Site Presentation Day

Today I had my site presentation. What is a site presentation you ask? Well it basically means that one of my lovely bosses came down to my site and had an official meeting with whoever decided to show up to talk about what Peace Corps role is in the community, a little background history and what they can expect from their new voluntaria, aka me.

So I woke up, bright and early, at 7 am (ew) and attempted to stay a little warm while I showered. I mention this because you wouldn’t think this would be a notable moment but it was strange. The water was indeed hot (scalding I might add, because I was trying to counteract freezing air) but I could NOT escape the cold. It’s not even thatttt cold. I feel like such a wimp for complaining about the temperature, I’m from Wisconsin for goodness sake. We see average temps below zero degrees Fahrenheit all the time in the winter. It was literally 45 degrees and I couldn’t handle it. I was practically shivering while the near-boiling water was hitting my skin. Whatever, I’ll get over it with time…right?

So then my boss, my wonderful host mom, the nutritionist and dentist that I hope to work with a lot, and I went over to the local high school. While we were waiting one of the PCVs who had lived in my community in the past showed up too! It was really nice to feel supported, and to have people there who understand what PC is about. So we go into the classroom with about 60 high school students, the directora and the health teachers, and my boss gives her spiel and then asks if I want to say anything. Of course I didn’t want to, but I did. I threw in a little “Mbae’chepa” action and they loved it, and they all gave me a rawring applause for saying 4 sentences relatively fluently. Go me! Then my boss asked if the students had any questions and of course there was a boy in the back who asked “um, how old are you?!” yeah sorry, I might look like I’m in high school buddy, but I’m not. It seems like I’ll be able to work pretty closely with the colegio so I’m excited about that.

Then we went and looked at housing options for when I can move into independent housing. So far my best option is to live with my Baba (Ukrainian word grandma… wow that will now be the 4^th language infiltrating my blog. Impressive) because she has a ginormous house with all these extra bedrooms and such. Qué Suerte! So we’ll see what happens with that.

Also, my amazing boss brought me peanut butter and potato chips (clearly to be eaten separately, unless you’re into weird stuff like that) because she knows that these are main things that PCVs miss! That is so thoughtful I couldn’t believe it!

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now.

Chau

Independence Day

Yesterday was Paraguay's Independence Day. We got up early and went to plaza to watch a bunch of groups of school aged children perform little skits or songs, etc. it was really nice actually. Afterwards, there was a disfile (translate: parade) where all of the classes in all of the schools were basically presented to the community. My brother was a part of a drumming group, so that was pretty cool. Later on, we had a really awesome lunch, which was pretty chuchi and delicious! I took a nap (duh) and then I did some yoga (did I tell you that I started doing that? Because I did). The most exciting part of the day was that I got to go to the movies with my brother and my mom. Originally, Leti (hermana) was going to come too but she was too busy being guapa at a meeting for one of the many organizations she's a part of. So anyways, we went to see Divergent which was pretty good. I was honestly more excited about actually goingggg to the movies than which movie it was haha. For those of you who know me well, you'll understand why I was so excited. In the States, my favorite thing to do is go the movies. I'm a bit of a movie snob actually, you know... one of those annoying people who actually cares about who the director is and who wrote the score. Yup, that's me.

Today was Paraguay's Mothers Day. Lot's of holidays all at once, which means not a lot of work this week. I made my mom banana bread which I hope she liked. It seemed like everyone else did, because I'm pretty sure it's already gone! Yay me for being a semi decent baker. I also bought her a bottle of wine so let's hope we share that tonight! She's the best. She certainly has been making my time in Carmen a lot easier thus far, and for that I'll be forever grateful!

That's really all I have for now.
xox

Holy Moley! 100 Días!

So apparently my G has been in this country for 100 days now (thanks for that little tid bit Arianna)! I can hardly believe it. That seems like so much time! I've only been in Carmen for 1 month now but I sometimes forget that I had a whole other life in Guarambare before living here, because it seems so far away. That was practically a life time ago... aka 30 days. My good friend from home, who just so happens to also be doing the Peace Corps, and just so happens to also be serving in Paraguay (yeah, that is pretty much thee luckiest thing ever, I have NO idea how that ended up happening... seriously) told me this really wise thing a few months ago. She was already here in Paraguay and I was still in the States, preparing to arrive, and she said something along the lines of "the minutes and days go by slowly, but the weeks and months go by so fast!". I wasn't really sure if I believed her because how could 27 months go by quickly?! But now I'm starting to believe it.

