I've been a real grump lately and rather than depress everyone with my "debbie downer" attitude I decided to take a small break from blog writing. But I'm back to normal now (it help that I've had heaps of good news lately), or as normal as a person can be in Peace Corps, and ready for some updates.

As I mentioned, lack of work is driving me nuts. This was an unexpected side effect of getting married. When I've gone to visit people, they've actually said to me, "why aren't you at home taking care of your house and your husband?" Well I don't think my house will explode in the hour that I'm gone and my husband is a grown man and doesn't need me to babysit him. I thought I would be this great example of a hard-working super wife/volunteer but that's not what my community wants. It's frustrating but since it's summer and I only have 3 months left I'm trying to be tranquilo and embrace it.

In case you don't stalk me on Facebook, the good news that I was referring to was that I got accepted to Emory University, my top choice grad school for the Master's program in Global Epidemiology. Also, Elvio's visa petition got approved in record time. We still have several more things to do and he'll have to have an interview, which will hopefully be scheduled in April or May but the process is going a lot quicker than I expected, which makes me happy.

I went to my Close of Service conference last week. It was the first time I had seen some of my fellow G-32 volunteers in almost 2 years, which was weird. At first it was awkward for me being in such a large group of Americans (yeah, 41 Americans together is a large group for me) but it was nice to see everyone and talk about readjusting to left in the US. I realized to need to be a lot better about taking pictures to document these last 3 months.

Speaking of pictures:

Our house!

G-32 at our Close of Service Conference, aka best group of volunteers ever :)

Our dog, Modelo. Elvio gave her a haircut so she doesn't look so much like a gremlin anymore.

Rainbow! This made me happy :)

I'm finally getting around to writing about all the craziness that has happened since my wedding almost a month ago. I've had plenty of time to do it but every time I start to write I end up just swaying in the hammock and reminiscing about my time here and realizing how little I have left and then I get sad/happy/terrified/excited/nervous and I can't possibly write through all those emotions. But since that's how I'll probably feel for the rest of the 4 months I have left here (Eek!) I'll power through it for your sake. Your welcome.

The wedding was perfect. The days leading up to it were some of the most stressful of my life and that actual day I thought nothing would go right but when I saw Elvio in his tux and he took my hand, I knew everything would be alright. By the end of the night I was completely exhausted and in a daze but I could not have been happier.

We went to Puerto Iguazu, Argentina for our honeymoon. It's a cute little tourist town and the only thing to do there is go see Iguazu Falls, one of the largest waterfalls in the world, and recently voted one of the New 7 Wonders of the Natural World. Unfortunately the day we went it was rainy and misty but the view was still spectacular. We planned to return the next day, which was warm and clear, but I ruined that by getting really sick. It was still a great honeymoon though; a nice getaway from normal campo life. And Elvio discovered the joys of breakfast in bed while watching tv.

The day we got back we were informed we had to move out of our house...again. The lady who owns it came back for a rezo, a 9-day prayer service for her dead brother. Originally she had said we could leave our stuff there and just sleep somewhere else but she changed her mind and decided we should just clear out. So now we're living in a prison-cell-sized room with our neighbors (Elvio's aunt). I shouldn't call it that because the family has been nothing but welcoming and kind to us but it's TINY and we are newlyweds. The annoying part is that it's totally normal for Paraguayan couples to continue living with their families after they are married so I am the only one who thinks this arrangement is weird. But our landlady told us a few days ago that she is leaving again before Christmas and we can have the house back. Thank goodness.

As I mentioned earlier I only have 4 months of service left. Yikes, every time I think about that it freaks me out. There's no way that's possible. How could time have passed that quickly? What am I going to do with the 4 months I have left? Well, currently I'm doing a lot of waiting around. I recently turned in a petition to PLAN International (NEWSFLASH: a snake just slithered under my hammock and I managed not to have a heart attack...) for $3500 to build sanitary latrines for 34 families in my community. I have been trying to get this money for a long time and keep getting turned down. I'll find out in January what's happening with my petition. I also just mailed off Elvio's visa application. AND grad school deadlines are coming up in January so I'll be waiting to hear from the schools that I applied to. Lots of waiting. So for now I'm going to enjoy one more year of warm weather Christmas and New Years and eat fresh watermelon and pineapple until I explode.

There comes a moment when you've been gnawing on a piece of grisly or fatty meat for several minutes that you just have to take a chance and swallow. You hope that the minutes you've spent grinding away at it have lubricated it with enough saliva to prevent you from choking in front of a table full of Paraguayans because that would just add to the list of embarrassing things you've done lately. The time has come. You decide to take the plunge. 3...2...1...gulp. Gulp again. Success! You look down at your plate. Crap. Another hunk of fat, and the adventure continues.

I got kicked out of my house. It's a really long, ridiculous story that I have been telling to Paraguayans and Americans nonstop for the past week and I don't really want to go into it again but basically the landlady, who lives in Asuncion and hasn't even seen the house in over 5 years, was on a very different page as everyone else and frankly and little bit off her rocker.

The good news is I have found an excellent new house right next to where Elvio works and the lady who owns it said I could stay there for free until I leave. My neighbor came over yesterday and told me how sad she is to see me go. She said that I am like another daughter to her and it hurt her heart that someone could treat me that way. So that was nice to hear, even though I am only going to the next street over and will probably still see her everyday. I will put up pictures of the house when I have some more time; I'm going to start moving everything today!

Work-wise, I'm still as busy as ever. This past week I took toothbrushes and toothpaste to the school again. Last year I did the same but let the kids take them home and soon they were lost, or had fallen on the ground, or were used by all 12 members of the family. So this year I took a new approach and got the teachers more involved. We decided that each class would get a large tube of toothpaste and the students would leave their brushes at school. When the arrive, they'll brush their teeth and then again after snack/recess. So far it's worked out well; the only problem being that the 5th and 6th graders want to put their own toothpaste on and end up using way too much :).

My large project is slowly moving along too. At the last parent meeting I had 33 families sign up to participate in a sanitary latrine project. This means they either don't have a bathroom at all or their latrine now has a floor made of wood, leaves, or whatever else they could find. I've been working with the NGO PLAN International and the director thinks that he can get cement floors for all those families. He is going to contact the National Sanitation Service and let me know how that goes. So far I've been calling him everyday for a week and he hasn't done it yet but I'll keep being a thorn in his side until we get our latrines.

I'd like to end with a picture. Peace Corps is really frustrating sometimes and it seems like lately I've had more bad days than good but this makes it all worth it:

Life in Peace Corps is rarely easy or simple.

Let me start by saying that my last project idea, the recycling thing, failed miserably. No one was interested and I learned a long time ago that you can't force people to change if they don't want to. I managed to give a charla on the importance of garbage pits and separating your trash, not burning plastic, that sort of thing and they actually dug a giant garbage pit in Conavi but that's as far as it went. Recycling is still a pretty foreign thing here so for now I'll just lead by example and leave it at that.

Anyway, a while ago, my VAC (group of volunteers who live near each other) received money from a grant to build 2 fogones, wood-burning stoves, in each site. I built my first one last week with the help of another volunteer and it turned out great. I went back to the woman's house and baked chipa guasu, a delicious cheesy cornbread-type bread, with her. She had never baked anything in her own home before and was so excited.

While we were building we had several people come by the house and watch. I've built fogones in other sites before but never in my own so I don't think people knew that I could actually build things. So this got me thinking about another project. I won't talk about all the details now, in case it also fails, because that would just be sad. But this time I have talked to several community leaders and they are on board and willing to help me. I set up a meeting with the Parent's Commission but the director of the school "forgot" to tell people about it. He rescheduled it for a day when I have to go to Asuncion and said he would talk to the Commission for me. I'm nervous that he'll find some to mess that up but there's nothing I can do about it.

It's taken a year and half for people here to realize that I do have skills and resources to help them. Every project I have tried to do has been a struggle against people who don't want to work together or lack of resources or people just not being interested. I've been told to my face and behind my back that I am worthless and have done nothing for anyone since I got here. Usually the people saying those things either don't live in the community at all or are rich and have nicer things compared to everyone else. It seems like I've been fighting to help these people since the day I got here and I don't know why.

It would be so easy to just give up and hang out for the last 7 months. I'm getting married, I could just enjoy being a housewife for a while. But that's not why I'm here. So I'm not going to give up. I'm going to fight for this project to succeed. And if this one doesn't, I'll start another one.

This past week my boss came to visit my site for her 1-year visit. I've actually been in site for a year and 3 months but there are a lot of health volunteers so it took a while for her to get out here.

