the United States of America in just a month and a week!

October is here already!

Time is really flying by here. In one more month I will have been in my site for 6 months and completed ¼ of my service!! That is so extremely crazy to me. Good thing I’ve been working hard and feel as though I’ve accomplished some things! Ha! So I’ve officially moved into my house I have everything I need- for the most part! I have a refrigerator, electric oven, dresser, bed and shelves in my kitchen to put my food and dishes! The guy that owns the house is currently working on finishing up the bathroom. I’m hoping in just a couple of days they’ll finish. It’s getting annoying to have to use the neighbors all the time! But it’s worth it to be in my own house and cooking my own food and kids not touching all my stuff. However, I still have my share of kids visiting my house and just wanting to hang out. But it’s fun and just so different to have my own space. It’s very liberating and it makes me really happy! Also my lights aren’t connected from the company that installs all the lights in this country (like the PUD) so right now I’m stealing it from my neighbors… so it doesn’t work well. Yesterday all afternoon until now (sat afternoon) I don’t have lights. And I probably won’t have any tonight either. Darn! But I’m hangin out with my neighbors and one of my best friends, so its fine! I made bruchetta the other night and it was absolutely delicious, I was really hitting my limit with Paraguayan food, it’s been nice to have a break!

I have officially finished all my dental charlas and this month I will be busy working in the high school doing charlas on sexuality and HIV/AIDS… should be fun! I finally feel like the high schoolers have gotten to know me and I feel much more comfortable with them and okay to teach on this subject already! And I was asked specifically by one of the teachers, so guess I’ll help out! And I’m thinking about doing a couple of charlas in the elementary about garbage. But school ends for summer vacation middle of November, so I really only have one more month working in the schools!

I also have my garden project that I want to get started. It going to be a little harder (and more costly) to have my garden in the summer time, but you can do it and it will be worth it! It will be fun to get outside and do some work, and also a little sun time! But seriously the sun here is HOT! I’ve just been walking to the schools or running little errands outside and I get burned. I keep forgetting to put sunscreen on… but now that its starting to be hot hot hot, I’ve got to remember to put that on! Also we’re springing forward tomorrow so I’ll be one more hour ahead of everyone. So mom that means 4 hours ahead and once you guys change in November we'll be 5 hours difference :( Hopefully i'll be putting up photos soon... I currently cant find my cable. My stuff is everywhere! AHHH!

Tanto Tiempo...

Wow I did not realize its been so long since I’ve last updated my blog. I guess I really have been busy! Work has been going really really well. The kids absolutely love my charlas and having me in the class. They see me on the street and always ask when I’m going to come teach in their class again! Its been a lot of fun and I know the kids are learning things, they all like to tell me how much they’re bushing their teeth! And they always enjoy playing games. It’s been a fun experience to teach in the schools- very rewarding! And it has helped me further integrate into the community! Other work activities: I’ve been giving charlas in Pilar to “The school of tomorrow”, I do charlas with my neighbor Josh and its super fun and a little different! I like it because I get to collaborate with other volunteers and make more connections and do a little bit of networking. Because there is not a health volunteer in Pilar, so they aren’t getting any health stuff! I’ve also been rockin with my walking group. I now walk at 5:15 AM with my girlfriends and then again at 5 PM with a different group. My sleep has been lacking but I’ve liked the exercise and company! I’ve also started a group of women that are interested in learning how to sew and make clothes. Then I’m going to bring in a specialist from an NGO to teach capacitation classes. Next week is my last week of dental charlas then I’ll be starting in the high school only. I want to teach on values, self-esteem, career planning, healthy relationships, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. I’m very excited because its definitely a theme lacking in my community, but I’m also scared at the same time. Seniors in high school are very intimidating. But I have high hopes that it will be successful… Teaching how to put on condoms correctly is always a good laugh!

On the social side I’ve really made some good friends. I have two girlfriends that I trust completely- which is hard here because everyone gossips so much and you really have to be careful who you tell things to. Then I have a lot more good friends, who I don’t tell secrets to, but I really enjoying hangin out with, dancing, drinking terere. But with my girlfriends, comes lots of invitations to parties. Not saying I don’t like me a good party. But I feel like I am always at a party! Eliza has gotten so tired of me calling and saying I’m at a party, she now tells me to tell her when I’m NOT at a party! Ha! But I definitely feel more a part of the community and I’ve really enjoyed myself and getting to know people better and on a deeper level.

