Peace in Paraguay

3 Month In-Service Training

2010-01-04T15:40:00.000-08:00

November 26th, 2009

In my last post I focused on the best part of my trip back to Paso de Oro...the family.

In this post I would like to share a little bit about what In-Service training (IST) was like as part of my continuing effort to give you a glimpse of what development work in general and Peace Corps development work in particular is all about.

IST, this time called “Reconnect” since it was the first formal occasion in which my training group got together, was a 3-day event held in Guarambaré. Remember this place?

It started around 8:00 AM on Tuesday, November 24th and ended around 12:00 PM on Thursday, November 26th.

Before we arrived we responded to a questionnaire about what we would like to learn about in the following sessions:

Language
Country Director Brief
Lunch with Programming and Training Officer
Programming Session with Associate Peace Corps Director
Medical
Round Robin of other topics/sectors

LANGUAGE

During the course of the 3 days, we spent most of the time in breakout style language classes. We were grouped according to what we wanted to study (Spanish or Guaraní) and what level or common themes within each. I picked up and honed a few things but overall think language is not the best use of time for an IST mainly since it is such a short period of time, which implicates that the incremental gains in language at this point pale in comparison to the potential for large incremental gains in our technical area. Personally, I would have liked to see a lot more effort and time put into sector specific technical training especially now that we are coming in with a pretty good perspective on our sites and counterparts. If leveraged correctly, this newly gained in depth perspective could be used to give us some great technical training and guidance/advice, but that’s just one opinion among many.

COUNTRY DIRECTOR BRIEF

Country Director Donald Clark provided a brief in which he covered many topics. He started out by describing the Country Director conference in LA he went to in which he was able to see the new Peace Corps Director and hob-nob with other Country Directors from around the world. He then talked about some important changes to Peace Corps Paraguay Pre-Service Training (basically, Peace Corps Paraguay has not renewed its contract with CHP in the outsourcing of our training).

CHP Paraguay was the latest and last victim among a long, historical spree of severed ties between the training supplier and Peace Corps. They used to conduct training for many of the Peace Corps posts and systematically lost every single contract through the years. There is an important lesson to be gleaned from this experience. I’m not sure about the other Peace Corps posts that dropped CHP, but at least in Paraguay, the executive staff was satisfied with their work. It was a policy change and corresponding order, which came down from headquarters in Washington that delivered the final blow to CHP. Companies or organizations contracting with the government better make sure to diversify their offering and customer pool in order to hedge against risks associated with fickle government policy, which could end the company with a change of a just one law or even interpretation of a law. That goes for the private sector as well. A company should never rely to heavily on one customer or supplier because of the leverage afforded to the other organization in negotiations as well as the huge implications for survival prospects implied in a decision to end the relationship.

Our Country Director also talked about some ongoing IT issues concerning Internet at the office, and information/collaboration/knowledge sharing platform improvements, which are desperately needed. He also addressed volunteer behavior as a result of some recent incidents, which include broken glass in the pool of one of our preferred hotels and streaking naked in public during a Volunteer get-together. He discussed the importance of Peace Corps partnering with other government and non-government organizations engaged in similar work. Finally, he talked about the need of Peace Corps to create more unified, branded programs, leadership camps as an example, at the national level.

LUNCH WITH PROGRAMMING AND TRAINING OFFICER

Most of the Volunteers, myself included, went out for lunch so we missed the Lunch session with the PTO. I came in on the tail end of it and it seemed like a pity party in which Volunteers described difficult situations and frustrations experienced in site.

PROGRAMMING SESSION WITH ASSOCIATE PEACE CORPS DIRECTOR

The APCD session went really well. I had asked for examples of what other Volunteers in our sector were doing. Betsy, our sector’s Volunteer Coordinator, prepared a great one pager describing the main activities of many of the Volunteers in our sister G. I had also asked for an exhaustive listing of the most common organizations (Government, NGO, Nonprofits) with which to work as a RED Volunteer including brief explanations of each and contact info. Betsy delivered big time on that one as well.

Two former Volunteers from our sector also offered a session in which they broke their service down into 4-month segments revealing the nature of the two-year service and the activities they did within their communities.

I had also asked to get more information about how to most effectively implement the entrepreneurship course (class size, frequency, appropriate ages, how to market it, certificates?, ideal duration of class, ideas for practical application of what’s taught in the class, etc...). In order to address that, they brought in Eric, a Volunteer from our Sister G, who is teaching the course. He showed us an example of a class and then gave tips concerning most of the above.

MEDICAL

The medical session was basically structured as a free-flowing question and answer session, which was followed by distribution of much needed sun block and OFF. We discussed how to keep cool in the summer heat, which foods are and are not ok to eat if left unrefrigerated, and a handful of other topics. Medical Mary gave us a sheet with a few good recipes and common standard to metric conversions for cooking.

ROUND ROBIN

In the Round Robin style sessions current Volunteers offered us the following:

AIDS charla
Working with Youth Charla
Gender and Development Charla
Trash Management Charla
Basic Computer Skills Training Charla

I chose to attend the first three charlas.

Aids Charla

In the AIDS charla, Lauren (the special third year extension AIDS volunteer in Asunción) quickly delivered the standard AIDS charla using a nicely designed flip chart so that we could see how it goes and how to deliver it in the event that we decided to conduct the presentation in our sites. I found it well designed, really entertaining, interactive, and informative. As an example, Lauren asked us what were some common reasons for not using a condom, one of which was reduced pleasure/sensitivity. She responded to that by asking for a volunteer participant (which of course was me) to come up for a demonstration. She told me to close my eyes and hold up the index and middle fingers from my right hand. She then proceeded to place a condom over those two fingers. She instructed me to guess what action she was doing to my fingers as she performed them. I correctly observed all of her actions, which included stroking with her fingers, blowing, and licking. She told me to open my eyes and then gave some statistic to the rest of the group and I, which states that the genital area has (huge number) more nerves than your fingers, so if I felt and discerned all the differences with my fingers, imagine the heightened sensitivity with the other area indicating lack of sensitivity is no excuse for not using a condom especially when weighed against the risks of contractions of STDs and unwanted pregnancy.

Working with Youth Charla

An Urban Youth Volunteer gave us examples of ways to work with youth, provided knowledge of some existing pre-prepared projects/activities, gave some helpful tips to keep in mind while working with youth, and then broke down her activities in site.

Some of the helpful tips:

Don’t drink or smoke with your youth, despite if they’re of legal age
Mix it up by changing the meeting place, buying food, playing games, etc...
Keep it short and simple at first.
Be patient, be more of a peer than a know it all Volunteer
Make sure the youth know what they’ve accomplished, even if it’s small
Listen to their ideas and do what they want at first...build the rapport, give them what they want, and then start pushing your agenda later
Set regular meeting days and times, and don’t change them

She broke down her activities in site which include:

Teaching basic computer skills
Offering sessions on self esteem, decision making, communication, etc...as part of the community project class at a local high school
Assisting a local youth group in doing whatever they want to do such as fundraising for a soccer tournament, making a garden, and writing up a request for funding for trash cans.
Exercise Group- Offers a 45 minute exercise classes three times a week, and facilitated a weight loss contest in the school.

Gender and Development Charla

To be honest, I don’t really remember much from this charla. The first part took the form of an open-ended group conversation, which was followed up with Q & A. Rosana, the go to Volunteer on GAD issues, asked what gender roles and differences in gender relations we noticed in our communities. We went around sharing our observations and experiences. The typical things came out like how men and women separate into two different groups at gatherings, the chauvinist comments guys make, the dichotomy of traditional roles in the house and work, etc...

She also told us about the GAD committee, it’s annual camp, and I think she mentioned a few ways to conduct GAD related work in our communities and how to handle some touchy topics.

So there you have it...a Peace Corps Paraguay RED sector 3 month In Service Training. I enjoyed catching up with some of my fellow Volunteers and especially enjoyed hearing about their sites and activities in site.

Home Sweet Home

2009-12-09T09:32:00.000-08:00

Almost exactly as I remember it...

November 21st, 2009

I recently went home...

Where’s home you may ask. Well they say home is where the heart is, and I left my heart back in Paso de Oro. It was right where I left it 3 months ago, and I picked it up and dusted it off when Fabiola came running towards me as I stepped off the rattling bus and onto the dusty, dirt road in front of my house...my home.

John Howard Payne beautifully captured the essence of what I have been feeling and coined the phrase when he wrote the song, “Home Sweet Home” in 1822 as part of the opera, "Clari, the Maid of Milan.”

“Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there 's no place like home;
A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there,
Which sought through the world is ne'er met with elsewhere.
An exile from home splendour dazzles in vain,
Oh give me my lowly thatched cottage again;
The birds singing gayly, that came at my call,
Give me them, and that peace of mind dearer than all.”

Over three months ago I promised I would come back for a visit if Paso de Oro made it to the final. After a long, successful season, and several disputes, rematches, and postponings later they finally made it to the final series, the first game of which was played on Saturday, November 21st, 2009 in Ipane. The date actually perfectly corresponded with my 3 month In Service Training I had to come in for by Tuesday anyway. The second game would be played the following Saturday, November 28th, 2009. Unfortunately I won’t be able to see this game, as I’ll be in Encarnación celebrating Thanksgiving with a ton of volunteers.

It was hot...really hot. Mary and Fabiola have a little kiddie pool in front of the house, to which I relented and agreed to enter after much begging and pleading. We cooled off and played with each other. I was a vicious shark trying to capture and eat the unsuspecting prey (Mary, Fabiola, and Jacqueline). Fabiola really got a kick out that. Most of time though I just stood outside the pool squirting them with water by positioning my thumb just right in the end of a garden hose.

The time came for us all to get ready to go to the cancha. I was pretty much dried off and was very dirty. I was also really hot. A cold shower was calling my name. Cold showers here in the summer are amazing. You don’t even want to think about a hot shower. In the winter, a cold shower (sometimes necessary when the power goes out) is torture, but in the summer it’s lovely. I made it to the shower, turned on the water...

Trickle....trickle.......trickle........(silence)

“Ok, maybe the water’s just turned off or something. A quick shout to my sister, whose now living in my old room because she has separated from her husband, supposedly because of rumors that she cheated on him, should cure the problem. She and my Dad worked on it but to no avail. The running water is out and the backup tank above the house has emptied.

These are the small inconveniences of life in the third world...Frequent, unexplainable power and water outages. If I turned on the sink ever so often I could get a few trickles so I got the bulk of the main dirt off and considered it bastante (enough) and headed to put my clothes on. Just as I had done that, the running water came back on. Haha. “And isn’t it ironic. Don’t you think? A little too ironic. And yeah I really do think...”

So I unclothed, jumped back in the cold shower, which was refreshing, and rushed to be ready before Hector.

I finished getting ready as Hector pulled his truck up to the front of the house. We all piled in the back of the truck and headed off to Ipane, a nearby town where the match was being held. It felt so right...so comfortable being back in the back of that truck with my family and friends. I remember the day when it felt odd and awkward. Those days are long gone...I’m completely integrated and comfortable now, and I actually feel like part of the family.

The match was a long defensive battle until towards the end of the game when the opposing team snuck one past our goalkeeper. It was very upsetting to say the least. To make matters worst in the final minutes they scored again ensuring our defeat.

Despite the loss I had a good time just being back at the cancha with my family. I split my time evenly among all the different clicks within the family who were sitting close to each other but not all together.

Nothing has changed...well nothing at the cancha at least.

My sister Mirian still yelled at the players and referees in guaraní in between gossipping and commentating to her friends. “Did you hear that such and such walked down the street the other day with such and such? Oh David has the ball. He needs pass it. FUERZA DAVID! (David gets fouled but it doesn’t get called)…Son of a Blaaaaaaaank referee.” My sister-in-law still yelled out obscenities and rushed over behind the goalkeeper during pivotal moments and got all heated. “Hey you bald referee! Go jerk off on a cactus!” Fabiola still pestered my sister for every snack available at the cancha including donuts, ice cream, soda, and popcorn, and Mary still observed the game patiently and silently.

After the game we all rushed back to Hector’s truck and quickly got out of town, probably for fear of fights and other forms of game associated violence, which are pretty frequent.

Of course my mom and sister made empanadas that night and a crowd of people gathered at my house to watch soccer on TV and socialize. The empanadas weren’t as great this time because they were made with prepackaged flour tortillas instead of made from scratch mandioca tortillas. Apparently, there is a big shortage of mandioca, which is ridiculous considering it is the most important food in Paraguay. I mean my Dad even said once that without mandioca, it’s really not a meal.

That night was also the Quinceañera of Carlos’, one of my fellow volunteers, host sister. My family was invited. I took a nap because it had been a long day and I knew it would be a long night. I told Paulo to come get me at 11:30 PM so we could head out. I set my alarm on my phone and dozed off for a nap in preparation for the long night ahead. I woke up at 1:00 AM. The alarm never went off. Must have been set for 11:00 AM. By the time I showered, my Sister and Mom had already gone and returned from the party. The music was still going so I went regardless. At the very least I could hang out with Carlos for a bit. I got there around 2:00 AM and the party was still hopping.

It’s the funniest thing to watch Paraguayans dancing sometimes. They dance in no particular uniform way but they do form a uniform straight line rather than just one big blob of dancers like we do in the states. Maybe it’s logical. Maybe it prevents bump-ins and the like. Carlos, Arelio, my sister-in-law, and my two nieces danced like it was 1999 until about 4 AM, when we heard Paraguay’s infamous party’s over song. It’s a specific Paraguayan polka song that they always play last. I say it’s cool they have a song to signify the end of the party. Mary says the Paraguayans are too dumb to know when to go home so that’s why they have to have a recognized last song. Haha. She said it...not me.

The next night I received a call from Liz, a fellow volunteer who had also arrived early, saying I should come to the cancha. It was great fun catching up with Liz and dancing with everyone until David’s brother (David is Liz’s Paraguayan boyfriend who she’s absolutely smitten with), got into a fight in which a bottle was broken on his face. After a few pretty rough blows, David and his other brothers managed to rescue him from the fight, but just seconds later someone starting shooting. They fired off a few rounds. I looked at Paulo and said, “Vamos rapido” (Let’s go quickly). I just so happened to be with the group that the gunmen wanted to shoot out so I was trying to get out of dodge as quickly as possible. Paulo and I got out really quickly and were briskly walking down the sandy, dark path to the sound of more gunfire. That should be enough to end a party right? Well I guess Mary might have been right. Paraguayans might be too dumb to know when to go home after all, because Paulo and I didn’t get a quarter mile from the cancha when we heard the DJ try to hype up the crowd and started playing music again. Gunfire won’t clear the party but the Paraguayan polka song will. Que bárbaro!

I was home for a total of six days. Much was the same as I remembered it the last time, and I imagine it will be for some time. My Mom has said she wants to die in that house. “Si Dios quiere” (God willing). The family carried on with the same routines and rituals. Mom still made empanadas Saturday and Sunday night. Dad still drank terere under the shade tree in the mid-morning and late afternoon. Hector still drank caña late into the night on the benches near the work shed. But there were some fairly major changes that had happened in the 3 months since I left.

My Sister, who was living in Ipane with her boyfriend of 14 years with whom she has a child, had very recently separated and moved all her stuff back home and into my old room. Of course I didn’t mind. She is the real daughter after all. She brought some lindo stuff with her...a new refrigerator, which she keeps stocked better than my Mom does, automatic washing machine, Playstation 2, a broken down computer, a nice bed and an armoire. Darwen, my nephew, is sharing the room and bed with his mother, which I bet makes for a better, more intimate mother-son relationship.

They take naps together, watch movies together, play games together, etc... She’s getting to spend so much quality time with him.

Also we have, or should I say had, a new pet monkey. The monkey was found hanging out in some nearby trees. My sister-in-law snagged it with a t-shirt after luring it in with chipa, the very traditional bread-like Paraguayan food. While I was there the monkey escaped. My Dad tried for an hour or so to lure the monkey back in but to no avail this time. You see monkeys are smart and this one had learned its lesson. While I was there, they didn’t recapture it so it’s likely we no longer have the pet monkey.

Paulo had a brand new smile and a fresh summer haircut. Education and adoption of good dental hygiene is severely lacking in Paraguay. Paulo’s teeth were really jacked up when I left but since then his Dad had payed for him to get them fixed. His 12-year-old Sister, Jacqueline, also has really jacked up teeth but refuses to go to the dentist because she’s scared. Almost all her teeth have blacked out spots on them. It’s a pity. Her sister Jesika has great teeth and says Jacqueline’s teeth are the result of not brushing frequently and eating a lot of sweets. I told her family to drag her to the Dentists even if she were kicking, screaming and crying and force her to have them fixed. She would thank them later.

Hector now has fully functional air condition in his room, which he proudly showed off to Carlos and I. That’s a real luxury especially if you consider their living conditions. You may remember pictures of my house, and think that’s not so bad. Though in the same family and just a few hundred yards away, Hector and his family are living in true poverty. He wheeled and dealed a bit and managed to pick up a broken down, yet salvageable American brand old-school window air unit for cheap. My brother fixed and installed it for him. He says the incremental monthly costs aren’t much. He works really hard in the heat all day and deserves a good night’s sleep in the comfort of air conditioning. I’m super happy for him.

Mirian has separated yet again from her husband, Eladio. Their relationship is somewhat like some High School relationships. It’s on and off...breakup, makeup. Right now they’re off and broke up. Eladio has moved back to his Mother’s house at Kilometer 22, which isn’t too far away. Fabiola, 5 years old, doesn’t really care and asked Mary why she cries so much over her father that doesn’t cry over her but instead makes her cry. There’s a thought provoking question posed by a 5 year old. The pattern is something like this. Come back home. All is good for a little bit but inevitably he gets into a fight with Mirian, usually while drunk. Says hurtful things. Everyone minus Fabiola and Eladio cries. Eladio runs back home to his Mom. Stay there a bit. Come back home. Repeat process.

Mirian now has a job selling clothes in Asunción in a store owned by someone in Eladio’s family. She says she likes working but the days are long and her feet hurt from standing up all day without any breaks. I think deep inside though, the feeling of independence and pride from earning money for her family probably trumps the sore feet so she keeps standing, both literally and figuratively.

Mirian working in the city means laundry duty is left to my Mom. Nilda helps when she can but also works selling jewelry. Since she allows people to pay in small monthly installments she spends a lot of time making house visits to collect. You should see her little notepad with chicken scratch she uses to keep track of customer accounts. It’s pathetic but it’s a system that works well for her and which the customers somehow trust. Mom still prefers to wash most the clothes by hand, I guess stuck in her traditional ways, claiming that the automatic washer doesn’t get the clothes as clean.

Augusto is working harder and longer hours. It’s beginning to get hot, which means demand for air condition installations and repairs is way up. He leaves the house around 5:30 and often doesn’t get back until midnight or sometimes later. He finally has his moto back and he also has a work truck to drive.

Jacqueline was forced to quit her English lessons because her Dad didn’t have the money to keep sending her. But she’s been assured she can resume sometime next year.

Other highlights from the week include:

Playing soccer penalty kicks with Mary, Darwen, and Jacquelin
Watching a Michael Jackson movie with Darwen
Going on a long jog with Jesika (I recently found out she spells it that way)
Hanging out with the family in Hector’s work shed
Chasing the chickens and ducks around with a broom trying to get them back inside the fenced in area after Mary left the gate open when she was showing me piles of eggs

Although a lot has changed within the family, they are all still the loving, fun people I remember them to be. We picked up right where we left off, and it was a great week.

Breaking News-Pay to Play Corruption in San Juan

2009-11-20T05:17:00.000-08:00

November 19th, 2009-San Juan Bautista, Misiones

Breaking News- Corrupt Secretary of Public Works and Governor allegedly involved in $25,860 Corruption Pay to Play Scandal

At approximately 5:00 PM yesterday, the Secretary of Public Works was caught red-handed receiving $25,860 US, allegedly on behalf of the Governor of the department of Misiones.

The money was delivered by the contractor who won a competitive bid to build 5 bridges in the department of Misiones on the condition that he give 10% of the $258,600 contract to the Governor.

All this went down yesterday, early evening not 10 blocks from my house. Word on the street is that the contractor agreed to the deal and then went to the public prosecutor with the information. They set up a drug bust style deal, caught the transaction on tape, and with that the Secretary of Public Works was caught red-handed and arrested. Of course, the Governor is denying everything and claiming innocence. Usually public figures or anyone with money aren’t held accountable for breaking the law so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Word travels super fast here. I was sitting outside my neighbor’s house around 8:00 PM talking with a few friends when we heard bombs going off around the city. One of the most popular soccer teams, Cerro Porteño, was playing in a semi-final game in the second most important South American tournament. I thought the bombs were going off because Olympia fans were happy that Cerro had just lost their opportunity to move on to the final, which if they won would be their first international championship. Olympia boasts 5 international championships, one of which is a world championship, so they always make fun of their national rival, calling them the pajama club, which is to say they never leave the house, the house being Paraguay because they have yet to win a championship outside the house that is Paraguay.

Anyway, my friend’s Mom came outside the house super excited from hearing the news. You see she is a longtime Colorada and was so happy because the Liberales always accused them of corruption, and rightfully so. The parties changed and the Colorados are ecstatic to see the Liberales fall to corruption too. So the bombs weren’t in fact Olympia fans announcing the fall of their rival, Cerro; they were in fact Colorado fans celebrating the fall of their rival, the Liberales.

A ton of Colorados gathered around the Gobernación, which is just a few blocks from my house since I live in the center of the capital of the department (state). Everyone was chatting, speculating, chanting, and generally celebrating the recent events.

My friend’s mom and I got into some really interesting political discussion and I took the opportunity to ask her what were the ideological differences between the two parties. She has a masters, is a retired professor, and heads up the local admissions office. By Paraguayan standards she is well educated, and she is a dedicated supporter of her political party, the Colorados. She couldn’t give me one single difference between the ideologies of the parties or even explain what her party stood for. I’m not 100% convinced that the parties have even developed platforms, ideologies, and the like. Maybe that’s why no one knows how their party is different from another...because the only difference is the color and the people.

You see in Paraguay, one chooses their political affiliation much like they choose their soccer club...based on where they’re born and who they’re family is affiliated with.

Then they support that party with an intensity similar to the loyalty and enthusiasm they afford to their soccer club, but without really knowing why.

It’s sad, embarrassing, and comical all at the same time.

Today, Pachiqui, one of the coop’s drivers, took me to the laundry mat to drop my clothes off to be washed. My host family is supposed to wash my clothes but never do, and now the washing machine has broken so they can’t, even if they wanted to because there is absolutely no way that my current host mom is going to hand wash my clothes. She has a domestic staff of three that come every morning to clean the house, iron clothes, buy groceries, etc... On top of that I’ve been told she hates cooking (a claim that is supported by how rushed and careless she is while cooking). I’ll often find parts of eggshells, dirt or grime, etc...in my food. She’s equally careless with the dishes. I’ll often reach for a fork, glass, or plate from the “clean” pile only to find it covered in dirty smudges and remnants of yesterday’s meal...so there is no way she’s gonna wash my clothes by hand. That’s fine...it just sucks a little that supposedly this is included in my rent and then I have to pay to get it done elsewhere on top of that. I guess some of you are probably thinking I should wash the clothes by hand myself, but the cold, hard truth is that I’m just too lazy and incompetent domestically speaking for that at this point in my service. We’ll see if my perspective and motivation change later when I’m in my own house and pinching pennies.

Stay with me...I’m gonna come around to a point and relate this back to political corruption in Paraguay. I’m just taking the scenic route.

Regarding the domestic staff, I always feel so awkward around the young girls and now a really really young boy. They hang their heads in shame and hardly ever speak. They seem defeated, lack confidence, and carry themselves as if they’ve accepted a position in a lower class, even though they are not. Many times the family ignores them or my host mom loudly and harshly barks orders at them and then offers empty words of gratitude. I think they secretly hate their job but their family desperately needs the money so they endure it. I’ve tried talking to them on many occasions. It’s always super awkward because they very tersely respond to my questions with a few words and have a hard time looking me in the eye. I managed to discover that one of the girls wants to be a singer so I encouraged her to follow her dream, and tried, obviously in vain, to get her to sing a bit for me. I hate that they act so subservient. If I ever have a domestic staff in my life, I want them to be like Geoffrey from the Fresh Prince...funny, not afraid to speak their mind, involved in the family, gregarious, not subservient, speaks with a British accent, etc...

I just hate that they are acting like the family is better than them and worthy of bowing to, when that’s not the case at all, and I hate even more when I get the vibe that they feel like they have to act all submissive around me too. It makes me feel horrible, and my attempts to talk to them and break their shell have failed miserably.

So Pachiqui, like me, apparently prefers the scenic route too. I had to call Cynthia, the Human Resources manager to get permission for him to take me to the laundry mat. He’s on the clock and using cooperative gas money. He picks me up, and we start heading the opposite direction of the laundry mat. After a little while, I ask him where we’re going. He says something to the effect of, “We’re gonna stop by my house for a bit.” We drive out to the very outskirts of San Juan where his house is. His two-year son meets us at the gate. I greet him with a “Ha’upei chera’a,” which literally translates to “and then partner.”

We go sit under a shade tree for a bit before taking a flora/fauna tour of his property, which is humble yet quaint. Picture a dirt red yard surrounded by a raggedy fence made from bamboo, which is half hazzardly held together with cheap wire. Picture a caving in shack outside the main house that serves as a little outside cooking area. He took me around showing me different plants and trees. Can you imagine how convenient and cheap it must be to be able to walk out in your yard and grab a fruit or vegetable? He has lemons, limes, guava, mamón, squash, peppers, bananas, lettuce, berries, peaches, parsley, and the list probably goes on. I saw several chickens and 3 malnourished cows, one, which was a baby. He made me pick off a lime to try and also offered me a mamón, which is a sweet and juicy fruit with a texture that I can’t explain.

We retreated back under the shade, where we talked a bit with his wife. They say they’re going to invite me over for lunch or dinner sometime soon. Paraguayans are really hospitable. They always ask what my favorite food is here, which regardless of what it is they will prepare for when I come over. I always say I want to eat their favorite food or just whatever they decide to cook.

Suddenly he decided it was time to leave. We took the really long way around to the laundry mat. I saw places in San Juan I’ve never seen before. It reminded me of “loafin’” with my grandpa when I was young. As we drove along, he pointed out places of importance and showed me spectacular views of the campo. “There’s a little school...they’re building a plaza there...that’s where such and such lives. You don’t know such and such? You know the one...” I can hear my Papa D saying, “Why Brad you know ‘em.” Papa D was my grandpa who I used to go loafin’ with when I was a boy. Come to think about it, I miss him and he was a great loafin’ partner and just generally cool to hang out with.

I told Pachiqui I’ve never seen those parts of San Juan, to which he replied something to the effect of, “yeah I told you, you gotta come out with me...all day inside...on the internet...what internet? What’s on the Internet? You’ll never learn anything or see what the real deal is.”

As those words left his mouth we pulled up to the laundry mat, which is a spacious house with a few washers and dryers, and a kind, hefty woman. Tomorrow I’ll pick up my large hamper load of laundry, washed, dried, and ironed for a grand total of $8. If I haven’t mentioned this before, Paraguay was recently ranked one of the

We left the laundry and took the long way back to the cooperative. I waved at people as we drove by and was enjoying our playing hooky adventure.

Suddenly we pulled up to a house where two elderly women sat outside drinking terere. He told me, “Their single, you want one of them for your girlfriend?” I told him I wanted both of them. We sat under some excellent shade joking around while drinking terere. Most of the jokes were crude centering around how the old ladies like young, fresh meat. They told me not to believe a word that comes out of his mouth and that he is missing some screws. As she said that she motioned with her hands as if to be struggling to tighten a screw with a screwdriver. Before too much longer he announced we better get back. He said he was going to blame the significant amount of wasted time on me, yet knowing where I am and how the culture is, I doubt a question will ever be raised as to why it took us so long to go to the laundry mat and back.

On the way back to the cooperative we passed this construction site, where a gigantic house was nearing completion. It was made of fine brick, had nice, modern windows, and was just generally bigger and better than any house I’ve seen in San Juan. “Wow that house is huge...that must be a Millionaire’s house,” I announced. “Fiscal,” he said. That means someone who works in the fiscalía, which is something like the state office of inspector general, which in most US states is in charge of inspecting fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption in the state government. They investigate and then pass on the information to a state prosecutor and collaborate with law enforcement agencies like the FBI.