We met with the director of my school and talked about future projects and how to best take advantage of the time I have left. It's hard to believe but I only have 8 months left! We talked about getting a project started with the government housing community (Conavi) near the school to organize garbage pits and a recycling program. Right now they all just throw their garbage in their yards or out in the fields and other members of the community are starting to complain. There is a guy in a truck that buys plastics and glass a few times every month so they next time he passes my house I'm going to talk to him about going out to Conavi too. There are 3 lines of houses in the community so each line will be responsible for building their garbage pit and they'll get 2 oil drums for plastics and glass. The director already had a meeting with the community members and they seem excited about the project.

I'm also trying to plan a wedding which is in 3 months (AH!). Our guest list started at 50, then doubled, then tripled as Elvio kept remembering that his family is enormous. Paraguayans don't plan anything until the last minute but I thought that maybe a wedding would be different. It's not. We've talked about it plenty but no concrete plans have been made, no one has been hired. The ring order only has to be done 8 days in advance and the judge only needs a week's notice. As someone who likes to plan things in detail, this is extremely stressful for me.

We do have our honeymoon planned though! Elvio has family in Mendoza, Argentina (wine country!) and they rent cabins on their ranch. Here is their website for anyone who's interested: http://www.fincalunadeplata.com.ar/. Elvio worked their for 3 years, he's even in a few of the photos on the website. Anyway, they told us that they are for sure coming to the wedding and they we can ride back to Mendoza with them afterwards for the honeymoon.

So that's the update part of the post, here is the part where I ask you for things! I heard that Borders is going out of business and my school library is really lacking in materials. The kids at my school love when I read to them and when they get to have books to read but I only have like 3 books and really, you can only read about the Adventures of Senor Toothbrush so many times. So, we would really appreciate it if you happen to find any children's books in Spanish if you could send them my way. I saw a few Curious George books in Spanish on their website among others. I know that shipping costs are high but a few softcover books shouldn't be too heavy and my kids would love them. Thank you so much!

Winter is officially here. Asunción recorded an all-time low yesterday of -1.2°C (29.8°F). That doesn’t seem so bad when you can escape to a heated house, heated car, heated school or office. But here there is no central heating. Many houses are made of wood so the temperature outside is the temperature inside. Showers are horrible ordeals that only happen when absolutely necessary. Although the sun comes up earlier in the winter, activity doesn’t start until later. People stay huddled in their beds or around fires until the frost disappears and the morning chill wears off a bit. The fire is kept going all day as water is constantly boiling for hot mate. Winter break is coming up in July. Last year it was extended by a week because it was so cold, which seems very likely to happen again this year. I’m planning a week-long winter camp with the 5th and 6th graders at my school. We’ll do activities on nutrition, gardening, hand washing and personal hygiene. I’m excited; this group of kids is awesome. They are always the most willing to participate when I give charlas at the school and I’m eager to get them doing more hands-on activities that they can take how and teach their families. In other news, Elvio and I went to Asunción on Monday to turn in paperwork to send to Washington so we can get married. He got to see the Peace Corps office and meet some of the people that work there so that was cool. I left my cell phone on the bus on the way there. I was able to get a new one but I’ve lost all my phone numbers, including ones of people back home. So if I had your number before, or if you just want to text me, you can e-mail me a text at 984610026@tigo.com.py. This is more convenient than using their website. Thanks!

I have a very important announcement to make so listen up! Also, you may want to sit down for this. And make yourself a strong drink.

I'm getting married!! Wait...what? Yes you read correctly. I have met "the one" and we can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together. You're probably wondering why you have heard next to nothing about this guy. Well, I have limited internet time and I like to blog about my work, not my love life. But here is some background:

My fiance's name is Elvio Santander. He is 27 years old and lives on a ranch with his family a few miles outside of my town. It's traditional for children to continue living with their families until they get married, and sometimes afterwards too. Anyway, we met last year at a festival in my community. He had been texting me already and I thought he was a creep like all the other guys that texted me. But unlike other texts I received, which were raunchy and gross, his were sweet. Like "you are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." and "do you like chicken soup? I would love to cook for you sometime.". Haha. I found out later that he was getting advice from his 17-year-old sister on what to say to me because he was terrified. After we met, I mentioned that I was starting a garden and had no idea what I was doing. He came over the next day with his cousin and we spent 2 days setting up my garden. It turned out beautifully and that led to other projects like building my shower room, latrine, pig house and cleaning up my yard. We spent the afternoons drinking terere and getting to know each other.

I spent Christmas and New Years with his family and despite only having known him for a month, I felt accepted and at home with them. I had dengue during that time too and they all pitched in to take care of me and make sure I wasn't too miserable. By that time his family members were already asking us when we were going to get married but I just laughed it off. Over the next couple of months I didn't think it was going to work out, to be completely honest. We had a lot to overcome being from different cultures and both of us not speaking our native language (he prefers speaking Guarani but we speak Spanish to each other). We had several fights that really just came down to miscommunications and cultural differences. But we got through it and we're a stronger couple because of it.

Then my parents came. He and I had already talked about getting married but the problem was that I didn't want to stay here in Paraguay and he said he was scared to go to the United States. He had only ever left Paraguay once to work in Mendoza, Argentina for 3 years with his aunt so being scared is natural. It seemed like marriage wasn't going to be possible but the thought of us breaking up and me leaving was unbearable for both of us too. When my parents came, we spent a day out at his ranch and he got to spend a lot of time with them. They couldn't speak to each other but they figured out ways to communicate. I think he realized then that Americans aren't as scary as he thought. He also got to go to Buenos Aires with us, which was amazing. He had only ever seen the city from a bus window passing through. Seeing him ride an escalator for the first time is something I will never forget :). It was a great opportunity for him to see what else is out there in the world. We also got to meet up with some of his family that lives in Buenos Aires so that was awesome.

After that we began talking seriously about getting married and decided that although it will be hard (any marriage is difficult), it will be so worth it. So here is the plan:

It is a lot easier to get a visa to the US for a spouse than for a fiance so we are going to get married here in Paraguay. In order to do that I have to fill out a bunch of paperwork to send to Peace Corps/Washington and get their OK, which should take 3 months. So our date is set for November 19th, which gives us a little extra time but doesn't get so far into summer that it'll be too hot to think. We are doing a civil ceremony here at his house with his family, some of my volunteer friends and a few people from Peace Corps as witnesses. We're going to try to have someone film it too for everyone back home. Then, once we're back in the States we'll have another ceremony for my family and friends since they won't be able to come here.

Elvio is starting English classes with a volunteer friend of mine this next week. He also got a full-time job last month and we've started saving up money for his passport, visa and plane ticket back to the US (mine is all paid for by Peace Corps thankfully).

I know this probably comes as a shock to a lot of you because I'm not able to keep in touch very well and you all haven't even met this guy. But I have no doubt in my mind that this is right for me. I am so happy and excited and when we're together we keep looking at each and burst out laughing and say "we're getting married!!". And I know that once you meet Elvio you will know what I mean.

It's been pointed out that I haven't updated in a really long time. Sorry about that. To be honest I haven't updated because I haven't felt like I've done anything in a long time. I spent the month of April mostly preparing for my parents arrival on April 30. I tried to look at my house from an American perspective and it freaked me out a little bit that my parents would soon be seeing the way I've been living for the past year. It's not bad or anything, I have electricity and running water, but it's definitely different than what their used to. So I finally put a roof on my latrine and brought a guy in the put hot water in my shower and I think those things helped a lot.

Also in April I went to Asunción for my 1-year medical exams and In-Service Training. All of us were shocked to hear that a year from that day (April 26th) would be our last days as volunteers. The time is flying by so quickly, I still can't quite believe that a year has already passed in my site. We talked about all the things we have accomplished in our sites and all the things we still want to do. There is still much work to be done.

My parents arrived right after that training in April 30. That hour waiting for them in the airport was the most stressful hour of my life. But the minute I saw their faces, the past 15 months apart didn't matter anymore, it's like it never happened. We were together again and it was amazing. I couldn't believe that they were finally here. We spent a few days in Asunción where I was ridiculously restless and ready to get back to site and show them where I live and have them meet everyone.