House news is good news. I have a house. I will be moving in probably next week. And I am thrilled! It is such a relief to have a house and know I have to place to myself. It’s a cute little brick house. It has two rooms- one for the bedroom and the other for the kitchen. Then it has a semi-outside part with a roof on it and the wall closest to the road is a half brick wall and half chain link fence. Then my bathroom connects to that part- complete with flushing toilet and hot water shower. Chuchi ville! It has a big back yard for my fantastic garden I’m going to have… and my puppy?! I’m looking forward to buying all my things on Thursday, but not really looking forward to spending all my money. I’m going to have to barrow a little from my American bank account until I get more to reimburse myself!

Lets see other than that, October is going to be a very busy month for me. Full of parties, our fiesta patronal- which is our patron saint day that we celebrate for like three days full of fun activities. Like a horse show, bull fight (just the toro part, not the killing), and a ridiculous amount of dancing! Hopefully Eliza and Danielle can come down and visit to help me celebrate! Ohhh and I also have a boyfriend… well not a real boyfriend. I’m really tired of creepy men and people that keep texting me. So I’ve decided to have a boyfriend. I asked a fellow volunteer, Jake to be my pretend boyfriend! So now I have a great excuse when avoiding men!

Everyday I’m learning, every day I make better and stronger relationship and every day I’m enjoying where I live more and more. Hope you all are well. And I’ll try and be a better blogger! Besos!

Workin Workin Workin!

So last week was my first full week of my dental charla series. I gave 13 dental talks to every class in the grade school (pre-school to 6^th grade) and 7-9^th grade in the high school. It was very successful, and I know the kids really enjoyed it. However, I was very tired. I never knew teaching was so draining. And I only worked for about an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon! However, I was teaching in my second language, so that was a little bit harder. So I started with the little kids, we sang songs, read stories and played simple games. Then I transitioned into the high school and for a moment I forgot what it was like to be in high school/middle school… but it quickly came flooding back to me. I don’t think I was sufficiently prepared for what I entered into. I came from little kids in classes no more than 10 to an 8^th grade class of 30 students! Not only did they laugh at me when I said words wrong, but it was tough. I felt very intimidated and also slightly embarrassed after they laughed at me. It is really different than teaching to the little kids. They don’t care or even notice when you say something wrong. But the big kids- they notice. So it was definitely a transition, but the 9^th and 7^th grade went tons better. I was more prepared and I knew more kids well in those other two grades. And I’m going to tell you a little secret to the success of my lessons. TAG! They loved tag. I didn’t know the word for it in Spanish so I just called it tag! They did not want to stop playing, such a simple game that I grew up playing at recess, but it was totally knew to these kids and they really had a great time playing- success! It feels good to be doing things though. And now all the kids call me Profesora Sara- I like it!

Other than that I worked out mon-fri last week. I went running/walking. Right when I get lots of motivation to get out there and start working out, getting back into shape of course something happens… I have mean shin splints. And they hurt, really bad. Boo! So not only is it weird that I’m running in the first place (because that is not a normal thing) but not I run even funnier because my shins hurt so bad! But you know, I’m pushing through it and doing as much as I can! But because of all the running I’ve been doing, I’ve had lots of women tell me they want to start exercising too and that we can start walking together in the later afternoon! So that’s pretty cool and I lost 1 kilo (2.2 pounds)!

Today I hung out and I think I was officially accepted into the cool girl circle! I have a group of young girls my age in my site. Ages 21-24 and there are about 5 of them. They all work in our local municipality and they invited me to play basketball and hang out with them today. We played for a few minutes and then sat around drinking terere and chatting all afternoon! It was really fun and had a great time hanging out with girls my own age! They said they would help me move in and arrange all my things when I finally get my own house. And we can have a move in party!! More than ever I’m really looking forward to getting my own place! Probably wont be till October, because the guy that owns the house is going to build the bathroom and he is currently working on a job in another town so he doesn’t have time right now. But I talked to his brother the other day who is like the liaison between him and I and I told him how I was really excited to have my own house and I was really ready to move and hopefully his brother will finish his job soon! We’ll see!

Lovin it!