Doesn’t this case of pay to play governor corruption remind you of a recent scandal a little closer to home?

As it happens it’s not just third world countries like Paraguay that have corrupt politicians. You’ll recall that when Governor Rod Blagojevich was involved in a similar corruption scheme, it was a United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois who was a member of the US Department of Justice that investigated the corruption scandal and it was the US Marshals service on behalf of the FBI that made the arrest. Corruption exists everywhere...it’s the proportions and the consequences, which are different.

I was told today that this particular fiscal with the mansion house comes from a very humble family, and that this government position doesn’t pay that well. The looks I got from everyone indicated that there was no way that house was paid for with clean money, and it’s pretty much common knowledge that it was built on a foundation of corruption. How arrogant and bold! It’s bad enough to coerce, rob, blackmail, accept bribes or use other methods to earn money corruptly. It’s on a whole different level to construct a gigantic house, which serves as a symbol of corruption and a smack in the face to the town.

Pachiqui later said, “You see how it is in Paraguay. While the town remains hungry and people struggle living in poverty, people like that construct mansions.”

Isn’t it ironic that the same people within the agency that is supposed to investigate infractions against the law, in this case corruption, are, what appears to be, corrupt themselves?

That’s how pervasive the corruption in Paraguay is. It will be interesting to see if the Secretary of Public Works, who is so obviously guilty, will in fact, be held accountable or if he will be able to pay his way out of corruption charges. The governor, on the other hand, is sitting pretty if there is no substantial evidence because he can deny involvement and claim that the Secretary of Public Works is lying about the destination of the pay to play bribe money.

For now, it’s a great start that the contractor blew the whistle, the fiscal investigated and acted on the matter, the press showed up and conducted interviews with somewhat pressing questions, and the police took the Secretary to jail. That’s a great start...let’s see how this ends.

My Sister G's Swearing-In Speech

2009-11-18T12:04:00.000-08:00

I recently stumbled upon the speech Paulette gave at their swearing-in exactly one year before our swearing-in. Paulette is from G27, our sister G in that they arrived one year before us and are of the same sector as my group.

I thought I’d share this speech with you.

Training Graduation Speech:

(References - *Jason is a mystery guy who was supposed to come but just never showed up. *Also, our director gave us this speech where he said we should think about the movies we had in our head about our service and be our own protagonist.)

To my fellow G-27ers,

Do you ever wonder where Jason is, our mystery 19th volunteer. I wonder if he's working some 9 to 5 somewhere, thinking about that time he almost joined the Peace Corps. We'll never know what actually happened to him, but I wonder if he just wussed out? I wonder if he packed his bags, said his goodbyes. I wonder if he went to the airport. I wonder -- At what point did he turn back?

I almost backed out a million times. I laid in bed, obsessing, needing to know exactly what my life would be like. I made lists of pros and cons, thinking I could quantify the decision. I sought advice from everyone. I even asked my four-year-old nephew if I should join the Peace Corps, and he said, "Sure."

But I still couldn't decide. Then one day I realized, I was afraid to fail. That's when I decided I at least had to try.

There were still plenty of moments of doubt. But, like you, and unlike so many other people, I got through every one of them. I think that's the biggest thing we should really be celebrating today.

Yay for us, that we'll never have to be the people who say, "Peace Corps, huh? I always wanted to do that."

Let's celebrate that we are not of the people who maybe sent out for the packet, but never filled it out. Maybe they filled it out but never found the guts to mail it.

Let's celebrate that we are not of the class of people who have been duped by advertisers into thinking that they should be spending their youths trying to look more youthful, spending their money to be thinner, using their time to get more things.

Yay for us that we didn't listen to those who said you're going to work your job and go home to your couch and watch your tv and eat your fast food. This is how things are done around here.

We heard another voice, just a whisper, that brought us here. And we did all that paperwork and dismantled our lives and got on the plane.

And we had that movie in our head, the one that Michael Eschleman told us about.

But then we got to our sites, and, for some of us, it felt like we walked into the wrong theater. The set was all wrong. The cast was not following our script. We brought all the wrong props. And we're back to being scared.

This is because we mistook ourselves for the screenwriters. We are just the characters. And the characters never get to choose their challenges, only how they will act in the face of those challenges.

Maybe you saw yourself being Campo Cowboy, with bragging rights that you walk 10 miles to your latrine, uphill both ways, but you ended up chuchi.

Or you were hoping for chuchi, and now will find yourself with a lot of time to think, while squatting, about just how long two years is going to be. And you're wondering again - Can I do this?

When that fear starts to creep in, try to find that voice, that whisper, that you listened to in the months before you stepped on the plane. It's a humble voice, that didn't bring you here for the sweet Facebook photos or the captivating blog material. It's something that tells us that there's more to life than what we've found in our own little fishbowl.

And if we stay to find out how our movie turns out, we'll leave with benefits too numerable to list, the least of which is being able to say, "Peace Corps, huh? I did that once."

-Paulette G27

Paulette is a great writer. I highly recommend checking out her blog, Real World Paraguay.

PEACE CORPS 101

2009-11-17T07:40:00.000-08:00

In today’s post I would like to share a little information about Peace Corps worldwide. In later posts I plan to elaborate on the specifics of development work within the Peace Corps in general and within the various sectors Peace Corps Paraguay Volunteers are working in particular, but the purpose of this post is simply to provide a little background and a framework from which to understand my future posts concerning my work as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Agenda

Origins of Peace Corps
Goals and Mission
Peace Corps Today

Origin of Peace Corps:

At 2:00 a.m. on October 14, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy addressed students on the steps of the University of Michigan Union. He was on the campaign trail and had stopped for rest, but was met by a crowd of college students eager to hear him speak. On those steps, Kennedy delivered a short but powerful speech that changed the course of history and the lives of so many. Kennedy challenged the students to give two years of their lives to help people in developing countries around the world.

Excerpt from that speech:

“How many of you who are going to be doctors, are willing to spend your days in Ghana? Technicians or engineers, how many of you are willing to work in the Foreign Service and spend your lives traveling around the world? On your willingness to do that, not merely to serve one year or two years in the service, but on your willingness to contribute part of your life to this country, I think will depend the answer whether a free society can compete. I think it can! And I think Americans are willing to contribute. But the effort must be far greater than we have ever made in the past.

Therefore, I am delighted to come to Michigan, to this university, because unless we have those resources in this school, unless you comprehend the nature of what is being asked of you, this country can't possibly move through the next 10 years in a period of relative strength. So I come here tonight to go to bed! But I also come here tonight to ask you to join in the effort...”

In his 1961 Inaugural Address, John F. Kennedy said, “To those peoples in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves…”

Perhaps the most remembered words spoken by the president came later in this same speech when he said, “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”

On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy made good on his promise to those who were impoverished and in need around the world by signing an executive order that established the Peace Corps. Later that year, Congress adopted the Peace Corps Act, the purpose of which was to “promote world peace and friendship through a Peace Corps, which shall make available to interested countries and areas men and women of the United States qualified for service abroad and willing to serve, under conditions of hardship if necessary, to help the peoples of such countries and areas in meeting their needs for trained manpower, particularly in meeting the basic needs of those living in the poorest areas of such countries, and to help promote a better understanding of the American people on the part of the peoples served and a better understanding of other peoples on the part of the American people.”

Thus was the birth of the Peace Corps, a governmental agency that shares “America’s most precious resource—its people” with developing countries around the world. Thousands of Americans responded to Kennedy’s call, and the program grew rapidly. There were 7,300 volunteers serving in 44 countries by the end of 1963. By June of 1966 that number had more than doubled to 15,000, the largest in Peace Corps history. To date more than 195,000 volunteers have served in 139 countries across the world.

Goals and Mission

The three goals implicit in the purpose given to Peace Corps by congress in 1961 are still relevant today and form the foundation for all Peace Corps activities. Those goals are as follows:

To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women
To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served
To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans

Peace Corps Today:

Where are we? (Countries)

We are in developing countries around the world in almost every region...Central America, The Caribbean, South America, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Islands.

Current number of countries served: 70 posts serving 76 countries

Most of us are in Africa, but there are also a lot of us in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Central America.

Who are we? (Volunteer Demographics)

Statistically speaking we are single, 20 somethings recently out of undergrad; however, Volunteers come from many different walks of life.

What do we do? (Sectors)

We do development work.

Peace Corps’ idea of development is, “any process that promotes the dignity of people and their capacity to improve their own lives.”

Well that’s great but when a Volunteer in Africa walks out of their hut and into the village, how are they supposed to translate that into something tangible? To help Volunteers navigate the ambiguity of development work, Peace Corps places Volunteers in various sectors, which have sector specific goals and objectives. To accomplish these objectives, Volunteers engage in a range of activities and popular projects that you just kind of hear about during training, by talking to other Volunteers, and reading Peace Corps publications.

Most of us work in Education and Health & HIV/AIDS. Other sectors include Environment, Business Development, Agriculture, Youth Development, and Other.

Additionally, Volunteers in all sectors incorporate meaningful work in information and communication technology (ICT), women in development/gender and development (WID/GAD), HIV/AIDS, and youth development into their primary and secondary activities.

For more information visit this site.

Look for posts in the future, in which I will detail Peace Corps Paraguay, my sector, and give some specifics of the work Volunteers are doing in Paraguay.

80's Halloween Bash!

2009-11-10T09:26:00.000-08:00

October 30th, 2009

Jesus, the Muni Volunteer in neighboring Villa Florida, hosted a Halloween/Birthday Fundraising Party. It was 5,000 Gs ($1) to get in and drinks were 5,000 Gs (80 cents) each. (Yeah a beer here is $1, and that's with the 20 cent markup for fundraising profits!)

The Municipal Development group is having a leadership camp in Janurary so they are in the midst of raising funds. I'm excited to attend this camp because I may plan something similar for San Juan, and I would like to see one in action, so that I can learn from the successes and failures of the camp and generate ideas for how to plan and structure my own should I end up pursuing that idea in the future. This year's camp will focus on introducing youth to leadership principles in the context of volunteerism in order to start creating a culture and spirit of volunteerism in Paraguay.

It was an 80's themed Halloween party. I brought along several of my Paraguayan friends, and helped them create their costumes. I did some research online and came up with some examples of costumes we could create using free and locally available materials. I almost went as the dark side of Karate Kid (kind of like the dark spidey from Spider Man 3 concept). I had a friend who loaned me a black Karate robe and it would have been easy to make the sunburst bandanna. In the end, Juanjo really liked how cool the Blues Brothers outfit looked and had 2 black suits so I abandoned my inner Karate Kid and opted for Elwood, (the cooler, fatter, more funny me).

I borrowed the hat from a friend of Harry's, the tie and sunglasses from Peke, the white shirt from Pancho, and the suit and shoes from Juanjo.

Peke went as David Hodo, the constructor from the Village People, the group who sang the popular hit YMCA. The lady who owns the hardware store, whom I have befriended, loaned me a constructor hat, and a cooperative cable technician loaned me his tool belt, which rounded out Peke's costume.

Harry, named after his father who was a Peace Corps Volunteer who fell for a Paraguayan girl which he impregnated (hence Harry) and abandoned in Paraguay, went dressed in typical 80's fashion...note bubble vest and fingerless gloves. Sadly, Harry's father left his son in Paraguay and was later murdered in Mexico.

Juanjo and I won best costume. The prize was a CD of the best of the 80s and 2 packs of fruit flavored Mentos, the freshmaker.

The party was a bit disappointing, but we had a lot of fun regardless. I imagined a house party full of Volunteers in crazy costumes playing beer pong, flip cup, singing Karaoke, dancing, etc... I had really talked up the party to my Paraguayan friends, who anxiously waited about an hour and a half for a bus that was going towards Villa Florida to get there. Upon arrival we realized the party was in a giant rented out indoor soccer stadium, which made the small quantity of people in attendance appear even smaller.

I'm determined to deliver a first class, American style party to my Paraguayan friends. I guess I'll have to host a party once I have my own house. Despite the fact that the party was vastly different from what I had expected we had a lot of fun.

Peke stole a kiss from Julie, a volunteer who had recently returned from a 6 month medical leave to the States from a foot injury.

After the party ended at about 4 AM we headed to Jesus' two story pad to continue the Halloween festivities. There we just sat around talking and listening to music before passing out in the early morning. Harry fell in love with Julie. Julie...well, Julie was a good sport.

Paraguayans have amazing party stamina. They will often not arrive to the club until 1 or 2 in the morning and will party through the late afternoon.

This is what the Volunteers were doing at 5:00 AM.

This is a picture of what the Paraguayans were doing at the same time.

Haha.

Marcia’s First Communion

2009-11-03T10:07:00.000-08:00

October 24th, 2009

Marcia, Peke’s 12 year-old, sister invited me to go to her First Communion and party afterwards.

Every year all the boys and girls in the town who turn 12 during that year attend a ceremony in the Catholic Church known as Primera Comunión. This is the first time they partake of the flesh and blood of Christ. A few days before they confess all their sins in preparation of the ceremony.

During the ceremony they sing, say prayers, read passages, repeat certain phrases, partake of the wine and bread, light candles and wave them around, and receive their first rosemary (the little string of beads used to help keep track of their Hail Mary’s and such).

After this they undergo 3 years of Catholic training before being confirmed at 15.

It was a nice ceremony. Marcia’s Mom wanted me to capture every moment of the ceremony on film, so I stood along the wall towards the front filming every move Marcia made.

She was so cute. The girls dress in white dresses and adorn their hair with white beads and other accessories. Every so often she would look back towards me, smile and wave. I could tell she felt really special to have someone filming her.

The most beautiful part of the ceremony was when they helped each other to light their little candles and waved them around while singing. Unfortunately this is precisely the portion of the service I failed to capture because I accidentally pressed the button to stop recording without realizing it until that part of the ceremony was ending.

People were packed in there pretty tight; many people were left outside to peer in through the windows. I roughly estimated that there had to be at least 600 or so in attendance. I couldn’t help wonder why they don’t have 3 sessions (morning, afternoon, and evening) to more comfortably accommodate all the attendees. I’m sure there is a perfectly logical reason for not having multiple sessions, though I haven’t been able to think of it yet.

After the ceremony we went back to Marcia’s house, where we had dinner. Marcia had a great time taking pictures with my camera.

As it was her Primera Comunión and also birthday, I brought her a gift.

Earlier that day I had gone to a little boutique store owned by one of my friend’s Mom in search of a gift. Nothing jumped out at me, so I decided to let her pick out what she wanted. In America, the gift card is a cop out, an uncreative and lazy alternate to buying a gift, but in Paraguay it’s a new, exciting concept.

I explained the gift card concept to the shop owner. She caught on, and wrote the details on the back of a business card, and then enclosed it in a small, white envelope.

Marcia loved it! I had not only given her a gift, but I had given her something she had never received before. I gave her the opportunity to go shopping and pick out her own gift. She couldn’t wait to go pick out her presents, and she went around the party showing everyone what she had received.

This is one situation where growing up within America’s consumer culture came in handy!

Hunger Strike-Another BREAK in the Wall

2009-11-03T09:13:00.000-08:00

October 22nd, 2009

“We don’t need no education. We don’t need no false control. No dark sarcasm in the classroom. Teacher leave them kids alone. HEY TEACHER LEAVE THEM KIDS ALONE!!! All in all it’s just another brick in the wall. All in all you’re just another brick in the wall!”

(Kids in a mixed southern redneck/British accent):

“We don’t need no education. We don’t need no false control. No dark sarcasm in the classroom. Teachers leave those kids alone. HEY TECHERS LEAVE THOSE KIDS ALONE. All in all you’re just another brick in the wall. All in all you’re just another brick in the wall.”

Apparently the educators in San Juan have been listening to classic Pink Floyd as of late and heeding the song's advice both literally and figuratively. As if skipping class every time it drizzles weren't enough, classes have been canceled indefinitely and 4 of the dedicated are protesting with a hunger strike outside the town cathedral. A few brave souls are trying to tear down the wall that is being constructed around them.

So here is a rundown of the situation, as I understand it:

Disclaimer: The following is a summary of the views and opinions of a few Colorado supporters in the town of San Juan Bautista. By no means is it fair and balanced, as I have not received the opposite perspective on the issue. I am simply relating what has been told to me, and am in no way supporting one side over the other. Please do not read this as pure fact and understand that if I talked to members from the other side, I would likely receive a very different story. If this were American television, this would be like the Fox News segment, except at least I’m telling you up front that it’s not “fair and balanced.” Unfortunately my cable doesn’t include CNN or CNBC, so I can’t provide you with the other perspective. I’m relating the events from the perspective of a few people I had conversations with, and am not making any political statements whatsoever. By reading this you agree to not republish this in any way and also understand that I cannot be punished or held responsible for anything stated in the following paragraphs.

When the government changed parties last year for the first time in 60 years, they started yanking people from their positions, replacing them with inexperienced Liberal party members. This has resulted in some chaos and frustration. What complicates the situation is that for no reason other than party affiliation, many leadership positions were changed yet the employees underneath them stayed the same. These employees are often very loyal Colorados and are left to follow someone with different political ideals and whom they deem as very inexperienced, often incompetent.

Paraguay has a history and culture of being VERY CORRUPT. The Colorados have had their 60-year reign of control and now it’s the Liberales turn to claim power, stuff their pockets with dirty money, and doll out jobs to family members and friends.

So a particular Education Coordinator was instated. The teachers, historically mostly Colorado, have major issues with this new coordinator, who they claim is incompetent and illogical. She has been making some illogical changes they don’t like, firing people, replacing them with family and friends, and even creating positions for family members, in which they do nothing apart from collect a check.

A few Colorados even related to me that the coordinator is a Chavista(supporter of Chavez) and is pushing a socialist agenda.

They want this Coordinator fired and replaced. 4 dedicated women have gone on hunger strike to elevate the issue, and all teachers are on strike. During nights there are gatherings in front of the cathedral, where outspoken citizens yell over the sound system announcing their grievances and calling for immediate action.

I’m just glad to see community action to change something they’re not happy with. Paraguay isn’t too far from the days where it was illegal to meet in groups, and people who expressed dissatisfaction with the government had a decent chance of mysteriously disappearing. Though they still have a long way to go, a lot of progress has been made towards creating a more democratic and transparent political process in Paraguay.

Update: After about 8 days, the strike has ended, kids are back in class, and the women are once again stuffing their stomachs with greasy, salty and fried Paraguayan food. Apparently, someone from the government called and told them they were going to comply with their wishes and to call off the strike. They are in negotiations now.

Tai Night

2009-10-22T07:06:00.000-07:00

October 17th, 2009

The next day Analia, Yaz, Anne, and I all went out to Claire’s site, which is about 5 miles away from San Juan. Analia and Yaz’s parents took us out in their truck.

But before I get to that, I’d like to describe the events just before we left to go to Claire’s house. It was apparently Liberal day because the Liberales (the other major democratic party) were going crazy all over the city. Bombs were exploding and liberal music boomed from cars parading around town. A giant line of beeping cars adorned in blue and white (the liberal colors) paraded through San Juan, and there was also a big Liberal party that everyone was headed to.

People really support their political parties here in a very public way. It’s not town hall meetings or candidates out pressing the flesh or even a caucus or sponsored event. It’s half the town or more parading around, making noise, and partying in support of their party. I think it’s great that they get involved so much and at least care enough to do something to show their support.

I’ve asked several times what the differences are between the Colorados and the Liberales, and no one has been able to tell me. As far as I can tell, it’s just an affiliation you are born into and there may not be a ton of political ideological differences. I think it’s more like an alliance. I’ll explain. The Colorados have been in power for the last 40 years. You couldn’t get a government job if you were not Colorado. You couldn’t even lie and tell them you were Colorado because either your last name gave you away or you had registered as a Liberal. So all the teachers, all the people that work in public offices, all the low-level government officials...they’re all Colorado. In this way, your political party wasn’t a choice based on your personal ideologies or candidates you sided with more, it was more something you were born into and if you were lucky enough to be born a Colorado, you had a better chance at most jobs. If you weren’t and had the ability to change, it was a job strategy.

This is now reaping effects on the new Liberal administration. All the leaders changed over to Liberal but all their subordinates, who have years of experience and by this time are fiercely loyal to their party, are Colorado. You can imagine how difficult it must be to get things done.

Paraguay was and is very corrupt. You might initially think this would change with a new administration and new leadership, but what I’ve been told is that the Colorados have had years to stuff their pockets with dirty money, and now it’s the Liberals’ chance to get rich. What a mess...

Anyway that’s all I have to say about that for now.

Back to the story at hand...

This time we made Tai food. It was like a spicy vegetable stir-fry with white rice in a lettuce wrap. Most Paraguayans aren’t used to spicy food so Analia and Yaz were going crazy and between the two of them drank a liter of milk. By our standards it wasn’t really spicy but by theirs it was like nuclear at Zaxby’s.

The meal was really delicious. I talk about food so much because delicious meals are so hard to come by here and it’s the thing I miss most about the States. For the most part I don’t eat very much (my host family doesn’t eat dinner and breakfast is a glass of juice or a cup of coffee), and when I do eat it usually isn’t anything to write home about, or at least write home in a positive light about.

Anyway on the way back Analia, Yaz and Anne got dropped off at the Liberal party. I didn’t go because Volunteers aren’t supposed to be associated with any political party, which was a perfect excuse for not going, being that I didn’t really feel like going out.

But in all seriousness I’m not supposed to get involved in politics or associate myself with either party. I can’t attend demonstrations or political events. My host family situation complicates this because they are die-hard Colorados. On several occasions I have walked out to our patio to see what was going on only to see huge Red (the party’s color) flags flying, Colorado music playing, bombs being set off to announce the event, and tons of people talking politics. Just the other night my host mother hosted a political fundraiser in which they sold hamburgers to raise money for a particular candidate they want to get elected.

One time I walked outside and saw a few people sitting around a table with a man in the center speaking most eloquently and persuasively in front of a press-like camera...picture the scenes from the Osama Bin Laden videos but without the long beards and Muslim attire.

Sometimes I hear my host Dad speaking softly in Guaraní over the phone and other times there are groups of adults huddled around a table talking politics. I like to imagine I’m in a house of people planning a secret, government overthrow or imagine this is what it must have been like for communists planning a revolution. It’s not the reality, but it just feels that way sometimes, and I like to allow my imagination to run wild because it’s more interesting that way.

The fact that my host parents are probably the most die-hard Colorado supporters in San Juan combined with the fact that there is a big, red sticker that says, “We are Colorados here” above my door, which accesses the street, probably makes me a Colorado in the minds of most people in town.

We've had a Mexican Night and a Thai Night. Next up...Italian Night!!!

Paraguay vs. Colombia Game

2009-10-22T06:11:00.000-07:00

October 15th, 2009

I decided the day of at about 1:00 PM (bus set to leave at 2:00 PM) to go to the Paraguay vs. Colombia game in Asunción. A lack of plata (money) and a looming presentation were complicating my decision to go, but in the end the thought of seeing Paraguay play in a World Cup qualifier in Asunción with a bunch of friends won out over work and money. What put me over the top was talking to Chris who said I should come and that I could crash at his place, which is really close to Asunción.

Yet another great decision. I had a great time.

I came home from the cooperative, hurriedly packed my bag and headed off to meet up with Analia to catch the bus to Asunción.

When we arrived, we had to drop Analia’s bag by Rosa’s house. On the way there, it started pouring rain. It took us walking under my raincoat for about 5 minutes before I realized I had my umbrella in the side pocket of my backpack. We dropped the bag off at Rosa’s, and then the three of us headed to the Palace, where I was going to leave my bag during the game.

Shortly after dropping my bag off and me changing into my Paraguayan jersey, we headed to a sports bar not 2 blocks from the Palace. When I walked up, the bar was filled with Volunteers in Paraguayan jerseys and everyone had big towers of beer at their tables. We hung out there for just a bit and then headed out for the game.

I bought 60-mil ticket off a guy on the street for 50 mil, and with that the fun began. As we were approaching the stadium, I had to take off my belt and conceal it underneath the band of my boxers since belts are not allowed in the stadium. What does that tell you?

I was worried they were going to find it and confiscate my only belt but we walked through without even being checked. No pat downs, no metal detector, nothing. We just cruised right through.

Upon entering the stadium, I was amazed by the atmosphere....a bouncing sea of red and white, flags flying, plastic bats being shaken in the air, huge Coca-Cola banners covering entire sections, and chants being belted in one, unified Paraguayan voice to the tune of loud drums. I can’t imagine what World Cup is going to be like!

Paraguay and Colombia went head to head for the last qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Even though the Colombians handed it to us, we still had a great time jumping around and chanting, “Albi albi albi roja albi roja.” Not only did we lose but Argentina won, which meant they had qualified for an appearance in the World Cup. As the rivalry is so heated, everyone wanted to see the big, bad Argentina sit this one out. Either way, it was great to see a game in person. It will be a while before another game is played in that stadium so I’m glad I seized the opportunity. At the end of the day Paraguay is headed to South Africa and so am I!!!

After the game, we went back to Chopería to hang out. There was a live band, which provided for a really cool atmosphere. A Volunteer who has been here for 2 years, Analia, Rosa, Claire, and I all went down the street for some Lomito Arabe (beef gyro). It was great late-night food.

Later when we returned to the bar, I had some interesting conversations with a few Volunteers. One volunteer did her undergrad at Cornell and her MPA at Columbia. She then worked in a variety of organizations in microfinance and nonprofit before coming to the Peace Corps. She was really knowledgeable and interesting to talk to. She imparted some wisdom that will cause me to make some tough decisions. The good news is she says Peace Corps is great on a resume and will open a lot of doors, especially in the non-profit world. She said she used to love to hire Peace Corps Volunteers. She said if I were interested in pursing a MPA (Masters of Public Administration), Peace Corps would be enough from a work experience perspective to get me in. As I am looking to do a MBA with possibly a dual MPA degree, I’ll ultimately have to get a few more years of experience before matriculating. Nevertheless she dropped some good ideas on me and gave me a few fresh perspectives that I needed to hear but which has me in deep introspection about how to spend my time while here and what to do when I leave Peace Corps.

Around 2:00 AM, Chris, his Paraguayan friend, and myself headed out to find a bus back to his place. We walked to several corners where we waited briefly for a bus before heading to the next place there was “sure to be a bus.” After several attempts like this, we passed a bar and the bar-owner told us that a bus would pass by there at 3:00 AM. Since we had a while to wait, we went inside and played a few games of pool. Remember Hora Paraguaya? 3:00 AM...No Bus. 3:15 AM...No Bus. 3:30 AM...No Bus. 3:45 AM...No Bus. Around 4:00 AM I was ready to go and had in good faith that the bus was not coming, so I hailed a taxi and spent 60 mil getting us to Chris’ place. The whole reason I stayed with him was to avoid spending 66 mil on a hotel room for the night...HAHA.

It turned out well because the next day I had a great time hanging out with Chris.

He took me by his counterpart, which is a big community center where they train and develop youth and give technical skills courses to the community. Chris told me all about a leadership camp he is developing and how he got it funded. I’m going to go to the leadership camp, not only because it will be fun and I’ll likely facilitate a few sessions, but also because it will be a great learning opportunity in case I decide to do a leadership camp in San Juan.

We went for lunch at a humongous grocery store, and had interesting conversation about Che Guevara’s life and his part in the communist revolution in Cuba. Chris had read up a lot on Che, so he was well versed and he has a knack for story telling. It’s pretty incredible how the whole thing went down. If you’re interested in that kind of stuff, I would recommend checking out some books about Che and Fidel Castro. It’s actually a really interesting story.

After lunch we played a few games of pool at an indoor/outdoor style bar near Chris’ places and then went back to his place. We had a lot of great conversation about Peace Corps, development projects, our personal lives, etc...

Soon after, I bussed it back to the Peace Corps office where I dropped off my payment for the Thanksgiving bash, and then went to the terminal where I caught the long bus back home.

All in all, it was a great trip. I made a few new friends, saw Paraguay play, had a lot of fun, and had some really interesting and educational conversations.

Motocross Race

2009-10-22T06:09:00.000-07:00

October 11th, 2009

This was another very unexpected event. When I was told there was going to be a moto race, I envisioned people standing on the side of a highway watching a few motorcycles racing down a straightaway.