Once in site they got to meet my neighbors, who let me live with them for 3 months when I first got there and take care of me when I'm sick or have any kind of problem and are there for me whenever I need it. I asked my host mom one morning if she could help me kill my pig and she said, "But you don't know how to kill a pig. Let me talk to my husband and we'll get everything ready." They spent their entire day with my parents and I slaughtering my pig, when they may have had something else planned. We spent a day at my boyfriend's house with his family and ate a delicious meal (thank you for your sacrifice piggy) and just hung out. I'm used to hanging out and not understanding everything that's going on but that's new for my parents. They've told me since then that they miss terere circles and just hanging out with family. It's definitely something that doesn't happen enough in the United States.

After a really long and complicated series of bus rides, we made it to Buenos Aires and our gorgeous apartment. I was expecting to have some culture shock but it wasn't that bad. I was amazed by things like elevators and coffee makers and so many tall, tall buildings but I was surprised at how quickly I got used to it all again. Well sort of. I got used to it, but I still felt separate from it. I used to love to shop. We did a ton of walking in the city and we walked passed so many store windows where before I would have been drawn in, now I hardly gave them a second glance. It helps that I'm living in minimum wage in a developing country but it's not just that. I am surrounded by people everyday that live on next to nothing and they get by and they are happy with what they have. And me, I have boxes and boxes of stuff in the US that my parents are saving for me that I realize now is so unnecessary.

Speeches aside, Buenos Aires was amazing. I allowed myself to take a break from Peace Corps and relax. We ate good food, drank good wine and saw the sites. My boyfriend has family close to the city and I was lucky enough to be able to meet up with them to celebrate his cousin's 30th birthday. I had met some of them when they came to visit Paraguay for New Year's so it was good to see them again. My parents left from Buenos Aires and I got on a bus back to Paraguay.

I'm so glad my parents got the chance to visit. They had never been out of the country and now I think they feel a lot better about their daughter living in Paraguay now that they've seen my home and met the people that I call family down here.

So now it's time to get back into the swing of things. I was really sick this past week with what the first doctor said was stomach flu and what the second said was either parasites or an infection. All I know is, it was not pretty. This past Friday, the volunteers in my department had an event in town for International Environment Day where we put up posters about various environmental issues, handed out fliers and seeds. We didn't have as big of a crowd as we had wanted but it's a learning process and we'll do better next time. This week I'm going in for a meeting with my boss, one we have every 4 months to talk about what I've done in site and what I'm planning to do so hopefully that'll get me out of vacation mode and back into work mode.

I know my last post was kind of depressing but such is life in Peace Corps. However since then I have had tons of work and spirits have been high.

Last Saturday the San Pedro VAC (I don't remember what VAC stands for, but basically a group of volunteers in a similar geographic area) finally had our HIV/AIDS workshop, which was cancelled in December due to rain. None of my high school teachers were really interested in going and I don't have a health post or any nurses in my community but I went anyway to help out. Other volunteers brought teachers, health workers, nursing students, etc and we had a good turnout. We gave charlas on decision-making, values, behavior change, good communication, self-esteem, as well as the basics on HIV/AIDS and how to teach about it. It was really awesome to see a group of people who were open to new ideas, ready and willing to learn and who wanted to teach and inspire other people as well. That's something you don't see very often here.

Monday I went to the Centro de Salud with my pedido for parasite pills. I was so much easier to get the pills than I expected. I just went to the office of the director, handed her the pedido, she called the pharmacist and asked about the supply and sent me to the pharmacy. I walked out half and hour later with 130 bottles of medication. Monday afternoon I brought them to the school along with a bunch of cucumbers from my garden that the teachers have been questioning me about incessantly. Side note: if you ever want to feel good about yourself in this country, bring people gifts. They gushed on and on about how guapa I am and how they are going to ask my bosses if they can keep me here forever.

Tuesday-Thursday has been spent at the school. The medication I got is a liquid that has to be given twice a day for 3 days. Since there are different students morning and afternoon I've been going twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon to give them the meds. It's exhausting but after the first day the kids started getting so excited when I walked in (it tastes like vanilla). And today they were sad that it was the last day but when I reminded them that they don't have any more sevo'i (worms) they all got really happy.

Next week I am hosting a meeting with the Comision de Padres (Parents Commission, basically the PTA) to talk a little about parasites, to remind them that I will not be here next year and that if they don't want their kids to get parasites again there are ways to avoid it, like wearing shoes and covering their food so flies to land on it. Also, I am going to show them step-by-step how to get more pills from the Centro de Salud so hopefully they will do it again next year.

I was reminded this week that change does happen but not all at once. The school will continue to frustrate me until the day I leave. But there are some people who are willing to go that extra mile, to work a little harder to make their lives better.

Lots of things have surprised me in a year of being here. But one thing that never ceases to amaze and depress me is the lack of education in this country.

I don't know how much I've talked about school here so I'll just start from scratch. Kids go to school 4 hours a day, either in the morning (7-11am) or afternoon (1-4pm). School never starts on time, most of the time the teachers don't even show up on time. The director, if he is there, will gather the students, line them up and they will sing the national anthem. Then they go to their classrooms and spend about half an hour cleaning the room while the teachers sit around and chat. Later on in the day half an hour is given to recess, if not more depending on how good the gossip is in the teachers' circle that day. So overall the kids get about 2 hours of actual "learning".

Students "learn" here by copying whatever the teacher writes on the board directly into their notebooks. Teachers care more about their writing looking lindo than the actual content. If kids don't want to pay attention, they sit in the back and talk or just get up and leave and wander around the school grounds.

School started here a couple weeks ago so I went to talk to the directors of the elementary and high schools about our plans for this year. The director of the colegio (7-9th grade) informed me that while he really wanted to work with me, half of the school day this year (2 out of 4 hours) would be spent on learning about the Bicentennial (Paraguay turns 200 in May). Today I learned what this means: high school kids sitting around singing songs in Guarani while the teacher plays guitar. It's great to learn about your culture but what about everything else? Nobody seems to care if their kids can read or write but they sure are patriotic!

I guess I'm just frustrated. I have been trying to get my director serious about working with me to get parasite pills and fluoride for all the students. It's not difficult, just 2 documents I need him to look over and sign them so I can turn them in at the Centro de Salud in town and get the pills. And he has been complaining that the last volunteer never did it and that he has tried to do it and that it's so hard and all this crap. But when I try to do his work for him, he still won't help me at all.

EDIT: So it's the next day, I was extremely frustrated yesterday. I finished the pedidos to the best of my ability yesterday and printed them off. Today I took them to the school with the intention of not leaving until I had a signature. The director was more than happy to see me and show off his new car that he had been out picking up yesterday. That's why he never showed up. Awesome. Anger in check, I sat down with him and explained that all he needed to do was tell me how many students were in the school and sign his name. I even brought a pen, just in case.

The paper got signed and tomorrow I going to town to hunt down the right people at the hospital to get the pills for the students. I'll accompany the fluoride and parasite pills with charlas about dental health and preventing parasites so hopefully in the future those pills won't be necessary. So although it's disheartening that the kids aren't learning a single thing from anyone else at school, at least I can try to teach them something worthwhile while I'm here.

I've been here a year already. Say what?! I know, it's hard to believe. Everyone says that the second year goes by faster than the first; well that's pretty much impossible because this one flew by.

For the past couple of months I've been stuck in a rut here in site. I guess it's that time of my service where I get depressed and question everything and blah blah blah. It's also summer and people here have wanted to do as little work as possible; that includes not working with me. So I've spent a lot of time working on my house. I have a shower finally and yesterday my boyfriend and I built the cement floor for my latrine. Once it fully cures in 2 weeks well slap it over the hole that's already been dug and build a little house for it. So, after living in my house for 6 months, it'll finally be complete! I also have a beautiful garden that many people have come over to admire. When I suggest that they too could have a linda garden they tell me it's impossible during the summer. Yes, they are normally standing right next to my flourishing garden when they say this.

It's frustrating. I wonder why I'm here if no one wants to work with me. But it's not me they don't want to work with; they just don't want to work. I get it, it's hot. I don't really want to work either. I have also not really enjoyed sitting on my butt doing nothing for 3 months. I've felt worthless and unnecessary here.

I was a little inspired yesterday as we were building my losa (cement floor for latrine). Several neighbors came over wondering what the heck we were doing and after seeing the finished project and the fact that 2 people (1 was a girl for heaven's sake!) did it in 2 hours, have expressed interest in building losas for their latrines. This is great because I've used some of these latrines and some are just a board or two over a 2 meter pit of poop. Diseases and flies fester, not to mention the smell is awful.

