Fun in Asuncion and Out to Site

On Friday afternoon I took the oath to protect the constitution, so help me God, and with that officially became a Peace Corps Volunteer. OK so there was a lot more to it than that, but I am officially a PCV now, so those of you who send mail can change my title from PCT to PCV! Thanks again to those who do send mail. It is always really exciting when I go to my mail box and there is actually something in it other than the PC papers! I love it! So our swearing in ceremony took place at the American Embassy, which happens to be the largest American Embassy in the World right now. Apparently Iraq will have a bigger American embassy one day... we´ll see how that goes. After the ceremony we had the best chocolate cake I have ever had in my life from a place in Asuncion. It was amazing! I then spent the weekend in Asuncion ¨relaxing¨and travelled to site on Monday afternoon. So far so good here. I am working on getting some furniture for my room, right now all that's in there is a bed and my huge bags. I was worried about being completely bored in the beginning, but so far I haven´t had that problem. I am sure that it will come along shortly though! Although the town is pretty big and there is plenty for me to get to know around the area. I am still focusing on not getting lost going between my community center and my house. I´ll get there soon enough.

One More Week...

Today began my final week of training, which means I get to pack up all my stuff and lug it halfway across the country to my new home next week. But first this week will be packed with tons of activities including a party with our host families and our swearing in ceremony. I will be spending the weekend in Asuncion with the other new volunteers having a great time before I head out to site. Going out to site means integrating with a new family, getting to know a new city and trying to convince the locals to trust me so I can work with them. It won’t be easy, but I am always up for a challenge. My days will be much less structured and there won’t be Americans to talk to and hang out with. That might be the hardest part!

Yesterday the Paraguayan elections were held. The two major parties were still campaigning hard until Thursday night in Asuncion. There was no campaigning allowed after Thursday night so things were a lot quieter during the weekend. They also have a law here that prohibits the sale and consumption of alcohol on election day to help prevent rioting after the election. The voting is done via paper ballot. The Liberale party won! It will be interesting to see what happens as the Colorado party has been in power for 60 years and this is the first time the Liberales has won since the democracy was established in 1989.

Future Site Visit

So I have now met my contact and spent six days in my site! It was one of the most awkward times in my life. But I am starting to get used to awkwardness. The city is pretty big with plenty of shops, a big market and several ice cream shops, yum! Unfortunatley, the barrio I will be living in is about a 20 minute walk from all of that. I guess I get to work off the calories after I eat them! The barrio is also extremely poor and I give major props to the kids I will be working with just for putting in the effort. I only hope that I can do something to make a difference in their lives because I know they will surely make a difference in mine!

Site Assignments

This post is what I wrote to post last week but the internet wasn´t working so here it is...

After eight grueling (or maybe not so grueling) weeks of training the time has finally arrived, G-26 (my training group) now knows where they will live for the next two years. Friday afternoon we received out site assignments. Friday morning was spent distracting us by driving us around the country to various places. I went to see a 200 year-old Church built entirely from wood, the home of a war hero and former Paraguayan President and an Artesinal School where they teach how to make the material for hammocks and blankets. We also went to a market where they sell a lot of hammocks and I was able to buy one for pretty cheap. After all of the distractions and anticipation I found out my site, which is located pretty centrally in the Eastern part of Paraguay. It is halfway between Asuncion and Ciudad del Este and is at the crossroads for people to turn off and head north or south from Ruta 2. The city is the birthplace of the current president and has about 85,000 people. I will likely be working with a program that assists kids who work on the street, a community center and a school. My site is also the former site of my technical trainer, although I will be in a different neighborhood. They did not provide us with a ton of information, just enough to get started. On Tuesday I will meet my main contact and then travel to my site to spend a week there getting to know the area, trying to find housing and trying to figure out how I can start my work there. It will be another awkward week of meeting new people and staying in a strange place but this time there won’t be any other Americans… which means nothing but Spanish for almost a whole week! Scary!!

My First B-day in Paraguay

Thanks to those who sent birthday wishes! I had a pretty good birthday here in Paraguay. I think I was sang to about 10 times! I celebrated by having some fellow trainees over for some snacks and drinks which was fun! I also think we´re going to a party on Saturday night which should be interesting and hopefully better than the last one.

Tomorrow is the big day of site announcements and the anticipation continues to rise. We will be out in different towns all day doing Cultural Visits to keep us occupied while we wait for the program directors to come with the info!

Last week´s long field practice was really fun. I went with one other trainee to stay in a volunteer´s site for five days to practice volunteer life. We taught about 5 classes on self-esteem, leadership and emotions. We also got to meet some of the volunteer´s contacts who include a youth group leader and a women´s group leader. I enjoyed getting the chance to meet people outside of the Peace Corps World. There are some really hard working Paraguayans... this gives me hope. It was great!

