Counting Down

Whether I intend to or not, I have found myself counting throughout the whole Peace Corps process. At the beginning it was a countdown full of excitement and anticipation - I was counting the days until I heard from placement. Then I had to count down 6 months until I left for Paraguay, 10 weeks until I swore-in as a volunteer, 10 months until I passed a year in country, and most recently, I passed the one-year as a volunteer mark. So what does that mean? It means that rather than counting up, I am now counting down. I have passed the biggest time hurdles the Peace Corps job comes with, and now am on the downward slope. It means that the countdown has changed from excitement to a ticking bomb, moving fast towards the inevitable… I officially have less than a year left here in Paraguay. But, rather than be depressing by talking about all I have left to do and see, I am going to share with you some great moments from the past few months. Moments that make this job worthwhile. Moments that makes the timeline of the Peace Corps not so daunting after all. 

Some of G38 at Ahendu

Sean Paul/Taio Cruz concert in Asuncion!

My pooch

I now take guitar classes...

Best friends :)

Semana Santa

Last week was Semana Santa here, or Holy Week. The celebration begins Wednesday, and then continues throughout the weekend. While I celebrated it last year with my host family in training, I enjoyed this year much more. I visited the families I know the best, and it was a really great week.


On Wednesday, I visited with Na Sixta and her family for the ever-important chipa making! Families all over Paraguay get together this day to make obscene amounts of chipa. Chipa is a bread made of corn flour, cheese, milk, salt, and a little oil. While the women were preparing the dough, the men were prepping the tatakua (wood burning oven) for cooking.

Lili prepping the dough

Tata Kua (or is it one word? not sure...)

My beautiful chipa :)

The finished products!

Also, eating pig is a huge part of Semana Santa. I woke up Wednesday morning to the sounds of pigs dying all over. Literally. Just when I thought it was finished, another neighbor killed their pig. When I got to Sixta’s house, the pig had already been killed (phew), but they were prepping it for eating. That means I got to help cut up pig fat into small cubes and watch them shave the hair off the skin to later be prepped for dinner. Yummy? I did try the pig fat (which is served fried and coated in corn flour), but chose to leave before the main course of pig skin stuffed with meat… I just couldn’t do it… haha

Next year's piggy!

Thursday, I was running all over, visiting 4 families in total. I started the day at 7am back at Sixta’s to drink mate, make more chipa and sopa, and chat with the family. Then I ate lunch with my landlord and her family (where i was sent home with both cow AND sheep meat! lucky me), stopped for a beer stop at Na Albina’s, and then relaxed in the afternoon at Na Esperanza’s. Busy and exhausting day, but fun!

The rest of the week was also lots of fun. It included a relaxing day with my neighboring volunteer, tereré sessions with new friends, Easter party in site, visiting more families, and of course, eating more chipa. Overall, definitely a successful Semana Santa!

Party in site!

My bestie in site, Silvia

On a different note, happy opening day!!! So glad us Cubs fans got to sing today! Go Cubs Go!