It also took me by surprise because I just didn’t envision going to motocross races as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Panfilo, a coworker, told me the previous day he was going to come pick me up to take me to the race. His cousin was in the race, which was why he was particularly excited about it. He was supposed to pick me up at 2:00 PM. I had several other friends invite me to go with them, but since I had already committed to going with Panfilo, I denied, and waited on him.

He never came.

In this way I confirmed a suspicion I had about many Paraguayans. It’s really normal for them to not keep their word. I know it also happens a lot in the US, but it happens here at a whole different level. For example, my host mother said she was going to wash my clothes one day. Two weeks later I had to take a small load to the laundry-mat in order to have something to wear to my presentation, and sit my laundry basket in the middle of the kitchen before it got done. Another example...my host father said several times he was going to move my light switch to beside the door and put a lock on my door. That has still yet to happen, and just today I bought the lock myself, and am going to have someone come over to install it. I hear tons of Volunteer stories of them scheduling a meeting with someone or a group of people who never show.

You also have to understand the “Hora Paraguaya.” They are not very prompt, which actually is fine with me most of the time. If you schedule something, even something really formal, expect it to actually get started a solid 45 minutes to an hour late. It’s just all part of the really relaxed culture I think. Really, it’s fine by me, because I’m not in any hurry here, and I don’t have to stress about being somewhere by a certain time.

Example...The other night, Anne took a bus from her site to San Juan to meet up with us for some dinner. The bus was supposed to leave at 7:00 PM on the dot. It left around 7:40 PM.

They recognize it as part of their culture, referring to it as the “Hora Paraguaya,” (Paraguayan Hour). The Administrative Manager in the Cooperative even said, when referring to my presentation, that if it were scheduled for 9:00 AM, it would get started around 10:00 AM, which is exactly how it happened. After saying that, she said, “Hora Paraguaya.” It was comical when 9:10 AM rolled around and only my APCD, Volunteer Coordinator, and myself were in the room. Not a single person showed up on time, and the general manager, who should be setting the example, was the last to arrive at around 9:50 AM. I just couldn’t help but think that I was a very low priority on his list especially when he was answering phone calls in the middle of my boss’s presentation. It’s a great example of cross cultural business interactions. It could very well be that another Paraguayan wouldn’t think twice about it, let along consider it rude or a representation of priorities.

Anyway, back to the story at hand, the motocross event. So when I realized he wasn’t going to show up, I decided to ride my bicycle to the race. When I arrived, I was surprised to see that instead of being a straightaway track, it was actually the motocross style track (without the jumps).

It was a really cool atmosphere. Imagine a radio style stage booming music and occasionally announcing over the speakers. There were people all around the edges of the track and in the middle. The sound of motos revving and the smell of their exhaust permeated the atmosphere. I wandered around for a bit until Peke and his friends spotted me and called me over. I hung with them for a while and then headed over to where some of my coworkers were hanging out.

While I was hanging out with Peke and his friends, they started horsing around. The biggest, Gonzalo slammed the smallest, Ernesto down to the ground. He smacked the ground headfirst pretty hard and was slow to get up. He had to be transported to the local hospital by ambulance, and was then taken to Asunción for some test, because a few months earlier he had a really serious motorcycle accident, which fractured something in his spinal column. I didn’t actually find this out until mid way through the race when I called Peke to see where he was at, to which he responded the hospital with Ernesto. I’m happy to say that as of writing this Ernesto is up and about. It wasn’t too serious and he was just given a few days bed rest.

Back to the race...before too long, it started pouring down rain. Igual no más. It was actually nice because it settled the dust and dropped the temperature. Plus I had my handy Marmot Rain Jacket on because I noticed it was likely to rain.

Soon after the rain quit, the races started, and we had fun drinking and talking while watching them go around the track.

The most exciting thing of the day was when everyone started running to the other side of the track to watch a fight. Apparently they had bet a lot of money on the race, and someone from San Juan threw something at the racer from San Ignacio. That caused a big fight. I actually saw a few fists land. Three cops walked up. But here, that doesn’t mean much. The fighting calmed down, but no one went to jail. They continued pushing and arguing, and it kind of fizzled out slowly.

Like I said earlier, when it comes to competition, sports are like politics in Paraguay...corrupt. It’s my experience that they will attempt to cheat in a heartbeat and are quick to argue and fight.

Guess who was the main guy in the middle of the fight? Yep...Panfilo. I guess that’s Karma.

Paraguay vs. Venezuela

2009-10-22T05:42:00.000-07:00

October 10th, 2009

I watched the game with some coworkers in their house out in Barrio Primero de Enero (1st of January). Lot’s of neighborhoods, towns, football teams, soccer stadiums, etc...are named for their founding date...again the creativity issue.

Anyway, when I walked into the house I saw an alligator skin handing from the wall. My friend from work, Oveshai (lamb) said he hunted and killed that. They say gator meat is great. I looked over to the table and there was a taxidermy armadillo. He said it killed that too. We walked over to the big ice-chest style fridge to store the beer, and he had to reposition the beer around a cow’s head and pieces of carpincho meat. I tried not to think about drinking from the lips of bottles that had been lying against raw cow and carpincho meat and told them I wanted to go hunting with them the next time they went.

For reference, this is a carpincho.

The game was pretty boring as we were already qualified and easily handled Venezuela 2-1. Nevertheless, it was still fun hanging out with some of my coworkers and seeing them in their natural environment. After the game we just sat around for a while talking about a future fishing trip they want to take me on. They told me it would cost us around 100,000 Gs ($25) for a day of fishing including gas, lots of food and drinks, and all supplies needed. We both know that isn’t much, but I tried convincing them that was really high and I didn’t know if I could afford it. I’m trying to combat the common perception that we must earn a lot of money since we chose to leave the States to come here.

Other topics included, let’s see what is pretty much the only topic Paraguayan males discuss with me?...oh yeah girls.

We threw my bike in the back of a truck and headed back towards town. When we arrived we were surprised to see a ton of people at the town plaza watching the motocross racers doing wheelies in the middle of the plaza. As we first drove up, I saw one of them suffer a nasty crash, and with that our attention was caught so we parked and joined the excitement. Music mixed with the loud revving dirtbike/moto engines to make for a pretty loud atmosphere. Smoke filled the air and people were everywhere. The next day’s racers were popping wheelies all over the place.

Mexican Night

2009-10-22T05:22:00.000-07:00

September 8th, 2009

Having just received a means of transport, I rode my bicycle, along with Claire, about 5 miles out into the campo to Anne’s house in order to cook Mexican food. Anne lived in Mexico for some time, so she knew how to make amazing homemade tortillas. They were perfect. I literally have never had better tortillas, and they were made from scratch using ingredients available in rural Paraguay and cooked over a rusty, old gas oven/stove unit.

Anne and Claire are pretty much geniuses because these tacos were easily the best I’ve ever eaten in my life.

I am trying so many new things, and can now eat pretty much anything. I won’t be a picky eater at all when I get back to the States.

You saute onions, peppers and garlic to which you add the meat.

As the meat is browning, add in red paper flakes, chili powder (if you have it), cumin, pepper, and salt. Shortly before it’s finished, add in some precooked corn.

Then we made a guacamole sauce using avocados, tons of diced tomatoes, chili power, salt and pepper, chopped onions, chopped garlic, chopped cilantro, lemon, and cumin (optional).

We topped the meat mixture with fresh lettuce, a white cheese, and the guacamole sauce and then drizzled it with sour cream. It was simply amazing, and the best meal I’ve had in Paraguay up to this point by a long shot.

I can’t tell you how sore my bottom was after that bike ride. I think it was a combination of the thin, hard seat, the long distance, and the fact that I haven’t ridden a bicycle in a while. Apparently, I’m not the only one that experiences this. All the Volunteers said the same thing happened to them when they first received their bikes but that you get used to it.

Either way, it hurt to sit down let alone get back on my bike, and I was sore for days, but the spectacular Mexican meal made it all worth it.

Official Site Presentation

2009-10-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

October 7th, 2009

Site Presentation is when the APCD of your sector comes to officially present you as a Volunteer to your counterpart and community.

My site presentation went off without a hitch.

First, the general manager presented a general presentation about the cooperative.

Next came a presentation by Elisa, my APCD, which was about:

Peace Corps and it’s goals
RED sector’s goals
What is and is not a Volunteer,
Roles and responsibilities of all parties involved
Rules and regulations
Our training
Pay
Job assessment

I really like my APCD and Volunteer Coordinator. They are on top of things, and extremely helpful. So if you get a RED assignment in Paraguay in the next little while, you're in good hands. Not to mention, Elisa knows EVERYONE and has tons of experience in this field.

And finally, last but not least, I presented a rather fantastic presentation, if I do say so myself about:

Me (Where I’m from, childhood, interests, etc...)
Educational experiences (including courses and projects)
Professional Experiences
Reasons for joining the Peace Corps and coming to Paraguay
My vision for the next 2 years
Some ideas for possible projects I could work on
Q & A

In order to gain credibility and confidence as well as educate my counterparts of my education, skills, and experience, I gave them specific examples of projects I’ve worked on, with photos of the final deliverables, and specifics of my education and work experiences such as course work and accomplishments/duties for various professional roles.

I also performed a rather compelling speech about my vision of my role within the cooperative and community, and what I expect to gain and give during the experience. I ended by throwing out a lot of good ideas for projects, based on fact-based observations and research, which could make the cooperative and/or community better.

An excerpt from that part of the presentation:

“First, I believe the Cooperative and the town of San Juan have much more to teach me than I have to teach them. I've learned a lot in my short time here, such as the importance of relaxing and taking time to enjoy life, and have learned a lot about the day to day operations of a well-run business just by being here and observing the cooperative.

However, I do bring a fresh perspective, energy, the willingness to work long and hard, and some educational and professional experiences that may allow me to work effectively within the community.

Throughout the two years, I would learn from the cooperative and the community, and also provide some good ideas and a new perspective, lead important community and cooperative initiatives, serve as a connecting agent to external funding and technical assistance as well as facilitate the transfer of information.

At the end of the day, I want to serve as a resource for the community and cooperative while working together to increase economic development and the standard of living in San Juan Bautista, it’s surrounding areas, and Paraguay in general.

I would like to engage the community in conversations that will challenge forward thinkers to adopt different ways of thinking, which will benefit the community. I would also like to work with the community and members of the cooperative in identifying and solving existing problems and challenges facing the Cooperative, San Juan and Paraguay.

I am excited to develop my leadership skills, so I'm more than willing to help organize groups and events or to increase the impact of existing groups and causes that are working for the social good.

I am eager to gain a deep understanding and appreciation of the Paraguayan culture.

But above all, I hope to develop in some sense, lifelong friendships, while having the opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of others.”

After the presentation, most of us went to another meeting area, where my Coop did it up big by serving baked chicken, chorizo (sausage), and potato salad. Then Elisa and Betsy, my Volunteer Coordinator, drove me back to my place where they gave me my bike, my mail, and some other important documents.

I think I accomplished several things during this presentation and I also think I learned a few things about the business culture in Paraguay from the experience.

I successfully built credibility and confidence in my ability to effectively work within the cooperative and community.
I gained rapport with several senior members of the Cooperative (I mixed in a healthy amount of jokes, Paraguayan slang, professionalism, and evoked pathos and ethos from emotional descriptions of the necessity for certain types of projects. I also allowed some of them to speak during my presentation and specifically addressed some of their earlier questions and points from the previous presentation, recognizing the legitimacy of their point and taking it to the next level).
I gave the managers some ideas for my work.
I learned that hierarchy is important to Paraguayans.
I learned that Paraguayans love to eat snacks and sip on drinks during presentations. The day before, as I was making rounds, confirming attendance, I kept getting the question of what we were going to eat and drink, and I haven’t been to a meeting yet where snacks and drinks weren’t served.
I learned that it is normal to take phone calls in the middle of a meeting, get up and walk out, as well as for someone to walk in and begin serving drinks during a presentation.
I learned that Paraguayans, when possible, like to try to impress people and take control of a meeting.

All of these are great insights about the business culture of Paraguay and will be invaluable as I plan other meetings and presentations as well as if I ever enter into a negotiation type scenario.

Of course these are generalizations and stereotypes based on a very limited amount of experiences so keep that in mind. It would be like attending a few meetings in the US and then claiming you knew what US business culture is like. Kind of ridiculous when you think about it that way, but hey, I have to start somewhere right?

Overall, the site presentation could not have gone any better. The cooperative was great in that most of the important people attended and they provided lunch. It was a great start to the professional aspect of my 2-year Peace Corps experience.

Hanging out with Peke’s Family

2009-10-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

October 4th, 2009

The last few days I have been hanging out with Peke’s family. Peke has 2 sisters and also a cousin who lives with them. One sister is about 5 years old, the other is 12, and the cousin is 16. They are really fun, smart, sweet and very well mannered. I brought my computer over Saturday night, and they got a kick out of looking at my pictures, typing stuff in Word, and trying Rosetta Stone Spanish.

Computers fascinate kids, and they pick them up almost instinctively after having experience with them, which is why access to computers is more of a problem than knowledge of how to use them. That’s why I love the program, 1 laptop per child. I hope their organization continues with the success it has had in bringing laptops to third world children. With computers and Internet, I believe kids could narrow the gap much more quickly because of the wealth of information available online. We are in a knowledge economy, and in that economy, he has the most information and knows how to use it, wins. The Internet, and its vast sources of information levels the playing field a bit. If we could get a laptop in the hands of every child and then extend affordable Internet to those areas, I really believe countries would close the gap between the 1st and 3rd worlds significantly more quickly than the current pace, which is abysmal in some areas.

I brought my marbles over Sunday and taught these city kids how the campo kids get down. It was a disaster...nothing like playing marbles in the campo with lots of space, good dirt, and dedicated kids who are enthralled by and skilled in the game. However, it occupied our time for a little bit, and then we sat under some shade trees and drank T-ray for a while, an activity they are really good at, as are most Paraguayans.

For lunch, Gabbi, the cousin, displayed her chef-like abilities by cooking the best salad and asado up to this point. The bar just gets getting raised...but you have to realize that it started REALLY, REALLY LOW. Haha.

As you can probably tell, there isn’t a lot of diversity in the food around here, but there are variances in quality of preparation.

Overall, I had a great time hanging out with the girls next door and plan on spending more time over there because, frankly, it’s more fun than my house, the children are cooler, it’s more neat and clean, and the food is better.

It’s not all fun and games, or is it?

2009-10-21T11:34:00.000-07:00

October 1st, 2009

VAC Meeting at Shawn’s

So we had another VAC meeting. This time it was at Shawn’s house in Santa Rosa. Shawn is now in his 3rd year here in Paraguay. He rents an amazing house for, get this, $34 per month! It’s a nice, big house with a patio and everything. He has a big living room, two bedrooms, an indoor/outdoor kind of room with a hammock, a big kitchen, a big storage area, and a decent sized yard. He also has a Paraguayan girlfriend he’s been with for quite a while now. I guess he figures he has it way too good to go back to the States now so he extended for a year.

VAC meetings, in theory, are supposed to be about receiving information from Asunción, discussing issues, brainstorming improvements or things we would like executive management to know, planning events, collaborating on projects, etc…

What did we end up doing? We grilled out and drank all day.

I haven’t eaten so much since I arrived here. First we had chorizo.

Then we had grilled fish and two kinds of salads (lettuce based and bean based). A little later we had grilled cow meat, and still later more chorizo. Finally at the end of the night we ordered, and were delivered, a homemade cake. It had a somewhat hard bottom crust, pound cake kind of inside, which was topped with whip cream and then slivers of peaches.

AMAZING!!!

Have I said lately how much I love my life right now? Cuz it’s true.

Let’s Get together and feel alright at Reggae Fest!

2009-10-21T11:17:00.001-07:00

September 26th, 2009

The Wailers, Bob Marley’s band, came to Paraguay and put on a great show!

When I got a text saying there was going to be a Reggae Fest in Asunción and was asked if I wanted to come, I was like, “Yeah, why not? That sounds awesome!”

Add that to my list of great decisions. I’m sure this outdoor concert will go down as one of the coolest experiences I have as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. First came the bus 3-hour bus ride on Friday afternoon to Asunción, which was really fun because....well I could be doing worse things than traveling through the Paraguayan countryside with two cool friends, while listening to my IPod. I just remember being so content in that moment. I remember thinking, “I have no worries, I’m a Peace Corps Volunteer, and I’m in the middle of Paraguay on a bus listening to Motion City Soundtrack headed for a weekend of fun and a Reggae concert.”

When we arrived in Asunción, we went to at this place called Quattro D. We treated ourselves to amazing chicken lasagna and some ice cream, and then Claire headed for the Peace Corps office, and Yaz tagged along with me to the mall. I wanted to buy bedding and possibly curtains, but ended up not buying them because they were really expensive and I couldn’t figure out how to pay in cash because the ATM has a small limit and was going to charge me 25,000 Gs for every transaction. If I paid in cash I was going to receive a 10% discount for being foreign. I was also trying to figure out how to meet the requirements in order to sign up for the store card, which would give me an additional 20% off. It added up to an $88 savings, which is a crap load for me at this point.

Regardless, we had a lot of fun just browsing around the mall gazing at the things we couldn’t afford.

That night I went out for dinner and drinks with several Volunteers who were in town for the concert. We went to the Brit Pub. For the first part of the night I was having a good time, but then I become tired, and that was all she wrote.

The night of the concert started outside the Alps Attic, a popular hotel for Peace Corps Volunteers in Asunción.

A fun and interesting American girl who decided to move here to write a guidebook to Paraguay picked us all up in her van. We packed in tight and headed out for the concert. Picture a minivan with about 13 people packed in. People are on each other’s laps and Will and I are crammed in the hatch. But we didn’t care. Igual no más.

I couldn’t help but think of foreshadowing as the song by The Black Eyed Peas that goes, “I’ve got a feelin’ that tonight’s gonna be a good night, that tonight’s gonna be a good night that tonight’s gonna be a good good night. I got a feelin’,” played over the radio in a van full of really cool, interesting Peace Corps Volunteers headed to a Reggae concert in Paraguay!

Many of the people in the car hate that song for it’s idiotic lyrics, but I secretly liked it, and thought it was a great kickoff for the night and foreshadowing of what was to come.

Shortly after arriving, we all scarfed down some hamburgers at a little stand outside the concert, and then jumped into the sea of people heading towards the entrance.

“Leche, Leche, Leche,” which means “milk, milk, milk,” screamed the hustlers selling beer outside the concert. Gypsies were sitting on the ground selling their hand crafted necklaces, wallets, bracelets, and other accessories. Nappy braids, Bob Marley tee shirts, psychedelic colors, and hippie chicks were everywhere. We don’t see a lot of diversity here, so it was a familiar and welcomed site.

Immediately upon entering the concert, I knew this was going to be a chill night. We stood in a circle towards the back of the crowd and talked, danced, and drank. Then we moved in closer.

As the night progressed sometimes we danced and other times we just sat in a big circle and had really interesting conversation. There was an atmosphere of friendliness and brotherhood in the air already, and the Wailers hadn’t even taken the stage yet.

People were freely sharing and interacting across their respective clicks.

Once the Wailers hit the stage, the night turned from chill to magical.

There is no way I can capture the feeling of goofily dancing around with friends to the sound of,

Singin': "don't worry 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."
Singin': "don't worry (don't worry) 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!"

Or to

We're jammin':
I wanna jam it wid you.
We're jammin', jammin',
And I hope you like jammin', too.

Cell phones were hoisted and waving in the air (reminiscent of Woodstock) and a Jamaican and Paraguayan flag swaying, crossing in the wind, forming a symbol of international peace as the Wailers sang:

Emancipate yourself from the mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
cuz none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our profits?
While we stand aside and look? Ooh!
Some say it’s just a part of it:
We’ve got to fulfill de Book.

Won’t you help to sing?
These songs of freedom? -
Cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs,
Redemption songs,
Redemption songs.

WATCH THIS VIDEO

I thought the following were especially relevant lyrics for Paraguay:

Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight “

And of course, the highlight of the night:

“One love, one heart,
Let’s get together and feel alright.
Hear the children cryin’, (one love)
Hear the children cryin’ (one heart)
Sayin,’ “give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel alright,”
Sayin,’ “let’s get together and feel alright.”

And that’s exactly what we did. We all got together and we felt all right.

Highlights from the following day include an amazing breakfast at the hotel and relaxing by the pool. Again...Livin' the Dream!

Yet Another Awesome Paraguayan Holiday

2009-10-21T11:01:00.001-07:00

September 21st, 2009

Dia de Juventud Festival (Parade, Beauty Pageant, and Concert)

So I was totally caught off guard by what took place on this holiday.

It was Dia de Juventud (Youth Day) and all day people had been wishing me “Felicidades.” The closest translation I can come up with for what they were saying is, “Happy Youth Day.” On this day, Paraguay celebrates its Youth and parents buy their kids gifts. Depending on where you live, there could also be a whole host of festivities associated with the holiday.

I was plugging away at my laptop in my office at the cooperative at about 3:00 PM in the afternoon when I started hearing bombs and tons of people gathering outside. Then some of my coworkers told me to come to the window to watch the parade. “Oh, another parade,” I thought to myself. Having seen many “parades” before, I thought this would be your typical line of cars and motos (mopeds) driving down the street honking horns and playing music. Much to my surprise when I went to the window I saw decorated floats full of smiling youth. The floats represented different schools and organizations and each featured a Queen, who had apparently been elected to represent their organization for the day’s festivities.

At around 4:00 PM, I left the Cooperative, and rushed home to get my camera. I quickly returned and managed to snap a few shots before the parade was over.

By this point, everyone was gathering in the plaza, and I noticed a big stage in the middle of the plaza. I walked around talking to people I knew and snapping photos. Then I went home to change out of my work clothes and returned for the rest of the festivities, which included a beauty pageant and a concert by the hottest band in Paraguay at the moment.

The beauty pageant featured around 16 or so girls who each answered 2 questions and walked down the runway. Hearing their answers to the questions raises both an educational and cultural point. Each girl was asked to give a brief speech to the youth. Every girl said almost the exact same thing in almost the exact same way. Culturally, this is totally acceptable. In one of my earlier blogs I mentioned the lack of individuality, creativity, and critical thinking within the educational system. I also mentioned how Paraguayans always copy each other. Every dispensa is almost exactly like every other dispensa. They all serve the same things, prepared in the same way. There is a real lack of creativity and individuality. I’m not judging whether that is good or bad but rather stating an observation, though if I were to judge it from my US perspective, it is less than desirable.

So the first girl started with warning about doing drugs, respecting parents, and the importance of enjoying your youth, and each girl in turn gave the exact same response. In the US, even if the next girl had prepared the exact same response, that is the last thing she would say because we have such a strong culture of individuality and would judge her poorly for saying the same thing the other girl said. Not here. All 16 said the same thing, and the crowd clapped all the same for each one of them in turn.

They were judged by a panel of 3 judges, which included Miss Paraguay, who is actually from San Juan. Her speech was much more honed, and she had a polished stage presence. I heard it was her dream to become Miss Paraguay and she worked her whole life up to that point to achieve that goal. I’m glad she set a lofty goal and worked hard to achieve it, but in my mind some of the means did not justify the end. She had a tone of plastic surgery, altering her entire body and face, and I also heard she never played or had friends growing up, and was always well dressed and very superficial in interactions. Hopefully she’s able to leverage her position to accomplish something good for Paraguay.

Eventually, the tallest and most popular (judging from the chanting teenage girls up front) won and 2 others were given lesser titles.

I don’t know how the girls were judged really because all 16 had roughly the same responses, and the 3 chosen were definitely not the prettiest, but winners were selected and that was that.

Later, they announced scholarship winners. Each year, the Gobernación, like our State Government, gives out scholarships, and they announce the winners during the Día de Juventud festivities. I was really impressed with both the fact that they were giving out scholarships and the number of scholarships that were granted.

Access to education is, in my opinion, one of the most serious detriments to economic development in Paraguay, so it’s good to see that at least some scholarships are available. Paraguay still has a long way to go in this regard in that there aren’t student loans and there are a very small number of scholarships available, but it’s at least a start. I’m thinking of pitching a project to my cooperative to give out scholarships and offer student loans, which with any luck will start a trend among cooperatives of offering scholarships and student loans. This could go a long way in giving more students the opportunity to get an education and could have a big impact if it caught on in the right way. That’s pie in the sky thinking, but hey, shoot for the stars right? I’ll let you know if it works out.

Next came the concert, which featured several bands including one of the most popular bands in Paraguay at the moment. Everyone crowded around the stage and celebrated youth in true young fashion...listening to music, drinking, and dancing the night away.

Again, I couldn’t help but think of how unexpected this all was. I expected to be living in a little shack in the country, and for sure never, ever envisioned being at a really great concert among thousands of people in my own site as a Peace Corps Volunteer. At one point I looked at Anne, and said, “Can you imagine what the Campo Volunteers would think of this? We have such a good life. Haha”

All in all, I really love Youth Day. Everyone celebrates and embraces youth, both in age and spirit. The day is very friendly and festive. Paraguayans may not be one of the more wealthy countries, but boy do they know how to enjoy life!

Coop Football Championship & Disco

2009-10-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

September 19th, 2009

The next day was yet another eventful day in San Juan Bautista.

Around 6:00 PM, I went to Analia’s house to meet up with Anne, Claire, and John (fellow Volunteers) and Analia and Yaz (Paraguayan friends).

We played “Bullshit” (couldn’t be avoided...that’s just the name of the game) while listening to Analia’s iPod for a few hours.

Around 9:00 PM, I met up with Peke and went to the 24 (the name of a local soccer team) indoor soccer stadium where employees from my cooperative played in the inter-organizational tournament final against the jail staff. The team from the Jail were, probably logically so, huge, aggressive, and fiercely competitive but the Cooperative was fast, smart, and patient. You wouldn’t think so, but this game was a big deal. The Jail fan following was humongous. They set off really loud fireworks, had their own Mariachi band, and took pictures in front of the goal as if they had made it to the World Cup final.

The Jail went up 2 nothing quick-like in the first half, which really depressed and flustered the Cooperative team and fans. There was almost a fight, in which this huge dude would have surely pummeled the old, skinny, professional Loan Department manager from the cooperative. I have no idea what they were fighting about, but judging by the intensity, you would have thought it was a high-stakes, big money on the line, National Championship instead of a local town inter-organizational tournament final.

I’ve come to realize that, while Paraguayans are generally very nice and tranquil, when it comes to competition, they are very prone to cheating, fighting, and fiercely arguing.

Side Note: I had to move halfway across the stadium because this drunk wouldn’t stop pestering me in Guaraní. He was being very aggressive, was very drunk, and really annoying...not to mention the fact that I couldn’t understand a word coming out of his mouth because he was speaking in slurred Guaraní.

Anyway, the Cooperative came back strong in the second half, quickly tying the game up. We went crazy with each goal scored. Near the end of the game, the Cooperative scored again, making the score 3-2 in the Cooperative’s favor, and before too much longer the whistle blew making the Cooperative the official Champions of the local inter-organizational tournament! My colleagues from the Coop and I went Ballistic! We jumped up, screamed, jumped around, slapped high fives and rushed the field. Everyone met in the middle, jumping up and down, chanting, “hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.” Then we took a lap around the stadium, and finally met in the middle again to receive the trophy. It was a glorious moment, and I was very proud to be part of the winning team.

Funny Story: We’re all crowded around the trophy after the excitement had died down and this drunk guy came up with a beer and poured it inside the trophy (it’s the big cup style trophy instead of the figure style). Some of the coop team members tried to stop him right before he did it but were unsuccessful. Party Foul! The bear immediately spilled all over the gym floor (because it wasn’t sealed at the bottom) and ruined the lettering on the base. What an idiot! Haha.

Afterwards, I went back to Analia’s house where we wasted time before going to the club. We passed the time by playing MASH. Remember contemplating your future by playing MASH as a kid? So according to MASH, I’m going to marry Analia, live in North Dakota in a shack, earn a million dollars a year working in the local circus, and drive an Aston Martin...not too shabby.

