Dream Big and Dream Fierce: April 2012

“Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world" -Margaret Mead

1 year and 6 months after I turned in my application, I, along with all 28 of my fellow G38 peeps, can finally call ourselves Peace Corps Volunteers! This morning we had our swearing in ceremony, and now I get to spend the weekend in Asuncion, and will head to my site on Tuesday.

The Ceremony was great. The Peace Corps director, US Ambassador, a host family representative, and a volunteer representative all gave great speeches. It was sad saying bye to Lidu, but overall a great ceremony. We really should have practiced taking the oath of service in Spanish though, that was a disaster.

This weekend we have a much needed break in Asuncion. I am looking forward to some R&R, good food, and good times before we all go our separate ways. Plans so far include experiencing the Asuncion nightlife, TGIFridays (yes, they have one here), seeing The Hunger Games, and exploring the fun markets of the city.

How am I feeling? 87% excited, 7% sad, and 6% scared shitless. I’m super excited because the day I have waited sooooo long for has finally come! I finally get to go to my site, get settled in, and get going with my work. Sad because I have to say goodbye to some incredible friends, some of my closest are more than 7 hours on bus from me. And scared shitless because… well… I’m about to move into rural Paraguay, by myself, speak another language (or 2) all the time, and I am doing it for 2 years. In reality though, I am really excited for the next chapter to begin!

So as I mentioned, my internet situation in the campo is pretty lousy. I do now have a cell phone though, so if you want to call me, just email me and I will give you the number. And I will be sure to update this when I have the chance! Keep in touch, everyone. All the snail mail has been amazing! My address will change, and as soon as I get the new one I will post it here (but anything mailed to the old one I will still receive).

24 months in the campo as a rural health and sanitation volunteer – let’s do this.

Site Presentation Day! excuse the tan lines...

Hello! So I actually have a somewhat exciting post today, as it relates to where I will be living for the next 2 years! I have a small community in the department of Misiones (you aren’t supposed to say the exact name on a blog for security purposes, so if you are really curious I am happy to email you). I just got back from a 6 day visit to my site, and while it was a little overwhelming at times, I can honestly say that I have everything I could want and am very excited to begin the next two years! So now a little bit about it…

It is a small community located about 7km from the main ruta. The town is big on agriculture, so is surrounded by farmland. The community itself, however, is lush with all types of trees. It’s relatively flat, but a very beautiful place to be. There are about 100 houses in the town, as well as an elementary school, high school, health post, police station, church, almacen (store that has all my basic grocery needs), and municipality building (not yet open). The middle of the town is a plaza (it even has a playground!) with all those main buildings located on the sides of it. All the houses are pretty close together, which is nice. I will likely get a bike for when I need to go to the supermarket or visit my nearby volunteers, but to get around my town walking is very easy. I am following up a volunteer who did a lot of work on his house, and I am planning on moving into that after I live with some host families. I am just a block walk to the plaza, have running water, electricity, a modern bathroom, and plenty of fruit trees. There is even already a spot for my hammock! Initially I was indifferent about being a follow up volunteer, but now that I visited I am grateful because most of the people at least somewhat understand the job of a PC volunteer and I have a lot of basic worries already figured out for me.

I spent the week with my community contact, and she is an absolutely amazing woman! She is married and has 8 kids (she told me they didn’t have tv back then…. Ha), 6 of which live in the house with her and her husband. During the week, her granddaughter also comes because she goes to the school in the town. They are a super fun loving and generous family, and pretty open minded for Paraguayan standards. They really made me feel right at home and I definitely think I will stay close with them throughout my 2 years. When I first get to site (April 24th!), I will be staying with a few different families as a way to see different areas of the community and get to know more people. My first host mom is Esperanza, my future neighbor once I move into my house. Then I have about 3 other families lined up who want me to stay with them. All the mothers are already calling me their daughter and are seriously so welcoming.

While there, I visited the school and health post, as well as some families. Mostly though, I just hung out. I am following up an education volunteer, so I can tell already it might be a bit of a challenge defining my role as a health volunteer in the community. There is a library at the school they want me to work at, and are already expecting me to teach English and computer classes. I am definitely open to doing all of those, but hopefully they get that those aren’t going to be my primary projects. As for future work, I am not sure what my main projects will be. Once you get to site you do a big census of the community getting information on what they think is important, and after that I can evaluate and decide what I want to focus on based on their needs. I’m really excited to get to site, but mostly I’m excited to get the first couple of months done so I can be living on my own and have a fairly set work schedule. Right when you get there you are supposed to focus on integrating, so the days will likely be only filled with chatting and drinking terere. Not that I am dreading that, but I will definitely like to get a routine figured out.

Overall, I really feel great about the next two years! If the 6 days I spent there are a reflection of how the community is going to receive me, I feel very fortunate.

Oh, there is one downside though…. Apparently the internet sticks don’t work in my community, and the nearest cyber is 27km away… The municipality building in my town has an internet tower, so hopefully when it opens I will be able to go in there to access to free wifi. The only thing is just as everything here, we are on Paraguayan time… So when it opens, I have no idea. To my friends and family reading this – I will do my best to get on and stay in touch! I know I said it would get better once I got to site, but I guess I was wrong. And I will get a cell phone, so that will help as well. But please don’t forget about me down here! Oh - My mailing address is currently the same. Once I get the new one, I will post it on here.

That’s all for now… This week is Semana Santa, so lots of family time and chipa eating. I’ve decided to share a bit of my cooking too and make some guacamole and chocolate zucchini cake, which I hope they will like! All us trainees are a little concerned about the constipation that lies ahead of us after this week, but it will be a great time to bond with the fam. Hope you all back home have a lovely Passover and Easter. I will leave you all with some pictures from my site :)