Like I mentioned before, school is scheduled to start on February 23. We've had great weather, rainy and cool, so hopefully it won't be delayed because of heat or anything. At the end of last school year, the director expressed interest in reviving the school garden, which right now is just a fenced-in jungle, so that will be quite the task. This year I'll be working in both the escuela basica (pre-k - 6th grade) and the colegio (7th-9th grade) so I'll have more kids to teach and different topics (adding drug addiction, self-esteem, etc).

So it's been a rough couple of months but I've made it a year so far and I'm looking forward to 15 more months of this crazy life called Peace Corps.

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who has sent me packages, you are awesome!!

I have received too packages recently that were both wrapped in plastic because somehow in transit they got completely soaked. I've heard that sometimes packages just "fall off the boat" but who knows. Anyway, as much as I like receiving packages of paper mush, I would actually like to read that magazine or book rather than roll it up in a ball and give it to the cat to play with.

I think the easiest solution is, if you are sending something made of paper or that comes in a cardboard box, if you could wrap it in saran wrap or something of the sort, just as a precaution, that would be wonderful. I know postage is expensive and I hate to see the things you guys send get ruined by falling in the ocean or whatever else might happen to them on the way here.

So I know the holidays are a few weeks past but I'm just now getting in the mood to write again. And a ton has happened since the last post so this might be kind of long. I've been better at uploading pictures so if you get bored while reading this, take a look at the new pics! http://picasaweb.google.com/mandisue182

The first week in December my friend Erica and I took a short vacation to Mar del Plata, Argentina. We took an 18 hour bus ride to Buenos Aires, then another 5 hours south to Mar del Plata. It's a beautiful tourist town with tons of gorgeous beaches, where we spent most of our time. We stayed in a cute little hostel owned by a bunch of brothers and sisters. We were only there for 3 days (+2 days of travel) but we made the most of it; going to the beach during the day, exploring a little, then going to eat delicious food at night. Most bars and clubs don't even open until after midnight so being accustomed to life in the campo and going to bed by 10pm, we didn't experience much of the nightlife. I was constantly amazed by how different Paraguay and Argentina are. Even the Spanish accents are entirely different, which frustrated me to no end. Our hosts one evening told us that Paraguayans are uncivilized because they live with "the natives". Argentina has natives too but they keep them all separated in the north. I know many Paraguayans who have either gone to Argentina to work or have family there who send money back on a regular basis. It makes me sad that Paraguay is surrounded by all these thriving countries but, because of bad luck and bad leaders, it's been left in the dust to fend for itself.

On our way home, after being on buses for 22 hours, we got to the Argentina-Paraguay border and realized we could go no further. Both sides of the border had closed to all buses and anything besides foot traffic. Argentina wanted to raise the tax for people entering and Paraguay just closed theirs to retaliate. Apparently this happens often. They were saying the border wouldn't open for 3-5 days. We had no money and both of our cell phones were dead so we decided to walk to the border and find out for ourselves what was going on. It turns out we had no trouble crossing on foot, they even let me stop and charge my phone for a bit, and there were buses waiting on the other side to take us the rest of the way to Asuncion. So that was not an ideal way to end our vacation but an experience nonetheless.

All of December was spent fixing up houses. Some people repainted, some bought new furniture and added on rooms. It was crazy. I almost felt like I needed to spruce up my house a bit, but then realized they were only doing it to impress family members that would be coming for the holidays.

I spent both Christmas and New Years with my boyfriend's family. The have a ranch-style house about 30 minutes outside of my community. As soon as I got there the day before Christmas, Elvio's mom gave me a plate of chipa guasu (cheesy, oniony, deliciously greasy cornbread) and told me I was too thin. She fed me nonstop over the next couple of days. Christmas Eve was spent watching tv, eating, drinking wine and coke, and just hanging out. We all stayed up until midnight, wished each other Feliz Navidad, then went to bed. On Christmas, no one really mentioned it at all. Elvio and I took a horse out to explore his land and visit a nearby stream but it had just rained so there were billions of mosquitoes so we decided to head back home.

The day after Christmas I started feeling really sick. I had a fever (having chills and goosebumps when it's 100 degrees outside is weird) and every part of me ached. I could barely move without being in extreme pain. Elvio's family was really worried and after about 24 hours of this, his mom said they were going to take me to the hospital if I didn't call me doctor. All of my symptoms fit those of dengue fever, and although it's very painful and not fun, there is no treatment or cure besides drink fluids and rest, which I had already been doing. So after a couple of days, my fever finally went away and I was able to get on my feet again.

The week between Christmas and New Years I spent with neighbors, drinking terere, eating watermelon (cut in half and eaten with a spoon), and trying not to die of heat stroke. Have I mentioned it's hot here? Yeah.

New Years were more of what I had expected from Christmas. I went back to the ranch and a bunch of aunts, uncles, cousins and distant relatives came over to celebrate. New Years Eve I helped Elvio's sister make clerico, basically fruit salad soaked in white wine. We stayed up until midnight once again, the kids set off a ridiculous amount of firecrackers, which scared me every time, and then we went to bed. New Years day I met all the family and, just when I thought I had gotten used to the extreme awkwardness of Paraguay, got asked multiple times when I was going to start having kids because I'm almost too old now! I told them it is prohibido to have kids in Peace Corps and that I would prefer to stay here and not get sent home. They all agreed. For lunch we ate delicious asado (not-quite-barbecue ribs), chorizo and duck along with more chipa guasu and, of course, mandioca. After lunch and before food-coma, we all filled our glasses with wine and went around saying what we were thankful for and what we wished for in the following year.

So now it's 2011! Last year flew by as I'm sure this one will too. I'm looking forward to starting new projects, continuing old ones and doing everything I can to make a difference here.

It's summer! Well almost. The last day of school is Tuesday but the kids and teachers have already been in the summer mindset for weeks, only showing up to school for an hour or so for "exams".

As the days get hotter and longer, the conversations get shorter with sips of terere filling the gap. A typical conversation goes something like this:

"Haku"

"Heê, haku porã"

(It's hot.

Yeah, it's really hot.)

*Repeat every few minutes just in case someone forgot.

My community seems like a ghost town during siesta and most outdoor work occurs 5-10am and 4-8pm. I was working in my garden one afternoon and when I went to take a cold shower, my neighbor told me I had to wait until I wasn't so sweaty or else I was likely to explode. And that would have been unfortunate.

Speaking of gardening, I'm getting quite good at it! There are many vegetables and fruits that grow during the intense summers here. I have planted beet, squash, sunflower, cucumber, carrot, green pepper and eggplant. I'm hoping that people will see my lindo garden and want one of their own. Since my community is located so close to the pueblo, many people just go into town and buy veggies rather than growing them. Having their own gardens would be cheaper in the long run and much more convenient. I also want to start cooking classes because most people don't know how to cook with veggies.

This summer I'm also planning a couple of summer camps for the kids. One with general health themes and another as an art camp. I am definitely not an artist but the kids here don't really have a sense of creativity. They spend all day in school copying the teacher's notes off the chalk board and get in trouble if it's not perfect. I want to help them realize that it's okay to express yourself and be creative. So we'll see how that goes.

I have my computer back so hopefully I'll be able to update more often with blogs and pictures. I love and miss you all, especially this holiday season!

The 8 month mark in Paraguay came and went. And I´ve discovered the past couple weeks that Peace Corps is not all baby animals and sunsets. Yes, I´ve had rough days but nothing compares to the past couple weeks.

It started when I got an infection that caused a very painful rash. After a couple of days I couple hardly walk; even the 30 meters to my neighbors`house was excruciating. I couldn´t walk therefore I couldn´t work. I stayed in my house all day and felt sorry for myself.

Then last weekend I got home from a very painful journey into town and my cat had knocked my computer off the dresser and the screen broke. So not only could I not walk, now I had lost contact with all my friends and family back home. I called a friend here in hysterics and she calmly told me that the world is not over and to text my parents so they can call me. They called a few minutes later and just hearing a familiar voice made such a huge difference.

However, I was still in a lot of pain. I had spoken with the Peace Corps doctor but the treatment she suggested wasn´t working. I finally decided it was time to go to the hospital. I told my host family what had been going on. Paraguayans are pretty ¨sin verguenza¨ (without shame) when discussing physical problems so I told them exactly what was wrong. They arranged for a ride to take me to the hospital. It was a very strange experience. The doctors in the ER were all hanging out and drinking tererè. After several minutes I went in, told them what was going on and they gave me a new treatment. This helped with the pain briefly but it was still very difficult to walk.

I had basically abandoned all work I was doing. I left the house maybe once or twice a day. My host mom came over to check on me at least 4 times a day to make sure I wasn´t in too much pain but she was still very worried. She told me everyday that I needed to go to Asunciòn and see my doctor there. I took her advice after a total of 9 days with this infection.