So my leadership camp was a huge success! It was very fun and also very tiring. I'm not used to doing so much in my day! ha! I took two girls with me. Paty and Auralia, they are sisters and some of my closest friends! We talked about team work, communication, values, sexuality and HIV/AIDS! Most of the presentations were lead by students, so it was really neat to see how peers can influence each other. My girls really enjoyed themselves and we all had a really great time! So here comes a cool story: the week after I got back Paty and I were talking and I asked her how her boyfriend was. But she told me she didnt want to be with him any longer. I asked her why and she told me it was because he was pressuring her to have sex. But she said she wasn't physically or emotionally ready to have sex, just like we heard about at camp. And she was worth more than that and she wanted to wait until she was in love and ready. It was such a great feeling to know that what I did was directly influenced in someones life. It gave me a lot of motivation to continue what i'm doing and that I can make a difference!

Last week i've was playing a lot of basketball. I didnt even know we had hoops, but I found out a lot of kids really enjoy playing. So I showed up and showed all those kids my hoop skills! So now i'm going to start my own little team, and teach them how to play the way I learned! It should be awesome, and I get a little exercise in there too!

So i've spent the last week in Asuncion for more training. It was not really what I expected, I wanted to more sharing of projects, ideas, where to go with what we're doing. But it was mostly just more language training. Which was okay, I learned a lot more Guarani, but it was just too much. But i did get to hang out with my friends, which was awesome! Tuesday night in Guazu Cora (my training community) we had a festival. So we all went and danced, had a great time! Wednesday Eliza and Andy threw a surprise party for me. It was really fun, we didnt get to do it as fantastically as they wanted because it was late. but it meant a lot to me! Thursday I had planned a surprise party for Eliza (which is so funny that we were both planning the exact same surprise parties for each other!). Unfortunetly Eliza got sick and we couldn't do it to the extent I wanted, but we just did a little something, ate some cake, it was fun! I really enjoyed seeing my Paraguayan mom and Alexis! My mom is pregnant again two months along and already fat!! I'm excited to have a new little Paraguayan brother or sister. My parents really want a girl! Then this weekend we headed to Asuncion to hang out more and relax with friends. I got some stuff done in the office, fixed my computer a little (its slow and really sucks) then we went out on the town partied it up, danced it up! Saturday morning I was moving slow but we went to the Mercardo 4 which is this huge flea market type area! I bought some really cute cheap clothes and a fantastic little mermaid bag (thought of you Tishra!) Then we watched Inception which was fantastic! And fun to watch a movie in english. Sunday day we watched movies and just hung out and chilled! Look forward to getting back to site, getting into the schools doing some more work. Having some birthday parties... should be fun!

Winter is way colder than I was expecting!

So this whole south american winter thing. WAY colder than I was expecting! Its actually cold. So i've spent these last few weeks just trying to keep warm. I usually sleep with my sleeping bag and three blankets on top. And I like to read before I go to bed, but I haven't lately because my hands get to cold to be out of the blankets! haha! So I hang out with my family. We cook chipa inside where we light the coal and have embers which warms the house a bit, but the chipa is delicious! Ohh I made detergent one day with a bunch of ladies. That was fun! And it turned out really well. And that was part of my work plan, so I can cross that off the list of something i've accomplished! And I think it put me in good standards with the women- they'll want to do more projects with me! Hopefully!

I had a really fabulous day last week where I went out to inspect some guys chimney on his wood burning stove- because I know sooo much about chimneys! haha. And I looked at it, and surprised myself by how smart I sounded- in Spanish! And we came up with a plan on how to improve it. Then he showed me around his house, I drank milk right out of the cow. It was a mug full of delicious milk that was luke warm and foamy. Yeah I know you need to pasturize and all the fun stuff, but I have such a hard time saying no to things being offered to me. So I drank it. And it was delicious! And I haven't died yet, so I think i'll be okay! The rest of the morning I watched them make bamboo juice by sending the bamboo through a crank type thing. Which by the way my town Tacuara means bamboo in Guarani! Small fact there! And later I used this bamboo juice to drink as mate (hot tea with yerba!) it was pretty good!

I've had three weeks of my Guarani tutor now, and its going really really well! I actually had a conversation today with my teacher! And i've been understanding a whole lot more of what my family and the people here are saying. My biggest problem is that they talk so damn fast! If they would talk slower and give me a little time to process I could understand a whole lot more! But I have a quiz tomorrow in my class, so i'm going to be studying up this evening!

