Summer Vacation

School is out... finally! And the end of the year brings with it lots of celebrations and graduations. This week I have been to several pools with the kids from the community centers and a few different lunches with teachers. It has been fun, but time to get to work! I have been working very hard to design some summer programs so that the kids don´t just stay home all day watching tv in the heat. The one that I am hoping has the most sucess is Book Club. The kids will come once a week for 2 hours to read, play and have fun! I recruited some of the teenagers to help me so that we can read in small groups. I am really hoping to have sucess. The kids seem really excited, its just the teenagers I have to keep motivated! I have also finally given in to the requests for English Classes. I will be teaching 4 classes a day 3 days a week... that will be exhausting, but I put it off for soooo long! So they will finally get what they´ve been asking for...

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I was able to spend the weekend in a beautiful Hotel near Encarnacion, a city that borders Argentina. There were several beautiful pools and great scenery. We went to visit the Jesuit ruins which were pretty cool and for those who eat meat, there was a great big turkey dinner prepared by some of the other volunteers. Although nothing beats dinner in Grandma´s basement with the fam, Thanksgiving in Paraguay came in a close second!

With Thanksgiving down and school over it is now time to start planning for Aunt Fran´s visit! Can´t wait til I get to show someone around the wonder that is Paraguay! It´ll definitely be interesting!

Liberation

I have finally moved out into my own place, a small two room apartment behind the home of one of my students, and the freedom that I feel to do what I want when I want is exhilarating. My host family was not in any way controlling, but it was their home, not mine. I never felt like I could cook when I wanted, make a mess if I wanted, etc. I always felt like I had to cater to their Schedule and it felt like I was always walking on eggshells afraid if I made a mistake I´d be yelled at like one of the kids. Now I can walk around naked if that’s what I want. I can cook and make a huge mess where and when I want. I can leave the door open or close it. Its soooo liberating to have the freedom to do what you want. I love it! Growing up in that huge family of mine my biggest fear was that I would get extremely lonely and be sad in a place of my own, but because I am behind the home of a family and there are other renters I almost always have someone that I can go talk to if that desire to be around others becomes overwhelming. So far it hasn´t gotten that bad!
I was able to buy a used fridge and stove so they were much cheaper than getting them new and the family loaned me a bed to use. I bought a ropero, to store my clothes, and a table with one chair when I first got to site so I brought them with me to the new place. The principal at one of the schools I work at is loaning me some dishes but there are still some other things I´ll need. It seems so pointless to buy some of the stuff, since I´ll only be using it for a year and a half, but I guess I can donate it when I am done. And one person doesn´t really need that much stuff anyway!
I have been trying to keep busy in the evening so that I don´t get bored. I am leading an exercise group with some of the women in my women´s group three times a week. They are loving it, and I get the added benefit of an extra workout! I hope that in the summer I can keep busy with activities as well, it makes the time go by so much quicker. School is ending within the next couple of weeks and that means all of my classes and youth groups are ending too. I am currently trying to plan an English course for the community center and I am thinking about starting a library Project as well as a group to teach about HIV and AIDS. Hopefully all these activities will keep me moving! Summer has already started… or at least it feels that way. Its already getting up to 90 degrees during the day and stays around 75 or 80 overnight, unless there´s rain!

Please Vote

As I sit here in Paraguay thousands of miles away from home I feel like a passive participant in this year´s election. I wish there were something more I could do as a US citizen to help with the election. But I have done my part. As an American living overseas I sent in my request for an absentee ballot way back in August and just last week I filled out and sent in my vote. I hope that Americans living at home make the effort to go to the polls and elect our next President. I hope that rather than being lazy or failing to register that everyone who is able to vote does so... and if you don´t then there you can say nothing when the inevitable comes, a change made by whichever candidate won that you don´t like. The decisions will be made and the complaints will be heard, but only those who made the effort to vote should be able to complain with validity. Here in Paraguay they ask me about the election with regularity. They all know that Barack Obama is the black candidate and if elected will be the first black president, but most of them don´t even know McCain´s name. They know about Bush and the mistakes he has made and they don´t want that again. They know that whichever candidate is elected President will effect not only Americans but people all around the world. Please make the effort to vote, its our country, its our decision!

Safe and Sound plus a Request

So I have made it back from my amazing adventure to Paraguay. I arrived this morning after two nights on busses with swollen feet and greasy hair, but after a quick shower and a walk I feel like a million bucks! I will return to site later this afternoon and its back to work in the morning.

So for the request...
As a member of the Gender and Development (GAD) Commitee here in Peace Corps Paraguay I participate in many activities to increase awareness about gender, gender roles, discrimination, etc. I am posting a request for those who may be willing to donate any amount to a fund that provides scholarships to Paraguayans. Do not feel obligated to donate, but know that I will be submitting applications with three girls from my community for the scholarship.