After all that stimulating conversation (sense the sarcasm), we needed to rest our minds by dancing our hearts out so we headed to the local club. We danced the night away, and then I called it night, walking the 100 yards or so to my house. Yeah I live super close to the club so every Saturday night I hear the constant beat well into the early morning.

Oscar B-day Party

2009-10-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

September 18th, 2009

Oscar is the son of the Kurupí millionaires, and it was time to celebrate his birthday. His birthday party paled in comparison to the overly extravagant Quinceañera thrown for their daughter just a few months ago, but still was a really good time. I know how extravagant it was because they showed me the pictures from the party. It was literally something like the Sweet 16s on MTVs My Sweet 16 TV show.

If I get a chance, I’ll go by and try to take a few pictures of the pictures they have to show you how amazing this party was. I’m really beginning to see why Latin America has the highest gap between the rich and the poor of anywhere in the world.

Anyway, it’s Oscar’s day, so on to his party. We started things off the Paraguayan way. All the guys stood outside in a circle drinking and cracking jokes on each other while the girls sat inside, most probably gossiping about the guys outside.

The adults sat around a large table, and were served appetizers and expensive whiskey and wine.

Once the food was ready, all the boys sat around on table on the outside and the girls sat around a table on the inside. I swear...I don’t know what it is exactly that creates this cultural phenomenon, but it’s like half grown males and females act like children at a dance in the States. They even treat relationships like we did in Elementary. If a girl is interested in a guy for example, they will send a friend to tell him she likes him and ask if he likes her back. It’s going to take me some time to adjust to this part of the culture.

We ate some rather good, yet tough grilled meat, various salads, and of course mandioca.

After dinner, we went back outside for more standing around and drinking before heading inside for the disco party that ensued. They had hired an incredible DJ who brought a powerful sound system and lights. We danced and partied into the night, and when I was all partied out, I headed home.

For future travelers coming to Paraguay....BEWARE! Most Paraguayans can easily drink you under the table and they are accustomed to partying until at least 5 in the morning before even considering calling it a night.

I was told they stayed for a while after I left, and a big group ended up jumping into the pool despite how cold it was that night.

Arrested Development

2009-10-21T10:51:00.000-07:00

September 12th, 2009

Pretty uneventful weekend. I stayed in bed most of it watching three seasons of Arrested Development.

If you know the show or the meaning of the title, you’ll understand why the title of this blog is a double entendra.

Best Hamburgers in Town Taste Test

2009-10-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

September 10th, 2009

The following night, Peke and I got hungry and went to my favorite hamburger spot near the town plaza called Sabrosos. If you’ve been following my blog, you may recall this place from way back when I was on my future site visit.

I like these burgers so much because of the special sauce (which I later found out is only ketchup and mayo mixed together) along with how delicious and greasy it is.

So we scarfed down a burger each and then headed to a local store to buy a gaseosa (soda). The store is conveniently located next to Peke’s favorite burger stand, and we were both still hungry and arguing over who had the best burgers in town, so we decided to go for another burger each.

Although that burger was bigger and also pretty good, I still maintain that Sabrosos is the most sabroso in San Juan, though my neighbor’s stand gives them a run for their money.

After eating this burger, we headed to Crisol’s for a few games of pool. Oh the life of a Peace Corps Volunteer...My biggest worries these days include deciding which burger place to choose and whether or not to play an extra game of pool. Haha.

Paraguay vs. Argentina

2009-10-21T10:48:00.000-07:00

September 9th, 2009

I know most of my readers probably don’t fully appreciate how huge of a deal fútbol, or soccer, is in Paraguay, and specifically how HUGE the Paraguay vs. Argentina game is and was, so allow me to educate you...

First of all, I would be comfortable in saying there are more people in Paraguay who go to soccer fields around the country than Church on Sunday. Fútbol is a major deal in Paraguay, as in most other Latin American countries, and indeed other countries around the world.

Up to this point, Paraguay had only ever beaten Argentina once. Argentina has historically had very successful soccer teams and is the single most hated rival for Paraguay. The fact that Argentina usually has a great team and has beaten Paraguay in all but one contest combined with the fact that Argentina is the dramatically more economically successful next-door neighbor explains the roots for such a heated rivalry.

So now that I’ve set the stage, allow me to explain the happenings of September 9th, 2009, yet another day that will live in infamy in the minds of the fanatical Paraguayan soccer following.

Peke, my best friend in site, my host sister, Tati, and I were all huddled around a small television in Tati’s apartment upstairs. It was a great game. Paraguay scored a goal in the 29th minute, and nearly scored twice more in the 1st half, hitting the posts each time, which had Paraguayan soccer fans around the country jumping out of their seats. After that, it was a long defensive struggle. Even though there was only one goal scored, it was a classic game. We were on the edge of our seats as Argentina nearly scored several times in the second half, but in the end, Paraguay held the hungry Argentineans off and edged out the victory, securing their place in South Africa for the World Cup!

As soon as the whistle blew, Paraguay, including my town went CRAZY. David had beaten Goliath. Paraguay had beaten Argentina for only the second time ever. Peke and I jumped up and started high fiving, screaming, chanting, “Paraguay, Paraguay, Paraguay.” We ran to the window and started shouting as bombs exploded all over the city. Within minutes, there were hundreds of cars and motos parading through town flying Paraguayan flags, playing loud music, and honking. People were out in the streets dancing, jumping up and down, giving high fives and thumbs up, cheering, setting off fireworks, and chanting in celebration of Paraguay’s big victory. After the big parade, we headed down to the town plaza where we hung around watching as people revved their motos, drank, and generally socialized and celebrated. It was an amazing atmosphere. Oh the simple joys in life...

WATCH THIS VIDEO

Botched Attempt at Brownies

2009-10-21T10:44:00.000-07:00

September 8th, 2009

I’ve been craving sweets something serious lately. Although there are some sweets such as ice cream, candy, and simple cakes available in my town, I still haven’t been able to find the types of sweets to satisfy the sweet tooth I’ve developed recently. Anyone that knows me from the states can attest to the fact that I usually don’t eat a ton of sweets, but for some reason here, I’ve been craving them lately.

I acquired a few recipes from Nurse Mary who is infamous for good sweets and set about making some brownies. My host sister, Tati, and I followed the instructions and made the brownies. The recipe called for a 9 X 13 inch pan. I measured a few of the pans available and picked the closest one. It seemed a bit small but since I had measured it, I didn’t think anything about it. Somehow I read the 9 X 13 part wrong and instead measured for a 7 X 9 or so pan. Don’t ask me how that happened. It just did. As the pan was deep and not long or wide enough, the top burned and the middle didn’t cook. So Tati and I improvised. We removed the top part and poured the remainder in a bigger, shallower pan, and re-cooked the brownies. They didn’t come out thick, soft and fluffy as I had hoped for, but regardless were pretty good in the end.

Carlos came over and inquired what they were. I told him they were called “brownies,” or “marroncitos,” and told him to try them. I ensured him he would like them. Paraguayans in general are pretty resistant to change and to trying new things. He resisted at first, saying, “No! No! I don’t know what that is.” “No, I don’t want to try it.” He kept resisting and I kept insisting. I told him they were sweet and just to try one, and pretty much forced him into it.

It was like watching a crack addict take his first hit. He had one taste and subsequently nearly ate the whole pan.

Here is a picture of Carlos for reference of why I knew he was prone to liking the brownies and how he was capable of nearly finishing off the pan singlehandedly.

Family Grill Out for Cristina

2009-10-21T10:42:00.000-07:00

August 23rd, 2009

The next day, we had a family Welcome Back asado for Cristina. This gave me a chance to meet some members of the family who I hadn’t met yet including a few girls that live next door, and Claudia, who is Cynthia’s sister. Cynthia is my office mate at work who found me a place to stay. My host brother Carlos served as cocinero. I served as taste tester of the chorizo.

I had a good time playing a few games of Paraguayan kid style Volleyball. We placed a broomstick and a long tree limb on the ground, and that served as the net.

Asado at Millionaire’s House

2009-10-21T10:39:00.000-07:00

August 22nd, 2009

My host sister, who had been living in Washington D.C. as part of a live-in Nanny and English study program, was rather enthusiastically welcomed back home the moment she stepped off the bus. The family wasn’t expecting her for a few more days so they were surprised to see her. She came early in an attempt to avoid them picking her up at the airport and a big, extravagant welcome (which she didn’t avoid anyway). A few people found out she was back and within a matter of minutes, family and friends starting pouring into the house, where they all sat in a circle yelling over each other.

It was pretty hectic so I couldn’t make out much of the conversations. Before too much longer, my host mom decided an asado (barbeque) was in order, and a rather benevolent lady offered to have it at her house, which is just a few houses down from mine.

Within minutes, I found myself in an environment that had me questioning whether or not I was really in the Peace Corps. The benevolent woman who offered to have the asado at her house is the owner of Kurupí and Te Guarani, probably the two biggest national brands in Paraguay. Kurupí is my favorite brand of yerba for t-ray and mate, the traditional drinks in Paraguay, and Te Guarani is a family of tea brands. Needless to say, I was amazed to find myself in a mansion (by Paraguayan standards at least). They have a glass building in the middle of their patio, which is complete with luxurious couches, a big flat screen TV, a nice dining table, a bar, a massive grill, bathroom, and kitchen. It’s like a mini house apart from the larger house. They have a full time staff consisting of a cocinero (grill man), maid/chef, and security guard.

Within an hour of so of arrival, I was chowing down on the best asado I had eaten up to this point as well as salads and sausages. Oh and did I forget to mention, they had an open bar where you could have your choice of beer, liquor, or wine. I took a stroll around the place and found a really nice truck, a 7 series BMW, a four-wheeler, 2 jet-skis, and a belowground pool.

I felt really good and REALLY GUILTY at the same time. Here I am a Peace Corps Volunteer, and while some of my colleagues are out in the campo squatting in outhouses and bringing in water from their well, I’m chatting it up with Paraguayan Millionaires, eating great food that was prepared and served to me by a professional staff, and generally just living lavishly.

After everyone had finished eating, we sat around drinking, joking, and having a good time. I received a text from a fellow Volunteer, Claire, asking what I was up to. I replied that I was chillin’ at a Millionaire’s house to which she replied that she was doing the same thing, also at a Millionaire’s house, to which I replied, “We are awful Peace Corps Volunteers.”

After a string of texts and a few more calls, she and her Paraguayan friends picked me up in front of the house, and I went back to another very nice house, where we proceeded to sing songs in Spanish Karaoke style. After a few hours of this I was tired and ready to call it a night, but Claire dragged me to the club despite my efforts to convince her otherwise. I danced a bit but then escaped unnoticed and headed home to pass out.

White Men Can’t Jump (and neither can Paraguayans)

2009-10-20T15:42:00.000-07:00

August 21st, 2009

The next day, one the guys (I still don’t know his name) that I met while visiting my site as a trainee invited me out to play some b-ball. The b-ball court is just a few blocks from my house. For the most part, Paraguayans are horrible at basketball. Haha. Regardless, it was a lot of fun, and I met some cool kids on the court. I also taught them to play horse but instead of spelling horse we spelled Chancho (pig).

I wanna be a cowboy baby

2009-10-20T15:31:00.000-07:00

I arrived to my site, San Juan Bautista, around 9:00 PM on August 18th, 2009.

As of today, October 18, 2009, I have been here for exactly 2 months now. Although I made a few general posts during that time, I have been really slack on describing what’s been going on in my life since Swearing-In.

I’ve had a lot of fun in the last two months and can honestly say that being a Volunteer is a lot better than being a Trainee, although I do miss my host family and friends from training from time to time.

In this series of posts, I’m going to hit the highlights of the last two months and describe what my typical day is like now that I’m in site.

August 20th, 2009-

VAC Meeting at Ranch

VAC, which stands for Volunteer Advisory Council, is the mechanism for formal communication between Volunteers and the Peace Corps Paraguay executive management. All volunteers belong to a VAC group, which is organized regionally, and then representatives from each regional VAC get together once a month in Asunción for an NVAC, National Volunteer Advisory Council, meeting.

My VAC group did it up big and welcomed the new G30 VAC members (Arthur, Dina, and myself) in style by having a get-together at a nice ranch in San Miguel called San Francisco. It was sort of cold and early morning when we arrived, so we just sat around a fire and chatted it up a bit. Claire, John and his friend visiting from Ecuador, a married couple whose names are Matt and Angie, Arthur and Dina, Michael, Jesus, and myself were in attendance.

John’s friend from Ecuador was really cool. He moved to Ecuador about a year ago to teach English. He didn’t go as part of a program and he didn’t speak a lick of Spanish. He just packed up, flew to Ecuador, and looked for a job. If that isn’t cool enough, consider the fact that he bused from Ecuador to Bueños Aires and then on to Paraguay to meet up with John, crossing the Atacama Desert and racking up a whole host of interesting, adventurous experiences and stories in the process.

After a bit of chatting, we went outside, mounted some horses, and went on a very tranquil ride around the ranch, which is a beautiful, vast track of land.

I forgot how much I love riding horses. On the way back, I rode faster than I ever have before, including racing horseback on a beach in Greece. There is something freeing and adventurous about being mounted atop a horse in full gallop. I think there’s a good chance I’ll own a horse one day.

After riding horses, we satisfied the appetite we had built up by eating a delicious meal, and shortly after headed back to our respective sites.

Great Swearing-In Speech

2009-09-30T12:21:00.000-07:00

The Much Anticipated Swearing-In Speech by Ronnell Perry

This post is a little delayed, being that we swore in on August 14th, 2009, but I had to wait for Ronnell to get some free time and access to the Internet, of which one he has a lot of and the other hardly any of out in the campo where he lives.

When CHP asked for nominations for someone to make the Swearing-In speech, I instantly nominated Ronnell, because I knew without a doubt that he, more than anyone else in our group, was the man for the job. He came through as expected and delivered a fantastic speech that put both the Country Director's and Ambassador's speeches to shame. I've included the transcript for his speech for your enjoyment. So without further ado...I give you the fresh, the fantastic, Ronnell Perry.

Asuncion, Paraguay
Aug. 14, 2009
US Embasador's Residence

This speech is going to go fairly quickly. I am kinda in a rush. I have an appoinment with a banking official becuase I am just hours away from becoming millionaire!...well a Paraguayan millionaire and I dont know about you guys, but this is my first time, so I am kinda anxious to get out of here and reap my fortune? Now, if I get my phone aftewards, I wil call you and tell you where I spent my guaranies.

Mba’echaepa Madame Ambasdasor. On behalf of G-30, I’d like to thanks for your hospitality and opening your home to us on this occassion. Also, Buen dia to Donald Clark, Director of Peace Corps Paraguay APCD Elisa Chague.

Buen dia guests.

And buen dia G-30!

Most of us who came to Paraguay on May 28 of this year quickly discovered that the Peace Corps Paraguay packing list was quite inadequate. My fellow group mates and I have come to the conclusion that the very things that we were advised not to pack were some of the items that we want and need most. As says the packing list, denim jeans, sunglasses, baseball caps and other items were some of the things that most Paraguayans don’t wear. That may have been true a few decades ago, but I would say that things have changed. but I’d like you to check out what the folks are wearing on the colectivo and in the campo. The ironic conclusion though, is that we could have left all luggage and bags behind in the US, and still made it to Paraguay equipped with what we truly need to be able to connect with this country and serve its people. Igual, podemos servir al pueblo Paraguayo sin nuestras cosas materiales.

Furthermore, there are some items that we came to find that we need but actually did not pack with us. But we still brought them. We were not able to actually pack them, but we still carried them with us. Thats because they are intrinsic to what makes us human. We were born with those items that we need most to live and serve in the world. We came into life with our brain, eyes, ears, hands, mouth, legs and most importantly, our heart. Lo mas esencial es el corazon. These items, though not on the Peace Corps Paraguay packing list, we have found them to be most practical, most useful and most effective at completing our mission of service and sharing. Unlike clothing, flashlights and laptop computers; our brains, eyes, hands, mouths, legs and hearts give us the tools not just to stay warm, navigate blackouts or type up pedidos. But they also give us the opportunity to absorb both tangible and intangible elements of our new environment, process new events and feel love. Amor para la gente, para el pais, amor para el mision de Cuerpo de Paz.

Yes, business apparel will give the appearance of a well-spoken man, but the contents of his brain and the eloquence of the words from his mouth, and mastery of the language will be the manner in which he can prove it. Expensive water-proof hiking boots will help us to maneuver rugged terrain, but our eyes and ears will be the tools we use to help lead us back to town if we get lost. We will follow the smell of carbon burning, sopa paraguaya cooking and the sound of kids playing. If the very laptops that we were told not to bring, but are thankful that we did bring, decide to crash, it will be our hands and need for human interaction which brings us back to reality. We will meet people, and shake their hands. We will be pulled along dusty roads by mita’i who will attempt to show us the way to get away from what we brought in our luggage and to reconnect to la vida pura.

Our legs will carry us. So far, they have led us down empedrada roads, caminos feos and into the homes and patios of people that we now call neighbors and families. And once more they will carry us to new homes. These legs will propel our bike petals. Apparently we are the only folks in the entire country that cannot ride motos.

Our hands, mouths, eyes and ears allow us to absorb our new surroundings. When we touch hands with a Paraguayan in the campo, we touch his life-source, the tools that don’t require sharpening or lubrication, the hands that carpir, sembrar, and cosechar cada epoca.

Actually, Peace Corps tested this “built-in luggage” before we were even accepted into the program. Remember those physical exams? and for some of us, rigorous tests to show that our human suitcases were still in working order: legs still ready to walk and or run, eyes still ready to soak up oceans of images, ears able to comprehend a new language or two, mouths ready to smile warmly and make cultural chasms fade away, hands ready to greet others and work in side-by-side Paraguayans, and brains ready to process all of it, learning from the people, allowing us to pack and live lightly. This human luggage as we can call it, allows us, as Peace Corps volunteers and citizens of the world to seamlessly move in and out of contrasting environments. From talking to the president of a comite vecinal, to (in the case of today) potentially giving a speech in front of the President of the Republic of Paraguay. We can seamlessly, go from speaking English, to Spanish to Guarani. Well, this is our goal anyway.

How many of us had an airline loose their luggage? Yes I have too. And just think, we all made it through those next couple of hours or overnight without the seemingly essencial things that we had packed for our trip. And why? Because we are human, we are a part of the animal kingdom. Animals don’t carry sacks of stuff on their backs wherever they go. They already have exactly what they need to survive. And we do too.

So yes, the PCP’y packing list should be revised. Yet, at this point that list would never be able to adequately cover the most essential items that a future volunteer would need. Those items are made up of the things that make us human.

At different points during this training season, I created several Top Ten lists in an attempt to process and annotate all of the things that I was experiencing. And today, I would like to share a new Top Ten list with you all. This list focuses on how I have changed and become a little more tranquilo, a lil’ more Paraguayo, or Brasilero, or whatever. This list includes some things there were difficult to get over for me. And I am sure that you have your own ideas and that you have jumped some of the same hurdles. I hope they have resulted in true changes and adaptation that does not compromise who you are.

Top Ten Things That I am Now OK With:

TEN- I am ok with not having constant internet access. But I think Bambi has found the remedy for that problem.

NINE- I am ok with being the only black male in the group.

EIGHT- I am ok with being asked whether I am Brasilero and explaining that my parents are actually American.

SEVEN- I am ok with letting the women serve me. But on a serious note--I mean to say that I am ok with being a guest in someone’s home and being a guest in someone’s country.

SIX- I am ok with peeing in public. Phew... Sorry girls.

FIVE- I am ok with being the tallest person in almost every setting. And I am ok with people pointing at me and asking me why I am so tall.

FOUR- I am ok with being called el Michael Jackson original, Michael Jordan, and I am definitely ok with being called Obama! And now, I wouldn’t mind being called Aarron Williams...if folks besides Don Clark knew who that is. If you didn’t know, he’s the new PC Director.

THREE- I am ok with my proficiency level in Spanish. And that only means that I understand how much more I need to learn. And that goes for Guarani too.

TWO- I am ok with missing some things that are going on back home. On Fridays, I miss going out to the clubs or out to eat with friends. And on Sundays, I do miss spending time at my grandmothers house. It may just mean that I will have lots of appointments with friends and family to make up when I get back.

ONE- I am ok with Ronnell Perry or Ron as he is now known in the campo. I was ok with him back home, but its totally different in a new culture while still connected to a bunch of Americans. I am ok with who he is as an individual, and who he is in a group setting amongst all of the other personalities and opinions. It doesn't mean that I wont continue to evolve him, but it does mean that comparing him to someone else, or changing him because of negative outside forces wont make him any happier.

Each of us is on that journey. So, when you find it hard, just put on your American hiking boots and your headlamp, and you’ll get there...even if you run into a couple of empedrada roads or a few arroyos y esteros. Remember what you packed and what you didnt have to pack---because those qualities and intangibles will always serve you, you’ll always carry the most effective tools inside.

I love the Internet!

2009-09-24T11:56:00.001-07:00

I wanted to drop in and make a quick, irrelevant to Peace Corps-Paraguay post.

I'm toying with the idea of dropping interesting finds from the Internet that may or may not be related to the main content of this blog. I also may start a different blog in the future detailing my career journey and life experiences, in which I will share resources and insights so that people in similar situations can benefit from. I'm pondering this because I have been reading some amazing blogs that I have learned a lot from lately.

Anyway on to today's post...

I love exploring on the Internet, and it's something I regularly do even though I'm in Paraguay, which may not seem exactly well connected from an Internet standpoint. This is simply not the case in my circumstance...I have Internet access almost every day. Most Volunteers in Paraguay have at least occasional access to Internet. You can even buy a usb modem and monthly internet service from one of the popular service providers (Tigo, Claro, or Personal) and connect from anywhere, anytime. What's best is we can easily afford the service with our monthly stipend. Tigo's unlimited service is 180,000 Gs ($36), and Claro's is 140,000 Gs ($28).

Exploring the Internet is a great way to keep up with news and trends, it can be very educational, and most certainly highly entertaining. At any one time, I'll have about 10-15 tabs going. My tabs may look something like this...twitter, Business Week, meebo (where I can chat with friends across multiple platforms), Harvard's, or another Top MBA program, site, random blog post I somehow discovered with interesting photos or content, Gmail, Wikipedia (where I was just researching something...most recent example: what does Avant-garde mean (it was mentioned in the controversial magazine covers I link to below), site/blog/forum on GMAT/MBA, The Economist, CNN, Facebook, and a Youtube video I found through some source.

I highly recommend using Google reader to subscribe to some blogs, magazines, websites, etc...that you like. That way you only have to visit one place to catch up on your favorite sites, and it indicates when new content is available. I enjoy using twitter and igoogle in a similar fashion. With twitter, you will get linked to so many interesting resources and articles. Just follow people and organizations you have an interest in. It's a really easy way to follow breaking news. Just follow CNNbrk. Some other examples of organizations/people I follow include: The Economist, Harvard Business School News, The Mckinsey Quarterly, The Wall Street Journal, a few CEOs including Jack Welch, and even Ashton Kutcher (who is the King of Twitter and actually posts really interesting content). I am in the process of finding some other people/organizations to follow who provide really interesting/funny/educational/entertaining content.

With igoogle you can personalize your google page with stuff, and then check it daily. A few examples from mine include a GMAT question of the day, a motivational quote of the day, top stories of the day, a spanish word of the day, articles from Freakonomics, various business blogs/articles, a sacred place of the day photo, and of course the weather, date/time, and a things to do list, among other things.

If you take a little time to explore the Internet each day, you'd be amazed at what you will find and learn. There are a ton of new ideas and things to discover at your fingertips!

In fact, there is a site dedicated to helping you randomly "stumble upon" interesting things on the Internet related to your interest. It's called stumbleupon.com and you can install the stumble upon button on your toolbar and press it when you want to see something new. It will take you to a site, which you can check out and then let stumbleupon know if you liked it or not. Over time, it learns from you and tailors the results to your preferences. It even stores the sites you like in a special subsection of your bookmarks.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/

Another site for exploring blogs and websites of interest to you is alltop.com. This site is amazing, and I highly recommend checking it out. Just enter some search terms of topics that interest you. Then once you find some specific blogs or sites you want to follow on a regular basis, either add it to your Myalltop or subscribe to it using your google reader.

Myalltop enables you to create a personal, online magazine rack of your favorite websites and blogs. You can create a personal collection from over 32,000 information sources—if you’re interested in something, they probably have it covered.

http://alltop.com/

Below, I'm going to describe and link to a sample of some of the most recent interesting things I've discovered on the Internet, which aren't Business/GMAT/MBA/Consulting specific, (which I spend most of my time researching, and which most likely isn't of interest to you).

Bill Clinton's Global IQ Test

A donor has pledged to give $1 for every quiz completed to support the work of the Clinton Foundation. I urge you to take this short quiz. It is only 10 questions, and has some interesting, eye opening information about global problems. I tip my hat to Bill Clinton, and the work he is doing to help solve some of the world's largest problems. To take the quiz and do your part in helping address problems such as AIDS, Childhood Obesity, Climate Change, Poverty, among others, just click the link below.

President Bill Clinton Global IQ Test | William J. Clinton Foundation

Most Controversial Magazine Covers of All Time

This is a link to the 29 of the most controversial magazine covers of all time. It includes TIME Magazine's cover featuring Hitler as Man of the Year, their cover portraying OJ as dark and menacing, and The New Yorker's political satirical cartoon of Michelle and Barack Obama as a terrorist and Muslim respectively. I found it really interesting and now I'm passing it along to you.

http://tinyurl.com/n5reus

Meebo

Meebo.com is a really cool online platform where you can simultaneously see and chat to all your friends from different chatting platforms such as Facebook, Myspace, AIM, MSN messenger, G chat, etc...

http://www.meebo.com/

Cute Amazing Fun

Cute Amazing Fun is a blog that posts cute, amazing, and funny pictures. I subscribe to this blog from my Google Reader.

http://cuteamazing-fun.blogspot.com/

Some finds from the past:

Videos You HAVE TO WATCH!

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2477636/everything_is_possible/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5zlf2cxj98

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BudhFVnN2o0&feature=player_embedded

News Map

News Map is a giant visualization of current news that is displayed as an interactive news feed, which puts news in smaller or bigger sizes depending on how big or important the news is right now.

http://newsmap.jp/#

For Music Lovers:

Musicovery:

Musicovery allows you to select a mood, and then it creates a web of music you can listen to that fits that mood. You can then select certain genres of music you want to listen to, set results to filter certain decades, explore hits, mark your favorite artists and songs to listen to later, discover less popular songs you may like, etc... It's an endless, interactive web of music!

http://musicovery.com/

8 Tracks

8 Tracks is a simple way for people to create or listen to a track listing of 30 minutes of music, traditionally roughly 8 songs. You can explore by genre and look at popular, recent or even random mixes. I've found some really cool stuff on here, and it's another great way to discover new music you like.

http://8tracks.com/

Fine Tune

On fine tune, you type an artist's name and they create a playlist of related music for you to listen to. You can also listen to professionally managed playlists in a radio station kind of format. I use it in order to hear songs off an album before I actually download it, as well as discover artists similar to artists I really like.

http://www.finetune.com/

Random

Unnecessary Knowledge

The title says it all!

http://www.unnecessaryknowledge.com/

Personal Finance

Mint.com

Mint.com is a free and effortless online money management system. You can get weekly emails of your net worth standing, account balances, etc... You can get alerts of bills that need to be paid, create budgets, analyze spending, etc...

http://www.mint.com/

That is all for today's post. Hopefully I've inspired you to explore a little more on the Internet, and maybe even made you laugh with some of the Videos from above. Stay tuned...I hope to write some blog posts in the near future describing events as of late, what my new life is like so far in San Juan, and maybe even a brief introduction to Paraguay.

To Future Volunteers- Information and Recommendations concerning Training

2009-09-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

On Training

This post is mostly written for the benefit of future trainees in Paraguay, and more specifically, future Rural Economic Development (RED) and Municipal Development (Muni) trainees. Others may or may not find it interesting, so feel free to skim through this part, but be sure to check out the pictures to see where I spent the majority of my first 3 months in Paraguay (in the training facilities). Also I provide a lot of insights here and there that may or may not be interesting to a non-applicant audience.

It’s a HUGE and detailed post, so come back to it when you have some time on your hands or tackle it in chunks. I included some formatting, which should help if you want to scan and look information of interest to you.