Now I´m back in site and doing much better. I walked over a mile yesterday and still felt alright. My computer is still broken but it´s not the end of the world. I was very lucky to have received two packages from home just before this whole ordeal started so I was able to surround myself with things that reminded me of home and with letters reminding me that I am not alone. But I think the biggest help came from talking with my host family. Once they knew that I wasn´t just hiding in my house because I hated everyone, they came to visit often and made sure that I was doing alright. I realized that when I´m having rough times, I can´t do everything on my own. And just when I start to feel that everyone at home has forgotten about me and moved on with their lives, I get a letter or something reminding me that that´s not true.

So aside from a lot of complaining in this post, I just want to thank everyone so much who reads this, sends me letters or packages, or just thinks about me throughout the day. It means a lot. Also, thank you to Mrs. Haskell and the students at St. Charles Catholic School who, even though you don´t know me or my community personally, you want to help us however you can.

It´s a hard journey that I´ve been crazy enough to go on. But you guys make it a whole lot easier.

Today is the first day of spring here in the Southern Hemisphere, first day of fall for all you up in the North. It’s weird to think that winter just ended because it’s been ridiculously hot the past couple weeks. Paraguay does not conform to anything, not even the movement of the planets apparently.

Yesterday I went to the school to talk with the Director about starting charlas (short lessons) with the kids. I had kind of been neglecting the school for the past couple of months, I’m not sure why. When I first got here and was visiting the school regularly I always ended up sitting in a circle with the teachers while the talked about me in Guarani. It was uncomfortable but now I’m too the point where I understand more Guarani and sitting in a group of people not understanding much doesn’t really bother me anymore. So yesterday I decided to give the school another chance.

I thought I was planning strategically when I showed up near the end of the day so I wouldn’t get stuck talking with the teachers about my lack of a Paraguayan boyfriend for hours. But of course, nothing really ever goes as planned here. I talked to the Director for a few minutes and then he said, “by the way, you’re just in time for the meeting with the commission de padres (like a PTA). Would you like to say a few words or do you want me to talk?” I told him it didn’t matter. I did end up in a circle of women discussing my relationships, or lack thereof, but it was brief and the meeting began. A representative from PLAN (an NGO that works in many countries worldwide) talked about what they could do for our community. It was in Guarani so I zoned out. Then after about an hour the Director got up and said that I would like to say a few words. Crap. I had no idea what he wanted me to say so I just babbled on a bit about how I would be teaching their kids how to brush their teeth and that this summer I would be having a couple of summer camps for the kids. The end.

After the meeting I hung around for a bit and chatted with people. The Director was already planning on cancelling school for today because it was going to rain. And sure enough last night the storm started and it hasn’t stopped raining since! Volunteers love rain days. School is cancelled because the dirt roads have turned into muddy rivers and no one leaves their houses. It gives us a chance to rest, read a book, stare at the wall, without feeling like we are neglecting our community. I love my community but sometimes it’s nice to shut all my doors, think in English again and relax.

Work-wise, like I said before, I’ll be starting charlas in the school next week. I’m starting with dental health for 4 weeks. I’m also teaching the teachers how to make homemade detergent. I’ll also be working with the assistant director to get fluoride and parasite pills for all the kids in the school for next year and putting together a first aid kit with help from the hospital in Santani. Summer break starts in about 5 weeks, lots to do before then!

Well August absolutely flew by. At the beginning of August, my group (G-32) had our 3-month Reconnect. We had some more language classes and boring stuff like that during they day. It was really nice to go back and stay with my host family from training. I feel like I've progressed a lot in my language since training and I was actually able to sit down and have a long conversation with them.

I also turned 22 in August. My birthday, to be completely honest, sucked. The only people who knew it was my birthday also knew that some other volunteer friends were coming to visit that weekend so they didn't make a big deal out of it. They all said "felicidades" and gave me the double-cheek kiss but that was about it. Oh, and my neighbors and I built a shelf for my house. My birthday also happened to be on the same day as a senora's birthday in the community so that night everyone went over to celebrate with her while I stayed at home alone. That was no doubt one of my lowest times here in Paraguay. But I can't really blame anyone here, I mean, they've known that women for probably most of their lives and I just showed up. Next year is bound to be better. Anyway, that weekend was great. Several of my friends came to visit and we hung out, ate delicious food (I finally opened my bbq sauce from Kansas City) and had a good time.

August was the month of burning. Farmers burning their fields before planting, people burning their trash (they always do that but it's worse in August) and wild fires from the previous two. Because of this, the moon was an eerie orange most nights, if you could see it at all through the smog. If you look up the weather online, the forecast all over Paraguay is for "smoke"; that's how bad it is. It got hot very quickly but just when I thought winter was over, September brought back the rain and cold. Luckily, the forecast says it's supposed to get up to 100 Fahrenheit by next week. Such is the weather in Paraguay.

Yesterday I got running water at my house! It's just a spout out back but it makes washing dishes and clothes so much easier. No more lugging buckets of water over from the neighbors house. I washed all my clothes by hand in under and hour today!

I am buying a piglet from my neighbors soon. They have 12 piglets that will be weaned from their mother by this next week and I'm going to claim one. A baby animal is surprisingly cheap here. The price goes up the longer you wait to buy it though, since the owner has to continue feeding it. I have no idea how to take care of a pig but a number of people have offered to help me. I'm going to raise it for food, not as a pet so don't worry mom and dad, I won't be bringing a pig home in 2 years.

This month is looking to be very busy. I'm hoping to get a community garden started up in a little barrio of Guaica. It's government housing and while many people there want a garden, they simply don't have the space. Luckily there is a huge plot of land very close to them that we're hoping to get our hands on. I also just discovered that my back yard is a lot bigger than I thought. I know, that sounds dumb but there's a face back there. I only just found out that the area behind the fence is also mine. So, I'll also be starting my own garden soon!

That's about all that's going on here. I'll be posting more pictures soon hopefully. Miss you all!

I am all moved in to my house! I'm going to try to add some pictures to this but we'll see if it works. I don't have running water or a bathroom yet so I bring buckets of water over from my neighbor's house and use their bathroom. I can usually get by on 1-2 buckets of water a day unless I do laundry, then it's an additional 1-2 buckets. I just dug a trash pit in my back yard and I'm still deciding if I want to have a garden or not.

I couldn't resist adding this one. My neighbor's sow had 12 babies!! They are adorable. They are about 2 weeks old in the picture.

My kitchen, already messy. My oven is in the center and the walls are nicely decorated with pictures that Jill sent :). The house had 2 gas ovens in it already but they don't work. They are piled over in the corner which my host mom calls "el museo" (the museum).

My trash pit; only took me an hour to dig. Also, an example of why your should put a fence around your trash pit. Animals love digging through it looking for food.

My bedroom. I made frames for the pictures I brought from home and hung them on the wall. Also, there is another bed frame over to the side so whoever comes to visit me will have a bed to sleep in!

I have a lot more pictures that I will put on Facebook eventually and hopefully soon I will have pictures to post of my bathroom!

Six months ago my plane left the US bound for some country that many Americans don't even know exists. Paraguay has become my home and the people here my family. I still have dreams almost every night about being back in the States with my family and friends. I still sometimes wake up not knowing where I am and having to remind myself that I'm in Paraguay. I still have cravings for good cheese, chocolate or Kansas City barbecue. I've learned a lot in the past 6 months and I'm going to share some of those things.

I'm learning to cook! Real food, not just mac & cheese (although if anyone wants to send me some, I would be very happy). I've gotten pretty good at peeling vegetables with a knife. I actually enjoy eating lots of vegetables now! I can't really make anything without a recipe, let's not get crazy now.

Sharing has become a lot easier. Not that I didn't like to share before but it's different now. We share bites of food, the straw with tereré, glasses and silverware at meals. My host family does this thing where whoever gets the chicken heart cuts it into pieces and gives everyone a piece. I always thought that was cool.

I'm not as easily offended. During training my host mom commented on how everyone seemed to be losing weight except for me, who seemed to be gaining it. Not that my losing weight would be a good thing but I had never really been told something like that before. But I got into site and the women greet each other with "Hola gordita!" and it's meant endearingly. Because after all, if you're fat, you're happy!

Everyone knows everyone else's business. Secrets don't stay secrets for long and the best thing to do on a hot afternoon or a cold night is sit around and gossip. Everyone knows what I'm doing, where I'm living and who I danced with at the last fiesta. By the way, I'm supposedly getting married to my friend Eduardo because we danced for so long at the San Juan festival.

