That's right everyone, our National Business Taller has now become a reality! If you're feeling in the giving mood this Christmas, please donate! Even a little bit helps, and can go a long way to making business development a reality in this small country!
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=526-220
Friday, December 24, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
The House Update!
Hey all! As I'm sitting here in the sweltering heat, listening to some Spanish guitar music, sipping on some terere, and reflecting, a lot of things immediately come to mind. Nothing would be complete without the story of my house, so I suppose I'll start there.
I officially live alone, having moved out of my host family's house on Saturday. A lot of factors had contributed to this move, but the main one was my want to finally have my own space and be able to cook my own meals. I love to cook, and have already started with pasta, salads, and Mexican food (tacos). We also received a cookbook that has been compiled by other volunteers, so that should be a lot of fun to experiment with.
One of the other main reasons I wanted to move on my own was to get my cat! A volunteer who was completing her service in December had talked to me about taking care of her cat Philipa after she had left. One of the main reasons I agreed was because the cat is used to living with Americans, house trained, and fixed. Plus she makes a great companion. The initial transition was a little traumatic for her, and she cried and hid under my bed. But after the first hard day, we've really grown on each other. She keeps the rats away, and even eats annoyingly loud crickets right in front of me (with a very loud crunch I might add!).
Aside from all the great things of living alone, there are a few setbacks. I truly miss my host family, and liked having people I could talk to all the time. However my host mom assured me I can visit whenever I want. I will definitely be visiting for the fresh bananas and mangoes that grow right in our front yard! :-) The other difficult thing about living alone is that I have A TON of free time now. This is great, because things that would normally take only a few minutes in the states have now been stretched across several hours. Until I come up with another plan, I am stuck hand washing my clothes, which is a long and tedious process. Also preparing food and cleaning my house take considerable amounts of time, due to the fact that the nearest sink (aside from the small one in my bathroom) is at my neighbor's house on the other side of the yard we share. She is more than happy to share this space, and besides the time consumption, it actually ends up working fairly well.
Another difficult aspect to living here in my own house is the sudden transition from a fairly Americanized house, to a VERY Paraguayan house, complete with plenty of interesting animals. I have stopped trying to identify the various bug species that enter my room with regularity, but to add to the list I also have (aside from my cat) birds, lizards, crickets, BIG spiders, a rat, and a frog who has taken up residency in my bathroom at night. Yes, I have considered opening a zoo down here, which I think would be quite successful. It's not as bad as it sounds; my cat keeps the bug, cricket, spider, and rat problems in line. As far as the birds, lizards, and frog, they are more than welcome to share my house. The main reason is that they also help to keep the bug population under control, and they aren't gonna scare me to death every time I try to use the bathroom in the middle of the night (which is quite the adventure I might add).
Thanksgiving here was not as bad as I expected it to be, even though I missed my family and friends back in the States a lot. We had a Peace Corps specially planned vacation and we spent 2 nights and 3 days in a nice hotel/resort near Encarnacion in the south of the country. We all had an amazing time, and being around other Americans, eating great food (yes a COMPLETE Thanksgiving dinner), and lounging by the pool for three days was definitely enough to take my mind off missing a real American Thanksgiving, if only for a few days. In addition to the relaxing atmosphere and great food, we had some incredible bonding opportunities, including a Peace Corps competition. We had relay races, diving contests, and a poker tournament. My volunteer group (G-33) is very close, and we are all great friends. This really shone through to other groups at Thanksgiving, who remarked that we were tight-knit. We're not really sure what brought us all together into such a great group, but whatever it was it still seems to be working. I am truly fortunate to have met so many people who instantly became my close friends.
In other notes, summer is officially here in Paraguay! Today is a "cool" 91 degrees with 63% humidity. Even writing that makes me almost burst out laughing. That is not even remotely "cool" for me. And the worst part is we haven't even officially entered summer - we're still in spring until December 21st. I'm still not sure yet how I will be coping with that heat. I think I will definitely be spending as much time as possible in my Cooperative, where they have air conditioning. I also will be teaching my English class starting next week in the Cooperative, which will afford me access to air conditioning almost all day Tuesdays and Thursdays.
In addition to the heat, it is as if summer has pressed a giant pause button here in Paraguay. Half of the activities I was doing were with schools and institutes, all of which have long breaks during the summer. This brings my official projects currently down to three, and also helps me to focus on what exactly it is I want to do here. English teaching is not a priority to our sector, but will give me something to do during down time, and also help me to meet more people in my community. The hospital project still soldiers on, and I am trying to help better organize their data. This is a slow and tedious process, but I am faithful that it will be worth it in the long run. And as always, I am still going into the Cooperative every day that it's possible. It's amazing how quickly going into an office where you know everyone can turn your day around, even if you're not really doing that much concrete work. I'm looking forward to the potential projects that might come from the Cooperative, and it's nice to feel like people want you to work someplace.
That's all for now, hope everyone is having a happy holiday season, and enjoying that cold weather! I'll post again soon!
I officially live alone, having moved out of my host family's house on Saturday. A lot of factors had contributed to this move, but the main one was my want to finally have my own space and be able to cook my own meals. I love to cook, and have already started with pasta, salads, and Mexican food (tacos). We also received a cookbook that has been compiled by other volunteers, so that should be a lot of fun to experiment with.
One of the other main reasons I wanted to move on my own was to get my cat! A volunteer who was completing her service in December had talked to me about taking care of her cat Philipa after she had left. One of the main reasons I agreed was because the cat is used to living with Americans, house trained, and fixed. Plus she makes a great companion. The initial transition was a little traumatic for her, and she cried and hid under my bed. But after the first hard day, we've really grown on each other. She keeps the rats away, and even eats annoyingly loud crickets right in front of me (with a very loud crunch I might add!).
Aside from all the great things of living alone, there are a few setbacks. I truly miss my host family, and liked having people I could talk to all the time. However my host mom assured me I can visit whenever I want. I will definitely be visiting for the fresh bananas and mangoes that grow right in our front yard! :-) The other difficult thing about living alone is that I have A TON of free time now. This is great, because things that would normally take only a few minutes in the states have now been stretched across several hours. Until I come up with another plan, I am stuck hand washing my clothes, which is a long and tedious process. Also preparing food and cleaning my house take considerable amounts of time, due to the fact that the nearest sink (aside from the small one in my bathroom) is at my neighbor's house on the other side of the yard we share. She is more than happy to share this space, and besides the time consumption, it actually ends up working fairly well.
Another difficult aspect to living here in my own house is the sudden transition from a fairly Americanized house, to a VERY Paraguayan house, complete with plenty of interesting animals. I have stopped trying to identify the various bug species that enter my room with regularity, but to add to the list I also have (aside from my cat) birds, lizards, crickets, BIG spiders, a rat, and a frog who has taken up residency in my bathroom at night. Yes, I have considered opening a zoo down here, which I think would be quite successful. It's not as bad as it sounds; my cat keeps the bug, cricket, spider, and rat problems in line. As far as the birds, lizards, and frog, they are more than welcome to share my house. The main reason is that they also help to keep the bug population under control, and they aren't gonna scare me to death every time I try to use the bathroom in the middle of the night (which is quite the adventure I might add).