I know what it is like to pour through volunteers’ blogs in an attempt to gather information and gain insights, so I’m going to give it to you straight and try to be as thorough as possible. With that said, this is written from my perspective so please don’t take this as the Gospel on training in Paraguay. Any number of factors will affect your unique experience including the season, your host community, what sector you’re in, your background coming into training, your personality, who your tech trainer is, etc...

When preparing this blog entry I tried to think of questions and expectations I had before leaving for training and also tried to provide some insights into a few things I had no notion of before coming, but which would have been helpful had I known early on. I also spoke with some of my fellow trainees to generate some additional perspectives/ideas.

The welcome book does a really great job at covering all the basics, so I highly suggest carefully reading it (I know it’s tempting to just skim through it). It’s pretty comprehensive and accurate except in a few instances, which I’ll point out later. I’ll give you a perspective on a few things co vered in the welcome book and go into more detail for some of the others.

Some of you may be simply trying to see what your future life might be like, others trying to figure out what to pack, and others may be seeking information, which will help you in deciding whether or not to accept your invitation or whether or not to even leave for staging. Whatever your circumstance, I hope you find some of the information contained in this post useful, and you arrive to Paraguay with realistic, informed expectations for training. If you have questions I haven’t answered here or elsewhere in the blog, feel free to drop it under the comment section, and blogspot will email me letting me know I have received a comment. I have regular access to Internet, so I should be able to get your question and respond within a reasonable amount of time. If you would like to ask your question privately or have a long question or feel the response might be long, just request that I not post the comment and include your email. I will not allow the comment to go up (I have to approve them before they post), and will email you back with a response.

Some of the info/suggestions are season specific. So that you’ll have a reference, my training started May 28th, 2009 and I swore in on August 14th, 2009.

Agenda for today’s post:

Describe in detail training location, structure, content, and quality
Provide Packing Recommendations
Provide general info
Give overall recommendations

Training Location, Structure, Content and Quality

Location

The central training center, called CHP, is located in a town called Guarambaré, which is about an hour south of Asunción by bus. It is called CHP because that is the name of the organization to whom Peace Corps Paraguay outsources its training. For now, all trainees regardless of sector train at this location.

Here are some photos of that location:

There are also satellite-training locations located in the designated host communities, which are subject to change at random.

There were two communities, which housed G30, which is made up of 10 RED and 8 Muni Volunteers. As an FYI, our group is typically the smallest training group. As another FYI, we are called “G30,” because we are the 30th group that has trained in Guarambaré.

RED stayed in a community called Paso de Oro, which is a humble, yet, quaint community on a red, dirt road about 30 minutes from Guarambaré by bus. Muni stayed in a community called J.A. Saldivar, which is a little more developed than Paso de Oro also located about 30 minutes by bus from Guarambaré. Since RED Volunteers typically live in more rural areas, it makes sense for them to get a glimpse of that environment during training, and Muni stays in a community more representative of what their future reality will be like. J.A. Saldivar has paved and cobble stone roads, multiple internet cafes at close proximity, businesses, etc... J.A. Saldivar is a small town whereas Paso de Oro is more representative of a rural neighborhood in Paraguay.

The satellite training centers are called “CHPi” because if you want to say something is small or little in Guaraní, you just add an “í” on the end of the word. Therefore, the satellite training centers are small CHP training facilities.

I am a RED Volunteer so my CHPi was located in Paso de Oro. It is centrally located in the community. Most of us could walk there within a few minutes, though there were two people in our group who had about a 15-minute walk to class. Here is a photo of the RED CHPi in Paso de Oro.

This is a family’s house. The family lets Peace Corps use the house for our training facility. It works out pretty well. Their rooms are in a separate portion of the house, and the rooms/halls are partitioned off so as the family members can come and go without being noticed by the trainees and staff. The lady of the house is really nice. There are 2 dogs and a monkey. One of the trainees actually lived with this family during training (so their commute to class was super short!). This may or may not be your future CHPi. I say that because Peace Corps may or may not continue to use this house as its training facility and may or may not use Paso de Oro as your host community. Either way, it gives you a good idea of what it might be like.I’m going to give a few overall recommendations to wrap this incredibly long blog entry up. These recommendations are both from other Volunteers and myself.

Structure

Training consists of 3 main areas: Language, Technical, and Common Areas.

Class is held Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning in the respective satellite training communities. Class starts at 7:45 AM, breaks for lunch from 11:30 AM-1:00 PM, and then ends by 5:00 PM. Throughout the morning session we get a few 15 minute or so breaks before lunch, which are awesome by the way! We cook popcorn and stand around talking/hanging out while eating various snacks. Everyone comes together on Wednesdays in Guarambaré. Class starts at 8:00 AM, breaks for lunch from 11:30 AM-1:00 PM, and then ends at 5:00 PM. On Wednesdays most people bring lunches or find something in Guarambaré to eat. Sundays are free. This schedule is interrupted by field trips to actual volunteer sites such as PCV site visit (4 days), Tech Excursion (2 days), Long Field (5 days), and Future Site Visit (5 days). I’ve described these in detail in past posts. There are also 5 “Dias de Practicas” (Practice Days) where we spend half of a Thursday with someone in our community learning about their business or organization and then delivering 2 small presentations in an effort to model the process of what happens in the field. On those days we met up at CHPi at 1:00 PM and usually left by 3:00 PM.

Content & Quality

Language

Language Level testing and placement:

Language is by far the biggest chunk of training in terms of hours allocated, and for good reason. Language can be broken down into 2 parts, Spanish and Guaraní. Shortly after arriving to Paraguay, trainees’ Spanish levels are tested through a LPI (Language Proficiency Interview). The test is basically a one-on-one oral interview with one of the language staff. The scale is as follows: Novice-Low, Novice-Mid, Novice-High, Intermediate-Low, Intermediate-Mid, Intermediate-High, Advanced-Low, Advanced-Mid, Advanced-High, and Superior. The results of the language interview determine your placement into one of three language classes: basic Spanish, Intermediate Spanish, or Guaraní. If you place at or above the Intermediate-Mid level in Spanish, you will begin learning Guaraní from Day 1.

You are tested 2 more times throughout training (once after the first 4 weeks and again at the very end of training). Once trainees reach the Intermediate-Mid level, they transition into learning Guaraní. By the end of training everyone gets at least a bit of basic Guaraní instruction. To give you an idea, of the 10 RED trainees, 3 of us tested into Guaraní, 4 tested into Intermediate Spanish, and 3 tested into Basic Spanish. I tested at least at Intermediate-Mid because I started in Guaraní. To give you an idea of what it takes to place at certain levels, I minored in Spanish in college and studied abroad in Barcelona for a semester. That was the extent of my Spanish language learning. By the time I finished training, I tested into Advanced-Low.

CHP staff preaches that you MUST reach at least an Intermediate-Mid in Spanish to qualify for Peace Corps service. They even tried to tell me I had to reach an Intermediate-Mid level in Guaraní, since I started in Guaraní, in order to be recommended. The latter is 100% BS...nothing more than a motivation tactic. The former is a technical rule, but it isn’t enforced. I can promise you that at least two for sure and probably a few others in our RED group did not have an Intermediate-Mid level of Spanish at the end of training. EVERYONE passes. Barring a really (and I mean REALLY) horrible attitude and terrible behavior during training, you will be recommended for service, and will swear in if that is your wish. Peace Corps will pay for a tutor in your site if you request it. I say really horrible attitude because I saw at least one case of a person with a really negative, unmotivated, and sarcastic attitude combined with horrible Spanish who had no problems getting recommended for service.

So don’t get stressed out about it or let their scare tactics get to you. Try hard to improve your language skills as rapidly as possible because that is the first hurdle to jump when trying to integrate and effectively work within the community. Try hard to reach the highest level you can for you and your future community members, family, and coworkers.

If you would like to get more review and practice with Spanish before moving on to Guaraní, I would suggest botching the first language interview. I know that’s a controversial thing to say, but I told you I was going to give it to you straight.

In hindsight I wish I had done this, because my Spanish could have been rock solid by the end of training with just a bit more tweaking. I was missing some of the compound tenses, some of the subjunctive, and correct usage of commands. I ended up pulling it together at the very end of training, but I could have had all of training to be practicing instead of learning it at the very end. It would have meant 4 less weeks of Guaraní, which wouldn’t have made much of a difference since most of the people who started in Intermediate Spanish had about the same level Guaraní as me when we finished training.

In my opinion, the substantial increase in Spanish is worth much more than the marginal increase in Guaraní.

On the other hand, if you want to focus on Guaraní, I suggest studying up on Spanish before coming and then nailing the first language interview. Then once you start classes you’ll want to make sure to make flash cards early and often, review them frequently, and force yourself into Guaraní as much as humanly possible. If you were super hardcore about learning Guaraní, you could ask your family to only speak to you in Guaraní since that’s really the only way you’re going to quickly learn it. It would be really difficult and it’s so tempting to just fall back on Spanish, but if you truly are interested in becoming fluent in Guaraní that’s a sacrifice you’ll have to make to get to your end goal.

Rightsizing Expectations:

So you may wonder what the class is like and how much your language skills will improve during the 3 months of training. I had very high expectations coming into training, and thought this would be some of the best formal language learning around. I thought it was going to be really rigorous and first class language instruction for the following reasons:

Peace Corps has been training Volunteers in new languages for over 45 years
It is a government agency (Can you imagine CIA language training?)
Peace Corps Volunteers get trained in crazy hard African languages and after 3 months are able to go live and work in a village without being able to fall back on a language they already pretty much know! (I tip my hat to those volunteers).

So I thought my Spanish would be rock-solid after 3 months and I would be fairly fluent in Guaraní by the end of training. This was not the case at all. Don’t get me wrong, my Spanish improved a good bit, and I learned a little Guaraní, but I didn’t come anywhere close to what I had envisioned. Everyone improved but only marginally. 3 months is a relatively short amount of time even if you do spend over 3 hours a day, 6 days a week studying it. So I’m just saying if any of you are like me, please adjust your expectations and save yourself the frustration. The classes most likely aren’t going to do it for you. If you want high language proficiency in one or both languages by the end of training, you’re most likely going to have to work very hard on your own (which there isn’t much time for) and practice with your family a lot. Most people end up developing the language capability over the 2 year time period. Most everyone speaks and understands both languages so some volunteers just don’t learn Guaraní. Others focus on it and become really fluent in it. It has a bit to do with your site placement, (in some Guaraní is spoken a lot more than others) and a lot to do with your personal motivation.

Even if you decide not to focus a lot of time and energy on learning Guaraní, you should make an effort to learn some basics and the groserias (bad words/vulgar sayings/insults) because if you throw around a little Guaraní, especially the groserias if you’re a guy, the Paraguayans will love you and will think you’re so smart. They’re going to joke around with you in Guaraní, and you can either make it awkward or “aprovechar” (take advantage of the situation) and gain instant rapport, friends, and street cred.

Teaching Methodology:

Many of us experienced frustration with the teaching style. In fact, I heard several people on several occasions say how much they hated Guaraní class. I’ve heard this from current Volunteers who visited us during training as well. So if you feel this frustration, it’s normal. It isn’t like your college language classes at all. There are no tests, no quizzes, not a lot of structured grammar instruction, not a lot of independent practice, no reviews, almost no homework, and not a lot of variety (for example in traditional language classes we had worksheets, TV shows, music, games, audio fill in the blank exercises, essays to write, lectures to read and answer questions on, etc...) Also, it isn’t very organized or a logical progression of things, and they reveal things that seemingly should be taught at the same time in little pieces over a long period of time. It’s illogical, and worst of all you have no structured opportunities to practice or test what you’ve learned, and no opportunities to independently implement new concepts, vocabulary, conjugations, etc...I think there are two things going on here. First, in the States, we are used to a style of teaching, which is highly structured, fast-paced, diverse, and rigorous. Second, there are cultural differences between Paraguay and the US, which could contribute to differences in learning/teaching styles. Our teachers were Paraguayan, and remember they grew up under an educational system characterized by rote memorization, lack of creativity, no homework, and almost no critical reasoning or independent thinking.

For the first 4 weeks we basically sat in class and saw one flashcard after another, and then were told to repeat it out loud and then moved on to the next one. After a lot of this the teacher would ask a question to one person and have them respond. Then that student has to ask that same question to his fellow student who has to respond and repeat the process. We did this over and over and over at exhaustion but always adding words.

What ends up happening is you memorize a few questions and answers through repetition and then forget everything else. Then 5 weeks later they start teaching tough concepts and you still don’t know basic verbs or how to conjugate for we, you all, or they because that hasn’t been taught yet. It would have been wonderful to be taught a concept and then given a simple worksheet with blanks where you have to choose the right answer out of several choices or fill in the blank, which would force you to think about it, understand it, and do it so many times that you had it down pat. It would also have been nice to have periodic quizzes or tests that tested a range of concepts, verbs, etc... This way you’re forced to study for it and you could see what you’ve got down and what you’re struggling with. Guaraní class gets monotonous and very boring. I’m being brutally honest here. All of us experienced frustration with this at one time or another, and several of us got to the point of just tuning out and joking around during class.
Having said all that, that is my opinion of it, and your experience could be totally different.

We gave some constructive feedback about the teaching style, and they made a small effort to include a little variety in the classroom. For instance, after 5 weeks, we played our first game, which went over really well. We had a ton of fun and learned a lot. There were 3 cycles during the 11 weeks of training in which we rotated teachers. The first was very monotonous and routine. Just try to get through this one. It at least lays down some of the basics, and a few of them stick around to the second round. The second was more diverse and fun, yet still featured a lot of the flashcard, repeat style. The third focused on speaking, and by that time, two of my three person class had given up on learning Guaraní, at least during training, so we just ate snacks, drank t-ray, took long breaks, led the teacher off on random tangents in Spanish, and joked around a lot.

I say just sit back and enjoy it, learn what you can by naturally being involved in the class and practicing a bit out of class, and then if you really want to learn Guaraní, hunker down in site and get a tutor.

Mike and I ended up having a lot of fun in Guaraní class, and we still managed to learn a bit of the language.

Common Areas

In my opinion, common areas is the area of training where CHP performs best. They provided really great training in terms of culture, health, safety, and practical skills. The one area I think they could improve on, and other Volunteers have confirmed this as well, is Development Work and Techniques.

Teaching Methodology (with examples)

CHP mixes it up quite a bit in their transfer of common areas information. They perform skits, we play games, there are movies, PowerPoints, Field Trips, hands on activities (experiential learning), Volunteer panels, lectures, etc... I have to tip my hat off to the Core CHP staff on this area of training. They kept me engaged, entertained, and learning the whole way through. I’m going to break down each category of common areas training and provide some examples of what we learned and how we learned it.

Culture

In order to teach us about the all-important tradition of tereré, we made it and drank it. This was one of the first activities we did upon arrival in Paraguay, and it was a good thing it came early because it sure did come in handy. They taught us the vocabulary associated with tereré by placing the words by the equipment and supplies. They taught us the dos and don’ts (such as don’t touch the bombilla when the guampa is served to you and don’t say “Gracias” until you’re finished). They taught us how to prepare it step by step by having participants come up and actually try it.

We learned about relationships and the language of love in Paraguay through a lively and interactive class discussion in which we compared both verbal and nonverbal forms of communicating interest in the opposite sex between the US and Paraguay.

We learned about diversity through a fun activity in which we all gathered in a circle and took turns saying what was written on our cards, and stepping inside the circle if what was said applied to us as an individual. It was one of a few crucial group-bonding moments. That was followed up by a volunteer facilitated charla and panel discussion.

We learned about the history of Paraguay through an interactive discussion/lecture. I found this session to be one of the densest sessions from a content perspective. It was a one-day cram session on the history of Paraguay. I really enjoyed the session and learned a lot from it.

We learned about Dia de San Juan through lectures, playing the games, and preparing and eating the traditional foods.

Practical Skills

We learned how to build a garden by building one from scratch. We built the fence out of bamboo and metal wire, formed the beds, prepared the beds for planting, planted the seeds, and watered them. We even planted some seeds in little boxes and then transplanted them later.

Through similar hands on activities we learned to make glasses out of wine bottles, white wash walls, wash clothes by hand, maintain and repair bicycles, cook a meal from soy products, prepare various traditional foods, knit, and plant trees.

We also learned some basics of equipping and maintaining a sanitary kitchen and features of a model, or ideal, house in Paraguay.

Health and Saftey

Most of the health and safety topics were covered through PowerPoints and discussions.

The health and safety sessions were very informative, helpful, and actionable. Even though they weren’t as interactive and unique, in my opinion they were highly effective. I thought the sessions were appropriate for the topic and learning objectives and provided a nice break from all the participatory activities (not to mention Nurse Mary brings delicious treats and is HILARIOUS!). Topics included maintaining dental health while in Paraguay, STDs, proper nutrition, physical/sexual assaults, policies and procedures, and food and water preparation.

Development Work and Techniques

We learned about non-formal education techniques largely through seeing them in action throughout training, and from having to recreate them in our own trainee facilitated sessions. We also learned about development methodologies and PACA (Participatory Analysis for Community Action) tools. In my opinion, a lot of this felt very elementary and awkward to implement, but I guess some of them could be used to get the conversation started in more rural, less educated areas.

I did, however, see one PACA tool used very well. We created an agricultural calendar with a small farmer on Long Field. After we completed it with the farmer, we could see all the crops he grows, and what months he plants and harvests them. This allowed us to see extremely busy periods of the year for him and free periods, and allowed us to brainstorm a little with him about the possibilities of planting more things to be harvested in the down months, and conversations were started about harvesting and storing for sale in later months when supply is low and therefore prices are high.

I wish I had learned a lot more about different development methodologies, how to do community needs analysis, and how to work with other NGOs and development organizations. This would be an area you could begin researching now if you were so inclined. I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve been told that Two Ears of Corn is a good book and also that Banker for the Poor is pretty good as well. I’m sure there are tons of resources out there to learn about international development work, differing methodologies, case studies, and the different organizations doing development work in developing countries. I’m a development worker and just feel like I don’t know much at all about development work.

Overall, our common areas training was pretty good, and I feel like I learned a lot of practical skills, a bit about the history and a lot about the culture of Paraguay.

Technical

I think our technical training content can be broken down into learning about country specific information, business administration, and cooperatives. The methods for learning about these can be categorized into 2 categories (classroom and field trips)

Classroom:

The classroom technical training sessions are held during the afternoons (between 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM) during training days.

The following were the topics of our classroom sessions:

The Economy of Paraguay
Introduction to Cooperatives I
Micro-Economy of the Farm Family
Introduction to Cooperatives II
Small Business Consulting
Accounting and Financial Analysis
Feasibility Studies
Different Types of Cooperatives: Savings and Loan, Production, Artisan
Small Business Development
Marketing and Commercialization
Ethics and Promoting Ethical Business Practices
Gender and Development: Working with Groups
Working with Youth
IT and Secondary Projects
NGOs

The method for teaching these topics was as follows. Trainees were assigned a topic to co-facilitate with a current volunteer in the field. The trainee was responsible for designing that day’s session and coordinate it with the volunteer. CHP really hammers home a specific formula for charlas. That formula goes like this: First start with an icebreaker, which is usually a group game or responding to a question in a circle. Next present the topic using a prewritten large flipchart style presentation. Make sure to make it interactive by asking questions and generally engaging the audience, and make sure your objectives for the session are clear in the beginning. Next do a check for learning activity, and wrap up with closure. Usually the trainees presented the technical or theoretical aspect of the topic and then the volunteer related it within a Paraguayan context.

Comments on Quality and Right-sizing Expectations

These sessions were very, very, very simplistic. I had read a bit of a training manual for trainers of business development volunteers before coming to Paraguay (as part of my thesis preparation), which was actually really good, so I expected really good technical training. I expected it to be detailed, specific, somewhat comprehensive, locally relevant, and provide plenty of opportunities for practicing the newly learned skills. In addition, I expected to have a fairly specific role and to be trained to perform in that role. For example, if we were learning about accounting and financial analysis, we would have several really good lessons on how to prepare books from scratch and then how to analyze financial statements given the reality in Paraguay. Then we would be given several case studies with data, and be responsible for preparing the financials and financial analysis and finally give recommendations for what to do under certain scenarios.

Or if we were learning about feasibility studies, we would see examples of really good feasibility studies for real life projects, learn any skills we would need for conducting the feasibility study, and then practice it.

I even read in the manual that Peace Corps Volunteers were to start their own small store as a training class, and then maintain and improve that store throughout training. You would have to study your market to determine your offering, find suppliers, market it, optimize inventory, create and maintain the books, manage cash flow, distribute day to day duties, etc... This would pull all your business admin learning together in a practical and locally relevant way.

The welcome book says, and I quote, “The training center is staffed by technical specialists who present a detailed curriculum tailored to the job requirements specified by Peace Corps/Paraguay.” This was not the case at all. Every session was really, really basic. If you have a business degree, you have so much more detailed subject matter knowledge than the technical trainer does. Or at least that was true for those of us with business degrees and our trainer. It’s not the tech trainer’s fault either. It’s the system. CHP trains every sector, and uses the same tech trainers to train every sector. So the tech trainers do a good job organizing field trips, facilitating exchanges between trainees and current volunteers, and in some cases pointing to resources, but they can’t be an expert subject matter teacher.

What’s makes matters more complicated is that Volunteers aren’t placed into specific roles, and every Volunteer’s reality is different. The range of work that a Volunteer could do in their site is huge, and the size and sophistication of their counterparts also vary significantly. For example some Volunteers are assigned to a site way out in the countryside and work for a really small agricultural production cooperative that may not have any employees or a computer. They may need help with their business administration, finding access to markets, utilizing computers, soliciting funds, etc... Another Volunteer could be sent to a fairly decent sized city to work with a huge, very sophisticated savings and loan cooperative. This cooperative could be filled with highly educated people, and their administration could be airtight and computer acumen better than yours. It varies so much from site to site and from cooperative to cooperative.

What makes it even more complicated is the fact that Volunteers aren’t placed into their sites until 8 weeks into training, so it’s not even feasible to have independent study time based on your future work assignment.

I say all that to help justify why the technical training is so basic and insufficient in training you to do your job once you get to site, and to help you adjust your expectations going into training. Don’t expect to learn any new skills, how to do what you will do when you’re in site, or even necessarily what types of things you might do in site. It’s wide open, and in most cases completely up to you to figure it out and to do what you want and what you think the community/coop could benefit from.

If you’re looking for things to study up on before coming to Paraguay, which might help you in your future work, I suggest the following:

Study up on Cooperatives (What are they, how they work, laws governing them, different types, best practices from a management prospective, etc...). I can tell you that most likely you’ll be working for an agricultural production, savings and loan, services, consumption, or some combination of those cooperative
Study up on agriculture and small size farming
Study up on how to raise funds and solicit technical assistance from many different national and international organizations (government, NGOS, non-profits, etc...). Try to compile a list of all the possible organizations with which you could possibly collaborate with or get money from (and send that list to me please! Haha!) Look at their application process and try to find some examples of successful applications
Study up on small scale community development projects (What are all the different types of projects development workers do, what makes some projects successful and sustainable and others not, different ideologies of development work, etc...)
Study up on how to navigate the export process (how do you find buyers in other countries and export a finished sugar product for example-→what laws and regulations apply, taxes, tariffs, etc... that has to be paid, transportation issues, sanitary requirements, etc...)
Gain some experience in practical day to day business office operations (many of the coops are really small and just could use help getting their books, records, processes, etc...organized)
Polish your excel skills. I here a lot of Volunteers helping build spreadsheets/teaching excel skills
Build refresh business functional skills (marketing, accounting, finance, operations, finance). There is a good chance you'll be working with either a cooperative that is like a bank in that it provides savings and loan services or a manufacturer in that it is a production cooperative that tries to commercialize agricultural products. Solid skills in marketing (customer service, market research, the 4 Ps, growth strategies, etc...), accounting (building and verifying financials, electronic record keeping, managerial accounting, etc...), operations (efficient processes and work flow, descision analysis, etc..) will generally be useful as you try to diagnose and propose solutions to problems within the cooperative, and share ideas for growth and profitability.

Now on to the best and most helpful part of technical training!!!

Field Trips:

There are two types of field trips: overnight and day trips

Overnight:

Tech Excursion was a trip to Villa Rica, which was home to 2 volunteers. While there we visited a savings and loan coop and a production coop. We also taught charlas in a school and planted trees with the kids.

Long Field was a weeklong technical training session that we spent with a volunteer. During it we talked and sang on the radio, gave charlas to womens’ committees, cut sugar cane, used cow poop to make a compost pile, hoed a section of a field, had presentations from 2 local cooperatives and a former Fair Trade employee turned coop consultant, and talked with a woman about her small business.

PCV Site Visit is where you are paired up with volunteers in the field. You travel, in most cases alone, to the volunteer’s site and hang out with them for a few days. It allows you to see what their life is like. If they do any work related activities you tag along and may even help out. I helped give a charla about the importance of water to middle school aged kids on my PCV Site Visit.

Day Trips:

We had short field trips to a few other cooperatives, Mercado Abasto (Paraguay’s central produce market), and Incoop (the “SEC” of Coops in Paraguay). We also had a field trip to a few high functioning and diversified family farms, and one neither high functioning nor diversified family farm.

Of the classroom and field trips, I think the field trips were more effective in imparting technical knowledge. They afforded many chances to see real cooperatives and quickly learn what they do, how they do it, and types of things they’re working on now. The field trips also afforded many chances to learn about agriculture from the farmers themselves and from participating in the process.

Packing Recommendations

Below I have provided my packing list I used when packing for my 2 year Peace Corps adventure.

You may or may not find it useful in making your own preparations and packing.

First Packing Suggestion: I love music, movies, and books so I collected a lot to take with me. I collected all them in electronic format. I put the books and music on my internal hard drive and the movies on my external hard drive. I have over 130 movies plus several seasons of TV shows. I have some professional reading goals including studying for the GMAT, learning about business functions and different industries, and preparing for some rigorous job interviews when I get back to the states so I collected over 500 eBooks (I know that’s borderline ridiculous but it was free and now I have a decent sized electronic library I can choose from or use as reference materials). I also collected a ton of music, over 75 GB. Once you get to your site, you’ll have plenty of time on your hands so having plenty of movies, music, and books to keep you entertained is a really good thing! So if you have some time on your hands between now and your staging date, I recommend downloading some stuff to take with you. If you don’t know how you just download the torrent from piratebay.org and then open it in frostwire, utorrent, or another torrent program. Let it download and wahlah. Check out the comments and look for torrents with a lot of seeders and not a lot of leechers. I brought two 500 GB Western Digital Passport External Hard Drives with me. One I use for a time machine backup (for you Macs out there), and one for storing things. I also have a 16 GB Corsair Flash Voyager flash drive with me, which is really convenient.

Top 10 Most Useful Things (Outside of normal clothes and toiletries, which are givens):

1. Sleeping Bag-A sleeping bag is absolutely critical. It’s easy to seriously underestimate how cold it gets during the winter, and since there is no indoor heating, it’s freezing during the night. Your sleeping bag plus some clothes and an additional blanket, which your host family will provide, will keep you warm and cozy at night. You will also need to take your sleeping bag with you on all of the overnight trips you go on. It ensures a warm night’s sleep, and keeps you from having to put your face and head on questionable pillows and sheets (if you buy one with a hood). The hood will also keep you warm on extra cold nights, but you don’t have to use it. When it is warm I unzip the bag and use it like a blanket, or sleep on top of it with just a sheet covering me. There was a Volunteer in our group who neglected to bring one, and he regretted it majorly.

Suggestions for what type to buy- I bought a warm weather (40 degree), but lightweight bag, which packs down really tight, making it super tiny. It’s called the Lafuma Warm-n-Light 600 Down. This has worked out perfect. It packs down to the size of a Nalgene bottle, which has been really nice, since it doesn’t force me to use one backpack over another when going on trips, and its not heavy or awkward to carry around. Plus it literally doesn’t take up hardly any room in my backpack, which is awesome. I saw other volunteers lugging around bulky sleeping bags or having to carry huge packs on a short trip. You don’t want this to happen to you because big backpacks or carrying your sleeping bag outside of your pack is just not a good situation on Paraguayan buses. It’s really crowded and bumpy so you want to be as streamlined as possible.