Bugs and spiders aren't really all that scary anymore. When I see a huge spider now I want to take pictures of it to gross people out back home. That's probably a good thing since there are tons of spiders living in my walls. We ignore each other though and it's all good.

Buses will always be late and over-filled so there's no reason to get upset about it. Usually there will be breast-feeding mothers, livestock and various furniture on the bus as well. I recently drank mate with a bus driver on a chilly morning while I was basically sitting on the dashboard. You just kinda have to go with it.

Along with going with the flow, I can now sit with a group of people only understanding about 10% of what's going on and be completely comfortable. I'm used to being stared at, being asked all sorts of ridiculous questions and saying thank you when someone says they like the color of my skin, as if I had anything to do with it.

If I want or need anything, I can't just ask for it directly because that would be rude. If I would like a glass of water at a neighbors house, I could wait for one to be offered, or I could say "Would you mind, if it's not too much trouble and if you're not too busy, getting me a glass of water and by the way, your outfit today is fantastic.” I'm no longer confused when someone says "come here a little" or when I'm told to put something "here no more". It's just more polite that way.

I've learned that many Guarani words sound almost exactly alike. Mburukuja, mbarakaja, mbaraka, and mbokaja just to name a few (passion fruit, cat, guitar and coconut palm). I'm pretty sure the native Guarani tribes just did this to confuse silly foreigners trying to learn their language in the future.

Roosters do NOT only crow at dawn. They crow all night and all day. And guinea hens are even worse. I didn't even know what a guinea hen was 6 months ago and now it's my nemesis at 4am when it won't shut up.

I've learned that I'm a lot stronger than I thought. I've done crazy things like dig a latrine hole with a bowl, teach a group of women how to bake bread in Guarani, sit around while everyone critiques everything about me, take a cold shower in the dark when it's so cold outside I can see my breath. Sometimes it feels like I've been here forever and then remembering I still have 21 months left makes me miss home so much. But most times I'm happy to have 21 months left because that means I still have a lot of time to do great things here.

Thank you all so much for your continued support. I love getting mail, I love hearing about what's going on in your lives and I think about you all everyday.

Love,

Mandi

I realize I haven't updated this in a couple months. That's because I don't really think my life has been that interesting lately. I don't have anything though-provoking or life-changing to write about so I'll just tell you all about a typical day in my life.

7:00am

I wake up to the sound of the giant pig squealing at the kitchen door because it wants to eat. It's a horrible noise but that's what pigs do so no reason to get upset about it. I lay in bed listening to the hustle and bustle around my house. My 20 year old sister has already left for work at the Municipality in the nearest town, Santani.

7:30am

I wander into the kitchen where my mom greets me with “Mba'éichapa neko'ê” (How did the sun rise? or How did you sleep?). Because I'm still not thinking that clearly in English, much less in Guarani I just reply with “Iporã” (Well). On my better days I can make a complete sentence with “Cheko'ê porã” but that usually doesn't happen. She replies with “Gracias a Dios” (Thanks be to God) then tells me to go sit down at the table so we can drink cocido. Cocido is delicious. It's yerba and sugar simmered over coals and then added to milk or water. We drink that and eat rolls or banana bread, if I can get my hands on some bananas, or chipa. Then we sit and listen to the radio and chat. My mom also sells soy milk so people come and go all morning with their 2 liter milk jugs getting refills for 2 mil (less than 50 cents).

10:00am

We eat a little snack and drink tereré together. If it's sunny we will sit outside in the shade and chat with neighbors who walk by. If it's rainy, like today, we stay under the porch and watch tv. My mom begins preparing lunch and I do laundry or go to the school to drink tereré with the teachers or hang out with other families and, you guessed it, drink tereré.

12:00pm

We all gather around the table for dinner. My 18 year old brother goes to pick up my sister from Santani for lunch. I am very lucky to be living here because my mom has a beautiful garden that she is very proud of. Because of this, she loves serving fresh veggies from her garden. It's also lettuce season right now so we have “salad” (lettuce, salt, oil and lemon) with every meal. The rest of lunch consists of a broth with meat or pasta or rice with meat and the ever-present mandioca. It's pretty much the same everyday.

1:00pm

On nice days we sit in the yard, eat fruit and drink tereré. I usually zone out of the conversation until I realize that someone has asked me something in Spanish and everyone is staring at me. Sometimes I go to the school or to another family's house. Lately I have been working on my house too. On rainy days everyone stays inside. I get some good reading time in and there is always a telanovela (soap opera) on tv, which my sisters are obsessed with.

4:00pm

At this point in the afternoon my host mom usually announces some social event that we will be going to soon. I never really get much warning on these things and the rest of the family already seems to know exactly what's going on. We have horse races, which usually are just men sitting around drinking beer while the occasional horse trots down the track. My mom, in addition to selling soy milk, also sells beer so it's a good event for her to go to. And if she brings her American daughter she gets even more business. I have also been to many rezos since I've been here. They are basically small memorial services. They happen 9 days after a person has died, then at 6 months, then a year, then every year after that until 5 years. People gather at the person's home and someone leads prayers for the deceased. Then they pass out chipa and cookies and candy and we socialize. I am usually a popular topic of conversation. My host mom introduces me as her daughter and other women always point out that I look more like Rosalba, my mom's sister who lives in Ciudad del Este. Apparently she is pale too. I would like to meet her sometime to see if these similarities truly exist. People tell me I'm linda (pretty) and I've been asked several times if I am German, Brasilera, a Mennonite or a model. They also ask if I have a boyfriend and tell me that I am going to find my husband here. Awesome, glad that's settled.

5:00pm

It's starting to get dark so everyone disperses to gather their cattle and herd them back to the pin for the night. If it's a chilly night we drink mate dulce, which is delicious or just tereré if it's a warmer night. We sit on the porch and enjoy each other's company. Sometimes neighbors come over and chat for a while. I usually get bored pretty quickly because all of the conversations are in Guarani so I wander off to my room to read or take a shower because it gets too dark. We don't have a light in the bathroom so showering is night is interesting. It's also nice to shower before it gets too cold because we don't have hot water.

8:00pm

The news comes on and we gather around to watch the news. It's surprisingly graphic compared with news in the US. My mom fixes dinner or sends someone out the the cruce (about 2km away) to buy empanadas if she doesn't feel like cooking. We eat dinner and watch the news and talk. Dinner has slightly more variety than lunch and I usually enjoy it a lot more. Sometimes it's a roast chicken, or fried eggs with veggie, or a mandi'o dish (my favorites).

8:30pm

Time for bed! My family goes to sleep pretty early so I head to my room and read or listen to music before I hit the hay around 9 or 9:30pm. It's very quiet at night except for the occasional dog fight or rooster crowing (the don't only crow at sunrise by the way).

I've sort of gotten into a routine and I'm discovering more and more ways that I can help this community. People still have to tell me “tranquilo, Amanda” some day when I get antsy about sitting around for hours. Life is pretty slow out in the campo but it's good. It's home.

you can text me on my cell phone for FREE from this website: 

http://tigo.com.py/seccion/mundo-tigo

in the box that says 'envio de mensajes' click on the box that says PARA and select my area code: 0984 then type in the rest of my phone number: 610026

texto: type in your message

leave the 'pin' box blank

firma: put your name

codigo: type in the code on the left

click 'enviar' to send

It's super easy and I would love to hear from you! I'll try to get back to you asap. Things are going swimmingly, I love and miss you all!

I knew it was going to storm last night. I knew the rain would probably wake me up, but not like this. I was having a lovely dream last night when I was awoken by water gushing into my room. In the minute that it took me to realize I was actually awake and to get up out of bed, the water was already past my ankles. I looked around and realized where it was coming from: the gutter that ran along my family's house and through my room was falling apart. I stood there like an idiot not knowing what to do then started moving things away from the water, only to have them soaked again in minutes. Victorino was terrified and somehow ended up clinging to the wall. He kept jumping away every time I tried to pick him up but eventually I grabbed him by the nape and tossed him on my bed. I'm sure he was grateful.

At this point, my host mom had heard the ruckus and come in. She just stood there like me and said, “Ay! Hay agua!”. Yes host mom, hay agua. We grabbed some boards that were in the other room and used them to push the gutter back in place. We stood there for probably 10 minutes holding the gutter up and occasionally laughing at the craziness of the situation. Finally she had me hold both boards while she got a chair and more wood, which she shimmied between the gutter and the roof to hold it up. By this time a part of the gutter in my other room fell too and that room was beginning to flood. So I took my board, ran in there and held it up. My mom found a large piece of wood and propped it up with a chair and a bucket.