Last weekend I went to visit my friend Danielle who lives the department over, but is only an hour and a half away by bus! I wasnt going to stay as long as I did but it started raining and I couldnt get back into my site. But we had such a fabulous time together. Doing absolutely nothing, but doing it together. We watched TONS of movies, in english! and the whole 7th season of Friends, which was amazing! And we made tacos from real taco seasoning her mom sent her from the States- they were bomb! And ate Jiff peanut butter- which made my life!! So overall a great weekend, and it was really fun to see another persons site and get to know their people! They were all very nice and invited me back as often as I wanted, and said next time we have to dance... I showed off a few moves of mine!!

But life is tranquilo, chill. Working on some small projects, waiting for school to start up again. And i'm doing a leadership camp this weekend in Pilar which should be fun! Chau Chau!

Fuerza Paraguay!

Well I’m in Asuncion this weekend to celebrate the 4th of July with Americans! We’re having a big bbq at the Embassy on Friday and a volleyball tournament after, which I’m super pumped about and have stacked my team with good players! Its going to be nice to see a bunch of my friends and meet some new folks! I haven’t seen my bestie, Eliza for 2 months now… so it will be nice to see her! And we’re going to go to watch the movie Sex in the City 2 which I’m way excited about!! And on Saturday Paraguay plays Spain in the world cup. We are one of the best 8 teams in the world! And it is exciting because I’ll be in Asuncion and I get to watch the game with all my friends, so I’m really looking forward to that! GO PARAGUAY!

So I haven’t been doing too much in the way of working. However, its been really hard because my teachers are on strike, so there hasn’t been class for over two weeks now and we have official winter vacation starting the 12th so… its been really hard to plan my upcoming charlas, because I have no idea when I’ll be able to start and how long the teachers will be on strike! But so goes the life here, until then I guess I’ll just have to watch a little more world cup!

So I wanted to share with everyone that I have a pet. His name is Charlie. And he is the biggest toad I have ever seen!! His body is the size of an extremely large grapefruit and he always finds a way to sneak back in our house. He really likes the bathroom, but hes been known to visit my room a couple of times! Speaking of pets, our family dog, Lassie is in love with me. She’s my best friend! For some reason she is always at my side, jumping all over me and getting my clothes dirty. When I go out running, she is there waiting, wiggling her tail at the door for me to come home! Its cute but sometimes its nice when she doesn’t get my clothes dirty!

A new little project I’m working on is learning how to knit and do something called ao’poi. Ao’poi is a traditional craft that people make shirts, table cloths, sheets out of. It’s a specific material that you hand decorate a design on! I have a shirt that Eliza’s training mom made and she is currently making me a dress! Its really beautiful stuff, so I’m really excited to learn! Plus one of my favorite ladies in my community is going to teach me, so it will be a good opportunity to get to know her better!

Other than that I’m working on a volleyball camp that I can hopefully do this vacation. I just want to get some girls together and play a little bit! And I’m also going to participate in a leadership camp that’s being put on by other volunteers in Pilar. I’m in charge of team building games! So that should be fun, and something to look forward to! I’m also trying to decide about my housing options. I have a house that is possible for me to rent but my current family said I can stay for as long as I want- even for the whole 2 years! But house negotiating is a very complicated process here, the first house they said I can rent for my two years magically had some guy living in it. And the second house that the brother of my current dad said I could rent, as of yesterday is going to rent it to someone who is going to pay much more than I ever could. So we’ll see what happens, but until then I’m very happy here with my family. My mom told me the other night that she loves having me in the house, she has loved my company and she just feels so much happier when I’m here! So that was really sweet and I really do enjoy it here, so I’m going to weight out the pros and cons of both options!

life update

this first picture is of my family on fathers day. i made that delicious looking cake! second is my nutrician game i did in a class. me and jimena riding bikes, my family and i making chipa over a fire- kinda like marshmellows! and last is my bros first birthday party!