You don’t need a cold weather bag, because it never gets super cold in Paraguay. Our worst day during the winter was 32 degrees Fahrenheit, but because you don’t have any heat inside, you feel it much more than you do in the States. Because most of the days are pretty mild and the summers are extremely hot, it makes sense to buy a bag that is lightweight and warm weather, because it will do the job on the super cold nights if you combine it with some clothes and maybe an extra blanket on top.

I ended up going with down instead of synthetic because of the size savings. I questioned that decision because I was worried about getting it wet, but it has yet to get wet, and I’ve talked to some major outdoors type people who said their bag never gets wet. I had one friend who used a synthetic bag and was thankful because his got wet on a few occasions and dried really quickly, but he was hiking the AT, and slept outside without a tent. I don’t think this will be your reality here in Paraguay.

Based on my research a few other great options would be the Lamina 45 and Ultra Lamina 45 by Mountain Hardware.

2. Laptop- I know the Welcome Book says not to bring it but that is a bunch of BS, and even the Country Director here says he wants to change how the Welcome Book reads about bringing laptops to Paraguay. If you’re worried about losing your data if your laptop were to be stolen, just back it up on an external drive and leave that at home or even bring it with you and keep it in a separate, secure location. Other than that, insurance will buy you a new laptop or even if you have to go out of pocket for a new one, I think it would be worth it.

You could be one of those people that wants to go into the Peace Corps and abandon all technology, eat organic, live exactly as the locals do, etc... If that is the case, then by all means leave your laptop, but I bet a few months into your campo site, boredom will suffocate you and leave you regretting your decision to not bring your laptop. I’ve got a friend whose laptop messed up in training (through no fault of Paraguay) so he doesn’t have one now, and he is so bored. He said he thought he never would get bored of books, but he has. He is now up to a high score of 3005 on snake, the most fun game that comes on our basic cell phones.

And to the point of living like locals...while it is true that most don’t have laptops or even computers in their homes, my host sister actually has one, and I have met a lot of people who do have computers in their home, including my host brother and very humble brother-in-law from training. As for abandoning technology, Peace Corps issues you a cell phone, and almost everyone has TVs and cable in their homes...

My laptop is so useful. I use it as an alarm clock, which wakes me up to pleasant music everyday. I use it to watch movies when I’m bored, sick, or just want to hang out alone in bed. I listen to music, read books, write blog entries, edit photos to post on the blog, store pictures, create spreadsheets, store electronic files Peace Corps gives, have access to most of my records, and even navigate the Internet since my cooperative has Internet. It is your entertainment box, and often becomes the entertainment for your host family. They love looking at your pictures on the computer or watching home movies you’ve taken in the past or while in Paraguay, often times of them. I’ve used it to show them maps or Google Earth as well. Plus I think when the kids see you using it, it instills a burning desire to know how to use it one day, so they will be more likely to learn typing and basic computer skills, which will be a huge asset in their future careers.

3. iPod- Imagine this. You are sitting on a 5-hour bus ride to your new site. You put on a playlist you created especially for this trip. Or, you are in a little van with some of your fellow Volunteers, and everyone else is listening to their iPod. Or, you and a few other Volunteers are drinking at a fellow Volunteer’s house, and someone happens to have some iPod speakers. Enough said.

4. Digital Camera- Taking pictures and videos of your journey is a must!

5. Backpacks- I brought 3 backpacks (small, medium, and large). They have all been incredibly useful...the small backpack for going to class and day trips, the medium for carrying my laptop and short overnight trips, and the large for long overnight trips and traveling around and outside of Paraguay. When I originally came to Paraguay, 2 of those backpacks (the large and the small) were empty. This proved a great strategy since I accumulated things between arriving to Paraguay and leaving for my site. You accumulate a lot of books, papers, notebooks, maybe some clothes and other little things you buy along the way.

6. Windup Flashlight- The electricity goes out often and without notice, so having a flashlight handy is a great idea. It has proven very useful to me on several occasions, including once when I fell in a mud puddle, and used it to retrace my steps and find my camera once I realized I had lost it.

7. A good water bottle- This is harder to find here than you might think, and it’s really useful to have on long bus trips or just to take to class with you.

8. Rain Gear- Sometimes it rains, and you gotta truck through the mud and the muck in the rain to get where you’re going. Then you have to sit wherever you’re at for hours on end, so it’s a good idea to have rain gear to wear. This way you can shed it once you get where you’re going and you won’t be soaking wet and miserable. I bought a Marmot precip rain jacket and the Marmot precip full zip rain pants. They are super light, and the rain jacket packs into one of its pockets, so it’s been really convenient to throw in my pack on a questionable day or for overnight trips.

9. Good, Warm Gloves- It’s really hard to find really good, warm gloves here. Trust me, I tried and failed. I lost my original pair I brought with me, so after suffering a bit with the pair I bought here, my Mom sent me another pair.

10. Warm Socks- The biggest problem I had during the winter was keeping my feet warm. My feet were freezing! My Mom ended up sending me some UnderArmour socks that worked out pretty well. I can give you two suggestions. First wait for a while after you shower to put your socks on, to give them plenty of time to truly dry. It’s not enough to just dry your feet with a towel. Second, double up socks and change midway through the day. The local remedy of keeping feet warm is to warm up some water, dip your feet in it, dry them, and then put your socks on. I didn’t end up trying this method but the locals swear by it.

High-level Comments on packing:

Regarding clothes:

I want to comment on the dress code the welcome book talks about. Don’t worry about it. Apart from wearing shorts, pretty much anything goes. Most people wore jeans, tee shirts, jackets and/or hoodies, etc.. to class. There are a few times where a decent business casual outfit is required, including trips to nice coops or Incoop, and swearing in. Even during the trip to Incoop, some people were pretty casually dressed. That being said, I wish I had brought more casual clothes and less business casual clothes. You are likely to work in a setting in which you won’t need standard business casual attire. From what I’ve seen, most Volunteers wear jeans, tee shirts, and sandals, and then dress business casual for special meetings, etc... My specific coop is very business formal, but there is a uniform, which they are going to provide me, and right now I go to work everyday in a pair of khakis and a short sleeve button up.

I did not anticipate too much cold weather, so I didn’t bring a jacket suitable to wear with business casual, and I wish I had. It doesn’t need to be super formal, like a jacket you would wear with a suit, but not super casual, like what you would wear with a tee shirt out to the movies on a fall night in the States...something lightweight and semiformal.

In seeking feedback from a few other male Volunteers, one Volunteer suggested to buy quick dry stuff (boxers, shirts, etc...). He said it’s worked out nicely for him. He also said when buying new things to maybe buy them a little bit small because they will stretch out in the washing process here. I can ditto that for a pair of my socks and one of my long sleeve knits. They hand wash a lot and I think when they go to scrubbing on them, it stretches them out. This didn’t happen to the majority of my clothes, but for a few articles it was certainly true. Also one Volunteer said not to bring white tennis shoes. The dirt roads and general dirty conditions will ruin them quickly, and Paraguayans take notice to dirty shoes. One of our fellow Volunteers caught a lot of strange stares for his dirty sneaks. Especially the tennis shoes, which have that net material tends to soak up dirt and it’s hard if not impossible to get it out. They say not to bring white tennis shoes, and I agree, but I didn’t bring regular tennis shoes at all, and I regret that decision. Shoes are super expensive on your salary here, and you may end up wanting them once in site. My site has mostly paved and cobblestoned roads, and I would love to have my sneaks. The closest thing I brought is a pair of New Balance hiking shoes.

Two solid pair of comfortable jeans are critical. Sometimes one of your pair will be dirty or in the multi-day laundry process.

Long underwear for wearing under your clothes is a definitely a good idea, as well as plenty of tee shirts and other type of shirts you like. Tee shirts don’t take up that much room, and I wish I had brought more of those and less polos/button-ups.

Rubber flip-flops are a must have for the shower, but you can easily buy a pair anywhere here. I forgot to bring a pair, and ended up just buying a pair off the street. They’re working out great and they were super cheap.

Regarding Toiletries:

You can find a lot more than you might think here in the way of toiletries. Name brand soaps, shampoos, toothpaste, shaving cream, razors, lotion, and even in some cases contact solution is pretty easy to find here, especially in San Lorenzo, Asunción, or any other big city or even small cities and towns in nice pharmacies. So don’t worry about bring large quantities of that stuff. Just bring enough to get you through training, and then reload before going to site or a few weeks after.

What is hard to find, of the things I use, is hair stuff (pomade, gel, etc...), lufas, and facial moisturizer. Unless you have specific needs or can’t live without an exact name brand or line within a name brand, I think you’ll be fine with what’s available. They have Dove, Pantene Pro-V, Colgate, Gillette, etc...

Also, if you wear contacts, you’re completely straight to wear them here. I have been wearing mine without any problems at all, and have even seen a few places to buy contact solution. If you like wearing your contacts instead of glasses, don’t let the welcome book scare you. You will be fine wearing them here. In fact, I’ve been wearing mine more here than I did in the States.

Regarding Miscellaneous Items:

I have been told to bring more Gatorade powder than you might originally think to bring. One Volunteer has run out 3 months in and really wishes he had more. I, on the other hand, still have my one tub of Gatorade powder left in tact, but that’s because I’m treating it like medicine only to be used during extreme sickness and dehydration. He’s treating his like a delicious drink to treat himself with.

Compact iPod speakers are a great idea. Whether you’re hanging out with Volunteers in a hotel room, using it as entertainment and background noise while t-raying with your host fam, or just using it in your room, it’s a handy thing to have.

The Swiss Army knife has come in handy several times, and I bet if you get a really campo site, it might be even more useful than I have found it.

Two regular towels has been really useful as well. The family’s towels suck. Their either really thin or really dirty and gross. I haven’t seen a place to buy a decent towel yet, and you don’t want to use your camping towel everyday. Save the camping towel for your overnight trips.

The playing cards have been awesome. I played a lot of Go Fish with the kids, and they loved it.

The print photos are also nice to have. I used them to show my host fam my previous life, and also used them in an assignment to talk about your family in Guaraní class. Some people used theirs during their 10 minute self presentation everyone has to give during training.

Regarding medicine:

Only you can decide what’s right for you to bring in this department, but I will say that the medical support from Peace Corps is awesome, and you literally have access to just about anything you want. So if space is a concern, and you’re wondering whether or not to bring some meds, I’d say lean towards either not bringing them or bringing a small supply, because Medical Mary and the Peace Corps Medical Office will hook you up! They have everything you can imagine needing!

Regarding Gifts:

I ended up buying gifts in the airport. I bought candy for the father and/or children and a little box of several perfumes for the mother. They were well received. Some people didn’t bring gifts and that was fine as well. I think some American candy is a great idea, because if there are children in the family they will love it, and if not, you could always eat it. The dad is the hardest to buy for, so I’ll leave you to your creative genius to think of a gift for him. Something small and thoughtful just as a gesture will go over well with your new family and get your relationship off to a great start!

General Info

Pay

During training your pay is 15,000 Gs (or $3) per day. You get the paycheck every 15 days or so on Wednesdays in Guarambaré. Sometimes you get special amounts to cover expenses for a trip you have to go on. The paychecks aren’t scheduled on an exact basis. Somehow they have figured this out down to a science, because the money you receive is exactly enough to give you enough money to pay for transportation buy some snacks and meals from time to time, drink a little, spend some time on the Internet, and buy a few items. I actually had some money left over after training was over and added it to the money we received for our settling in allowance and prorated portion of that month’s salary.

Unless things change, which they might be soon towards more money, you will receive 2 million Gs ($400) as a settling in allowance and receive one of three amounts (1.2 million Gs or $240, 1.4 million Gs or $280, or 1.6 million or $320) as a monthly paycheck deposited into your bank account around the 25th of each month. Your level will be decided based upon how rural or urban your site it. If you are in a really rural site, you’ll receive the lowest pay level, in a small town, the mid level, and if your site is a small city, the highest pay level.

Peace Corps Support and Resources:

You have access to the Peace Corps library. The library has 6 computers and one librarian. The upstairs is pretty small and is the official library. They try to concentrate on technically relevant books for this portion of the library. The downstairs is Volunteer supplied and maintained. It’s mostly full of pleasure reading material. There are also some cabinets, which contain quasi reports of past projects and Volunteer experiences, info on Paraguay, etc... but none of it is electronically codified so you just kind of have to scan through to find something relevant to what you’re looking for.

Your APCD and Volunteer Coordinator are very busy traveling to new and existing sites and placing Volunteers, but they can be knowledgeable resources for your inquiries. Our particular APCD and her staff of AAPCD and Volunteer Coordinator are AWESOME and ON POINT! I think they are doing a fabulous job, and think they will prove a great resource for me as my service progresses.

There is technically an internal knowledge sharing system called sharepoint, but it’s awful, difficult to access outside the office, and all but impossible to upload/contribute to, and there isn’t a lot on it yet. This is an area Peace Corps could stand to invest in.

You also have your fellow Peace Corps Volunteers, which can be a resource for helping you answer questions, brainstorm ideas, perform research, or help you organize and launch projects.

Electricity:

I have said it before, but I’ll say it again...there is electricity, and most of the time it is functional but it does go out from time to time. You don’t have to worry about a converter because most (if not all) of your electronics can handle the voltage. All you need is an adapter, and sometimes you don’t even need this as some of the oulets are American style. I bought one in a hardware store here for super cheap and it has 4 outlets in it.

Paraguay doesn’t ground it’s electricity so it can be very dangerous to take a shower, cook, etc... during a storm. In fact, when it storms in my town, they shut the whole town’s electricity down rather than deal with possible hazards. In my training community, the least little storm would knock the power out, and sometimes it would go out randomly without a storm.

Also, something to do with their circuit breakers causes the system to overload if too many things are running and pulling electricity at once. For example, in my house we had a small electric heater, which could not be used while the shower was running, or the whole house would lose electricity. Mainly the problem comes when someone tries to shower if too many appliances and electronics are running.

If this happens, you simply have to unplug whatever is causing the overload and go flip the switch at the circuit breaker.

Water:

The water is fine. In the really rural areas a lot of Volunteers get Giardia, which causes nausea and diarrhea. Because of this some really campo Volunteers boil their water or put it in clear, plastic bottles and leave them in the sun for a while to purify it, but most people don’t have a problem drinking the water.

I’ve been drinking the water from all over without any problems so far. Knock on wood.

Weather:

The winter is pretty mild comparatively speaking, but it can and does drop down to zero on a few occasions during the winter. It’s very sporadic though, it might be freezing one week and the next week be beautiful, spring-like days. Just prepare for some really cold periods and some lovely periods. You’ll get those days where it’s freezing in the morning and hot in the afternoon as well.

The Spring is beautiful. It’s mostly nice, warm weather will a pleasant breeze. It’s been hovering between 70 and 85 the last few weeks here.

I haven’t experienced it yet, but I’m told the summer is really really really HOT! I’m told temps get to 40 degrees Celcsius, 104 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer. 104 doesn’t sound awful but add a humidity factor to that and you’ve got the recipe for swealtering. Imagine Phoenix with the South’s humidity. This is where the t-ray comes in handy.

Language Situation:

I’m going to be honest, I was worried about the language situation before I came, and couldn’t get a whole lot of insight into what it was like from research online. I was going to accept the invitation regardless but I still wanted to know what the Guaraní/Spanish situation was like for Volunteers.

I even talked to the placement office to see if there was a chance at getting my placement switched to another predominantly Spanish speaking country that was leaving around the same time frame. I was actually really worked up about it because I have spent so much time learning Spanish and really wanted to become super fluent during my Peace Corps service for personal and professional reasons. So when I found out I was going to Paraguay, which apparently spoke mostly Guaraní, especially in the types of places RED Volunteers are sent, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to accomplish this goal. Frankly I didn’t feel like learning Guaraní, and thought that I could be way more effective if I could hit the ground running being that I already spoke pretty decent Spanish instead of struggling to learn the language for a year or more before really being able to be effective in my technical role.

Here is the deal on the ground in Paraguay. Most Paraguayans speak both. So at the very least, if you address people in Spanish they will respond in Spanish. I have heard of lots of Volunteers in sites that are Guaraní dominated who still don’t learn Guaraní. This poses some problems since learning and speaking Guaraní gains a Volunteer tons of rapport with the locals, and since you won’t be able to understand a lot of side conversations that you hear, and most of the good stuff is said in Guaraní in the Guaraní dominated sites.

Some families speak mostly Guaraní in the house and some families speak mostly Spanish. In the really, really rural areas, you will find most people speaking Guaraní, and in the more urban areas you will find people speaking mostly Spanish. On a very rare occasion you will find people in the campo, mostly old folk, who don’t speak Spanish, and find people in more urban areas, mostly young folk, who don’t speak Guaraní.

For example, I live in a town of about 18,000 (it is much smaller than that sounds), and though Guaraní is thrown around a litte, I mostly hear Spanish, and Spanish is the main language spoken in the house between family members. My host sister doesn’t speak Guaraní very well, and I meet other young professionals who also claim not to speak Guaraní very well. I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t speak Spanish. Sometimes I hear my host mother speaking in Guaraní on the telephone and she addresses her maids in Guaraní as well. When I’m hanging out with all guys, Guaraní is spoken a lot more frequently. At work it’s almost 100% Spanish, and when ladies are around, usually Spanish is spoken. That’s my situation.

I have friends that got placed in sites that are more Guaraní dominated. They say it would be detrimental personally and professionally not to learn Guaraní because of how prevalent it is. So it is totally possible to have either of the two situations or somewhere in between.

The good news is you get some say-so. You will have several opportunities to express your wishes in terms of site placement. I think there are 2 formal interviews between you and the APCD and Volunteer Coordinator, and one sheet to fill out. The staff does an excellent job placing you where you need to be. I was clear about my wish to be placed in a semi-urban (not big city but not really rural) site that speaks mostly Spanish, and that’s exactly what I received. I had a friend in training who requested really campo and Guaraní speaking, and that’s exactly what he got.

So though you may not be quite as well off as your counterparts from other Spanish speaking countries from a language fluency standpoint, it is entirely possible to speak mostly Spanish during your service and develop fluency in the language. Also, if you are excited to learn Guaraní, you’ll find the people very welcoming to your attempts to learn and practice it. It gives you something to talk about other than the weather, and they find it funny and endearing.

That’s about as good as I can do in giving you the lowdown on the language situation for Volunteers in Paraguay.

Communication:

Staying in touch with people back home is not terribly hard. Though you won’t have a ton of time to go, there is an Internet café, or cyber as it’s called here, just a block from the training center in Guarambaré. There are also a few scattered around in J.A. Saldivar and two within a 20 minute walk of the training center in Paso de Oro. The computers in the café are already equipped with Skype and video cameras; so many Volunteers scheduled Skype sessions with their family and friends while in training. Needless to say there is always email, Facebook, Myspace, and instant messaging.

It is free to receive phone calls in Paraguay, so you can give your family your host family’s cell number and have your family call you on that. Be sure to schedule times though because if your parents don’t speak Spanish there could be some communication issues. It is really expensive to call the states, so that isn’t really an option.

Of course there is always old-fashioned snail mail as well, which takes a few weeks to arrive, but is actually a very pleasant experience. I can’t really remember I time that I received a letter in the mail other than a birthday card or something, and so it was cool to receive a letter.

Once you swear in, your communication situation could change for the positive or negative depending on your placement. I was placed in a site at a coop that has Internet, so I have access to Internet every day. Other Volunteers have less frequent access. There is always the option of buying a Tigo USB modem and paying a monthly fee of like 180,000 Gs ($36) for unlimited access. You make enough to afford this so it’s an option. There will likely be an internet café in your site and if not, a nearby town will surely have one.

You will also receive a phone, so you can start receiving calls more often. Again, it’s free to receive calls but expensive to call. You can still afford a few minutes here and there though, and text messaging works and is a lot cheaper.

You still have access to snail mail, but it takes a trip to Asunción to get it, which could be very far away depending on your location.

Food:

The food in Paraguay is hard to describe. Check back later because I plan to do a week in food diary with pictures.

Breakfast is usually coffee mixed with milk, which is really good or cocido, which is like coffee but different. You can probably get your host mother to give you pieces of bread with this sweet spread called dulce de leche or jelly. I even got my host mother, who was super awesome, to cook me a tomato, cheese, and beef omelet on the weekends. This was a special treat and not at all typical. I taught her how and requested it once or twice, and then she took it like a weekend tradition.

You may get a mid morning snack consisting of a few small bananas or oranges, which are peeled and then cut at the top, and you suck the juice instead of eat the orange. Don’t try it our way because their oranges are different and a lot harder/messier to peel and eat. Along with this if you are super lucky like I was and your Mom owns a little store, you might get a sweet (something like a Paraguayan Debbie cake, or cookies and maybe a little juice box or chocolate drink). This was always my favorite. Sadly, I don’t get these at my new house in site.

Lunch is the big meal of the day. You’ll get a main dish, maybe a salad (either lettuce or rice based), and bread/mandioca, plus a juice or soft drink.

Dinner is light. Something like a small portion of pasta, Paraguayan tortillas, pizza, empanadas (deep fried batter with meat and chopped boiled eggs in the middle) In my new house we don’t even eat dinner or if it is offered, it’s a fried egg.

It isn’t uncommon for me to see 3 or more carbs in one meal.

I’ll give a few examples of typical meals:

Water based soup mixed with veggies which have been liquefied, and chunks of fatty cow meat or sometimes big portions of cow meat still on the bone. This might be served with a lettuce and tomatoes salid, which if you’re lucky will have olive oil and salt, but almost always will come with a lemon for squeezing over the lettuce as a dressing. Sometimes the salad includes sliced boiled eggs. Mandioca and bread served as well.
Rice with little chunks of cow meat. Repeat the salad from above, and of course mandioca.
Noodles with chunks of chicken meat. Mandioca/bread.
Tortillas, which aren’t like Mexican tortillas. It’s like fried batter with a little something (cheese, meat, or veggies) in the middle. Mandioca/bread.
Soup with beans in it. Salad from above. Mandioca/bread. This was actually my favorite! It was pretty good because the beans were of a good consistency and the soup had a good flavor.
Asado, which is big chunks of fatty, slimey cow meat grilled to a crisp. Cold white rice with diced tomatoes mixed in. Mandioca/bread.
Two fried eggs overeasy with little hard balls of bread.
Homemade pizza, which is a thick soggy crust with a little tomato based sauce, some melted slices of cheese and some sliced onions.

Basically you will eat a lot of carbs, a lot of fried stuff, and consume massive amounts of sugar and salt. It is a horrible diet from a nutrition standpoint, and sadly not that delicious either.

Peace Corps Paraguay has a cook book with recipes that can be made with Paraguayan ingredients. Once you are out of training and after the first 3 months in site, you are allowed to live by yourself, so you could somewhat take control of your eating situation. I had a pretty delicious meal at my PCV site visit, and Liz said she ate like a Queen on her PCV site visit, so it is totally possible. But when you’re eating with Paraguayans just prepare yourself for bland meals, which are edible but not exciting or delicious.

Overall Recommendations:

Don’t stress out. Nothing is as formal, strict, or as hard as you might originally think. Also, once you are a Volunteer, you literally don’t HAVE to do anything. It is probably one of the few times in your life, where you have no worries, no real responsibilities, and no one to answer to. You are free to do whatever you want, and you completely control your personal and professional life. Enjoy it while you can!
Every one is nervous, so you be excited. People will be constantly feeling a range of emotions. Be the cheerleader...but not the psycho. Help organize gatherings and just have fun. Be positive most of the time but in the right situations between you and your friends don’t be afraid to be real. Don’t complain all the time about the activities and other things you’re doing in training. We had a bit of this in our group, and it gets really annoying. Everyone may feel frustrated from time to time, but you don’t have to verbalize in front of the group.
Also don’t always ask a lot of questions. CHP had a little roasting skit at the end of training, and that was what they made fun of me for. I always ask questions because I’m genuinely interested, want to respect the speaker when we are all sitting there like a bunch of uninterested idiots, and do it in an effort to build rapport with the speaker in the chance that I need to cross that bridge again, but apparently it can be annoying to others, so if you’re a naturally inquisitive person, you may want to tone that down a notch.
Don't worry about culture...They will teach you all of it, and you will learn it as you go along. I was so worried I would not know enough history, language, or customs. Peace Corps teaches you EVERYTIHING. You will be taught how the country gained independence, who the president is, cultural fopaux, etc...You will learn everything you need to know...just relax about that.
Bring a mix of clothes. Peace corps sometimes makes it sounds like all you need are nice clothes. Yes, you are a Business Volunteer, so you will need some, but don't be like most guys here and get bogged down with 6 ties. The guys said they wish they had balanced more comfortable clothes with their business attire. Remember, you are American and therefore different, they will let a lot slide in your attire. Pack what you are comfortable in...but still look presentable of course.
When you are on your future site visit have a conversation with your future host family setting expectations for rent and for how long you may be staying there. I didn’t say anything, and it was awkward bringing up rent, and they think I’m there for the full 2 years, which will be another awkward conversation if I choose to move out. They even remodeled a room for me and almost built a bathroom. So now I feel awkward bringing up the fact that I may only be there for the first 3-6 months. I’m afraid they may feel I’m not happy in their house, and that isn’t the case at all. I just might want to live with another family for a different experience or live on my own. So be sure to set the expectations up front that you will be paying rent and want to talk about how much (it’s much better to pay rent...you’ll feel much better about it, trust me), and how long you are looking to stay there at a minimum. You can say whatever you want but it’s better to handle it on the front end than have to have awkward conversations later.
Be prepared to be teased and laughed at and not take it personally. Also, if you are black or hefty, or have a big nose, don’t be surprised if people walk up to you and just bluntly say, “You’re black,” “You’re fat,” or “You’ve got a big nose.” They will also make jokes about their own weight and the weight of others. I don’t know about you but it makes me slightly uncomfortable, and I don’t know how to respond. Another awkward situation is when a Paraguayan female or two are standing near you and a Paraguayan older male in a voice they obviously here and while pointing at them says, “Ipora la Paraguaya verdad,” which translates like the “Paraguayan girls are pretty right?” Sometimes they will keep saying things referring to you and these particular Paraguayan girls. I just say, “Ipora,” and change the subject. It’s awkward if you don’t find them attractive and even more if you do.
Also, if you are a guy, Paraguayan males are going to be vulgar with you, they are going to ask you if you have scored with a Paraguayan girl yet, and they’re might tease you a bit. You have to just expect it and roll with the punches. They might even be vulgar in earshot of other women or even little girls. If it goes to far, like sometimes they may make comments about young girls, you can stand your ground and make a point, and they’ll pretty much receive it well but won’t fully understand you. That’s machismo in Paraguay...have a sense of humor and pick your battles. Also, along those lines, they're probably going to call you Yankee. They just use that world to classify you as an American. As far as I can tell it isn't meant to be derogatory so don't take offense to it. Although, I did explain that I was from the SOUTH (and proud of it regardless of our stereotypes) and was not a Yankee after being called one so many times! Then they get tripped up when first addressing you because they don't know what to call you. Brad will do just fine. Haha.
This recommendation comes from another Volunteer's experience; don't badmouth or talk about anyone because almost everyone knows everyone and there is a really good chance they're related
Cuidado with the towel in the bathroom. There is a really good chance they use that towel to wipe their butts after using the bidet.
Above all embrace the culture and relax. Just sit back and enjoy your training, your fellow trainees, and your host family. Don’t take anything too seriously. Be positive, patient, try new things, and have an open mind.

That's all folks! I know it was a super long post, but hopefully it may provide some sought out info and insight into some issues of importance to future Volunteers in Paraguay, especially future RED Volunteers in Paraguay. Remember that I'm available for questions if you have any burning questions that you can't get answers for, and I wish you luck. Regardless of what happens, how prepared you are, or how sufficient the training is, if you decide to come to Paraguay, you're going to have an AMAZING time and meet some AMAZING people!

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened. ~Theodor Seuss Geisel

2009-09-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

Monday, August 17th, 2009

The next day was really relaxing. I spent most of the day just hanging out around the house. Most of the family was gone for most of the day. I hung with my Sister while she washed clothes and rearranged her house. Then around 4:00, I went with her to pick the kids up from school.
I’ve had been to their school once before, and Mary has been asking me when I was going to come back to take pictures for a while now. This was my first real chance to do so, and it was a good feeling to pick them up for their school on my last full day in Paso de Oro.