Once the water had stopped coming in, my oh-so-guapa host mom immediately got a squeegee and started clearing the water out of my room. The only problem was it was still storming like crazy outside and the water outside was just as high as the water in my room. So as she pushed water out, it just came right back in. But that woman worked like crazy and finally got a good amount of the water out. She was making jokes the whole time about how clean my floor was going to be and how I got to see the Rio Paraguay and how I probably had wanted to shower anyway.

Oh, and we did all this in the dark because the power was out. Este es mi vida!

I got a new address. This one is much closer to me at the local post office in Santani. When I get mail, the guy that works there will call me (convenient!). He even takes packages so send whatever you want. Also, I added to wish list to the side of this page. Just some things I'd like to have, if you want to send me a package but don't know what to send :)

Amanda Firestone, PCV

Correo San Estanislao

Avenida Independencia Nacional, 727

Codigo Postal, 8210

Paraguay

Sud America

So, I've had several people (including myself) wondering what the heck I'm doing here. You see pictures of fiestas, dinners, birthdays, fútbol tournaments and really not much else. So you might be thinking: she left for 2 years to eat and watch soccer with a bunch of strangers?!

I just arrived in my site last week. Nobody here knows me and there are still many people here who don't know what Peace Corps is and who have only seen one or two other people from the United States before. Right now I am here to build relationships and to build trust. I still don't know the language here very well. Many people here only speak Guarani or choose not to speak Spanish. So in order to get to know people I hang out, drink tereré, go to social events. That's the only way you learn.

Peace Corps teaches sustainable development. We don't just show up for a month or two, build some wells, then leave. We teach people things that will change they way that they live for the better so that when we leave they can continue what we have taught them. That doesn't happen overnight. I can't just show up in a school, tell kids to brush their teeth and wear their shoes and then hope everyone does it. I have to get to know families, get the know the kids, talk about parasites and teeth brushing multiple times.

So what am I doing here? I'm hanging out, drinking tereré. I'm building relationships. It may not seem like “work” by what we as Americans are used to but it's necessary to make a difference over the next 2 years.

So as you probably know, I finally swore in last week. Yay! It was a nice, short ceremony. The Peace Corps country director and the US ambassador both said a few words. Then we all stood up, raised our right hands and took the oath that almost every US government official or worker takes to defend the Constitution and whatnot. Then we ate cake. I got to talk to the ambassador briefly and she told me about this Paraguay-Kansas Committee. Apparently Paraguay sends a lot of kids to school in Kansas and they live with families there. I'm not sure what school but I found the committee building later and took a picture. (I'll post pictures later—probably much later so hold your horses.)

Swearing-in weekend was awesome. Lots of volunteers were in Asuncion for various events. There was one called Ahendu where a bunch of people played/sang/performed. It was good. Basically it was a great way to spend our last weekend together as a “G” before going out to all different parts of the country. My last night there, a bunch of us went up to the roof of our hotel and hung out. I realized then how much I was going to miss everyone. These people who I only met 3 months ago have quickly become like family. We'll see each other every few months and now we have cell phones (YAY!!) but it's still sad to leave everyone.

On that note, I arrived in site today carrying a suitcase, a hiking backpack, a normal backpack, another bag and a cat in a birdcage. Only in Paraguay. I was nervous about arriving but once I got here I quickly remembered how much I love it here. My family welcomed me warmly and I got started settling in. I let my cat out of his birdcage and he immediately started peeing all over my stuff (thank you Vic Torino). Aside from that, he is the sweetest kitten. He was obviously not loved on very much the first few months of his life and now that I own him he follows me around everywhere and wants to cuddle all the time. I'm alright with that :).

So I finally made it! Don Pedro, the health coordinator, is coming with the rest of my stuff and hopefully my bike in 3 weeks to do my site presentation so until then I'll just meet families, drink tereré, learn some Guaraní and probably explain that I'm not a nurse about 8000 times. Woo!

I just got back from my visit to what will be my home for the next 2 years and I loved it! I didn't want to leave and come back to training but alas, we have 3 more weeks before we are official Peace Corps volunteers. My town is smaller than I imagined and extremely tranquilo. I spent pretty much every day sitting in the shade, drinking tereré, talking with different people and just enjoying the day and enjoying being with other people. Everyone spoke Guarani so I just zoned out, fully aware that I was the topic of discussion quite often. I would catch a word or two here and there and then suddenly someone would direct a question at me in Spanish and I'd have to start paying attention again.

Guaicá supposedly has 150 houses but I didn't see nearly that many. That may include the surrounding barrios too. Everyone there has electricity and running water most of the time. There is a barrio I visited not too far away (about a 40 minute walk) that doesn't have running water. My site also has a nice looking church (bright green!) and a school. I met the director and some of the profes at that school and the one in the other community. I would like to work in both schools but will probably focus on the one in Guaicá.

The site is a lot more developed than I thought it would be. So right now I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing. There really isn't a need for a modern bathroom or fogón project. But during the first 3 months we have to complete a census of our community to discovery the needs of the people and the resources available so that will definitely be helpful.

This visit really made it real that I am actually in Peace Corps. I mean, I've been here for almost 3 months but it's all been very structured and with other Americans. This past week I spent time in a community where most people had only seen one other American in their lives (the education volunteer that I'm following-up). I had to explain multiple times that although I'm a Health volunteer, I am not a nurse. I also tried to get the point across that even though the most complicated thing I can say in Guarani is “my house is near the church” I do, in fact, have a college degree. That one was a little more frustrating but it'll come with time. I did make some friends my own age already, which is awesome.

Overall it was a great visit and I can't wait to get back and start working. It's going to be a great 2 years!

Happy Easter everyone!

I had a nice tranquilo week here in Paraguay this past week. Semana Santa (Holy Week) is a much bigger deal here than it is in the US. We had a half day of stuff going on in Guarambaré on Wednesday afternoon through Sunday off, which was very nice. On Wednesday I made chipa with my family. It looks kind of like a bagel and I really like it but a lot of people don't. After a day it's really hard and dry and kind of hard to eat but I still like it. Everyone makes a lot of it on Wednesday and Thursday because no one is supposed to eat meat on Friday, just chipa and sopa. On Thursday we had a huge lunch of chicken and sopa. It was delicious. Sopa paraguaya is pig fat, corn meal, cheese, milk and other stuff. It reminds me a lot of corn bread. Anyway, I was stuffed and of course got another huge chicken thigh for dinner.

Friday there was no music playing, which was really weird. I don't think Santo Domingo is ever that quiet. I had gone to church with my family Thursday night where they did a short service with 15 candlelit “stations” around the lawn of the chapel and they read a part of the Easter story at each one then sang. Then they did some other stuff that I didn't really understand.

Sunday we went to a fútbol game, that was fun. 8 de Diciembre, our team, won all their games. Yay! It was a pretty intense game. Overall, Semana Santa was really good. I spent a lot of time hanging out at home, which was nice. It was a good taste of what it will be like for the first few months in site when we are just hanging out getting to know people.

And speaking of my site...I will be going to the department of San Pedro, near San Estanislao. It seems really nice, I am going to visit in the next few days. Yay!! Just over 3 weeks until I am a real volunteer!!

I got back from Practica Larga today and I must say, I missed Santo Domingo a LOT. I never thought I would feel so at home with a family that was not my own and that spoke another language but I really do love it here and I was so happy to be back. I really missed the other volunteers too. Long Field was really good. I was near the town of Caraguatay in Cordillera. Our group was super guapo (“guapo” meaning hard-working in this country, not handsome. Although we were pretty good-looking too). We built a fogón, a trash pit (supposed to be a latrine but the guy changed his mind about where he wanted the hole), a latrine, visited a school, and did a couple charlas. My group did our nutrition charla in Guaraní while we cooked with a women's commission. Our plans changed a lot throughout the week due to rain and mishaps with the fogón but it all worked out. We were supposed to do a radio show but it rained all day Tuesday. The town was very interesting. The family I stayed with had a very chuchi house—tile floors, real living room, electric shower (I got a warm shower one night for the first time in 7 weeks!), maltise poodles, and a computer with internet. But then we walked 3km to build the fogón, which was veeeery far away according to my family, and it was completely different. Five people were living in one room, they cooked on the ground outside and had a latrine. And kids from both of these barrios went to the same school. It was interesting, and sad, to see the dichotomy there. I named this blog what I did because I was thinking about daylight savings time. You all in the States have already changed your clocks but we have yet to do so. When I asked my tech trainer when daylight savings time is here, he said that we actually might not do it this year. Huh?! So I guess it's usually in April but who knows. It might not happen this year. Which gets me to my point. Peace Corps so far has been a lot of “Oh it depends...” and “We'll see” and “Maybe”. Not to mention that when you ask a Paraguayan a question, they will give you an answer even if it's not the right one. So you should probably ask 3 or 4 people and accept the answer you get the most. Two months ago, this way of doing things would have driven me nuts. I am someone who likes to be on time to things and who likes to know when stuff (like daylight savings time) is going to happen. But ya know, it doesn't really matter. I'm learning to live one day at a time and to enjoy the time that I have. The Paraguayan view is that people should not be a slave to time but that time works for people. It's a lot less stressful when you just go with the flow.