Thanksgiving here was not as bad as I expected it to be, even though I missed my family and friends back in the States a lot. We had a Peace Corps specially planned vacation and we spent 2 nights and 3 days in a nice hotel/resort near Encarnacion in the south of the country. We all had an amazing time, and being around other Americans, eating great food (yes a COMPLETE Thanksgiving dinner), and lounging by the pool for three days was definitely enough to take my mind off missing a real American Thanksgiving, if only for a few days. In addition to the relaxing atmosphere and great food, we had some incredible bonding opportunities, including a Peace Corps competition. We had relay races, diving contests, and a poker tournament. My volunteer group (G-33) is very close, and we are all great friends. This really shone through to other groups at Thanksgiving, who remarked that we were tight-knit. We're not really sure what brought us all together into such a great group, but whatever it was it still seems to be working. I am truly fortunate to have met so many people who instantly became my close friends.
In other notes, summer is officially here in Paraguay! Today is a "cool" 91 degrees with 63% humidity. Even writing that makes me almost burst out laughing. That is not even remotely "cool" for me. And the worst part is we haven't even officially entered summer - we're still in spring until December 21st. I'm still not sure yet how I will be coping with that heat. I think I will definitely be spending as much time as possible in my Cooperative, where they have air conditioning. I also will be teaching my English class starting next week in the Cooperative, which will afford me access to air conditioning almost all day Tuesdays and Thursdays.
In addition to the heat, it is as if summer has pressed a giant pause button here in Paraguay. Half of the activities I was doing were with schools and institutes, all of which have long breaks during the summer. This brings my official projects currently down to three, and also helps me to focus on what exactly it is I want to do here. English teaching is not a priority to our sector, but will give me something to do during down time, and also help me to meet more people in my community. The hospital project still soldiers on, and I am trying to help better organize their data. This is a slow and tedious process, but I am faithful that it will be worth it in the long run. And as always, I am still going into the Cooperative every day that it's possible. It's amazing how quickly going into an office where you know everyone can turn your day around, even if you're not really doing that much concrete work. I'm looking forward to the potential projects that might come from the Cooperative, and it's nice to feel like people want you to work someplace.
That's all for now, hope everyone is having a happy holiday season, and enjoying that cold weather! I'll post again soon!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
The Great Update!
Despite the fact that it has been awhile since I last blogged, I guarantee this blog will not be a disappointment. The biggest question I will address is what the heck has happened to my life in the last two months?! Things have changed here in site, and as they say: Peace Corps is difficult, but never in the ways you expect.
One of the main things you notice living in Paraguay is the pace of everyday tasks. Living in the States we become accustomed to the instant gratification and rapid pace of business. If we want something, usually it is just a phone call or short drive away. The case is rare that we have to wait longer than a week for anyhing, which when you think about it is an incredible achievement of our society. However this is generally not the way the rest of the world works, especially here where the catchphrase is "tranquilopa" or "chill." Nothing ever happens quickly. Little by little you begin to get used to this, but every once in a while it builds up to absolutely frustrate you to the point of exhaustion. These things can range from the pace of mail (horrendously slow; the record for longest transit of a package sent from the US is 3 years) to administrative urgency (even though I called twice, and visited the office once, it has taken me two weeks to get my internet up and running). The bright side of these frustrations is that when you finally do receive something (a package from home, your computer, or your internet) it feels incredible, like Christmas came early.
Building on that last statement, yes, I have once again entered the world of technological interconnectivity. I have my computer, as well as internet. So hopefully now that I am on my own time (and don't have to continuously pay to use a computer) the blogs will be more frequent and detailed. Also if anyone wants a Skype chat, I usually have plenty of free time in the evenings. Anyways, on to my adventures here in site!
You know the day's going to be interesting when the mayor of your town, whom you only met the day before, and don't remember giving your number (I didn't; he got it from my cooperative), calls you up out of the blue first thing in the morning and asks you to swing by his office to chat about a project. I tell him "of course," hop in the shower, throw on my best shirt, and am out the door in less than 20 minutes. When I arrive at the Municipalidad (the government building), I just walk into the mayor's office like it's no big deal and start chatting away with him. I wasn't completely sure what he wanted; it's always a bit difficult to understand people over the phone, mainly because they aren't standing in front of you giving off other contextual clues. Over the phone I got the important things: come to my office in a half hour, something something, computers and the hospital. In person, the task becomes slightly more daunting. The hospital has asked for help in organizing their files from a paper system to computerized, to better serve the people of Eusebio Ayala.
There is something I should clarify a minute. The hospital is a government run organization, and provides the citizens of the country access to free health care. As such, in a country with financial struggles such as Paraguay, it's not in the best shape. Anyone who has a bit of money generally goes to the private hospitals, where the health care is better and the doctors get paid more. In fact Peace Corps mandates that we use specifically listed hospitals, most of them run by German and Canadian Mennonites, to ensure we are receiving decent quality emergency care. For everyday visits, we have our own doctors that operate a health center in our office in Asuncion. To make a long story short, the people who use the run down hospitals here are the people who generally have the greatest need.
The hospital secretary came and collected me, and away we went. When I got to the hospital, I immediately realized their problem. Their filing system was, for lack of a better word, a disaster. They use a numeric filing system, allocating a number to each person and filing (I'm guessing?) more or less alphabetically. The files looked like they were from the 1920's, and some of them were falling apart. The hospital secretary assumed I knew computer programming (I don't) and assumed I could write them a program to help sort through the mess (I can't). However, I told them not to be discouraged, as I could make a few phone calls to find out exactly what was possible. I assured them that I would help, and we would find a solution. I bid them farewell, offering to stop by next week when I have more information.
A few hours and a couple of phone calls later, I had what I needed. The Peace Corps Health coordinator got me the contact information of a member of the Health Ministry, so that I could find out what sort of program they use in the central hospitals in Asuncion. Once I find out that information, my coordinator assured me that Peace Corps could get me the program so that I can begin the process of helping the hospital. Once the program is installed on their computer, I will begin teaching the office staff exactly how to use it before we start digitizing the records. That way I am not the only one who knows what to do, and the workload is not so weighted on my time alone. It also makes the project more sustainable, which is the overall long term goal of Peace Corps projects.
Aside from my main project of working with the Cooperative, which is moving along like a snail, I have several other projects that are coming along nicely. These include my work on a World Map Project with a local elementary school, solid meetings with the librarian of the Municipal Library, hoping to start a reading club, as well as a prospective project helping a women's group look into environmental programs here in Paraguay. All these things aside, perhaps the pride and joy of my work thus far has been a collaboration of Peace Corps Volunteers on our first semi-annual Business Taller (workshop). This program has hit the ground running, with weekly meetings via internet and extensive independent work on Logistics, Programming, and Financing. I have been helping mostly with the Steering Committee, trying to decide exactly what we want this program to look like, and where we want to take it in the long run. I am also helping with some of the logistical planning. Our target for the first workshop is the beginning of March. While we started with a modest plan, our project has now attracted the attention and support of virtually any and all resources we could think of, from our Country Director to local Paraguayan Government to USAID (United States Agency for International Development; this is the main program that distributes foreign aid abroad). I will be sure to keep the blog updated as this project progresses.
In other news, stay tuned later this week for updates on my housing and social life here in site!
One of the main things you notice living in Paraguay is the pace of everyday tasks. Living in the States we become accustomed to the instant gratification and rapid pace of business. If we want something, usually it is just a phone call or short drive away. The case is rare that we have to wait longer than a week for anyhing, which when you think about it is an incredible achievement of our society. However this is generally not the way the rest of the world works, especially here where the catchphrase is "tranquilopa" or "chill." Nothing ever happens quickly. Little by little you begin to get used to this, but every once in a while it builds up to absolutely frustrate you to the point of exhaustion. These things can range from the pace of mail (horrendously slow; the record for longest transit of a package sent from the US is 3 years) to administrative urgency (even though I called twice, and visited the office once, it has taken me two weeks to get my internet up and running). The bright side of these frustrations is that when you finally do receive something (a package from home, your computer, or your internet) it feels incredible, like Christmas came early.