I’ve already mentioned the education system in Paraguay in one of my earlier blogs so I’ll just make one comment about it now. You know that feeling in the atmosphere after a summer afternoon shower? The air is kind of moist and the ground is just a bit damp, but everything is starting to dry up? That is what the weather was like that day. Only 5 kids showed up out of Fabiola’s class of 14. The situation was even worse in Mary’s class. It wasn’t even raining, but because it wasn’t 100% ideal conditions outside, kids just didn’t come to school that day. That just shows the overall commitment to education in Paraguay. Not only do they only attend school for about 4 hours a day, but they also don’t show up at the slightest indication of bad weather. So even if the teachers were on point and the facilities sufficient, which they’re not, they would still be at a huge disadvantage.

Anyway, all of the kids in my family went, so I was super proud of that.

Fabiola was so excited to see me, and she got out of class a little early. She showed me around her school a bit and we played chase. She showed me where Mary’s class was, and when we walked up Mary was looking out the window at us. Shortly, Mary got out of class, and we headed for home.

On the way back from their school we stopped by a little store that is half internet café, half small clothes store to buy a few things for Mary and Fabiola, who are in desperate need of clothes. You should see how excited and grateful they were to receive a pair of jeans and some sandals. The sad thing is that my Sister didn’t even pay outright for those. She has a credit account with the owner of the store. She pays in small payments over a long period of time. That’s why she shops there instead of lots of other places. If that lady wouldn’t extend her credit, the kids would simply go without decent clothes. If Mary gets straight A’s on her report card, she’s going to get some boots. She’s working really hard to earn those boots. She’s waited a while for these jeans and she says once she has the boots, she’ll have a complete outfit. When she got home, she did exactly what most kids, around the world, do after buying new clothes...tried them on and showed them off. She was so proud of her new jeans and it made her day. It made me think of when Churches, non-profits, and other groups send packages filled with basic items and maybe a few toys overseas to those who won’t receive anything else for Christmas. When we were filling the boxes, I used to think how the kids were probably upset to find toiletries, underwear, etc... in their boxes. Now, I don’t think that at all. I bet those kids light up.

How spoiled we are in the States right? I used to get money and clothes were a given...a necessity. In my opinion something that I needed anyway didn’t count as a special prize for making good grades...the ways my perspective is changing... Here parents have to use things that they know they have to buy anyway as incentives, because there isn’t enough money for luxuries.

That night we had my despidida (going away party). Before eating, Fabiola and Mary danced traditional Paraguayan dances for me.

My family went all out for me. My brother bought a chicken, my Mom killed one, and I threw in to buy another chicken, and added in the meat I had purchased from Mary. We also had rice, salad, and of course there was mandioca. Papá even drank wine, and he hardly ever drinks.

I was kind of out of it during the dinner because I knew this was the last time we would all be together for a while. It was a lovely dinner, and afterwards people made a few toasts/chants for me.

I sat back and looked at the family, and in my mind it was like a scene from a movie or TV show. You know...the drama has built up for a while and the conflict finally solved. Everyone gets together at a Christmas or a Thanksgiving meal. Some witty comments are thrown around between family members, and then the camera starts panning out. You can hear all sorts of conversations going on, and the clanking of dishes. People are reaching across the table, and it’s such a nice, warm family scene. Music starts playing and the picture pauses in that moment and then fades away into the black screen with the rolling white credits. Happily Ever After...

Well my story didn’t exactly end that way, because I’m one of the characters. It’s the camera that stops filming, but the characters go on living.

The kids finished eating and went to the front of the hosue to play. I stayed at the table chatting with the adults a bit, and then went to join the kids. I saw Fabiola sitting along with the saddest look on her face. It broke my heart. I sat down next to her and gave her a big hug and consoled her. Later, I came back into the living room, and she had fallen asleep there. I sat down beside her, and just watched her sleep for a bit. I started having memories of us together, and thought about how much she likes me and how much I like her. It broke my heart, and I began to cry. In fact as I type this I’m overwhelmed with emotion and tears are welling up in my eyes. I love that little girl.

I walked outside to get myself together, where I was met by my good brother, Agusto. This made me break down even more. He tried to tell me that we would talk on the phone, I could come back to visit, and that I would meet new people in San Juan, and that everything was going to work out. I told him it would never be the same, which is true. It never will be the same as it was. We had a good conversation about how crazy it is that complete strangers from two different parts of the world can become so close so quickly, how happy and comfortable I was there, and how I could have not found a better family with which to live for my first 3 months in Paraguay.

After our conversation he went to bed because he had a long day of work and another long one ahead of him the next day. We were going to say our goodbyes then but I told him to wake me up in the morning before he left for work.

I talked to my niece for a while and then went inside and played Go Fish with the kids.

Before too long, people started heading to bed, and I did the same.

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

The next day I woke up and played Crazy 8s with Mary and Fabiola. I played a while with the kids and then began to pack. Fabiola was my little helper. She wanted to put things in my suitcase, so I just let her as I was arranging everything else, and then redid it later. As I was packing I gave Fabiola the Crazy 8 cards, because she still needs to learn her colors and numbers, and this would make for a fun and educational gift for her. I gave Mary and Fabiola toothbrushes, and gave them each a spiral notebook I had bought and not used. I also gave them a few pencils. These gifts basically represent what I hope for them. I hope that they maintain their hygene and health (toothbrushes), study hard so that maybe one day they can go to University (pencils and notebooks), and also that they play and enjoy each other(crazy 8 cards).

Mary, Jessica, and Jacquelin all went to school so I had to wish them goodbye. I know I’m coming back so it wasn’t so bad. Once I finished packing everything, my Dad helped me take my stuff outside to the road. Then we took some pictures and waited on the bus, which came all of a sudden and kind of rushed my goodbyes.

This whole process has been full of goodbyes. First I told my friends goodbye in Columbia, then I told my family goodbye, then more friends in Spartanburg, my parents at the airport, my Peace Corps friends after the swearing in weekend, and now my training host family. I guess I’m getting training in goodbyes for a reason. I’ve gone away before, and moved around a little, but this is on a completely different level.

I hugged my Mom and sister and told them I would see them later. I gave Fabiola a big hug and told her how much I loved her, and that I would see her later.

My Dad and I loaded my stuff up on the bus and boarded. As the bus drove down the long dirt road, I stuck my head out the window and waved at the family I had grown to love in such a short time, and then I just watched Fabiola get farther and farther away from me until eventually I couldn’t see her any longer. Then I turned around in my seat and looked out towards my future while nostalgically remembering my past.

It was an hour and half to Asunción, and a few hours waiting at the bus station. My kind Dad didn’t have to but insisted on waiting with me until my bus departed. Within a few hours the bus arrived. We walked over and put my luggage on the bus. I told him how appreciative I was for having me in his house and how much I enjoyed my time there. I told him to tell me if Paso de Oro plays in the championship because I’ll come back for it. He wished me luck, we shook hands and said goodbye.

And with that I boarded the bus, which was empty, put my backpack in the overhead compartment, sat down, started a playlist on my ipod, and started the next phase of my Peace Corps Adventure.

Swearing In Weekend

2009-09-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

August 17th, 2009

So everyone left the Peace Corps office at different times and in different groups. I left with my homies Mike (also known as Miguel) and Carlos, who I consider my best friends within the group, and Jenna. We took a bus and after Carlos told a complete stranger on the bus exactly where we were staying and who we were, we were pointed in the right direction and arrived at the hotel. The hotel was neither overly fancy nor really crappy.

This is the view from my balcony. As Mike said, "that's the essence of a South American city." (or something like that)

I’ll give you a fairly detailed look at the weekend in order to show you how Peace Corps volunteers get down. This was a special weekend I think because there was a swearing in, a swearing out, and an Ahendu concert. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera out the first night so I don’t have any pics from that to share, but I did manage to snap a few the next day.

Friday Night: Dinner at a Mexican restaurant, Art Bar, Discoteca (Club)

We (Carlos, Mike, Mary, Liz, Carrie, and I) started off the night by going way across town to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. We had heard from a fellow volunteer of Mexican nationality that it was really good. We have all been craving Mexican for some time so we decided to check it out. I was really impressed. Living in the periphery of small cities and visiting a lot of campo places in Paraguay really lowers your expectations, so I was thinking of a crappy, little Mexican joint with ok food.

This place was on par with nice restaurants in the states...think a nicer version of On the Border. The waiters were decked out and actually provided some dang good service. The food had the appearance of being delicious and the menu was certainly fancy and full of good options. When it came out, it was good, but I wasn’t exactly floored with it. Nevertheless we ate a good meal, and had a good time joking around at dinner.

Next we went to a bar nicknamed “Art Bar” by volunteers. The place really, really impressed me. It’s like volunteers have gone to and fro in the city, and found all the hidden gems because all weekend we went to really cool, unique places.

You walk upstairs and suddenly you’re in an art exhibit. It looks like a large, rustic city apartment and art is half-hazardly placed in rooms throughout the place, which adds to its modern, artsy vibe. I took a little while to explore some of the rooms, and did some deep introspection on some of the pieces and think I came up with some good insights into the artists’ intentions. For example, one piece was three photos of a working class man and his wife. At first glance it looks like 3 photos, which are exactly the same, but when you really study it, you start to notice slight variances, which distinguish the three different men from each other, and even slight differences in the scene itself. I think the artists was making a statement about the importance of truly paying attention to people as individuals instead of making assumptions about them based on shallow first impressions or groups they may be part of.

In the next room over from the last exhibit room is a bar, which leads to a sitting area. I talked to some people, ordered a drink and then headed up to the roof, where I heard people were beginning to gather. I always love rooftops in cities so my curiosity wouldn’t let me stay below any longer.

It was gorgeous up there and very breezy, which made for a really chill environment to hang out in. I stayed there talking to different people for a while. I had a really interesting conversation with Angelic about life choices, career paths, and how realistic it is to have a really high level career and still maintain a good relationship with your family (spouse and kids), and how to achieve work-life balance.

I had another conversation with Dina about meat in Paraguay and how if one knew how to prepare and cook the meat right, you could still make some delicious steaks here. It’s just the fact that they don’t marinate it, poorly choose cuts of meats, and overcook it.
I also met the former APCD for the RED sector who was with his gorgeous, young girlfriend. He’s Paraguayan, and now is a high up at Itaipú, which is the world’s largest hydroelectric plant. I’ll take this opportunity to talk a bit about Itaipú.

It was a joint effort between Paraguay and Brazil, but Brazil seems to be reaping most of the rewards. The revenues from Itaipú are a huge deal here in Paraguay. Issues surrounding it are among the most important political issues in the Presidential race, and the money it generates is a huge factor in the economic development of Paraguay. There are scholarships, financing for infrastructure projects, and money flows from Itaipú to poor communities around Paraguay through a chain on governments (National, Regional, State, City, and Towns). In the eyes of a development worker this would be the ideal situation since the money is coming from a nationally owned resource and is sustainable for the foreseeable future. However, Paraguay was ranked the 2nd most corrupt country in the world not too long ago, so that throws a curb ball at the system. I mentioned that the money flows through a chain of governments, so what do think happens in reality in the 2nd most corrupt country in the world? That’s right, most of the money ends up filling the pockets of corrupt politicians. In addition to that, Brazil somehow benefits from cheap energy, sells the energy to Paraguay at high prices, and gets a larger portion of the profits. Paraguay wants to renegotiate, and was successful in getting some concessions, but there is a contract in place until 2023. At that point, if Paraguay is smart, they will get a favorable renegotiation. It is a similar situation as the Panama Canal, but more complicated.

So back to the story...I met this guy, and he started showing me pictures of him and the President hanging out. I thought that was pretty cool. After kicking it with him a bit, I noticed that most of my friends were gone. I called Carlos, who told me the name of the place they were at. I passed the Itaipú guy on the way out, and asked him if he knew where it was. He was like, “Yeah, I know where it’s at. Come on I’ll give you a ride.” So I hopped in the car with him, and was dropped off at the front door.

The club was pretty nice, and filled almost exclusively with Peace Corps Volunteers. We ended up leaving around 4:30 in the morning. I had a great time dancing and getting to know some of the other volunteers. There’s no better way to form new relationships than to party with people.
So around 4:30 we begin making our way home. We get close to the hotel, and Carlos wants some Asado...typical Carlos. He loves asado, especially late night. So we walked over, ordered some asado, and chowed down before calling it a night.

Saturday: Dinner and Ahendu Concert

Saturday I ended up sleeping late, and hanging out in the hotel for a bit. I took a nap and a shower, and everyone was gone. So I went downstairs to see if anyone was down there. I saw Elmer and Sasha, who were going to eat in Mercado 4, which is pretty far away. They invited me, so I headed out with them. I didn’t get two blocks away before calling Mary, who told me of their plans to eat at Lido Bar for lunch, which is closer and I’ve heard really good, so I went with that. I met up with Mary, Liz, and Carrie, and we just walked around for a while, and then went looking for lunch options because Lido Bar was going to be a long wait.

We ended up asking the concierge in Hotel Guarani, the nicest and most expensive (at $100 per night) hotel in Asunción. They pointed us towards a mall that had a little place to eat in it, but it was all like empanadas and other normal, bland Paraguayan food, which we were not into at the moment, so we continued our quest for lunch.

On the way I saw some really cool city art.

We ended up going way across town to another mall, which had a big food court. Liz had a gyro, Mary and Carrie were craving vegetarian food, and I went with Burger King. Haha. Can you believe it? I never eat Burger King! I just didn’t want to wait on a pizza, and there weren’t many other options I was really interested in.

After lunch we strolled back to the hotel. On the way we stopped in stores looking for presents for the kids in some of the girls families. We found this one awesome store that had foosball tables, water guns, puzzles, etc... It was like a really really small Toys R Us. I felt like a Toys R Us kid again. I had flash backs to water gun fights and foosball at Cross Training, and suggested the water guns for the 2 little brothers since they are really fun and Paraguay is really hot in the summer. She almost bought them but decided not to for fear they would break them on the first day, not too mention how expensive they were. We ended up finding this other little boutique that had these cute little ugly stuffed monster looking things, which Carrie absolutely fell in love with. It was perfect...unique, cute, and was similar to something she loved as a child. Carrie bought that and Mary bought two girly duck pencils for her two little bros.

On the way back, we just walked around making comments on things we saw in windows, and Liz fell in love with this chicken decoration thing. It was hilarious.

When we got back we chilled in Mary’s room for a while before getting ready for night #2.

That night we had dinner at another really good restaurant. I went splitzies with Liz, which turned out to be a great option. It made for a good chicken-pasta combo, which I thought was much better than the previous night’s dinner.

After dinner we went to the Ahendu concert. The idea of Ahendu is to share culture through music, but really it was just a bunch of volunteers at the bar listening to various volunteers who could play the guitar and/or sing. The location was really cool. It was one of those inside/outside kind of bars, which always makes for a nice atmosphere when the weather is nice. I swear Peace Corps volunteers seriously have found every cool place in Asunción.

We didn’t stay long. For some reason we just weren’t feeling it. I did meet a JAICA, Japan’s richer version of the Peace Corps, who was really cool to talk to. He lives in the Chaco, and said in the summer it easily gets to 50 degrees Celcius, which is 122 degrees Fahrenheit!!! Though I won’t live in the Chaco, and won’t experience such extreme heat, I probably still am in for a very hot summer.

After the concert, we strolled home, and on the way saw a pizza joint. Carlos, Carrie, Mary and I were feeling some late night pizza, and Liz and Mike were feeling an early night. So they went back to the hotel to hit the sack, and we ordered a quite delicious pizza and some drinks. We chilled there for a while, and then headed back to the hotel, where we all passed out for the night.

Sunday: Back to Paso de Oro

The next morning we all woke up early because everyone in our little group except Carlos was headed back to Paso de Oro. I was headed back for good until I left for my site on Tuesday, and the others were only having lunch with their families and then headed back to Asunción. I’ve really grown close to my family and wanted to get some more time in with them for I left.

Luckily we ended up meeting a volunteer who had just sworn out and was ending her 2 year adventure. She was headed where we were because she was going back to her training host family for a final visit. She was able to get us back to San Lorenzo, where we went to the grocery store to get a few things for the lunches my fellow volunteers were having with their families. Mary ordered some meat from the meat department, and ended up getting like 30 lbs of meat for around $15, and that was really expensive to us, so you can imagine what our pay is like. It was comical the amount of meat she bought for her small family lunch. Mike and I ended up buying some of the meat off her so she wouldn’t look foolish in front of her family. I figured we could use it at my going away party on Monday night.

We headed back to the community and the goodbyes began. I said goodbye to Mary, to Liz, and to Mike.

I went to my house, received a warm welcome from Fabiola, and hung out with the fam for a bit before going to the cancha one more time. We went out to the cancha, and I made it a point to hang out with all the members of my family while there. It was pretty tranquilo all in all. That night, as usual, my Mom and Sister cooked empanadas and the men sat outside in groups drinking cervesa and caña. I hung out with them for a while, played with the kids some, and then called it a night.

Overall Swearing In weekend was really fun, and a good preview of what is to come in the future with respect to volunteers meeting up in Asunción.

Swearing In + Peace Corps Office Pics

2009-08-31T10:58:00.000-07:00

August 17th, 2009

It’s Official; I’m finally a volunteer!

Wow it’s been a long journey to officially become a volunteer. I’ve been an aspirant, an applicant, a nominee, an invitee, a trainee, and now finally, a volunteer.

It all started back in October of 2007 when I was in my 1st semester of senior year. I began preparing my application, so that I could leave shortly after graduation, but couldn’t submit it due to unforeseen circumstances that took until March of 2008 to resolve. By that time I was so busy in classes, preparing my senior thesis, and making final preparations to graduate that I didn’t have time to complete my application. Immediately after graduating in May of 2008, a group of my friends and I headed off for a celebratory Eurotrip. I got back in June, and finally officially submitted my application on June 22, 2008.

I was nominated for service on July 8th, 2008, didn’t receive all my clearances until January 15th, 2009, and finally received my invitation to serve on January 17th, 2009, which I accepted on January 28th, 2009. I did more waiting and more paperwork between then and my staging date of May 26th, 2009.

On May 27th, 2009, I flew out of Miami and arrived in Paraguay around 10:00 AM the next day, May 28th, 2009.

At that point I began 3 months of language, cultural, health, safety, and technical training.
On August 14th, 2009 at around 10:45 AM, I said the same words the President of the United States says at Inauguration and swore in as a Peace Corps Volunteer!

The longest beginning of my life...

Swearing In Ceremony and Festivities:

We arrived at the embassy, and basically just stood around talking and taking photos. Sometimes you take photos and try to make the environment seem a lot better than it really is...but I want to give you the real deal perspective for once.

The ceremony began shortly after the Ambassador arrived. Our APCD (Assistant Peace Corps Director), Elisa Echague kicked it off with a short speech. She was followed by Country Director, Donald Clark, the Ambassador (I could look it up on Google and pretend I know her name but the reality is I don’t), and Ronnell Perry.

The moment they asked us to nominate people to make the speech, I immediately nominated Ronnell because I knew he was the man for the job. He delivered in a major way. His speech put the Director’s and the Ambassador’s respective speeches to shame. He used the physical and nonphysical things trainees pack in anticipation of their Peace Corps adventure to provide comic relief and draw insights about what has and will serve us well as volunteers. In the end, it’s the things we intrinsically bring with us that are most valuable in our service.

After his speech, the Ambassador administered the oath, and with that we were official!

Then we went to a beautiful gazebo structure out back for a celebratory reception. I had heard about how delicious the cake is, and how I should eat as many pieces as humanly possible, because it would be a very long time before I had anything that good again. It did turn out to be really good and I had several pieces.

We stood around talking. The things that stand out in my mind are the following:

Mike placing two small, round empanadas up against his nipples not three feet from the Ambassador and in view of our bosses, the Country Director and the APCD. Haha. It was hilarious. I told him the Ambassador saw him do it, and he had no way of knowing because I was facing her and he wasn’t. He turned blood red, and couldn’t stop nervously laughing. It was hilarious.

Mary having a long conversation with the Ambassador, and then telling me that she hates bureaucratic officials, and told me how the Ambassador was an idiot and didn’t even know that the department she would be living in existed in Paraguay or where it was. The ambassador just threw around buzzwords of the moment. Mary has a Masters in International Development, Public Policy, International Relations, or something like that from Columbia, and some really good experience. She’s really smart, super sarcastic, and critical. It was really funny. It is bad that the US AMBASSADOR doesn’t even have a basic understanding of the departments and fairly big cities in Paraguay...

Mike, in dressed in his traditional A poi shirt, which reveals his very hair chest, getting interviewed by a Paraguayan news channel. He immediately agreed to it because the reporter was hot.

Me talking to the Ambassador about her rise to the Ambassador position, the role of public-private partnerships in development and telling her to invite me to her next pool party, and her subsequently offering me an open invitation to come hang out whenever I would like. She even said she might come to San Juan for the famous Dia de San Juan.

Me talking to Country Director Donald Clark about my senior thesis, which concerned creating a consulting service for Peace Corps volunteers in the field, and him telling me to write a proposal for it, because they were looking for new ways to partner with institutions in the States

We snapped a few group pics and that was that...short and sweet.

Oh, interesting side note! Our swearing in was on President Lugo’s agenda, and he was really excited to come. We made preparations by learning the Paraguayan National Anthem and Ronnell translated his speech to Spanish, which must have been difficult because they were some lofty ideas, abstract thoughts, and English slang weaved throughout it. In the end, someone erased it off his agenda in favor of something else, and when he found this out, after it was too late to change, we are told he was upset (whether or not that is true or just political BS we’ll never know).

Peace Corps Office

Next on the agenda was a trip to the Peace Corps office to handle some administrative tasks such as getting our debit cards, money, cell phones, submitting forms to solicit bicycles, getting mail and packages, visiting the doctor to get medicines to take to site with us, signing a few forms, etc...

I'm going to give you a tour of part of the Peace Corps office complex for your enjoyment and for future Peace Corps trainees curiosity (I know how it is to scour through Peace Corps blogs looking for insight into what my future life would be like...look out for a future blog post on training and recommendations to future trainees).

The whole complex is surrounded by a big brick wall. 1st you have to go through a little security building at the entrance from the street, but once you're on the other side of that this is what you see...the main office.

This is the view from the inside of that building.

I love seeing the Peace Corps logo and President Obama's picture front and center in the office. I know a lot of people reading this blog may be of different political persuasion but personally I'm very proud to call Barack Obama my President, and am proud to be serving under his term. I think he is sincerely passionate about changing the direction America is headed in and the way politics work in Washington. He has good ideas for how to invest in America's future, and is a dynamic and intelligent leader and speaker who represents America well in international affairs. It puts a smile on my face, renews my motivation to be effective in making a positive impact during my service, and overwhelms me with a sense of pride and patriotism every time I walk into the office and see his photo next to the Peace Corps logo. That's all I'll say about that so lets continue with the tour.

Next up is the office of the assistant to the APCD of the RED sector.

This is the office of the Peace Corps coordinator. If you are a particularly motivated volunteer interested in extending your service as a coordinator in Paraguay, this could be your future office. Fancy right?

Once you get on the other side of that building, this is what you see. Directly ahead and to the left a little is the entrance to the library.

The official Peace Corps collection of books are located on the second floor of the building (It's not impressive). What you see is a Volunteer initiated and maintained book sharing project. You are free to take from, return to, and add to the library as you wish. There are some interesting books there, and it's my goal to read some along with my professional reading and GMAT study. I've already read Ismael and have started Collapse by Jared Diamond (an analysis for the reasons of collapses of societies throughout history) and Open Veins of Latin America (the book Castro gave to Obama).

These are the computers available for volunteers to use free of charge and anytime during office hours. There aren't usually a lot of volunteers at the office at any given time, so the lack of a large number of computers isn't a big problem.

This is the view as you leave the library and look back towards the main office. Those chairs and tables serve as a hang out spot for volunteers, and just on the other side there is a big grill that we can use as well. There is also an entertainment room in the building to the right, which has really comfy couches and a television (no dvd yet, only vhs but maybe sometime soon). There are also bathrooms, and a couch, which can be used as a very short term place to sleep and relax in between trips in and out of Asunción.

I threw this pic in to show the Peace Corps cars used by staff. For Paraguay, these SUVs are super lindo, and a treat to ride in because of the AC, comfortable seats, and smooth ride. Don't expect to ride in them much though because most of the time we pack in one of two crappy vans for our transportation to and from places as groups.

My next post will describe the weekend after Swearing In.

Nostalgia- Playing like a Kid Again

2009-08-28T13:56:00.000-07:00

August 10th, 2009

The last few days I’ve been playing a lot of the traditional games Paraguayan children play.
It was all prompted because Saturday I had to give a charla (small instructional presentation) about a cultural topic of my choice. Since I spend a lot of time playing with kids, and already knew some of the games, I decided to do my charla on juegos de niños (children’s games). So I began asking the kids and other family members what the most popular games were, and explaining the games in words just wasn’t sufficient. I had to play them to understand them. So we all, including my older, sort of hefty sister, acted like kids again and had tons of fun doing it.
Many of the games are the same traditional games kids used to play in the States.

Muñeca (Doll)

Muñeca (Doll) is a game that resembles hopscotch. You basically draw the photo below in the dirt with a stick, broomstick, your shoe, a rock, or something else. It can also be played on concrete surfaces and chalk is used to draw the doll.

Then you toss a rock into the first square. You have to hop on one foot skipping the square the rock is in. You can use two feet when you get to a sectioned portion of the muñeca. Once you get to the head you turn around come back and bend over and pick the rock up on your way back. Everyone takes a turn. Then the next round you throw the rock into the next section. Repeat the process. If you use two feet when you’re not supposed to, fall, go outside the lines, or toss the rock and it lands on a line or in the wrong square you lose. The person that lasts the longest without mistakes wins.

La Cuerda (Jump rope)

Two people hold two different ends of a long rope. Then they start making circles with the rope. The first person enters, and goes as long as they can, and then tries to exit without the rope touching them. While the person is jumping the people with the ends of the rope turn it faster and faster every time. The next person has their turn, and the game continues. In theory, you count how many times you were able to jump before exiting. The next person has to beat that. If the rope touches you, you’re out, and if you don’t jump as long as someone else, you lose. In practice what ends up happening is everybody just takes turns jumping and holding the ropes. You never really declare a winner or keep track. You can add two ropes if you want to get really advanced.

Goma

This is a game where an elastic rope (the elastic in the waste of sweatpants for example) is place around two people. It starts around their ankles. The first person has to step on the two pieces of rope, pressing them to the ground. You are allowed to do one at a time. The next person goes. If you aren’t able to do it, you’re out of the game. This continues until everyone has gone, and then you raise the level of the elastic rope. The game continues until the second to last person has failed in pressing the strings to the ground. Usually by the time the elastic rope is around the peoples’ necks, there is a winner, and if not almost for sure there will be one after that round.

Balitas (Marbles)

A day or so later, I asked the kids about marbles because I had seen some kids playing on a street corner as I was riding home on the bus a few weeks ago. They didn’t have any marbles, so we set out to find a place to buy them. Fabiola, Mary, Junior, Jacquelin, and I all went together. We went to 3 different stores, but finally found them. I bought 20 marbles, and we were off to play. We played a silly version of chicken on the way home. I had Mary on my shoulders and Jacquelin had Fabiola on hers. We would run at each other and ram into each other, and let the two little girls battle a bit. Then one person would take off running and the next person would follow in pursuit.

Shortly after arriving home my sister explained to us exactly how to play the game and we began. You basically draw a circle in the dirt, and put an indented hole in the middle of it. Then you draw a line about 5 feet away from the circle, and each person in turn rolls their marble towards the center of the circle. The first person to enter the whole places their marble outside the hole and waits for someone else to make it in. When that person makes it in they get a chance to knock the other person’s marble outside the circle, which means they lose. This keeps happening until there is only one marble standing, and then you start a new game.
It was a CATASTROPHE. These kids were screaming at each other arguing about the game and vying for position. They would crowd over the person as they were trying to shoot, and would get upset over whose marble was whose, and whether or not someone did it the right way, or whose turn it was, etc... Fabiola quit every time she lost even though she had won the most games or was tied at any given moment. I had to put some order to the game, and the major frustration was they couldn’t remember whose turn it was, and would fight over who got to start the game, which is stupid because the first person to make in the hole has the largest likelihood of getting knocked out first. I mandated that the person who won the previous game would go first in the next, and the rest would be determined by height (to make it easy). Next I wrote down the order every time on a piece of paper and would announce whose turn it was after every turn. Coming from the states, I assumed it would be easy to remember which person you’re always after, but that’s not the case here.

