Most people have had a couple of these moments in their life. On 9/11, I was in my junior high, watching updates on the lunch lounge TV. When Barack Obama was elected president, I was rushing the quad at the University of Illinois surrounded by people singing the national anthem and waving the American flag. And now I can add another historical moment to my list.
Some of you might be aware, but if not, there have been some huge changes happening here in Paraguay. In the middle of June, there were some terrorist attacks in the northern region of the country. 17 people were left dead, including 6 police officers. A week later, the Paraguayan president, Lugo, underwent an impeachment trial. And on Friday, June 22nd, Lugo was officially impeached from office. For this historic moment, I was with two of my volunteer friends, watching on a tv in a Paraguayan neighbor’s house while drinking mate.
I am not going to offer any opinions on the matter; as a Peace Corps volunteer it is simply not my place. Know that things are calm here and I am perfectly safe.
Be sure to stay up to date on the news ☺
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Living with host families: The good, the bad, and the awkward
EXCITING NEWS PEOPLE! I AM LIVING IN MY HOUSE!!!! And now that I am living on my own, I can finally reflect of the past four months of living with families and see how while sometimes it was extremely inconvenient and annoying, overall it was a good experience! I’m glad it’s over though… Because now I can laugh at all the bad, knowing I don’t have to put up with it anymore! Here is a list (in no particular order) of some of the best, worst, and funniest times spent with families.
The Good
-During training, making carrot cake for my family. By the time I went back for seconds, it was all gone! They loved it!
-Gifts I got from various hosts include: a jar of fresh honey straight from the hive, crocs, crochet bed spread, huge bag of peanuts
-Practicing my Guaraní and teaching English
-Terere or mate, twice a day, everyday
-Making guacamole with one of my families in site, and my host sister eating as much, if not more, than me!
-Watching the little kids smile as I brought home books from the library for them to read
-During training going on walks with my host mom, and at site going on walks with my host sisters
-My host dog during training would walk me to class everyday
-Playing cards, volley, swinging with my host siblings
-After staying with a host family for a week, my host sister came to my new families’ house with some hot mbeju and a jar of fresh honey
-Working on a HUGE veggie garden with one of my families. Hopefully that will ensure I have some fresh veggies coming my way in the next couple of months ☺
-Coming back from weekends away and hearing kids yell my name across the soccer field
-Watching Disney movies in Spanish with every host family I stayed with (pretty sure I will have Mulan memorized by heart soon)
-Being the judge in a sibling dance competition (which was HILARIOUS - see photo)
The Bad
-FOOD. By this I mean going days without seeing anything other than carbs or meat on my plates, carpincho, armadillo, enough oil to fill lake Michigan, hardly any veggies, ginormous portions, queso paraguayo (tastes like feet), watching an entire bucket of pig fat being dumped into the chipa that we were going to eat later… the list goes on
-Bowel issues. Please see list above.
-Lack of privacy
-Spending 2 weeks in a room that smelled slightly like pee
-Not understanding anything when the people were speaking guarani
-So. Many. Chickens. (Dead and alive, see photo)
-Walking into my kitchen at one family’s house, realizing I stepped on something strange, and finding out it was a chicken foot from the chicken she killed minutes before
-Being chased by a bull while walking into my host family’s house. No joke. I ran at a full out sprint, and now people constantly remind me of it.
The Awkward/Hilarious
-Tatu in guarani is a slang word for vagina. Me thinking it meant tattoo, I one day asked my host sister if she has one. She was a little weirded out…
-One of my host dads frequently walked around without his shirt and with a gun.
-My 2 year old host sister would take the terere cup, sip, and spit the water back in the cup, then pass it on
-One host sister gave me a thermometer one day when I wasn’t feeling well. It looked like one for your mouth, so I stuck it in. Turns out you put it in your armpits.
-The guarani word for food is very similar to small penis (tembi’u vs. tembo’i). I knew of this, and made it through training without making the mistake. Once in site, my host mom was asking me what words I knew, and I said tembo’i with pride! Then I immediately realized what I did and we died laughing.
-One host mom saying “I think it’s time I tell you about my daughter who died…” then getting up, walking away, and never mentioning it again.
-At the end of my official presentation in site, my boss opened up the floor for questions from the community. The only ones asked were “do you have a brother?” and then “why didn’t you bring him?”
-In one of my houses, I would be locked into my room at night (that’s another story). One night I really had to go to the bathroom, so I ended up climbing through my window to get outside.
-Countless incidents with huge bugs, spiders, frogs, and chickens. Can’t even begin to list specifics, but most involve me screaming and my host brothers taking care of the situation
-Me going to take a picture of pig ears as they were just chilling in a pot, and my host mom grabbing them and putting them close to my face and scaring the crap out of me (below is my host mom and the ears. Can you understand why I was frightened?!)
P.S. For those of you wondering how I spent my first night in my house, here is a picture. Pretty self-explanatory. And pretty damn awesome.
The Good
-During training, making carrot cake for my family. By the time I went back for seconds, it was all gone! They loved it!
-Gifts I got from various hosts include: a jar of fresh honey straight from the hive, crocs, crochet bed spread, huge bag of peanuts
-Practicing my Guaraní and teaching English
-Terere or mate, twice a day, everyday
-Making guacamole with one of my families in site, and my host sister eating as much, if not more, than me!