Building on that last statement, yes, I have once again entered the world of technological interconnectivity. I have my computer, as well as internet. So hopefully now that I am on my own time (and don't have to continuously pay to use a computer) the blogs will be more frequent and detailed. Also if anyone wants a Skype chat, I usually have plenty of free time in the evenings. Anyways, on to my adventures here in site!
You know the day's going to be interesting when the mayor of your town, whom you only met the day before, and don't remember giving your number (I didn't; he got it from my cooperative), calls you up out of the blue first thing in the morning and asks you to swing by his office to chat about a project. I tell him "of course," hop in the shower, throw on my best shirt, and am out the door in less than 20 minutes. When I arrive at the Municipalidad (the government building), I just walk into the mayor's office like it's no big deal and start chatting away with him. I wasn't completely sure what he wanted; it's always a bit difficult to understand people over the phone, mainly because they aren't standing in front of you giving off other contextual clues. Over the phone I got the important things: come to my office in a half hour, something something, computers and the hospital. In person, the task becomes slightly more daunting. The hospital has asked for help in organizing their files from a paper system to computerized, to better serve the people of Eusebio Ayala.
There is something I should clarify a minute. The hospital is a government run organization, and provides the citizens of the country access to free health care. As such, in a country with financial struggles such as Paraguay, it's not in the best shape. Anyone who has a bit of money generally goes to the private hospitals, where the health care is better and the doctors get paid more. In fact Peace Corps mandates that we use specifically listed hospitals, most of them run by German and Canadian Mennonites, to ensure we are receiving decent quality emergency care. For everyday visits, we have our own doctors that operate a health center in our office in Asuncion. To make a long story short, the people who use the run down hospitals here are the people who generally have the greatest need.
The hospital secretary came and collected me, and away we went. When I got to the hospital, I immediately realized their problem. Their filing system was, for lack of a better word, a disaster. They use a numeric filing system, allocating a number to each person and filing (I'm guessing?) more or less alphabetically. The files looked like they were from the 1920's, and some of them were falling apart. The hospital secretary assumed I knew computer programming (I don't) and assumed I could write them a program to help sort through the mess (I can't). However, I told them not to be discouraged, as I could make a few phone calls to find out exactly what was possible. I assured them that I would help, and we would find a solution. I bid them farewell, offering to stop by next week when I have more information.
A few hours and a couple of phone calls later, I had what I needed. The Peace Corps Health coordinator got me the contact information of a member of the Health Ministry, so that I could find out what sort of program they use in the central hospitals in Asuncion. Once I find out that information, my coordinator assured me that Peace Corps could get me the program so that I can begin the process of helping the hospital. Once the program is installed on their computer, I will begin teaching the office staff exactly how to use it before we start digitizing the records. That way I am not the only one who knows what to do, and the workload is not so weighted on my time alone. It also makes the project more sustainable, which is the overall long term goal of Peace Corps projects.
Aside from my main project of working with the Cooperative, which is moving along like a snail, I have several other projects that are coming along nicely. These include my work on a World Map Project with a local elementary school, solid meetings with the librarian of the Municipal Library, hoping to start a reading club, as well as a prospective project helping a women's group look into environmental programs here in Paraguay. All these things aside, perhaps the pride and joy of my work thus far has been a collaboration of Peace Corps Volunteers on our first semi-annual Business Taller (workshop). This program has hit the ground running, with weekly meetings via internet and extensive independent work on Logistics, Programming, and Financing. I have been helping mostly with the Steering Committee, trying to decide exactly what we want this program to look like, and where we want to take it in the long run. I am also helping with some of the logistical planning. Our target for the first workshop is the beginning of March. While we started with a modest plan, our project has now attracted the attention and support of virtually any and all resources we could think of, from our Country Director to local Paraguayan Government to USAID (United States Agency for International Development; this is the main program that distributes foreign aid abroad). I will be sure to keep the blog updated as this project progresses.
In other news, stay tuned later this week for updates on my housing and social life here in site!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Its Official!
Hey all! Last time I posted, I was a mere Peace Corps Trainee....and now? I can happily say I am a Peace Corps Volunteer! Hopefully I can recap a little of what has gone on in the past few weeks:
Swear in was an amazing opportunity for all of us to celebrate finally completing our at times painful training. The actual ceremony took place in the US Embassy in Asunción, and was short but sweet. We even got our photo taken for the local newspapers! However they wrongfully described our group's work as being in the areas of Health and Education...oh well I guess you can't have it all right? After the ceremony, we walked two blocks over to the Peace Corps office and finished our paperwork, as well as prepared to relax a bit! We had four days free in Asunción, and you better believe we made the most of it!
Almost all of our group was staying in the Hotel Chaco, which is in the heart of central Asunción, close by to several restaraunts, bars, and night clubs (or discotecas as they call them here). Over the course of four nights, we ate out at Mexican, Spanish, Korean, and Lebanese! It was incredible to finally have some variety in our diet, and prepare ourselves for the upcoming months with lots of repetition in the food lol. We also had a chance to hit up both a British and an Irish Pub, as well as a whole host of nightclubs. It was really great to go out and dance to reggaeton (the music thats popular with kids here; think American pop meets Latin beats) and have a great time, and most of the training staff as well as our coordinators joined us!
By day, we also got to explore the city of Asunción, which has a lot to offer from expansive malls and movie theaters, to an open air market the size of which I had never seen in my life! In the market (Mercado Cuatro) they sell anything from vegetables to shoes to electric appliances. Basically anything you could ever need to find is here, most of it cheap knock-offs and Chinese imports. Also, you can buy virtually any movie LONG before it comes out on DVD. Piracy of movies and video games is rampant.
In addition to the malls, we also scoped out the supermarkets (for me at least it is not so out of the question to go into Asunción to buy things I can't find in my site; its only an hour and a half by bus). One of the supermarkets near to the mall has a HUGE American foods aisle, and you bet that I spent some time there shopping! Mostly I was obsessed with the sauces (Barbeque, A-1 Steak, Terriaki, and others) that you quite literally can't find anywhere else. If you really want as well, they sell boxed mac and cheese (Velveeta brand) for probably twice what it costs in the US (no thanks, I'll wait until I visit home lol).
When we weren't exploring the city, we were lounging by the hotel's rooftop pool sunbathing or watching the sunset. I know, stop me now, because to be quite honest that weekend did NOT feel like Peace Corps. It was, however, an incredibly relaxing weekend and got me ready to dive into my service, which I started just over one week ago today!
Now a little taste of what I've been up to lately, and what I hope to accomplish with my service:
All of our trainers and coordinators told us to relax, and take the first three months easy. They said we would be bored, sitting around not doing much. They said we would need to bring books and magazines, and just get used to talking and drinking tereré. I don't know what Peace Corps Volunteer they were talking about, but it certainly has not been my experience!