One of the crazy things about Paraguay is that politics filter into everything. They even impact whether or not a school will get supplies. The election is April 20th so things are really starting to heat up. There are political rallies everywhere and the corruption is becoming more and more visible. The Colorado party has been in power for about 25 years and this is the first time that the opposing party, the Liberales, have a chance to win. The election will definitely provide some excitement. Tonight, Thursday night, a debate between the candidates is being broadcast for the first time. It´ll be heated!

Semana Santa

Sunday was Easter, and in the States Easter usually means finding your hidden Easter basket full of candy, possibly an Easter egg hunt, going to Church and a big dinner. In Paraguay Easter is not celebrated for a day but for an entire week. Palm Sunday signifies the beginning of Semana Santa (Holy Week), which ends on Easter. Monday and Tuesday most people go about their usual routines with work and school, but starting Wednesday everything changes. I had a half-day of training on Wednesday but most schools were closed and many people had off from work. All over Paraguay on Wednesday families were making Chipa. Chipa is a traditional bread made from corn meal, yucca flour, eggs, pig lard (or butter), anise and of course Queso Paraguaya. It usually tastes pretty good when it’s fresh, but after a few hours it gets hard and dry. Thursday is the day of the last supper. Many families eat pork for lunch. I was lucky enough to arrive home Tuesday afternoon in time to see my host dad’s sister, who lives next door, slaughter and butcher the last of three pigs to be sold for the week. On Thursday most families also make Sopa Paraguaya, which is like a Paraguayan cornbread with many of the same ingredients as Chipa. Friday is the most important day of the week because that is the day Christ was killed. Most businesses in Paraguay are closed on this day, including the Dispensa at our house. The traditional families fast for the entire day eating nothing but Chipa and Sopa Paraguaya and drinking cocido, brewed Yerba with charcoal burnt sugar. On Saturday most businesses are open, but it is a very relaxed day. There was a three-hour mass that began at 9 pm. Sunday was a pretty normal day with no extra special celebration. Semana Santa is the most important holiday is Paraguay. Many people travel to spend the week with family in other parts of the country, like we would for Christmas. One of my host brothers who currently lives in Buenos Aires came into town for the week. It was nice to have a few days off from training. I read a lot, watched a few movies and taught Laura and Santiago how to play Rummy 500. This week I am in another town visiting a volunteer for my Long Field Practice. We got here Monday and we´ll be here until Friday. Next Friday we find out our sites... the anticipation is building.

One Month in Paraguay

It has been one month since my arrival in Paraguay and of course I have two contradictory thoughts the first being that I can’t believe it has already been a month and the second that I can’t believe that it has only been a month. To celebrate the other Urban Youth Development (UYD) trainees came over to my house and we hung out on my front porch drinking boxed red wine with Fanta. Not exactly the ideal celebration in the States but hey we do what we can! This brings me to the social life of a Paraguayan.

The machisma culture here dictates what is acceptable for men and women in all aspects of life, including the social scene, although things are becoming more progressive and women are gaining ground. The typical young adult male has much more freedom then a female. This independence may start as early as childhood. Boys are much more likely to be running around freely coming and going as they please while girls shouldn’t be out past dark and should never go anywhere alone. This may just sound like the over-protectiveness that is necessary in a dangerous culture, but I assure you that while bad things do happen, they are not likely going to happen to a 23 year old female in the middle of the day just because she is walking alone for a few blocks. I am pretty lucky though because my family gives me tons of freedom.

In terms of dating traditional Paraguayan culture has some strict guidelines. Young men visit the home of their girlfriends on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings. The other days are for the secondary girlfriend or the girl that the guy doesn’t like as much. At parties, which are held Saturday nights at the soccer clubs, which are basically soccer fields that double as a meeting/party place, a guy will ask a girl to dance and then if she dances with him for more than two or three songs it means she likes him and they will soon be boyfriend/girlfriend. The parties are interesting because they start around 10 and last until about 6 in the morning. I went to one last week and there weren’t very many people there but Laura has convinced me that it was because people don’t really go during Lent. She claims they will be much better after Easter. The parties cost about 10,000 to get in and the beers are 5000 each. In Paraguay it is very rare for people to order and drink their own alcoholic beverage. Usually a group will have one or two drinks that they pass around taking a few sips each. The first time we went out in town I heard later that same night about the Americans who were each drinking their own beer. We quickly learned to share. Not a good thing for germ phobics!

By spending most of my time with the family I have learned many of the Paraguayan norms and customs. It is amazing how there are such distinct differences between their culture and that of the United States. I feel like I am learning new thing everyday! Oh yeah and by the way I pretty much witnessed my host mom killing a chicken today, I am guessing that´s dinner.

Also want to let you know that Jill sent me a letter using only one stamp and it made it here. I don´t know if that was a fluke but it got here!