-Watching the little kids smile as I brought home books from the library for them to read
-During training going on walks with my host mom, and at site going on walks with my host sisters
-My host dog during training would walk me to class everyday
-Playing cards, volley, swinging with my host siblings
-After staying with a host family for a week, my host sister came to my new families’ house with some hot mbeju and a jar of fresh honey
-Working on a HUGE veggie garden with one of my families. Hopefully that will ensure I have some fresh veggies coming my way in the next couple of months ☺
-Coming back from weekends away and hearing kids yell my name across the soccer field
-Watching Disney movies in Spanish with every host family I stayed with (pretty sure I will have Mulan memorized by heart soon)
-Being the judge in a sibling dance competition (which was HILARIOUS - see photo)
The Bad
-FOOD. By this I mean going days without seeing anything other than carbs or meat on my plates, carpincho, armadillo, enough oil to fill lake Michigan, hardly any veggies, ginormous portions, queso paraguayo (tastes like feet), watching an entire bucket of pig fat being dumped into the chipa that we were going to eat later… the list goes on
-Bowel issues. Please see list above.
-Lack of privacy
-Spending 2 weeks in a room that smelled slightly like pee
-Not understanding anything when the people were speaking guarani
-So. Many. Chickens. (Dead and alive, see photo)
-Walking into my kitchen at one family’s house, realizing I stepped on something strange, and finding out it was a chicken foot from the chicken she killed minutes before
-Being chased by a bull while walking into my host family’s house. No joke. I ran at a full out sprint, and now people constantly remind me of it.
The Awkward/Hilarious
-Tatu in guarani is a slang word for vagina. Me thinking it meant tattoo, I one day asked my host sister if she has one. She was a little weirded out…
-One of my host dads frequently walked around without his shirt and with a gun.
-My 2 year old host sister would take the terere cup, sip, and spit the water back in the cup, then pass it on
-One host sister gave me a thermometer one day when I wasn’t feeling well. It looked like one for your mouth, so I stuck it in. Turns out you put it in your armpits.
-The guarani word for food is very similar to small penis (tembi’u vs. tembo’i). I knew of this, and made it through training without making the mistake. Once in site, my host mom was asking me what words I knew, and I said tembo’i with pride! Then I immediately realized what I did and we died laughing.
-One host mom saying “I think it’s time I tell you about my daughter who died…” then getting up, walking away, and never mentioning it again.
-At the end of my official presentation in site, my boss opened up the floor for questions from the community. The only ones asked were “do you have a brother?” and then “why didn’t you bring him?”
-In one of my houses, I would be locked into my room at night (that’s another story). One night I really had to go to the bathroom, so I ended up climbing through my window to get outside.
-Countless incidents with huge bugs, spiders, frogs, and chickens. Can’t even begin to list specifics, but most involve me screaming and my host brothers taking care of the situation
-Me going to take a picture of pig ears as they were just chilling in a pot, and my host mom grabbing them and putting them close to my face and scaring the crap out of me (below is my host mom and the ears. Can you understand why I was frightened?!)
P.S. For those of you wondering how I spent my first night in my house, here is a picture. Pretty self-explanatory. And pretty damn awesome.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Open for Business!
Just wanted to share what I have been up to lately. I am the third volunteer here in my community, and the first volunteers (a married couple) opened up a library at the school during their service. It was very successful with them, but with the last volunteer it was hardly ever opened. Since day 1 people have been asking me to open it again, and I finally have!
Right now I am planning on going there every Tuesday and Thursday for 3 hours to give the kids a chance to read, play on the computer, do puzzles, and just get comfortable with the space. This is kind of like a trial run, to see what the kids remember about the library, and what I need to focus on. For now, I am just overseeing everything, because I too need to get comfortable before I start bigger projects. In July kids have their winter vacations, so I am aiming to start teaching English/computer classes once break is over and I have a little more time to prepare. It will also be a great place for me to make health related games/books/posters available for the kids to use.
I can already see that I am really going to enjoy working there. The kids light up when they see all the books and play games on the computer, and I can see how valuable this is going to be for them. Now I just have to work on their library etiquette (the place was a ZOO yesterday)!
Here are some pics so you guys can see what I mean!
PS. Happy Birthday tomorrow Pops! And happiest of wedding days to Tessie and Chris! Wish I could be there!
Right now I am planning on going there every Tuesday and Thursday for 3 hours to give the kids a chance to read, play on the computer, do puzzles, and just get comfortable with the space. This is kind of like a trial run, to see what the kids remember about the library, and what I need to focus on. For now, I am just overseeing everything, because I too need to get comfortable before I start bigger projects. In July kids have their winter vacations, so I am aiming to start teaching English/computer classes once break is over and I have a little more time to prepare. It will also be a great place for me to make health related games/books/posters available for the kids to use.
I can already see that I am really going to enjoy working there. The kids light up when they see all the books and play games on the computer, and I can see how valuable this is going to be for them. Now I just have to work on their library etiquette (the place was a ZOO yesterday)!
Here are some pics so you guys can see what I mean!
PS. Happy Birthday tomorrow Pops! And happiest of wedding days to Tessie and Chris! Wish I could be there!
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