In my first week, I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, working in the cooperative as well as attending meetings and talking with local schools. Every morning (Monday-Friday) I head to the cooperative between 8-9 in the morning. There its a toos-up of who gets me; I started out working with the Comittee of Education, and have more recently been working with the Accounting Department, helping them go through their records and balancing the books. This has been an incredible opportunity because I have had the chance to observe and ask specifically how the cooperative works from a financial perspective. Though I will admit its a little strange, and I feel like the new inturn in a bank. The only difference is all the guys are making jokes in Spanish, and talking about going to Octoberfest (yea they have that here, gotta love the Germans) and the Linkin Park concert that (they say) is coming to Asunción in October, even though their website only lists Buenos Aires as a tour stop... Anyways, it has been an interesting experience to say the least.
My afternoons have been more variable, with a myriad of activities. I have been running around to local schools and institutions, trying to see where the need really is and what I can do to help. I have already identified two schools that I hope to work directly with developing small classes on Civic Education (one of the four pillars of my sector) and possibly basic business skills (another one of the pillars). In addition to this, most schools are interested in English classes. Looks like my schedule just filled up. Most of these classes it will be very difficult to start until after their summer break, which ends in the beginning of February. That gives me a bit of time to work on some side projects and do some serious planning.
On September 13th, I will be starting a World Map Project with a local school, helping them to paint a world map as well as doing mini-courses in world geography. I have tweaked this a little from Peace Corps' original model, as the school also wants to incorperate something for Paraguay's bicentenial (at the end of the year). For this, we will also paint exploration routes going to the New World from Spain, with the biggest exploration route going to Paraguay (the most important to Paraguayans, of course). I also have a meeting on September 10th to start planning a youth summer camp with some of the school teachers. I will of course advertise this to the other schools, but sometimes it is difficult to travel across town for little kids. I have heard from several sources that there is not much for kids to do in the lazy summer vacations, so this is a great opportunity to get to know the community while at the same time incorperating aspects of civic education, and having a little bit of fun! I have already attracted the interests of the schools director, as well as the art teacher. With one more teacher, I think I might have enough local help to actually pull the summer camp off. Only time will tell for sure, but hopefully this can be an early success for me.
The evenings are a bit different, and can vary. Recently I have been attending educational classes that my cooperative offers for its members, usually traveling to nearby towns for these. The course subjects have ranged from social responsibility of cooperatives, to public speaking, to leadership development. It is a great way to gather firsthand exactly what it is the Comittee of Education does for its members. Its also a bit of an excuse to travel and get to know some of the surrounding cities (where other Peace Corps Volunteers live).
Tonight I have a meeting with a Neighborhood Comission to discuss potential projects. Some ideas that have been brought up already are cleaning up the trash that seems to be everywhere on the streets, and working on a project to sell mangoes. They apparently have some strategy, so hopefully I can help them develop this from a business perspective.
Other than work (which honestly takes up a lot of my time), my home life is great! The family I live with is everything I could ask for, my host mom even calls me her hijo nuevo (new son) and always tells me to be careful when I leave the house because she worries about me. On a more comical note, she can't pronounce my name so she calls me Fred or Frederico, depending on her mood. I just kinda go with it. All these factors have come together to make my integration into the community of Eusebio Ayala a little easier, though there definitely still are tough days. My hope is that with more time here (and more time in the language) things will get easier and easier and I can finally feel like a part of this culture.
Until the next blog post, chau!
Swear in was an amazing opportunity for all of us to celebrate finally completing our at times painful training. The actual ceremony took place in the US Embassy in Asunción, and was short but sweet. We even got our photo taken for the local newspapers! However they wrongfully described our group's work as being in the areas of Health and Education...oh well I guess you can't have it all right? After the ceremony, we walked two blocks over to the Peace Corps office and finished our paperwork, as well as prepared to relax a bit! We had four days free in Asunción, and you better believe we made the most of it!
Almost all of our group was staying in the Hotel Chaco, which is in the heart of central Asunción, close by to several restaraunts, bars, and night clubs (or discotecas as they call them here). Over the course of four nights, we ate out at Mexican, Spanish, Korean, and Lebanese! It was incredible to finally have some variety in our diet, and prepare ourselves for the upcoming months with lots of repetition in the food lol. We also had a chance to hit up both a British and an Irish Pub, as well as a whole host of nightclubs. It was really great to go out and dance to reggaeton (the music thats popular with kids here; think American pop meets Latin beats) and have a great time, and most of the training staff as well as our coordinators joined us!
By day, we also got to explore the city of Asunción, which has a lot to offer from expansive malls and movie theaters, to an open air market the size of which I had never seen in my life! In the market (Mercado Cuatro) they sell anything from vegetables to shoes to electric appliances. Basically anything you could ever need to find is here, most of it cheap knock-offs and Chinese imports. Also, you can buy virtually any movie LONG before it comes out on DVD. Piracy of movies and video games is rampant.
In addition to the malls, we also scoped out the supermarkets (for me at least it is not so out of the question to go into Asunción to buy things I can't find in my site; its only an hour and a half by bus). One of the supermarkets near to the mall has a HUGE American foods aisle, and you bet that I spent some time there shopping! Mostly I was obsessed with the sauces (Barbeque, A-1 Steak, Terriaki, and others) that you quite literally can't find anywhere else. If you really want as well, they sell boxed mac and cheese (Velveeta brand) for probably twice what it costs in the US (no thanks, I'll wait until I visit home lol).
When we weren't exploring the city, we were lounging by the hotel's rooftop pool sunbathing or watching the sunset. I know, stop me now, because to be quite honest that weekend did NOT feel like Peace Corps. It was, however, an incredibly relaxing weekend and got me ready to dive into my service, which I started just over one week ago today!
Now a little taste of what I've been up to lately, and what I hope to accomplish with my service:
All of our trainers and coordinators told us to relax, and take the first three months easy. They said we would be bored, sitting around not doing much. They said we would need to bring books and magazines, and just get used to talking and drinking tereré. I don't know what Peace Corps Volunteer they were talking about, but it certainly has not been my experience!
In my first week, I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, working in the cooperative as well as attending meetings and talking with local schools. Every morning (Monday-Friday) I head to the cooperative between 8-9 in the morning. There its a toos-up of who gets me; I started out working with the Comittee of Education, and have more recently been working with the Accounting Department, helping them go through their records and balancing the books. This has been an incredible opportunity because I have had the chance to observe and ask specifically how the cooperative works from a financial perspective. Though I will admit its a little strange, and I feel like the new inturn in a bank. The only difference is all the guys are making jokes in Spanish, and talking about going to Octoberfest (yea they have that here, gotta love the Germans) and the Linkin Park concert that (they say) is coming to Asunción in October, even though their website only lists Buenos Aires as a tour stop... Anyways, it has been an interesting experience to say the least.
My afternoons have been more variable, with a myriad of activities. I have been running around to local schools and institutions, trying to see where the need really is and what I can do to help. I have already identified two schools that I hope to work directly with developing small classes on Civic Education (one of the four pillars of my sector) and possibly basic business skills (another one of the pillars). In addition to this, most schools are interested in English classes. Looks like my schedule just filled up. Most of these classes it will be very difficult to start until after their summer break, which ends in the beginning of February. That gives me a bit of time to work on some side projects and do some serious planning.
On September 13th, I will be starting a World Map Project with a local school, helping them to paint a world map as well as doing mini-courses in world geography. I have tweaked this a little from Peace Corps' original model, as the school also wants to incorperate something for Paraguay's bicentenial (at the end of the year). For this, we will also paint exploration routes going to the New World from Spain, with the biggest exploration route going to Paraguay (the most important to Paraguayans, of course). I also have a meeting on September 10th to start planning a youth summer camp with some of the school teachers. I will of course advertise this to the other schools, but sometimes it is difficult to travel across town for little kids. I have heard from several sources that there is not much for kids to do in the lazy summer vacations, so this is a great opportunity to get to know the community while at the same time incorperating aspects of civic education, and having a little bit of fun! I have already attracted the interests of the schools director, as well as the art teacher. With one more teacher, I think I might have enough local help to actually pull the summer camp off. Only time will tell for sure, but hopefully this can be an early success for me.