Anyways, I've been having some pretty wonderful days lately. I went to Asuncion with my host mom because she had some guapa work things to do (duh) and I decided to tag along so that I could grab the rest of my luggage. It's actually starting to get a little bit chilly here, which I'm not thrilled about, and I needed the rest of my cold weather clothing. I invited Jen along because we would be driving right through her site, which is conveniently located on the Ruta. Thank God. So we left at the crack of dawn. Literally, it was 5 am. Gross. But it was a lovely little road trip. While my mom was off being her guapa self, Jen and I obviously went to Mercado Cuatro (which is like this huge market were you can find all sorts of things) and went shopping. I bought some nice clothing and I'm really excited because I got a traditional ao po'i shirt. I love it! Oh and Jen bought a guitar.
So after the Mercado we went to the Peace Corps office to get our luggage and it just so happened that our sister G (G-41) was there having their mid-service training. So we got to chat for a few seconds with them and that's always wonderful. Later we had lunch at this chuchi mall, and I got pizza hut stuffed crust pizza with my mom (and the day before we had Burger King) and it just tasted like America. I love when that happens. After lunch we made our way home. It was a lot of driving for one day (10 hours) but it as worth it. 

I went to Encarn recently (I mean, duh, since I practically live there anyways) and I was able to find sushi and it was just a magical experience. Plus a few of my family members liked it too so maybe I'll have more sushi in my future. That would be fabulous. It was just overall a good food week.

I have started reading Harry Potter en Español and I'm actually not as slow as I thought I would be, which is fabulous!

Tonight I went inside and my mom was tuning one of her guitars (my family literally has 5) and she told me that I was going to use it to start learning how to play. Um, okay family, thanks for be the best family EVER. My brother and mom are going to teach me. My brother takes lessons and is pretty good, plus they just have a ton of materials. I'm pretty stoked to actually be learning a skill while I'm here. I really want to buy a ukulele actually, but until I find one guitar will certainly suffice. Also, Mauri, my brother, made theee most amazing homemade pizza. I was super impressed by it! It was thin crusted but had stuffed crust (got the idea from our pizza hut pizza) and was cooked to perfection. He's quite the little chef, I have to say! So kudos to him!

In sad news, my wonderful dog of almost 15 years passed away last Wednesday. My Casey-dog will be sorely missed and I just wish I could've cuddled her one last time. I sort of knew that it would happen before I finished peace corps, I mean she was a 14 year old German Shepard. Usually they live to be about 8-10 years old, so we were super lucky to have so much extra time with her! I know she's in a better place and is in doggy heaven playing fetch in the water and sleeping in the most luxurious bathtub ever (that was her weird little quirk). Love you Casey and thank you for being the best dog ever!

The day before I left for Paraguay, with my Casey dog! <3

A lindo view of Encarnacion at sun set!

Oh, just me and cool tree.

Jen having the most fun on a merry-go-round!

Jen and her new guitar, James, being adoraboots!

Obviously, Jen and I looking fabulous! ;)

mail's here!

Today was an exciting day because I received 4 letters today from my mom's side of the family! It was so great to read all of their encouraging words. I love all of the updates they give me. I really need to learn how to send mail here..do I use regular U.S. stamps? Hmm, not sure. I'll have to ask my host mom about this.

I've been really guapa lately... like actually. Not that fake guapa I am when I clean my room or sweep the patio or wake up remotely early, and get a "qué guapa!" (although that's always nice to here, even if its not necessarily true! Ha) I started my surveys and have 1/5 of them done now! Only 40 more to go! It's really nice because people in the Centro have been a HUGE help and always explain things a little better for me when I lack the wordage. But at the same time, I think the people I've interviewed think I'm pretty legit because for example, today our dentist was helping me out (who is clearly a respected person) and she was asking me for guidance and the community member sort of just looked at me like "oh wow, you must be important!". Let me assure you kind Madame, I'm not. Haha. I will however, enjoy this feeling while it lasts. I also accompanied our dentist to a charla it was originally supposed to be in the schools but the teachers apparently forgot to mention that today was a teacher in service day..oops. So, it was held at the Centro instead. Next time I'll definitely go again so that I can see how they interact with the children and how they present the information.

