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Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Spring is in the Air

The month of September has arrived and is passing quickly. It has brought with it wacky weather, lots of pollen and a rollercoaster of emotions. It has also brought with it the first day of spring and Día de la Juventud as well as the Olimpiada, a sports tournament for the different high schools around the city. Since my return to Paraguay I have been super busy (yay!) so here goes with some of those activities.

The first week of September was big here in Paraguay. The national soccer team qualified for the 2010 World Cup after winning two straight home games first against Bolivia and then a huge rivalry match against Argentina. The win was so great in fact that all public entities including schools and town halls were closed the following day to celebrate by order of the President.

 Also this month, well actually in August, another volunteer came to live in my town. Angalic is her name and she also happens to be from Ohio, even though she doesn´t like to admit it. It’s a little different to have another volunteer in town, especially after having the whole place to myself for so long. Luckily she´s super nice and seems as eager to work as I am!

This month on Rojapo Radio, yes I am a radio personality, we have been addressing sex, STDs and HIV/AIDS.  I find it amazing how openly I am able to talk about these topics when they are in a different language. I also hope to do some activities to talk about them in the high school and with my youth group in October. Sex and STDs tend to be a taboo topic that no one wants to address, especially parents, and when people do talk about them they end up doing boring presentations where the kids don´t pay any attention.

At the end of August I was also on local TV with Erin. We talked about what we do as Peace Corps volunteers, our goals and why we decided to join. We were super nervous. Talking on the radio has become pretty easy, but when you are on TV there are cameras in addition to the microphone. But it went well and I am still hearing from people how they saw me on TV.

So September is coming to an end with a bang. I will be in the capital this weekend for meetings Gender and Development, and NVAC, like student council. And I am deciding whether or not to stay for Reggae Fest!