The evenings are a bit different, and can vary. Recently I have been attending educational classes that my cooperative offers for its members, usually traveling to nearby towns for these. The course subjects have ranged from social responsibility of cooperatives, to public speaking, to leadership development. It is a great way to gather firsthand exactly what it is the Comittee of Education does for its members. Its also a bit of an excuse to travel and get to know some of the surrounding cities (where other Peace Corps Volunteers live).
Tonight I have a meeting with a Neighborhood Comission to discuss potential projects. Some ideas that have been brought up already are cleaning up the trash that seems to be everywhere on the streets, and working on a project to sell mangoes. They apparently have some strategy, so hopefully I can help them develop this from a business perspective.
Other than work (which honestly takes up a lot of my time), my home life is great! The family I live with is everything I could ask for, my host mom even calls me her hijo nuevo (new son) and always tells me to be careful when I leave the house because she worries about me. On a more comical note, she can't pronounce my name so she calls me Fred or Frederico, depending on her mood. I just kinda go with it. All these factors have come together to make my integration into the community of Eusebio Ayala a little easier, though there definitely still are tough days. My hope is that with more time here (and more time in the language) things will get easier and easier and I can finally feel like a part of this culture.
Until the next blog post, chau!
Friday, August 13, 2010
One Week Left...
Hey all! I figured it has been almost another month since my last post, so I'm long overdue for another update!
Time has been flying yet again! After our longfield practice, we were forced to go stircrazy for a little less than a week before we got to find out the information we've all been waiting for....OUR FUTURE SITES! On the day of July 28th, we were also forced to wait the entire day until the last hour of class. Finally, when it was time to know, they sat us down in a large room and read off our future sites one by one. Needless to say it was incredibly nerve racking!
For those of you who haven't yet found out, my future site is:
Eusebio Ayala, Department of Cordillera
The next day after finding out our sites, we were driven to a conference center to stay overnight and meet our community contacts. The event at the conference center was a bit boring, but it ended up being a good opportunity to interact and get to know our contacts a little better. Then on Friday, the 31st, my contact Julia and I traveled together to Eusebio Ayala for a 6 day stay in order to better know the community I will be living in.
Upon arrival I was introduced to Señora Irma Amarilla, who I will be renting a room from for the first three months (after that I am free to look for my own apartment or house, depending on how things go; I also have the option of staying there for longer..). She is an incredibly sweet lady, and we live in a larger complex with her son and dauter, and three of her grandchildren. One of her sons also lives in New York, and she has traveled to visit him there. My "host siblings" are her grandchildren, and they are Manuelito, 7; Alejandro, 11; and Sara, 17. My host siblings have been an incredible opportunity to practice my language skills and also to learn a bit more about the town from a local's perspective. Besides that, they're a ton of fun! We played soccer and tag, and even got to celebrate Manuelito's birthday when I was there! Aside from this, Sara and I talked about music interests and listened to some American punk rock together, which made me feel like I was on another planet lol.
Other than the living situation, I also was in Eusebio Ayala to gain a better understanding of the work I will be doing. My contact, Julia, works with the Comittee of Education in the local Cooperative. I got to meet all her co-workers, and they welcomed me like I was a new employee. It was really weird, and kinda like I had just gotten a new desk job in the US. The cooperative operates like a credit union, and they have over 7,000 members. I will be working with the members initially to increase awareness of rules and responsibilities, as well as credit and financing opportunities that the cooperative has to offer them. This is, of course, only my first and primary project. Because Julia works with the Comittee of Education (and she also knows everyone in town) I will be working with local schools to try and develop curriculum based around Personal Business, Entrepreneurship, and Family Finance. These are things that I hope to target to teenagers just starting out in the job world, and also young couples trying to get on their feet and manage their finances. However I am open to virtually any projects and will seek to meet any needs of any age groups. For example I have been approached several times about starting English Language or Information Technology courses for younger students. I have received secondary project information should I like to start these programs.
After returning from the site visit, the rest of training has felt a bit pointless. I understand it is important to continuously learn language and ensure that we have all the technical tools necessary to operate in site, but at times it seems repetitive or that they are giving us information that we will never use. We also have been around each other consistently and long enough that what once was new and interesting about each other, has become frustrating at times. It is even harder because we are all friends, and know that we aren't really frustrated with each other, but with the other factors in our lives. Its just that our patience has been worn so thin that things that would have never bothered us in the states begin to fester and create divisions. I'm sure things will improve once we are in our sites, and that we will begin to miss each other immensely. I'm also very glad that I have several friends in towns that are close by (and I'm also only an hour and a half from Asunción!) which will make it easier to transition and ensure I don't go too crazy on my own.
Aside from all these factors, training has begun to wind down. Tomorrow we are giving our last charlas, we only have three more days of language class, and we have begun to pack our bags for the move. The hotel and dinner reservations are made, and we are about to transition from trainees, to Peace Corps Volunteers. Its about time! Updates on the swear-in ceremony and ensuing celebrations sure to follow! :-)
Time has been flying yet again! After our longfield practice, we were forced to go stircrazy for a little less than a week before we got to find out the information we've all been waiting for....OUR FUTURE SITES! On the day of July 28th, we were also forced to wait the entire day until the last hour of class. Finally, when it was time to know, they sat us down in a large room and read off our future sites one by one. Needless to say it was incredibly nerve racking!
For those of you who haven't yet found out, my future site is:
Eusebio Ayala, Department of Cordillera
The next day after finding out our sites, we were driven to a conference center to stay overnight and meet our community contacts. The event at the conference center was a bit boring, but it ended up being a good opportunity to interact and get to know our contacts a little better. Then on Friday, the 31st, my contact Julia and I traveled together to Eusebio Ayala for a 6 day stay in order to better know the community I will be living in.
Upon arrival I was introduced to Señora Irma Amarilla, who I will be renting a room from for the first three months (after that I am free to look for my own apartment or house, depending on how things go; I also have the option of staying there for longer..). She is an incredibly sweet lady, and we live in a larger complex with her son and dauter, and three of her grandchildren. One of her sons also lives in New York, and she has traveled to visit him there. My "host siblings" are her grandchildren, and they are Manuelito, 7; Alejandro, 11; and Sara, 17. My host siblings have been an incredible opportunity to practice my language skills and also to learn a bit more about the town from a local's perspective. Besides that, they're a ton of fun! We played soccer and tag, and even got to celebrate Manuelito's birthday when I was there! Aside from this, Sara and I talked about music interests and listened to some American punk rock together, which made me feel like I was on another planet lol.
Other than the living situation, I also was in Eusebio Ayala to gain a better understanding of the work I will be doing. My contact, Julia, works with the Comittee of Education in the local Cooperative. I got to meet all her co-workers, and they welcomed me like I was a new employee. It was really weird, and kinda like I had just gotten a new desk job in the US. The cooperative operates like a credit union, and they have over 7,000 members. I will be working with the members initially to increase awareness of rules and responsibilities, as well as credit and financing opportunities that the cooperative has to offer them. This is, of course, only my first and primary project. Because Julia works with the Comittee of Education (and she also knows everyone in town) I will be working with local schools to try and develop curriculum based around Personal Business, Entrepreneurship, and Family Finance. These are things that I hope to target to teenagers just starting out in the job world, and also young couples trying to get on their feet and manage their finances. However I am open to virtually any projects and will seek to meet any needs of any age groups. For example I have been approached several times about starting English Language or Information Technology courses for younger students. I have received secondary project information should I like to start these programs.