In other news, I want to start reading Harry Potter in Spanish. My host mom strongly suggests that I read in Spanish so that I start to learn to think in Spanish instead of English. Fat chance of that happening, but it was a really good suggestion so I'm gonna try to take it. However, if I plan on meeting my 200 book goal I have to read another book at the same time because it will literally take me the whole 2 years to read a book in Spanish considering I'll probably be looking up 20% or more of the words on each page. Sigh. But I'm excited to start that little adventure.

xox

Not all those who wander are lost.

So I don't actually have that much so say right now but I did finish the Lord of the Rings books so I'm super pumped about that (Thanks Candace, for bequeathing it to me) so that counts as news right? Maybe not. See what I did there with the title, yeah.. I wanted to say "A wizard is never late, Frodo Bagging, Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to" because according to this quote I think that Paraguayans believe they're wizards, arriving to events precisely when they mean to (maybe a little late. But that's okay) Or maybe it would've been more appropriate to quote Lady Galadriel in saying "even the smallest person can change the course of the future"... seems inspirational enough right?! Sorry guys, my nerd is showing. Back to business.




Anyways, I've come to realize that I need to figure out what is really important to me. After that negative Nancy post last time I've done some thinking, and a lot of talking (with my amazing PCV besties) and I realized that I was coming to my conclusions because I was going off of the standards set by past volunteer's services. It's been said many a time that each service is different. Sure, we go through many of the same experiences and have many of the same struggles, but each service is inherently different. I had heard this over and over again but I never really thought about it as it pertains to my service. So here it is. I've come up with some things that I'm going to hold as standard and these are the things that I'm going to need to remember when I'm having my "off" days.


1. This one may sound silly and irrelevant but that's because it sort of is. I want to read at least 200 books during my service (if you look to the right you'll see a handy dandy list, if you're interested in tracking my progress). I decided this was actually important to me as a goal because it gives me validation for taking a breather and staying in the comforts of my house every now and again. It will keep me in check, mentally, when I'm feeling lazy.


2. Another important thing that I want to accomplish is to learn to relax. This also probably sounds silly but most of the time, when I'm "relaxing" I feel guilty because I should be doing other guapa things. Thanks American Culture for that one. This is going to be one of the only times in my life where I am completely in charge of my schedule and I want to revel in that. After Peace Corps, as most of you know, I want to continue my education in Medical school. soooo, that will consume my entire life (sorry Matt) and after that I'll hopefully be an awesome doctor and a super Mom/wife. So as you can see... my life will probably be hectic and this is the perfect time to just sit in the warm Paraguayan sun and breathe.


So far these are my things. Once I actually figure out what my primary and secondary projects are (primary being related to health since I'm a health volunteer and secondary being anything else) I will clearly have more important things. But this is it for now and I'm content with that.


It also helps that my host mom (and family in general) are amazing. She helps me to figure out what I need to do and then gets shit done, its unbelievably helpful. For example, we have these community studies that we have to do where we have to interview at least 50 families and then right a 5-15 page paper IN SPANISH (sigh) about our findings and this activity is supposed to help us integrate and learn about the needs in our community. And Peace Corps was really sneaky because they knew that PCVs would want to just ignore this not so little assignment, so they made it a rule that if you don't complete it you won't get vacations approved. Touche Peace Corps.
It seems like a lot of work and is really daunting because who wants to walk up to random strangers and ask them really personal health questions in sketchy Spanish? Not me, that's who. butttt, after explaining all of this to my host mom she calmed my fears by telling me that obviously someone from the Centro was going to come with me and that it was going to be really simple and that I'll have it done in no time. And you know what, I believe her.


So anyways, that's what I have for now. Oh did I tell you that I made chocolate chip cookies with my siblings... twice!? They loved them and it's an awesome little bonding time for us because they always want to help. I taught them the age old traditions of eating some dough as you bake the rest and also about licking the bowl when you're done. So at least if I get nothing else done, I can be satisfied with the fact that I have achieved Goal Three of Peace Corps which is to share American culture with your community. Yes!


xox