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!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