After returning from the site visit, the rest of training has felt a bit pointless. I understand it is important to continuously learn language and ensure that we have all the technical tools necessary to operate in site, but at times it seems repetitive or that they are giving us information that we will never use. We also have been around each other consistently and long enough that what once was new and interesting about each other, has become frustrating at times. It is even harder because we are all friends, and know that we aren't really frustrated with each other, but with the other factors in our lives. Its just that our patience has been worn so thin that things that would have never bothered us in the states begin to fester and create divisions. I'm sure things will improve once we are in our sites, and that we will begin to miss each other immensely. I'm also very glad that I have several friends in towns that are close by (and I'm also only an hour and a half from Asunción!) which will make it easier to transition and ensure I don't go too crazy on my own.
Aside from all these factors, training has begun to wind down. Tomorrow we are giving our last charlas, we only have three more days of language class, and we have begun to pack our bags for the move. The hotel and dinner reservations are made, and we are about to transition from trainees, to Peace Corps Volunteers. Its about time! Updates on the swear-in ceremony and ensuing celebrations sure to follow! :-)
Friday, July 23, 2010
One Month, Yikes!
Hey all! I just realized how crazy it is that time has flown this fast! It's almost been a month since my last blog post! And to be sure, a TON has happened!
First and foremost, the World Cup atmosphere is over and done with. That crazy hype when we first got to the country was a great way to get involved with the National Pride when Paraguay qualified for the first time in history when they defeated Japan! That week was nuts, flags and impromptu parades of moto's, everyone was excited! Needless to say Paraguay ended up losing to Spain. However the locals were not as upset as we thought they might be. Most people were just excited that Paraguay had mad it that far. In fact, it was almost reassuring to the Paraguayans that the team that had narrowly deafeated them was in fact the best in the world. I'm fairly certain that most people here believe that Paraguay is the second best team in the world. Which, perhaps they are. It's always difficult to tell in tournaments such as the world cup. But anyways, now we are back to regular local team games (Olympia, Cerro, and Guaranís) and political rallies almost every week (more on this later).
Besides the local activites, training has definitely progressed more and more. We had our second language proficiency exam a few weeks ago, and I learned that I have "sufficient Spanish to serve as a volunteer in Paraguay." Initially I was excited, however this quickly faded as I discovered that the only signifigance of this evaluation was that I would no longer be receiving language training in Spanish. For the past two weeks, I have solely been studying Guaraní. This might sound exciting, but I feel almost as if I just arrived in the country all over again. I have virtually no idea what people are saying to me in Guaraní, and Spanish almost feels like a nice break. On that note, I now feel fairly comfortable having a conversation in Spanish. Ocassionally I throw in a few Guaraní words or phrases just for good measure (the locals LOVE this!).
The other training is all but over in a formal sense, an dnow we have focused on more community based learning activities. We completed our "Día de Practica" where I helped to give a chat on business accounting to a few interested families and small businesses in our communities. Little else has made me feel as accomplished as helping Paraguayans to learn better business practices and how to immediately impliment them in their daily lives. Now all we are working on is some follow up activities to help some interested businesses create accounting books for records, something that is surprisingly not present in most small businesses here.
While training has been frustrating at times, and many of us wish we could just focus on the language aspect, I feel confident that the training we have received will help us to pass on this information to Paraguayans once we are in site.
This past week we got another opportunity to visit and work with a volunteer, this time for five days! Me and four other volunteers "treked" the whole 45 minutes to Altos, which is up on a high hill more or less overlooking a lake where rich Paraguayans like to spend their summers. Altos was founded by German immigrants, and that mentality resonates throughout the community to this day. Our volunteer Julie was working with a library comission to organize and open Altos's first library. We worked all week teaching a basic library information class, english classes, photography classes, and even participated in a small civic education camp for a day. Even though it wasn't directly working with small business, I still had a blast. Teaching classes such as english and civic education with youth is an early small success that can make you feel more accomplished in the first few months, as well as aid you in integrating with a community and meeting people who you can work with on business projects. I'm really excited to work on these activities in my first few months in site.
Only 5 days remain until we find out the location of our future site. As you can imagine, tensions are high. We are all counting down the minutes until we finally get to know where we will be living and working here in Paraguay for the next two years. Fingers crossed, and I promis another post sooner than this one!
First and foremost, the World Cup atmosphere is over and done with. That crazy hype when we first got to the country was a great way to get involved with the National Pride when Paraguay qualified for the first time in history when they defeated Japan! That week was nuts, flags and impromptu parades of moto's, everyone was excited! Needless to say Paraguay ended up losing to Spain. However the locals were not as upset as we thought they might be. Most people were just excited that Paraguay had mad it that far. In fact, it was almost reassuring to the Paraguayans that the team that had narrowly deafeated them was in fact the best in the world. I'm fairly certain that most people here believe that Paraguay is the second best team in the world. Which, perhaps they are. It's always difficult to tell in tournaments such as the world cup. But anyways, now we are back to regular local team games (Olympia, Cerro, and Guaranís) and political rallies almost every week (more on this later).
Besides the local activites, training has definitely progressed more and more. We had our second language proficiency exam a few weeks ago, and I learned that I have "sufficient Spanish to serve as a volunteer in Paraguay." Initially I was excited, however this quickly faded as I discovered that the only signifigance of this evaluation was that I would no longer be receiving language training in Spanish. For the past two weeks, I have solely been studying Guaraní. This might sound exciting, but I feel almost as if I just arrived in the country all over again. I have virtually no idea what people are saying to me in Guaraní, and Spanish almost feels like a nice break. On that note, I now feel fairly comfortable having a conversation in Spanish. Ocassionally I throw in a few Guaraní words or phrases just for good measure (the locals LOVE this!).
The other training is all but over in a formal sense, an dnow we have focused on more community based learning activities. We completed our "Día de Practica" where I helped to give a chat on business accounting to a few interested families and small businesses in our communities. Little else has made me feel as accomplished as helping Paraguayans to learn better business practices and how to immediately impliment them in their daily lives. Now all we are working on is some follow up activities to help some interested businesses create accounting books for records, something that is surprisingly not present in most small businesses here.
While training has been frustrating at times, and many of us wish we could just focus on the language aspect, I feel confident that the training we have received will help us to pass on this information to Paraguayans once we are in site.
This past week we got another opportunity to visit and work with a volunteer, this time for five days! Me and four other volunteers "treked" the whole 45 minutes to Altos, which is up on a high hill more or less overlooking a lake where rich Paraguayans like to spend their summers. Altos was founded by German immigrants, and that mentality resonates throughout the community to this day. Our volunteer Julie was working with a library comission to organize and open Altos's first library. We worked all week teaching a basic library information class, english classes, photography classes, and even participated in a small civic education camp for a day. Even though it wasn't directly working with small business, I still had a blast. Teaching classes such as english and civic education with youth is an early small success that can make you feel more accomplished in the first few months, as well as aid you in integrating with a community and meeting people who you can work with on business projects. I'm really excited to work on these activities in my first few months in site.
Only 5 days remain until we find out the location of our future site. As you can imagine, tensions are high. We are all counting down the minutes until we finally get to know where we will be living and working here in Paraguay for the next two years. Fingers crossed, and I promis another post sooner than this one!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Fuimos a otros Ciudades!