Hello,

Each year, the Gender and Development Committee (GAD) of Peace Corps Paraguay, along with two local organizations, work together to provide at least 50 underprivileged youth with both technical training and educational scholarships. The technical training includes workshops on leadership, self-esteem, personal finance management, gender empowerment, and networking. The scholarship program includes four different educational levels available for financial aid:

High school level ($100)
Vocational level ($150)
Trade school level ($250)
University level ($500)

The PATF program aims to help young, female Paraguayans pursue their education in diverse fields of study and increase their ability to achieve financially independent and fulfilling lives. Since 2004, the program has awarded 143 scholarships to female Paraguayan youth throughout the country. This year, in order to promote gender equity, the program has expanded to include 10% of the scholarships for male beneficiaries.

You can help Peace Corps raise funds to enable bright, young Paraguayan youth to further their education. Even the smallest contribution can make the biggest difference in raising the tuition that Paraguayan youth need for his/her education. By clicking on the following link you will find further details on the program and information on how to donate to the project:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=526-187

Thank you for your generosity!

Marathon, Buenos Aires, and Patagonia

After a long 16 hour bus trip from Asuncion I arrived in Buenos Aires and fell in love! The city is amazing and beautiful and I truly enjoyed it. It reminded me a bit of New Orleans. We stayed in the San Telmo neighborhood where there were tons of cafés and lots of stuff to do. The marathon was Sunday and it was raining the entire day. I finished though and am proud to say that I beat last year´s time running it in 4 hours and 4 minutes. Next year 4 hours flat! Monday I jumped on another bus headed to Bariloche in Patagonia. The view here is beautiful. I will be putting up tons of pictures very soon. So far I´ve been biking through the mountains, hiked up 3 different mountains and now I am headed out to do Paragliding! This is an amazing break from volunteer life in Paraguay! Tomorrow I´ll be on a day trip to El Bolson. Monday it´ll be busses all the way back to Paraguay.

Here it is... the pre-tech problem post

After 5 months in site I have finally adjusted to the point of contentment. I no longer wake up in the morning wishing I was somewhere else, dreading the hoards of kids and ungrateful adults and listing the things I could be doing in the States. I am actually quite happy to hop on my bike and hear my name called out at least 10 times. I look forward to the puzzled faces and the excitement they exude each and every time they do something right. I can´t even imagine the possibility of never having come here. This is my life and I am going to enjoy it! I have always had trouble living in the present, I feel like I always have to be concentrated on planning the next step, where will I go from here? I finally feel like I have achieved the ability to live in the here and the now. Not to say that I don´t think about the future and what it holds for me, but I am much more conscious of what is going on today.

So what is going on today? Well work as usual… my “Vegetarian/American” cooking class met for the final time last week. After 3 months of cooking dishes without meat the class dwindled from about 10 to 2. But the two who did participate were extremely enthusiastic and asked if I can do it again next year! I am continuing with computer classes, teaching about 300 kids ranging in age from preschool to 9^th grade the basics. I am also assisting with a theater group at a colegio where we plan to put on a play at the end of the school year in November. A woman in my community came to me asking for assistance with a Women´s Group recently so we are in the beginning stages of forming a committee. I have also begun to work with an 8^th grade class doing activities relating to self-esteem and leadership. The kids love doing something out of the ordinary in class. They are used to just copying form the board, but we do actual activities, I hope to expand to work with more classes next year. I do similar activities with my youth group, but they are slightly more difficult to work with. My weeks are pretty busy when I factor in all the planning that goes into classes and activities as well as my marathon training and of course some time to relax!

The marathon is coming up soon. I will be traveling to Buenos Aires at the end of next week and running on Sunday the 12^th! I am looking forward to the run but I am still a little nervous. 26.2 miles seems never ending! After the marathon I will be traveling to San Carlos de Bariloche which is in the northern part of the Patagonia region in Argentina. Although the skiing season is likely to have ended before our arrival we hope to engage in other outdoor fun activities like hiking, white water rafting and biking and just relaxing and having a good time. The prospect of going on vacation may also be what has led to my happiness in site, but I am hoping that it is more because I have adjusted and not just the idea of getting away for awhile!

Technological Problems

So I wrote a blog post about a week ago while I was taking a break from teaching computer classes at the Elementary School but when I went to post it online I found that because I wrote it using Vista and the new Word it won´t open with any of the older programs which are utilized everywhere in the city, including on my laptop! How frustrating! Now it makes me wonder, I am teaching these kids how to use Vista, will they be able to utilize the older versions of Windows that are prevalent throughout the city and the country? Is it worth it? Eventually everything will be updated to newer versions, but here eventually could be 5 or 10 years from now. I too will eventually post that blog, but hopefully it will be more like 5 or 10 days from now!