The weekend of June 4^th I traveled back up to Guazu Cora (my training community) for Alexis 1^st birthday. An hour after I got on the bus my friend Danielle got on. Its so nice to have a traveling buddy, so every time we go to Asuncion we can ride together too! We made it to town and had to stop by some of the other families too to say hello and chat a little bit! Then I got home and everyone in my house was preparing for Alexis’s bday. We were making and decorating a cake, I blew up tons of balloons. That night it was just a small family party compared to the normal gargantuan first birthday parties that people throw for their kids in this country! But I think my mom had it right, she said Alexis wasn’t going to remember anyway so why spend a bunch of money having a huge party when we can just celebrate with family and close friends! So we had a great time eating tons of meat, drinking cana and wine (not together of course!) The next morning we all just hung out, drank lots of terere, because pa was hung over! After lunch I went over to Danielle’s house and we ate very delicious and juicy mandarins right off the tree. Then we went to Liza’s families house to visit, and I asked her mom to make me a pretty dress just like Liza wore for our swearing in- only red, because red’s my color! Then we made our rounds and hung out with Wes’s fam and drank mate dulce, which is sweet tea-ish. Only it was sweetened milk that you put in a cup of shredded coconut mixed with anis (which is some herb that I don’t know what it translates to!) and it is absolutely delicious! I almost wanted to cry when the milk ran out! Ha! My ma cooked me my favorite dinner that night but it was cold so we went to bed early! The next morning we just said goodbye to everyone and had to leave early to get home in the light!

That next day I prepared for my site presentation on Tuesday. I tried to be really guapa (hard working) and go around to peoples houses and invite them all to come to my presentation. I got to quite a few houses, mostly the people I knew well and who knew me. I was pretty excited because everyone said they would come. However, one thing I’ve learned about this country is that people say they’ll show up and they seem very convincing, but they don’t come. It’s at times frustrating, but its just something you have to realize. So if you invite some number of people, you really have to divide that by 3 and that’s maybe how many people will show up! But I was just proud of myself for trying and getting out there and inviting my people! I went to the school and entered every class in the morning and afternoon to tell all the kids to tell their parents to come! And in the afternoon I went with Nancy bike riding around town inviting even more people. So I got exercise and work out of it! By the end of the day I was tired.

Monday I woke up and went to the school to prepare all the chairs in the schools big hall where my site presentation was going to be. But the sweet cleaning lady that works at the school had already done it for me- so great! So I went home and showered, you know the typical get ready for the day things! Then my boss Don Pedro showed up right on time and I showed him to my house where we did paperwork and chatted about how things were going! Then we ate lunch and chatted for a long time. It was really nice that I live with the doctor. My boss was able to talk to the doctor a lot and figure out how the medical system worked here in my town! Then we had my official presentation to my community. It went well, there weren’t as many people there as I was hoping, but I knew not to get my hopes up! I said a few words about how I was excited to be in Tacuara and live there for two years. Overall it was a good presentation my boss got to talk to all the important people I will work with and he seemed very impressed with how well I’m adapting and all the people I know already! Good day!

My new home is going really well. I really like this family, I feel so much more part of a family. Like a mom, dad and sister! They’re a pretty united family and they always like to have meals together which I really enjoy. We cook chipa asador together for dinner, which was where we put chipa dough on a stick then cooked it rotisserie style over a fire pit that we had in the kitchen! It was a really fun night bonding! My new ma, Nancy and I like to ride bikes, so we’ve gone on a couple of bike rides together. One morning we went pretty far outside of town to a house where they were branding and marking cows. We got to watch and help out a bit, it was a fun day! I just feel so much more a part of this family, we play cards together, watch and talk about the newest happenings on the telenovela! Its nice because they have a car and a couple times a week they go to Pilar, so its really convenient to go and I don’t have to pay the bus fair! This last Saturday we went to Pilar to go shopping, we ran a bunch of errands and I got to know Pilar a lot better! Sunday we went to San Juan, Missiones which is the neighboring department (which would be an equivalent to our state) to visit Nancy’s sisters that live there. We spent all day eating, chatting and doing a little bit more eating! It was a good day just hangin out and we almost died on the way home with a near miss of a cow. (not really momma, we didn’t almost die, there was just a cow in the middle of the road! Ha!) My little sis Jimena, is really cute, but sometimes she wines a lot and its annoying. I understand a little bit more about why they say terrible twos! I think its just taking her a little bit to warm up to me. However, she does really like it when I put on Super Pato for her- which is Loney Tunes Superior Duck, and we watch it together! I can basically recite all the lines now! It is nice to have the doctor and a nurse in your house though. My big toe starting hurting really bad the other day then got really red and poofy, so my ma looked at it and decided to take a chunk out of my toe nail and it happened that my toe nail was growing sideways into my skin at the bottom towards the cuticle… ouch! So she was able to take that out very nicely for me (it only hurt for a bit) and give me antibiotics to make sure I didn’t get an infection! Ohhh the benefits of my new family! Other than that we’ve been watching a lot of soccer, the world cup has replaced the March Madness I missed! I have a little fold-up schedule that I can fill in the scores of everyone who won, so I’ve been watching a lot of games lately. And its something I like to do with my new pa, like when Paraguay played the first time, we had our set up in the house for prime game watching. Then this last Sunday Paraguay WON, we all got up early on Sunday morning to watch. Sunday is the only day possible to sleep in, because we’ve been doing house reconstruction. We’re putting revoke (a sand/cement mix) on the walls and tile on the floors. So the men working on the house come every morning between 6-6:30am except Sunday. So of course the day I could possibly sleep in there is a game on at 7:30am, that I HAVE to watch! But it was worth getting up because we won!! My family was so excited! Plus it was fathers day, so we had a really delicious lunch and hung out as a family all day, and I made a chocolate cake and decorated it with words saying Happy Fathers Day! My pa was pretty excited about it and we all took a lot of pictures!