The headline simply translates as we went to other cities! Which is going to be the main point of this blog post!
I know it's been awhile, but seriously it is difficult to find time to blog, email, facebook, etc., especially when we have so much to do! Even now as I sit here my homework is being neglected! But on to more adventurous talk!
This past weekend we had our first opportunity to venture out into the actual country of Paraguay, leaving our little host family bubble. Our adventures took us to various cities ranging from 1 hour to 6 hours away by bus. Our sole purpose was to visit volunteers in their sites and try to get a better understanding of what it is volunteers do!
Our day started, as I have a feeling many will, with getting lost in Asunción. Okay, not Asunción exactly, but a small suburb called San Lorenzo. We arrived by bus from Villeta and walked around looking for the bus terminal where we could buy tickets for slightly larger busses that would take us into the countryside. Except for in San Lorenzo, there is no main bus terminal. There are several small businesses in competition, all in a row down one street, looking like an assortment of shops. They all sell various services, and depending on your destination there are a half dozen companies with busses that go in that direction. So we finally figured out what bus we were supposed to take, which was very chuchi! (meaning fancy or stuck up) and we climbed aboard, continuing our adventure.
My site was in a town called Campo 9, which is about 3 hours east of Asunción on Ruta 2, heading in the direction of Ciudad del Este and the border with Brazil. On the bus there were lots of crazy thigns going on, like people getting on and off the bus to sell chipa (kinda like warm cheezy bagels), candy, soda, pirated dvds, whatever! It was definitely an interesting experience.
Every so often one of the bus workers would walk by and yell the name of an upcoming stop, and you had to hope you understood him in order to get off in the right place. Luckily I was sitting near the door when he yelled, and managed to get off in the right place. My volunteer Lyn was waiting at the bus terminal (yes in Campo 9 they actually have a bus terminal) and we headed off to her house. I actually really liked her house (she lives on her own and rents from a family, whose house is connected); she has all the modern ammenities like electricity, running water, a stove and refrigerator. She said that these ammenities are fairly common and most volunteers have them.
We spent most of the weekend just hanging out, meeting and talking to locals, and drinking térere (integral to living in Paraguay). In addition to this, Lyn also spends her time working with the Municipal government (her contact is in the environmental department), brainstorming projects for local community development and opportunities for increasing economic activity, and teaching a class on small business practices. Because I was visiting I actually got to help her and teach part of the lecture (oh yea! In Spanish!). I found this to be a very rewarding experience and I hope it is a project that I can impliment in my future site. All in all it was a great weekend, and it left everyone with a very positive outlook. As trainees we are eager to finish training and actually get to work helping with tangible activities!
This week has been equally eventful, given that it is the Festival de San Juan. Each city in Paraguay has a patron saint (and in fact each neighborhood of each city has a patron saint), and San Juan is a very common neighborhood name (and common patron saint). As a result there have been a lot of fiestas this week. It seems like every night there is some sort of celebration with typical Paraguayan food, games, and drinks. The festival of San Juan is centered around fire, so everything is on fire. I'm talking dummies of bad people (like the mayor if they don't like him), soccer balls, flagpoles (which they like to grease up and attempt to climb), everything! Also with the recent sucess of Paraguay in the world cup, there have been lots of fireworks going off and people drinking and celebrating in the streets! We as trainees have just been trying not to get in the way of festivities.
Every week we are here (more than three weeks now, sheesh!) we are more and more integrated into the community, language, and culture. I feel like living with a host family is the most effective method of doing this; we are constantly challenged in our language skills and also our cultural sensitivity. We are learning and growing in ways that we never really knew we could. It is an incredible experience and I look forward to whatever comes next. Until the next post!
I know it's been awhile, but seriously it is difficult to find time to blog, email, facebook, etc., especially when we have so much to do! Even now as I sit here my homework is being neglected! But on to more adventurous talk!
This past weekend we had our first opportunity to venture out into the actual country of Paraguay, leaving our little host family bubble. Our adventures took us to various cities ranging from 1 hour to 6 hours away by bus. Our sole purpose was to visit volunteers in their sites and try to get a better understanding of what it is volunteers do!
Our day started, as I have a feeling many will, with getting lost in Asunción. Okay, not Asunción exactly, but a small suburb called San Lorenzo. We arrived by bus from Villeta and walked around looking for the bus terminal where we could buy tickets for slightly larger busses that would take us into the countryside. Except for in San Lorenzo, there is no main bus terminal. There are several small businesses in competition, all in a row down one street, looking like an assortment of shops. They all sell various services, and depending on your destination there are a half dozen companies with busses that go in that direction. So we finally figured out what bus we were supposed to take, which was very chuchi! (meaning fancy or stuck up) and we climbed aboard, continuing our adventure.
My site was in a town called Campo 9, which is about 3 hours east of Asunción on Ruta 2, heading in the direction of Ciudad del Este and the border with Brazil. On the bus there were lots of crazy thigns going on, like people getting on and off the bus to sell chipa (kinda like warm cheezy bagels), candy, soda, pirated dvds, whatever! It was definitely an interesting experience.
Every so often one of the bus workers would walk by and yell the name of an upcoming stop, and you had to hope you understood him in order to get off in the right place. Luckily I was sitting near the door when he yelled, and managed to get off in the right place. My volunteer Lyn was waiting at the bus terminal (yes in Campo 9 they actually have a bus terminal) and we headed off to her house. I actually really liked her house (she lives on her own and rents from a family, whose house is connected); she has all the modern ammenities like electricity, running water, a stove and refrigerator. She said that these ammenities are fairly common and most volunteers have them.
We spent most of the weekend just hanging out, meeting and talking to locals, and drinking térere (integral to living in Paraguay). In addition to this, Lyn also spends her time working with the Municipal government (her contact is in the environmental department), brainstorming projects for local community development and opportunities for increasing economic activity, and teaching a class on small business practices. Because I was visiting I actually got to help her and teach part of the lecture (oh yea! In Spanish!). I found this to be a very rewarding experience and I hope it is a project that I can impliment in my future site. All in all it was a great weekend, and it left everyone with a very positive outlook. As trainees we are eager to finish training and actually get to work helping with tangible activities!
This week has been equally eventful, given that it is the Festival de San Juan. Each city in Paraguay has a patron saint (and in fact each neighborhood of each city has a patron saint), and San Juan is a very common neighborhood name (and common patron saint). As a result there have been a lot of fiestas this week. It seems like every night there is some sort of celebration with typical Paraguayan food, games, and drinks. The festival of San Juan is centered around fire, so everything is on fire. I'm talking dummies of bad people (like the mayor if they don't like him), soccer balls, flagpoles (which they like to grease up and attempt to climb), everything! Also with the recent sucess of Paraguay in the world cup, there have been lots of fireworks going off and people drinking and celebrating in the streets! We as trainees have just been trying not to get in the way of festivities.
Every week we are here (more than three weeks now, sheesh!) we are more and more integrated into the community, language, and culture. I feel like living with a host family is the most effective method of doing this; we are constantly challenged in our language skills and also our cultural sensitivity. We are learning and growing in ways that we never really knew we could. It is an incredible experience and I look forward to whatever comes next. Until the next post!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Paraguay at Last!
So I'm sure a lot of you who have been trying to read my blog thought I died or got lost or was living in some crazy place that has no connectivity to the world! Wrong on all counts! We have just been sooo busy and our lives have been so structured it feels like its impossible at times to get to an internet cafe! So here is a reader's digest update on what my life has been like this past week!