Anyway, after getting some basic rules down and providing structure, everything went fairly smoothly except for the fact that Fabiola ruined our playing spot by squatting about 3 feet from the circle and peeing everywhere. Oh yeah, it’s completely acceptable to just pee pretty much anywhere at anytime. I may have forgot to mention that. I see people, including grown men, pissing on the side of the street, in peoples’ yards, etc... all the time.

Escondida (Literally translated hidden, the game is a lot like Hide and Seek, but with several major differences)

Escondida starts like this. Everyone puts their hands together and going up and down say, “Ma..yo...ri...a.” On “a” everyone throws their hand face up or down. The majority stay in and the oddball steps out. This process repeats until there is only one person left. That person has to stand at the “tambo” and count. They will count somewhere between 10 and 50 seconds, depending on another game. A person says a saying while touching the person’s back with alternating fingers of one hand. At the end the person has to guess which finger touched them last. Then they have to pull that finger. If the finger pops, you double the seconds that finger corresponds to, and if not, they just count the number of seconds that finger corresponds to.
While the person counts, the others run and hide. Then the person at the “tambo” starts looking for people. If they see someone they can yell out their position, their name, and say “tambo,” which means that person can’t get to the tambo. The idea is to not be the last person to get to the tambo. While the seeker is looking for hiders you could take a chance and run for the tambo, and if you make it there before the seeker does, you’re safe. The last one to get back to the tambo, or caught before making it to the tambo has to be the seeker the next time.

I struggled with this game at first because it’s illogical to me. The game is called escondida, which means hidden, but the rules of the game are such that the person who hides the best loses. If I hide really well, I will be the last found, and will have to be the seeker the next time. The trick is to hide yourself near the tambo, and make a run for it, or you could just get found first and most likely everyone else won’t make it back to the tambo without being caught by the seeker. A little illogical...but the kids love it here.

Polibandi (Cops and Robbers)

In Polibandi, you play ha kem bo (paper, rocks, scissors) to determine the cops from the robbers. I’ll explain the Paraguayan version of Paper, Rock, Scissors. It’s basically the same, but there is a well too. The scissors and rock fall in the well and the paper tops it. Also, the first to five wins, and you keep track using fingers on the hand your not using to throw your weapon.
Once the cops and robbers are determined. The cops go to the area designated as jail and the robbers to the area designated as their home base. Then the robbers have to run, and the cops have to catch them and take them to jail. Once in jail, another robber can break their fellow robber out by tagging them inside the jail. The robbers can always run back to their home base where they are safe from being arrested. I guess this is kind of like the idea of cops not going into certain areas because it’s so dangerous.

Once all the robbers have been caught and taken to jail, you switch roles and start it over.
This continues until people quit because their either too bored or tired to play it anymore.

Casita Robada

This is played with cards. You deal each player 3 cards and turn up four in the middle. The player to the left of the dealer starts and tries to make a match from the cards in the middle. If they can, they place those cards face up in their “casita” pile. If they can’t, they discard a card. At any moment someone that has the top card in someone’s casita pile, can rob it and place it in their pile. When all the players run out of cards in their hand, you deal 3 more cards to every player, and flip up cards if necessary in the middle.

When all the cards run out, you count your cards like this, “Casa, Casita, Rancho, Palacio, Casa, Casita, Rancho, Palacio.” That would be 8 cards for example. The translation is house, small house, ranch, palace. Palace is the highest valued and casa the lowest. Yet again, it’s illogical to me that small house has a bigger value than house, but that’s just the way it is.
You keep saying that, one word for every card, and the word you land on for your last card is what you own. Then you compare that with the other players. For example, if I had 4 cards I would have a Palace and if you had 3 cards you would have a ranch, therefore, I would win. If there are any ties, you settle it with Ha Kem Bo (Paper, Rock, Scissors).

I find the game really interesting from a social perspective because we normally would never play a game like that. You spend the whole game trying to collect as many cards as possible (capitalism) but in the end its up to luck (and basic math –if you’re final number of cards is divisible by 4, you’ll always win) (communism or socialism) that determines your material standing at the end of the day.

American Games

I taught the kids to play Go Fish, which they absolutely loved, and later taught them crazy 8s (thanks Mom for the cards), which they also loved.

Fabiola only knows numbers one, two, three, five, and ten by memory so it was difficult playing with her at times. We would help her, because it was simply not an option not to allow her to play. I tried teaching her numbers and made some progress. I ended up giving her the Crazy 8s cards because it made the perfect gift for her...something fun and educational. With those cards, she’ll have a fun time and learn her colors and numbers.

It’s really fun to play with kids here, and much easier and more fun than passing time with the adults. Sometimes you might think parts of the games are illogical, and usually they are, but just spending time having fun with the kids is what matters most.

Bridge to Service at the Peace Corps Office

2009-08-28T12:56:00.000-07:00

August 7th, 2009

Yesterday we all went to the Peace Corps Office in Asunción. The agenda for the day was something like:

Orientation to and tour of the office
Security Briefing
Other Peace Corps Paraguay Sector Presentations
Administrative Tasks

Of these, the security briefing was the most interesting, and the only thing I think anyone reading this might be interested in. The Regional Security Officer, an FBI agent, gave the briefing to our group of 18 soon to be volunteers. That’s pretty cool right?...an FBI agent!
I am going to summarize his presentation.

Overall, Paraguay as a whole is a pretty safe country, especially when compared with many other countries, both developing and developed. He broke down the security situation in Paraguay geographically, looking at departments, cities, and areas within cities.

The department of San Pedro has traditionally been a rejected department and is the poorest segment of Paraguay. EPP is an organization that exists within that department. They’re a revolutionary, guerilla group that has made a call to arms and wants a violent overthrow of the government. A few weeks ago, $30,000 was found in the woods, and was linked to a kidnapping of an affluent individual executed by members of the organization. That sounds a whole lot worse than the situation really is. They are a small organization without a lot of resources at this point. However, there were 2 or 3 bomb incidents in Asunción about a year ago, and they haven’t yet determined whether or not EPP was responsible. So even though they are really small and don’t have many resources, they still deserve mentioning and the ongoing attention of the governments of Paraguay and the US.

There are also a lot of campesinos sin tierras (country folk without land). They have formed a group called “Sin Tierras.” Land distribution has been a historic problem in Paraguay. Paraguay is in the Top 10 countries with the largest income inequalities, and they are number 1 in Latin America. 10% of the population with land owns almost 67% of available land. The country folk without land are pretty upset about this, and are trying their best to do something about it. They often squat on land and form squatter villages, execute pretty big demonstrations, block roads, march in front of the President’s house, etc... Usually, there is a big threat, and they announce a day of demonstrations promising numbers like 50,000 people, but usually only about 5-10,000 show up. Their demands are to remove the Minister of the Interior along with several Supreme Court judges and to redistribute the land. I’ve heard what they want is impossible and will never happen.

He pointed to the Southern part of the country, and said that overall it is pretty safe and stable. The department of Misiones is more developed and very safe.

Ciudad del Este is a city in the East of the country where the borders of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina all converge. As such it is a hub of illegal contraband, and a source for terrorism fundraising. Some of the money made there ends up in the hands of Hezbolah, so the government keeps close surveillance on this area. The reason it is a hub for illegal contraband is because there is a huge under valuation of imports and exports, lots of corruption, and little control in the area.

Amambay and specifically Pedro Juan Caballero, is probably the most dangerous part of Paraguay. It is lawless there due to a lack of police. There is a lot of drug trafficking and intra-gang warfare in the area. Peace Corps doesn’t send volunteers into that area, and it is recommended we not go there.

There is also a lot of drug trafficking across the Chaco on the way to Bolivia. I think cocaine gets trafficked from Brasil through Paraguay.

The traffic situation in Paraguay is dismal. Like many countries, traffic deaths far exceed any other crime. First the road infrastructure is horrible. There are very few highways; most of the country has dirt and stone roads. There are minimal standards and regulations with respect to traffic. It’s wild riding on busy roads with Paraguayans. They weave in and out of traffic, run red lights, hit the gas and breaks hard, pass in the double yellow all the time, go off road to avoid speed bumps or other cars, etc... The bus drivers drive like maniacs! You will be riding down a two lane road, and they’ll pass a slow truck on a double yellow with a car coming head on without blinking an eye. Often there are several cars or motos occupying the same lane. Speed limits aren’t enforced. It’s actually pretty fun...like a rollercoaster every time you get in the car with a Paraguayan.

The US has a great relationship with Paraguay, and the Peace Corps is well receipted. The US embassy in Paraguay is the second largest US embassy in the world, second only to that in Iraq. We have around 200 volunteers in country. President Lugo, newly elected President of Paraguay, mentioned the Peace Corps in his first meeting after being elected. When he was a priest in San Pedro, he knew Peace Corps volunteers and their work in the country. One of Lugo’s only meetings in the US was with Peace Corps returned volunteers and executive staff. Paraguayans as a whole are very amiable with Americans, so overall, the security situation in Paraguay is pretty optimistic. The most popular crime that Peace Corps volunteers fall victim to is petty theft, and we were given strategies to avoid this happening to us.

I always seem to comment on the food, so I’ll tell you the special treat we had for lunch. Mike, Jenna, Carlos, and I went to Pizza Hut. We had two family size pizzas. They were amazing. Oh and I’ve become so unpicky by this point. Everything, including onions, was on the pizza. I can eat, and like, so many more things now than before. While at the restaurant we saw two guys that looked like wizards, a hippie, and girls beautiful and tall enough to be models. We talked about how this one wizard was probably in wizard training and the other was a retired wizard, and how they both knew we were talking about him....We were in a silly mood. It was funny if you were there...

Future Site Visit

2009-08-28T12:33:00.000-07:00

August 4th, 2009

I spent the last 6 days in San Juan Bautista. It’s called Future Site Visit. The idea is to check out your future site, find a family with which you can stay if you come back, meet some people, and fill out a few forms to bring back to Peace Corps with information about your site. Ultimately, it allows you to see your future life for 2 years, so you can make the decision of whether or not you want to swear in as a volunteer.

Avelino, the representative from the Coop who was sent to accompany me, and I arrived to San Juan Bautista on Tuesday in the early afternoon. Avelino was hungry so we went to a restaurant about a block down from the cooperative. I had recently eaten while on the bus so I just got a piece of cake. It was delicious. We went to the cooperative, where I met a few of my future co-workers. They were all very cordial.

The cooperative is super-nice. It has glass door entrances, looks like a modern bank and has modern style offices. There is a guard with a bulletproof vest and gun posted out front. There are two police officers close by holding what looks like sawed-off shotguns. Everyone has their own computer, the people dress in formal business attire, and almost everyone has a University degree. There is a store in the cooperative in which they sell appliances, shoes, electronics, etc... There is a big screen TV in the entrance for goodness sakes! Wait. I did sign up for Peace Corps right? Haha. That just goes to show you that Peace Corps isn’t just living in villages, playing with poor kids, and teaching AIDS awareness and prevention to the local villagers.

Around 4:00 PM, one of the managers, Mariño and Avelino drove me to a “hotel,” which was basically a long house, but there was no vacancy. Then they took me to this pension-like place. There are like 6 dormitories, which the Señora of the house rents out to students who are studying at the local university.

They just kind of dropped me off so I was a little depressed. It didn’t quite work out how Peace Corps says it is supposed to. I was supposed to stay with a local family. Nonetheless it ended up working out, and my depression lasted less than an hour because around 6:00 PM, Mariño, who had dropped me off earlier, picked me up and took me to an urban style soccer field at a local school beside the park. I watched the guys play soccer for a little while. It was like an And 1 commercial but in soccer.

I just remember having this feeling of how nice everything was when compared with Paso de Oro and many other places I’ve seen in Paraguay. It’s like a completely different country. The people are educated, the streets are clean, there are parks, recreational activities, nice restaurants, etc... The large towns and cities in Paraguay are very different from the countryside.

When they finished playing soccer, we sat in the park and drank Brahma, the local beer. On the way home, Marino stopped at this local burger stand and bought us some delicious burgers.

The next day I felt like I was a consultant or executive on an international business trip. Shortly after arriving at the cooperative, two of the managers gave me a tour of San Juan by car. Upon arrival back at the cooperative, a few of the managers and the general managers all went out to lunch at this really nice restaurant. We all walked the two blocks to the restaurant. Imagine this...the managers are all dressed in power suits, and we’re all walking down the road together. The cooperative is by far the largest and most important institution in San Juan. Many people greeted them as we passed. It kind of felt like I was walking down the street with either important political officials or the mafia. You may think that’s a big jump between mafia and officials but in many countries the lines are blurry and sometimes they are one and the same.

It was the kind of restaurant where the waiters are dressed in nice suits and hold the wine bottle with a towel while gently pouring your glass. It was the kind of restaurant where the chef drizzles a cream on the plate and strategically place parsley for decoration. I had really good pasta and a strawberry dessert. It was a wine glass filled with finely chopped strawberries, whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and this other sweet creamy stuff. AMAZING!!!

Dia de Amistad

July 30th, 2009 was Dia de Amistad (Friendship Day) in Paraguay. This is one of many really cool holidays Paraguay has. Throughout the day everyone was wishing each other Felicidades, or Happy Friendship Day. Certain people exchanged gifts. Someone brought in a few delicious pizzas. I noticed a few people standing around in one of the offices eating something. Then Avelino said, “Brad, eju,” meaning come in here. I did and was invited to partake. I had three slices. You have to keep in mind, things like cake, ice cream, good pizza, desserts, etc... have been very rare events for me up to this point. Most of my food is simple, bland, and I eat the same kinds of things day in and day out. So when I get things like really good pizza, it is an extra special treat for me.

Later, around 3:00 PM, everyone headed to a building out back. I didn’t really know what was going on or what was about to happen, until I saw people carrying food and drinks. At first, I thought it was like a company meeting, but it turned out to be a company party.

Here is how the tradition goes. 15 days before Dia de Amistad, they draw names out of a hat. Then everyone buys a present for their amigo but they don’t reveal who their friend is. Then during the party, everyone sits in a semicircle to begin the gift exchange. The really weird and funny thing about it is that all the girls sat on one side and the guys on the other side. It was like I was at an elementary school dance or something.

Someone starts it by saying something to the effect of, “My friend is someone who is short, very funny, and likes Olympia.” They continue talking about the person as they walk towards them, and then reveal who it is by calling their name, giving them a hug (between men) or kisses (between women and between men and women), and handing them the gift. Then it’s that person’s turn to reveal who their friend is. The process continues until the last person has gone. The atmosphere is amazing. Some give serious speeches but most joke around. Sometimes, they start chanting, “Kiss Kiss Kiss,” and other times the room explodes in laughter after someone’s comments and someone else.

After all the gifts were exchanged, the ladies brought in the food and drinks, and everyone stood around the table eating finger food and pieces of cake. That’s the Paraguayan way. You don’t get your own little plastic plate and napkin. You just pick up what you want to eat, and eat it. It’s actually less wasteful, and is more conducive to a close, friendly atmosphere.

After the party I went home, and was picked up around 6:00 again to go to the cancha to watch the guys play soccer. Once they finished playing, we celebrated Dia de Amistad together by having some beers in the park. After that, Marino took me to a Dia de Amistad BBQ.
Now is a good time to talk about how a lot of Paraguayan BBQs go down. Everyone basically sits in the Paraguayan equivalent of lawn chairs in a circle. A glass of wine and coke or beer is passed around the circle. One man is designated the cook. He mostly attends to the meat on the grill but also partakes in the drinking circle. There could be one of a few meats on the grill. The most popular items are chorizo, which is sausage, and carne de vaca, which is cow meat. I say cow meat instead of beef or steak, because that’s exactly what it is...cow meat. Most times its still on the bone and is full of fat and slimy stuff. Another popular option is to throw a pig head on the grill, which was the case for this particular occasion, along with chorizo. Once the meat is ready, they put it in a large pan in the center of the table. Then everyone pounces on it like lions on antelope. Everyone has a fork and a knife, and you just proceed to cut off pieces. Usually there is something like bread, mandioca, rice, or lettuce and tomatoes, to accompany the meat. When I didn’t immediately pounce on the meat, they encouraged me to hurry up and get in the circle, or risk missing out on the best meat. The Paraguayans know where all the best meat is. One particular nice fellow, would ever so often, slice off a specially chosen piece, and hand it to me.

After eating the pig head and sausage, we sat continued with the drinking while listening to music. Later, a few of the guys started dancing together. It’s all very relaxed. When you have to pee for example, you just walk a few steps away from everyone else, and let it go. After that, Marino drove me home, but when we got there, he was like, “let’s continue the party.” So we went to a little place that was still open, and some of his friends met us there. We continued the party there late into the night, and then one of his sober friends drove me home.

It is a very cool holiday, and I don’t know why we don’t have something like that in the US.

The next day was pretty uneventful. I slept really late, watched a few movies, read some out of a book I was reading entitled, Ismael, and went to the coop later in the afternoon to play on the internet.

Funny Story- The Carrolin catastrophe

The next day was August 1st, and yet another interesting day in Paraguay. The tradition on this day is to take a shot of a drink called Carrolin, which is caña with Ruda plant leaves. You do this to purify your body, clean your blood, and build up defense in your body in preparation for the month of August, which is a bad month full of sicknesses, etc...

Funny story: Obviously I knew nothing about this tradition or the drink before the day began. They told me it was strong, so I waited until mid morning to take my shot. I prepared some water as a chugger in case it was awful. A few people were waiting in anticipation for this gringo, foreigner, to participate in the tradition and take the shot. I think they were waiting to see my reaction. I chugged down a big gulp, and that was that. It was HORRIBLE. It was very strong and sour, and left a nasty taste in my mouth, so nasty that I ended up walking to the pharmacy, and bought a pack of Winterfresh, to take the taste away. It turns out you aren’t supposed to drink the leaves too. You’re supposed to use your mouth to filter the leaves and only drink the Cana. Obviously, I had no way of knowing, and no one told me. They thought it was hilarious, and said they figured I knew. Of course I didn’t. In the end they said it wasn’t dangerous, and I would just have really clean blood, and be strong for the coming month.

Birthday Party at Ranch

That night my soon to be new family, which I found through a co-worker, took me to a birthday party a few miles outside San Juan. It was held at the birthday boy’s ranch. This birthday party was super nice. There were tables set up, waiters, a live band, an open bar, and a spread of food like I hadn’t seen since arriving in Paraguay. Out back, the men were grilling. This consisted of gigantic pieces of lamb, pig, and cow meat on big wooden sticks stuck in the ground in a circle around a big fire. Ever so often they would rotate the sticks so as to grill all sides of the meat.

Inside the ladies were cooking. There was a fish soup, which took me forever to eat, because I had to carefully chew each piece and pick out the tiny little bones. I regretted accepting the invitation to the fish soup, even though it was really good, because it took me so long to eat it that it was awkward because everyone else had finished and all but my new host sister had abandoned me.

When the meat was ready, we all took our plates to where the meat was, and the guys sliced off portions of our choice of meats. I ate every meat available including lamb, which was the most delicious. It was so tender and juicy. You sprinkle a little lemon on top of freshly slaughtered and cooked lamb and whaala, you have yourself a delicious meal.

Speaking of food, I want to give a shout out to Joe McGinnis! There is no way you’re eating more organic than me. Many times, I can literally see my food walking around or growing. Most of my veggies come fresh from home gardens; fruits come from backyards, and meats from local ranches. I’ve talked with a lot of farmers and ranchers, and I know most of what I’m eating is truly organic because they can’t afford the chemicals, and preservatives aren’t used.

Anyway, the birthday party was a blast. I was introduced to a lot of people, listened to good music, ate good food, and even danced a bit. Just another day in Paradise...
All in all, my future site visit was really good. I read a book, watched a few movies, went to several parties, played on the Internet, met my future family and co-workers and began a few friendships.

My general thoughts on the town:

San Juan Bautista is a very nice town in comparison with many places I’ve seen elsewhere in Paraguay. It is almost too nice...I am in the Peace Corps after all, and part of me craves that living poor experience. I mean while on my future site visit I ate delicious desserts, pizza, pasta, and hamburgers. I went to a rich man’s birthday party, was treated to a fancy lunch, and spent a good amount of time in the comfort of a modern air-conditioned office.

It’s not like a huge city and it’s not like a really small town either. I really like the size. There are plenty of people and businesses, but it’s not overwhelming. It’s really clean; there are some paved streets. The people are nice and very welcoming. They are more educated and a bit more sophisticated. There is a pretty rich culture, and I’m told it is very safe.

I don’t think I’ll be able to help the Cooperative too much in the way of their administration, but instead hope to be able to leverage coop resources to reach more humble people surrounding San Juan.

Site Assignments

2009-08-28T12:28:00.000-07:00

July 28th, 2009

Just a short post today.

I received my future site assignment!

I’m going to San Juan Bautista, Misiones. San Juan Bautista is the capital of the department of Misiones, and according to many, the nicest city in all of Paraguay. It is located in the southwest of the country. I posted a map of Paraguay with San Juan Bautista marked and outlined.

The population is about 18,000. I have been assigned to work with Coopersanjuba, an agricultural production and services cooperative with over 20,000 members. That’s huge compared to most cooperatives volunteers are assigned to.

My assignment says the Cooperative wants someone to help with Feasibility Studies for various projects and to work with members of the coop in better project planning. They say it is also possible to work in marketing and consult with local small businesses.
I feel anxious to meet my counterparts and new family, and hope that I make a good first impression.

Zoo and Cancha

2009-08-28T08:01:00.000-07:00

July 27th, 2009

Yesterday almost my entire family went to the Zoo in Asunción. My brother, Hector, drove everyone in his truck. He used a tarp to make a tent-like structure in the back of the truck, which everyone sat under. I had to sit in the front with my brother and his wife since it is prohibited for me to ride on main roads in the backs of trucks.

On the way to the zoo, we passed some interesting sites. One of those sites was the former house of Alfredo Stroessner, who was dictator in Paraguay from 1954 until 1989.

The other site was the location where 400 people were burned alive inside a supermarket because the owners ordered the doors locked so that the customers would not leave without paying. There was a massive public outcry, but in the end no one was held responsible for any substantial amount of time. I’ll talk about it later, but that’s a good example of how justice is hard to come by in Paraguay.

When we arrived at the zoo, everyone crowded around a pile of meat and bread and made cold meat sandwiches for brunch. I think this was to avoid paying the high zoo prices, and fill the kids up so they wouldn’t beg for snacks in the zoo.

We walked around the zoo for a while looking at different animals. Though I like going to the zoo, and think it is very educational, there is a part of me that finds it sad that animals are caged up for our amusement. They lead miserable lives. Tigers weren’t made to be caged up...they were made to roam free, to hunt, to conquer and to mate. I imagine those animals sense something is wrong about their environment Imagine having instincts and not being able to act on them! How frustrating and depressing it must be to lead the life of a zoo animal.

Some of the animals we saw were tigers, various tropical birds such as toucans and parakeets, a hippopotamus, a puma, monkeys, a baby anaconda, an elephant, ostrich, guinea pigs, turkeys, turtles, and bunnies.

The chimpanzees intrigued me the most. I spent a bit of time just observing. I was standing on one side of the cage, facing one of the chimps that was sitting on top of a tire. When I walked over to the other side of the cage, he jumped down, rolled his tire over to the other side of the cage, positioned it perfectly, then climbed on top and continued his observation of me. Sometimes you wonder if maybe they think we’re the strange attraction, instead of the other way around. I talked with my niece about how intelligent and human-like chimps are. They experience emotion, wage wars, make tools, methodically teach their young how to use tools to access food, communicate, have opposable thumbs, and sometimes walk upright. It’s not a big stretch to see how Homo Sapiens evolved from a common descendent as the chimpanzee.

After the zoo, we went to the cancha to watch Paso de Oro play. The previous week the goalkeeper was ejected from the game, and thus suspended for two games. Paulo, my nephew, stepped in to fill the position, so we arrived especially early so that he could dress and then prepare with the team. Poor Paulo...the opposing team scored goal after goal against him. He hadn’t practice in a while and was noticeably nervous. The cancha is always fun regardless, and if the adult team wins, we celebrate in the back of the truck on the way home, and at my house once we get there. When the weather is good, my Mom racks up because people buy a lot of alcohol, other drinks, hamburgers, and empanadas.

Check out these pictures from the Cancha and make sure to watch the video at the bottom.

This is how to celebrate a win at the cancha:

WATCH THIS VIDEO

Cow entrails soup and yet another birthday party

2009-08-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

July 24th, 2009 – Cow entrails soup and yet another birthday party

VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED

Thursday, July 23rd, I came home to a special surprise. I had walked in and heard some loud noises outside my window. I went out to see what it was, and it was my father and his friend unloading the remains of a cow on a table in our carport...in this case I guess cowport. Haha. It’s been a while since my last incredibly witty and funny pun.

They told me they were going to prepare a special treat for the soccer players to give them energy for the upcoming game. What they do is cut up and cook all the entrails of the cow, and make a big soup out of it. I think they grill the head and sit it on the table, give everyone a fork and a knife, and everyone digs in. You have to be fast to get the best parts, which I’m told are the tongue and the brain. As they were telling me this I’m looking at a pile of cow organs and a big meaty cow head. Haha. The head still had the horns, eyeballs, and some hair on it. I had to get a picture for your enjoyment.

I snapped a picture after the head was prepared a bit, and as they were cleaning and cooking the meal.

It was Jacqueline’s, my niece’s, birthday. She’s only 13 years old, as of this birthday. She’s kind of shy and you can tell she doesn’t have a lot of self-esteem, and probably doesn’t receive a lot of favorable attention from her parents. At lunch that afternoon, I walked over to her house to wish her Happy Birthday. She was still lying in bed watching TV. That’s awesome because she probably never gets to do that, but it was her birthday so if she wanted to lie in bed half the day and watch TV, then that’s exactly what she should have done. Anyway, I asked her what she was going to do for her Birthday, to which she had no response. I told her I hoped she had a great birthday and to do whatever she wanted, hung out with her a bit, and then gave her a big birthday hug. After lunch she told me her parents said they were going to have an Asado, a BBQ, for her birthday.

When I came home from school, she had invited a few of her friends over to attend her Birthday BBQ, and they were running around playing. The hours passed and it soon became evident that there would be no BBQ. Her Mom came home announcing there was no cake to be found in town, and her Dad said it was too late to start a BBQ. She ran to her Mom’s bed and began to cry. It broke my heart. Here it was her 13th birthday, she had invited friends over, and her parents didn’t come through. I felt so bad for her, and could understand exactly why she was crying. It was like she wasn’t important enough. What makes it worse is that she had just seen the fairly large party we had for Mike and the big extravaganza we had for Angelic. Her family had thrown big parties for her sister’s last 2 birthdays including her 15th, which is huge here. I mean it’s so big that people go in debt for it. She had been anticipating her birthday, and probably imagined a party, and the day comes, she gets a promise for a party, invites some friends, and nothing happens. Can you imagine the humility, and the feeling of rejection? It broke my heart.

Her parents promised her they would do it the next day. It’s not the same, but at least it’s something.

So the next day we had a small party. Her parents are very humble from a financial perspective and not nearly as organized and motivated so the party was kind of thrown together and simple, so I still felt bad. The party started out just as just a few girls and their Moms’/relatives and I sitting around a TV listening and watching a music DVD.

Regardless there were balloons, music and dancing, cake, and friends....all the important ingredients for a good birthday party. Later the men quit working and joined the party. About that time, we started eating and then drinking.

It was freezing...literally. To let you know how cold it was, I had already gone home for like 20 minutes to put my feet in front of a heater, to warm them up because they were so cold. I tell you how cold it was so you’ll fully appreciate how funny it is that these two Paraguayans, my brother and Carlos’ brother, took their shirts off and danced together in 32-degree weather.