On Thursday (June 10^th) I played some more volleyball with the high school kids. I was picked first to be on a team! I didn’t even play well, but I threw in a couple of spikes here and there that impressed the crowd! Little by little I’m getting ready to form my volleyball team. I have a new reason to form my volleyball team. Not just because I love coaching and playing but there is a serious self-esteem/motivation/self-control issue with the girls here. I just found out this week that a young girl is pregnant from a man that already has (at least) three children with three different women and many other girlfriends. So this girl makes number 4. It breaks my heart to see these women repeat the same thing over and over again, thinking that he likes you and wants to be with you but really he’s just using you. So my secondary mission is to try and empower these young girls and hopefully get them at an early enough age that I can make a strong positive influence on them.

Another project I’ve started is a walking club. I’ve only gone a couple of times and so far its only my friend Blanca, but we’ve been walking for a good hour in the mornings. Not only is it good exercise but I’m talking, practicing, learning! And I really like hanging out with Blanca because I can say things really wrong and she helps me understand why it was wrong and how to say it correctly! She’s going to be my official Guarani tutor. Starting next week I’m going to work with her at least 2 or 3 times a week on my Guarani, because Peace Corps is paying for it, so why not! But I’m looking for more women to join my walking club and hopefully get a big group out and exercising and showing the importance of getting exercise and how good it is for you body!

On Monday and Tuesday (14-15^th) of last week I was at the school helping a teacher with a nutrition project she was doing for her studies. On Monday I was in the class with kindergartners and pre-schoolers. I lead a game about what food is good to eat and what we should eat less of. I had made a bunch of food cards that were laminated and put on cardboard so they could withstand the wear and tear of little kids! Then I made two big mouths one with pretty teeth and one with ugly rooting teeth. The kids were each given a card and they were in two groups and each kid had to decide if their card was a good food or bad and put it in the corresponding mouth! It was fun and they kids seemed to really like it! On Tuesday it was a meeting for the parents, they demonstrated how to make an alfredo-esk sauce that was healthier. After the presentation I got to stand up and say a little something to the parents about how I would like to start a garden project if anyone is interested for better alimentation of the family, and I’m also going to be bringing a detergent kit from Asuncion the next time I go, because I had a lady tell me she wanted to do it and she will help me get a group of ladies together to make it with me! Yeah!

Friday (18^th) was a holiday. It was dia de San Juan and there was a festival that night at the high school, which luckily is right across the way from my house. Both Freddy and Nancy were gone for the night so it was Eusavia, Jimena and I. We ate really typical Paraguayan food, there was little carnival type games for the kids. The little girls danced which was adorable. Some of the boys played piqui, which is a mix between volleyball and soccer, you can only use your feet and have to pass it between your partner and get it to the other side of the net! Then there were the Kamby which were kids that dressed up crazy so you didn’t know who they were and ran around trying to capture people and all the kids were lovin it, and some of them wanted to be chased! Then they lit a scarecrow looking thing on fire and there were fire crackers inside! It was interesting, but super fun! But most of my time was spent chasing Jimena around everywhere!