We had a red eye flight from Miami to Buenos Aires, which was terrible because I don't ever sleep on planes. Basically, no sleep that night. We had to creatively navigate the Buenos Aires airport so as not to pass through customs and have to pay the visa fee of $130. NO BUENO. We finally managed that and were on a very short flight from Buenos Aires to Asunción!
When we first arrived we were met by the Peace Corps country director,
and hustled through customs in like 10 minutes! Because we work for
the US govenment, we have connections! lol. Then we were divided up
into two groups (very sad because we had become so close!) and sent to
more orientation in our training facility of Guarambaré.
After orientation and host family intervies, we got on busses to meet our host families...
Meeting the host families was SUPER awkward! The 11 of us in my
community of Villeta went into our local education facility and they
met us clapping and hugging and kissing everyone it was sooo weird!
My host mother and father are in their sixties! They are incredibly nice and
accomodating; I also have a host brother who is 25 and works in the
local hospital, and an older host sister who lives with her husband
someplace else. My host father is a barber and also runs a handyman
business out of the house. My host mother is a teacher at a local
private school.
As far as living accomodations go, it is not that different from home!
I have my own room with a lock and key, as well as a bed and desk and
storage room for my shoes and clothes! We also have electricity and
running water, which every trainee has. This is no garuntee that we
will have this when we are sworn in as volunteers in three months, but
it is a positive sign!
It was pretty intense moving in with my host family, as they speak not
one word of English! I was forced to use my Spanish and learn VERY
quickly what was going on and try to understand what they were saying!
I´m positive that I´ve already learned A TON from them in just the
last week we spent together! After dinner my host mother sat
me down and started teaching me Guaraní! She attempted for about a
half hour, and I definitely picked some things up! She said I did a
great job and that they were really impressed with me; I took this as
a huge compliment because I am their 8th Peace Corps trainee that they
have hosted thus far! As far as I have been able to gather, my family
is the only one to do this; most other trainees only started to learn
Guaraní in the next few days. My brain feels like mush with all the mix of Spanish and English and Guaraní and I honestly struggle to make myself understood in any of the languages anymore! My English is slipping away! Yikes!
Other than that it has been an intense rush of language classes, mixed with technical orientation as well as security and safety information, health concerns, and occasionally (like tonight) a little American time! We are all going out to the local Pizzaria/Bar/Karaoke place to get crazy! Oh yea, you know I'm gonna bust out some Backstreet Boys or something ridiculous! I'm missing everyone immensely (in WA and everywhere else too!) I would love to hear from everyone, and yes I AM checking my email so please shoot me a line at brett.michaelson123@gmail.com
Things here are beginning to settle into a more tranquilopa or chill atmosphere as we continue to integrate into the language and culture. I'm just excited to learn new things every day, and be constantly surprised at what this amazing country has to offer! Until the next post, Chau!
We had a red eye flight from Miami to Buenos Aires, which was terrible because I don't ever sleep on planes. Basically, no sleep that night. We had to creatively navigate the Buenos Aires airport so as not to pass through customs and have to pay the visa fee of $130. NO BUENO. We finally managed that and were on a very short flight from Buenos Aires to Asunción!
When we first arrived we were met by the Peace Corps country director,
and hustled through customs in like 10 minutes! Because we work for
the US govenment, we have connections! lol. Then we were divided up
into two groups (very sad because we had become so close!) and sent to
more orientation in our training facility of Guarambaré.
After orientation and host family intervies, we got on busses to meet our host families...
Meeting the host families was SUPER awkward! The 11 of us in my
community of Villeta went into our local education facility and they
met us clapping and hugging and kissing everyone it was sooo weird!
My host mother and father are in their sixties! They are incredibly nice and
accomodating; I also have a host brother who is 25 and works in the
local hospital, and an older host sister who lives with her husband
someplace else. My host father is a barber and also runs a handyman
business out of the house. My host mother is a teacher at a local
private school.
As far as living accomodations go, it is not that different from home!
I have my own room with a lock and key, as well as a bed and desk and
storage room for my shoes and clothes! We also have electricity and
running water, which every trainee has. This is no garuntee that we
will have this when we are sworn in as volunteers in three months, but
it is a positive sign!
It was pretty intense moving in with my host family, as they speak not
one word of English! I was forced to use my Spanish and learn VERY
quickly what was going on and try to understand what they were saying!
I´m positive that I´ve already learned A TON from them in just the
last week we spent together! After dinner my host mother sat
me down and started teaching me Guaraní! She attempted for about a
half hour, and I definitely picked some things up! She said I did a
great job and that they were really impressed with me; I took this as
a huge compliment because I am their 8th Peace Corps trainee that they
have hosted thus far! As far as I have been able to gather, my family
is the only one to do this; most other trainees only started to learn
Guaraní in the next few days. My brain feels like mush with all the mix of Spanish and English and Guaraní and I honestly struggle to make myself understood in any of the languages anymore! My English is slipping away! Yikes!
Other than that it has been an intense rush of language classes, mixed with technical orientation as well as security and safety information, health concerns, and occasionally (like tonight) a little American time! We are all going out to the local Pizzaria/Bar/Karaoke place to get crazy! Oh yea, you know I'm gonna bust out some Backstreet Boys or something ridiculous! I'm missing everyone immensely (in WA and everywhere else too!) I would love to hear from everyone, and yes I AM checking my email so please shoot me a line at brett.michaelson123@gmail.com
Things here are beginning to settle into a more tranquilopa or chill atmosphere as we continue to integrate into the language and culture. I'm just excited to learn new things every day, and be constantly surprised at what this amazing country has to offer! Until the next post, Chau!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Sights and Sounds of Paraguay
For all of you who are curious what my life might look like, here is an excellent youtube clip that some current volunteers sent me. It is getting close, 8 days!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZA78xUzwTA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZA78xUzwTA
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Logistics
Hey all! This is my first post and as such I'll try to cover some basic logistical questions you might all have. I will be moving June 1st, therefore that will be the last day my cell phone will be active. I have a new email address (my school email was deactivated 6 months after graduation) and that will be the most effective way to contact me. That address is:
brett.michaelson123@gmail.com
I will also have a mailing address, which unfortunately will change after the first three months. If you would like to mail me letters conventionally, you should probably note that the post system in Paraguay is fairly effective (roughly 80% of letters arrive). However it is not uncommon for letters or parcels to get lost, or have items stolen out of them. In addition, airmail can take two to three weeks to arrive, and if there is limited space on airplanes, large packages or parcels can be delayed even longer than that. To ensure your letters are getting to me, I suggest numbering the letters. That way I will know if we miss one! My mailing address is:
Brett Michaelson, PCT
Cuerpo de Paz
162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. López
Asunción 1580, Paraguay
South America
brett.michaelson123@gmail.com
I will also have a mailing address, which unfortunately will change after the first three months. If you would like to mail me letters conventionally, you should probably note that the post system in Paraguay is fairly effective (roughly 80% of letters arrive). However it is not uncommon for letters or parcels to get lost, or have items stolen out of them. In addition, airmail can take two to three weeks to arrive, and if there is limited space on airplanes, large packages or parcels can be delayed even longer than that. To ensure your letters are getting to me, I suggest numbering the letters. That way I will know if we miss one! My mailing address is:
Brett Michaelson, PCT
Cuerpo de Paz
162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. López
Asunción 1580, Paraguay
South America
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