4-14-09
I´m back in Guarambaré and have been here since Wednesday. Holy week was interesting. Thursday I went with my friend Barbara and her family to make chipa, which is a cheesey break made with Paraguayan cheese. Paraguayan cheese is simply not that great and I´ve recently been thinking too much about how essentially all PY food would be better with cheddar. I miss cheese variety. It doesn´t help that I just found out that Paraguayan cheese is frequently made by putting the cheese into a cow´s stomach for a while. Ew. Regardless, it was nearly impossible to make the chipa. We were attempting to knead the dough, but finally were just given the job of making it into shapes...a task mostly reserved for children. We were also put down for a 2 hour nap by Barbara´s family while they cooked lunch. I´m frequently treated like a child here...it is taking some getting used to. I was also told that God wouldn´t protect me if I went for a run on Good Friday. That was a much bigger holiday than Easter here. I missed getting an Easter basket next to my bed on Easter morning...maybe I´m being treated like a child for a reason?
I´m excited for my future site but hating time in limbo for now. We have classes like before but they seem super slow and repetitive. We swear in on the 24th (dad´s bday) at the embassy and have to be in site by the 28th. I had lunch with Paraguay´s presidents sister in site. She came to the community center where I´ll be working and grabbed my elbow for a photo op for, I thought, an uncomfortably long time. She seemed nice though. She refers to herself as Paraguay´s first lady because Lugo isn´t married... Sadly, I don´t think I made any papers here with that photo op.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Limpio es Sucio.
4-4-09
Happy April! Time is flying right now, though I´m sure it´ll slow way down once training is over, it gets dark at 5 and I don´t get to speak English whenever I want but for now I´m amazed at where time has gone. On Wednesday we found out our future sites. Mine is Limpio, which is about an hour north of Asuncion, the capital. Upon telling this to Paraguayans, I hear one of two things: Limpio es sucio (Clean is dirty) or ¨Oh, I´ve gone through there on a bus before.¨ Nothing else. So, who the hell knows? I´m a follow-up volunteer which means there is a UYD volunteer who will be leaving just as I arrive. My main contact is a super hard working 16 year old girl who is the head of a youth group here. My other contacts are the head of the community center, a woman from the women´s group, and some principals of local schools.
I got here yesterday for my 5 day long future site visit. My contact and I took the bus from Guarambaré to Asuncion , then another to Limpio. It was extremely hot, I ran out of water, and we were sitting in the sun. When we got back to her house to put our stuff down I said I needed to take a break. I took a nap and when I woke up two hours later could feel the heat radiating from my body from a nasty fever. After taking some IBU, I was woken up to meet some of the kids in the community who´d come by to meet me. My first community interaction consisted of me visibly sweating, putting an ice bag on my head and neck while being asked about my headache and diarrhea. I can´t wait to laugh about this first interaction, but I think I freaked out some thirteen year old girls in the meantime. I was given rice and cheese for my stomach for dinner. This is so nonsensical to me buit is the PY cure for diarrhea somehow. My first interaction with my future host parents consisted of them and their teenage daughter putting ice bags all over my body. Very strange. I´m excited to get to know my new community but have thus far only seen the inside of the room where I´m sleeping. Today the volunteer I´m following up is going to show me around and I´m going to her girls´group meeting. Hopefully I´m permanently done with this sickness...
Also, I forgot to mention this. I think I wrote about the fact that I have to bucket bath about 95% of the time. I don´t really mind this fact, especially since I assumed it was only for 3 months. Most UYD volunteers live considerably more chuchi lives than other volunteers. I just found out that my neighborhood has water but only 3 times a day, and almost never enough water pressure to shower. I really just think this is hilarious. What makes my life sillier still is that I just heard ¨No Woman No Cry¨translated to ¨No Voy a Llorar¨or I´m not going to cry¨. ¡Oh Paraguay!
Happy April! Time is flying right now, though I´m sure it´ll slow way down once training is over, it gets dark at 5 and I don´t get to speak English whenever I want but for now I´m amazed at where time has gone. On Wednesday we found out our future sites. Mine is Limpio, which is about an hour north of Asuncion, the capital. Upon telling this to Paraguayans, I hear one of two things: Limpio es sucio (Clean is dirty) or ¨Oh, I´ve gone through there on a bus before.¨ Nothing else. So, who the hell knows? I´m a follow-up volunteer which means there is a UYD volunteer who will be leaving just as I arrive. My main contact is a super hard working 16 year old girl who is the head of a youth group here. My other contacts are the head of the community center, a woman from the women´s group, and some principals of local schools.
I got here yesterday for my 5 day long future site visit. My contact and I took the bus from Guarambaré to Asuncion , then another to Limpio. It was extremely hot, I ran out of water, and we were sitting in the sun. When we got back to her house to put our stuff down I said I needed to take a break. I took a nap and when I woke up two hours later could feel the heat radiating from my body from a nasty fever. After taking some IBU, I was woken up to meet some of the kids in the community who´d come by to meet me. My first community interaction consisted of me visibly sweating, putting an ice bag on my head and neck while being asked about my headache and diarrhea. I can´t wait to laugh about this first interaction, but I think I freaked out some thirteen year old girls in the meantime. I was given rice and cheese for my stomach for dinner. This is so nonsensical to me buit is the PY cure for diarrhea somehow. My first interaction with my future host parents consisted of them and their teenage daughter putting ice bags all over my body. Very strange. I´m excited to get to know my new community but have thus far only seen the inside of the room where I´m sleeping. Today the volunteer I´m following up is going to show me around and I´m going to her girls´group meeting. Hopefully I´m permanently done with this sickness...
Also, I forgot to mention this. I think I wrote about the fact that I have to bucket bath about 95% of the time. I don´t really mind this fact, especially since I assumed it was only for 3 months. Most UYD volunteers live considerably more chuchi lives than other volunteers. I just found out that my neighborhood has water but only 3 times a day, and almost never enough water pressure to shower. I really just think this is hilarious. What makes my life sillier still is that I just heard ¨No Woman No Cry¨translated to ¨No Voy a Llorar¨or I´m not going to cry¨. ¡Oh Paraguay!
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