The road to Nati´s site two days after it rained. Still very muddy.

The store near her house had a baby toucan! It doesn´t matter that they´re endangered...

Yes, we are the world´s finest volunteers!

That is an ant-hill by my house. They are everywhere!

This was at Carnaval. Feathery lady covered in foam.

On Carden´s birthday, my sister made her a cake. Carden (center), my host mom (orange shirt, standing), my niece (cute baby in pink dress), Franko (next to me, another volunteer). The others are various family members.

Muchos sapos! After it rains, there are toads everywhere. I got 5 in this picture. They eat the bugs so it´s all good. Some families are scared of them.

Paraguay has AMAZING sunsets!

(As a quick side note, you should be able to comment now on posts)

A lot has happened since I last wrote so if this gets incredibly long, I apologize. I just got back from a 4-day PCV visit where we all went to visit a real volunteer. I´ll write more about that later but after swapping stories with several people it was decided that I had the most interesting trip so far.

The weekend before last, some of us went to Carnaval in Villeta. I´m not really sure what the point of Carnaval is but there was a street parade and everyone was spraying each other with foam, which was fun and there were women dressed in big feathery costumes. It was cool. Then we went to a club and danced for hours. It was really hot and I have never sweat so much in my entire life but it was really fun. I wasn´t planning on going but I´m really glad I did. We got home around 3am. My host family is so sweet. I apologized for waking them up and they said, Öh no, the music is keeping us up anyway¨, even though they had clearly been sleeping. We do have neighbors that play loud music constantly on the weekends though.

During the week not much happenes. We have language class 7:45-11:45ish and then we go home for lunch and go back to school 1-5pm for technical training. We have been building losas, or the concrete floors for latrines. We also have learned how to lay bricks for fogons (brick ovens) and how to dig trash pits.

Last Wednesday we had our Tapeapóvo. We were paired up and given a mission to visit two places either in Asunción or close to it. My partner and I went to a Ferreteria (a hardware store, not a ferret store) and SENESA, the agency responsible for developing water, trash and waste service all over the country. Volunteers work closely with SENESA when they do anything related to those areas. We then met up with everyone at the Peace Corps office in Asunción and did a bunch of stuff there.

And finally back to these past few days. I went to see a volunteer named Nati who lives in a barrio near Mallorquin in the department or Alto Paraná. Departments are basically like States here. So, I got totally lost trying to find her site and didn´t get off at the right stop (we figured out later it was because I was missing an entire page of directions!). I ended up somewhere I was NOT supposed to be on the border of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. I got back on the bus and eventually made it to the right terminal after riding for about 8 hours and having motion sickness the entire time. I also crossed the entire horizontal expanse of the country from west to east that day. On accident. So I got there and it was raining and we had to walk 10km to get to her house (1km = about 0.6 miles, so 6 miles). We rode about 2km on the back of an ox cart but walked the rest. In the rain and really deep mud. We got there around 6pm and I had left Santo Domingo at 6am.

I met several nice families. One of them asking if I liked chicharrón and since I didn´t know what it was I said I would like to try it. Definitely fried pig fat wrapped in fried pig skin. The first one was really hard to get down but I said I liked it, not wanting to offend them. So naturally they gave me an entire plate of it with mandioca, which I am also not a fan of. I ate what I could while trying not to think about it. Meanwhile these adorable piglets were snuggling on my leg and I asking if I was eating their mom and they laughed and said ¨Yeah you are!¨Ugh...

So I´m back in Santo Domingo and I´m so glad to be home. It´s weird to say ¨home¨but it is my home at least for the next 9 weeks. I also really missed my host family and the other trainees. We all had fun stories to share. My host mom said that my niece kept looking at my closed door and asking when I would be home. It was really good to do these visits though because now I know what to bring up in my site placement interview and what a real site is like. I thought Santo Domingo was the campo but it´s not by any means. It´s almost urban compared with the site I visited. It was also nice to be with a volunteer who was very hones about anything I asked her and who had been through everything already.

We have a lot of stuff coming up. I can´t believe it´s March already! February went by really quickly but it´s not showing any signs of getting cooler around here. Boo. Anyway, I´m doing great here. I miss you all so much! Keep the letters and e-mails coming! I really wanna know what´s going on back home, even if it doesn´t seem that exciting. I´ll try to get pictures up soon!

For all who are wondering about my well-being, I made it to Paraguay safe and sound. I am loving it here so far, it has been so wonderful already. It's hard to believe that only two days ago I was still in Kansas City.

We finally landed in Asunción earlier today after four flights in two days. Very exhausting. I could hardly speak in English, I didn't know how I was going to talk to my host family in Spanish. As the plane was nearing the landing strip in Asunción, it suddenly started going back up, much to everyone's dismay. Turns out there was a “communication error”. I still think it was the pilot's first day and he just biffed it. But we made it; forty-nine volunteers, the largest group ever. I have quickly become friends with many of these people; we're all going through the same thing and we can relate to each other so easily.

Anyway, we were driven to Guarambaré and met the Peace Corps staff and did a bunch of activities despite being on the verge of lapsing into a coma. Over 24 hours without sleep is not fun. Also, if this entry sounds weird and disjointed, it's because I still haven't slept yet. We had a brief interview to place us with a family (vegetarian, do we like kids, animals, large or small family, etc), received our money for the week and some more papers, and went to meet our families that we will be living with for the next 11 weeks. I have never been so nervous in my life.

Since there are so many Rural Health and Sanitation workers, we are split into two groups. I am living in Santo Domingo with the Arrúa-Gómez family. My host father is Don Marcelino, my host mother is Ña María Cristina. I also have a sister Lidia, who is 24. She has a husband (Aldo, I haven't met him yet) and a 2-year old daughter Nataly. Nataly can't say my name so whenever they ask her who her aunt is, she says “Tia Alala!” She talks and talks all the time and is the cutest thing.

My house is gorgeous. I will post pictures of my room and my family later. They had my room all set up when I got here with a bed, a desk, a fan (yay!) and a huge armoir to store all my clothes. Don Marcelino is a farmer and as we walked around Lidia pointed out their 9 cows, 5 dogs and numerous chickens to me. She said they also had 9 pigs but I haven't seen them yet. They also have a cat. And they all have names. The house has electricity and running water. I had a warm shower earlier and it was wonderful. Ña Maria made pizza for dinner. She said it was her first time making it and she really enjoying both making and eating it. See, I'm already having and impact here! :)

That is about all for now and I am very tired. We start intense training tomorrow. I'm nervous, my Spanish is pretty bad. We have language interviews to see just how bad it is. And we get our first round of shots. Good day!

So it's probably about time I share my address with everyone since I will be leaving in 3 days. Here goes:

Amanda Firestone, PCTCuerpo de Paz162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. LópezAsunción 1580, ParaguaySouth America

That will be my address in training for the first 11-weeks or so, until I get sworn in on April 30. Then I will be an official Peace Corps Volunteer (that's right, I'm STILL not official). Airmail takes 2-3 weeks but don't let that stop you; keep the letters coming!

Just a recap: I fly out Monday morning from KCI to Miami where I fill out forms, get immunized some more (yay) and meet the rest of the group. Then we all fly to Paraguay through Brazil getting there on Wednesday morning. I'll try to update this thing as much as I can, although I'm not sure what that means yet. Your e-mails and letters are very much desired and appreciated!

I said I wasn't going to read other people blogs so that I wouldn't have all these preconceived ideas when I got to Paraguay but I've spent the whole afternoon reading stories from current and returned PCVs in Paraguay. I know this last month is going to fly by and I still have tons to do but I am so excited to jump on the plane!