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!