This last Saturday I went with my contact Avelina to another little barrio (town) where we celebrated abuelas 87^th birthday! It was super fun at first, we were eating delicious grapefruit, we walked around in the fields and took lots of pictures, just hangin out and having a good time. Then we sat down for lunch and there were two of Avelinas uncles that starting talking to me, which was fine until they started talking about wanting to marry me… its so normal in the country for people to ask you if you’re single and they always ask about the possibility that you could stay here if you found someone special… blah blah! So I’m totally used to people talking to me about that. But these two men wouldn’t quit. And I eventually didn’t know how to respond, plus age in the country means absolutely nothing. The one guy was 47 and the other 45. and for them to be asking this of a 23 year old was perfectly normal… the 47 year old man has a 16 year old pregnant girlfriend if that proves anything. So by the end of lunch I was really tired of saying I wasn’t going to bring either of them back to the United States and we would never be together. I don’t think it helped that either of them had been drinking. To make my day even more pasado (literally means heavy, but in this sense means tiring) Later that night I went to hang out with some friends at Avelina’s house and I was actively hit on by a man with a wife and son, who’s mom was sitting in the same room. Moral of this story. It is very hard to be a woman in this country, foreign or citizen. Just because you’re married, have a girlfriend… means absolutely nothing in this country. It is just something I will constantly have to be aware of and always try to keep myself away from situations I don’t want to be in!

Not to end on a bad note. Life really is good here. I find little things in my life every day that remind me why I’m here and that I really have the opportunity to make a difference and I know I will. And I do have a lot of support from my other volunteer friends- thank god. I always have someone to talk to that’s relating to what I’m dealing with. And I have made a lot of really good Paraguayan friends in my site already and I cant even imagine what those relationships will transpire into in the coming two years!

I’ve moved!

So the first picture is outside my front door at sunset. Thats me and Carlito pealing corn off the cob and the rest of the pictures are of my new house- the kitchen, my room and the front of the house!



So I’ve officially been in my site a whole month now! And I’ve also moved houses. I now live with the doctor Fredy, his wife Nancy, their daughter Jimena who is 2 years old and a really nice girl about my age that is a live in nanny/house cleaner/doer of everything! I just moved on Sunday so I haven’t been here long but I really like it. I knew the family really well before so its been an easy adjustment and I definitely have more space in this house. I have my own room, a dresser to put my clothes and still a hot shower! This house is what we call, “chuchi” here in Paraguay. It means like snobby- kinda! Since the husband is a doctor and the wife is a nurse they are pretty well off. But they are a super sweet and welcoming family and that’s why I’m living here, not because its chuchi! We had so much fun last night, we were laughing and joking and they were telling me all about their super awesome holidays! I am really going to enjoy my time here with this family!

Lets see in the last week, I’ve been playing lots of cards with Yohanna and Mari. I went to a really fun birthday party. Social settings are so important for me, especially here at the beginning because its such a great way to meet people and talk more with people you already know, and all in one place! I ate a lot of cake and treats and drank hot cocoa- one of the better birthday parties I’ve been to! I’ve been sick this week with the “gripe” also known as a cold. So sleeping has been slightly more difficult, and I haven’t done too much because of it. However, now I’m feeling better, I still have a little runny nose but the congestion is gone! One afternoon I did go out with Avelina and Nancy (nurses) and walked around town giving vaccines to people. We were giving an array of shots but mostly H1N1 to babies and old people! But I got to meet a lot more people this day and it was fun to walk around with my two closest women friends!

So I finally got to break out my volley skills. Since I moved to a new house, I now look out to the kitchen and see the high school. I had just gotten home from hangin out with my friend Blanca, when I saw a bunch of kids playing volley. I got real excited and went over there. I got to play, and immediately everyone knew I knew what I was doing. I threw in a couple of sweet spikes and some nice digs. A few of the girls commented that I need to teach them to play like we do in the States! Perfect, I’ve started my reputation and now I’m going to form my volleyball team and its going to be awesome! But it was fun to get out and play!

My boss comes next Tuesday for my official site presentation so I’m getting my people ready for that, and hopefully I can get a good turn out. But most everyone I’ve talked to of my close friends and work contacts know about it and are prepared. Which is good because I want to make a good impression on my boss that I’m doing a good job already and I’m integrating well into my community! Don’t know when I’ll be able to write next but happy June everyone, while I’m sure you’re all starting to enjoy the nice warm weather, I am settling into the cold. Its not too extremely cold here (its no Pullman winters) but they don’t have heaters, so its like college all over again when Tishra and I didn’t want to turn on the heat in our apartment because we were cheap and we had to bundle up inside the house! Thank god for Kasey and Mary who always had their heat on- ohh the memories in I-104! Until next time… don’t know when that’ll be, but hope everyone is doing splendidly!