February

Hello! Sorry for the long delay in posts… I sorta broke my computer at the beginning of February and have had very little internet, so it has been difficult to update.

So, what was I up to in February, you ask? Well, on February 9, I hit my one-year mark in country! Luckily, I was able to celebrate it with a lot of my G38 friends in Asuncion. I think we are all amazed at how fast the time has flown, as well as proud that all 28 of us who arrived a year ago are still here today. This also means that the new group of health volunteers is here! So, welcome to our sister G, G41!


With the library, I hit a bit of a wall. I really didn’t enjoy going there anymore. But then Valentine’s Day came along; I came up with a craft activity, and was rejuvenated. The kids LOVED the crafts! I’m not very artsy, which is why I never tried it before. I realized, though, that the simplest things are great for the kids, in which case my level of art is perfect! So last month we made valentines, drew our family trees, and made a welcome sign for a trainee visit I had at the end of the month. Also, I think we may have found a librarian!! Once I get more details I will post, but this is very exciting news!!!


I also started a reading club at the library. The first week failed. Only 2 kids came, and no one wanted to read. Week 2 brought 3 kids and we read two Curios George books in a circle, and played some checkers. Week three I came up with a plan: Read The Little Mermaid, create a word of the week based on the book (this week’s word was dreams), and then a writing activity based on the book/word. Smashing success! So now I will have that same layout weekly.


The last week of February I had a trainee, Meagan, come and visit me in site. I was super excited about it! When I went on my PCV visit a year ago, it made me so excited about my service, and so I hoped to do the same with this volunteer. We worked at the library, visited the health post, wrote a pedido for a new project to the government, visited with families, played pool and drank beers, and she even killed a chicken just like I did last year!! I had a great time, and of course hope that she enjoyed it as well!


What else… OH! I booked my flight in May to visit my cousins in Chile!!! It will just be a long weekend since they are busy with jobs and a kid and I am busy here, but I am SO EXCITED!!! I haven’t seen these guys since their wedding 5 years ago, so it will be a great chance to catch up and just hang out.

While a short month, I managed to cram a lot into it. As always, thanks for reading and hope you are well!

Busy Month!

I am about to wrap up a 3-week summer camp with some of my best friends here in Paraguay! It has been a lot of work and a little stressful at times, but worked out amazingly in the end! We did 4 days of health related activities at each person’s site, focusing on dental health, nutrition, parasite prevention, and exercise. I was really impressed by how many people came to each site. It was also interesting/challenging to see the different dynamics of the kids. We would have to change our schedule and activities based on how the camps went on a daily basis, which kept us on our toes throughout the 3 weeks. My personal favorite moments of the camps were the partner brush, parasite skits, exercise day in general, and the epic water balloon fight! Here are some photos from the one that was led in my community:

Sandra after making her book

Arturo brushing my teeth

Water balloon fight!

Learning fun!

Celebrating the last day of camp!

Other January Happenings:
-Carnaval is happening right now! While most famous in Brazil, Encarnacion has the second largest celebration for it in the world. One of my volunteer friends, Yihana, actually danced in one of the troops! We went last weekend to support her and to have some fun, and it was a blast! Hilarious costumes, fun music, and dancing ‘til sunrise… Not much better!

-The first week of January was my best week of integrating yet. In 7 days I visited 8 different families’ houses, attended 3 birthday parties (including my first quice!), and had tons of kids come over to my house to play checkers and do puzzles. At the end of the week I was exhausted, but felt amazing.

Helping out with the asado prep

-I recently had my first experience with Paraguayan medical care. I rolled my ankle pretty bad one night, and so the next morning I went to make sure nothing was broken. Everything went fine, thankfully. Although I did find it interesting that I had to ring a doorbell and wait 5 minutes until someone answered at the ER door. Uh, what if it was an emergency??

-My friend, Karen, has a latrine at her house. One day, I shut the door a little TOO tightly and managed to lock myself in. As fate would have it, the lawnmowers were working, so my friends couldn't hear me call their name. Thankfully I finally got their attention, but not before this flashed before my eyes: Latrine Dive

-I PLANNED MY TRIP TO CHILE TO VISIT PETER, SANDRA AND MICHAEL!!!! The last time I saw them was 5 years ago for their wedding, so I am sooooo excited to hang out with them again! I’ll be buying the tickets this week, and will be hitting up Santiago May 23-26.

Holiday Vacation!

Hello! Well, I am back in hot hot Paraguay after an amazing 2-week vacation! The trip was great, but not gonna lie, I am happy to be back! Here is a summary of the trip:

Montevideo, Uruguay: Absolutely beautiful coastal city. Was only there for a couple of nights, but it was long enough to realize what a cool place it is. Highlight of that part of the trip was when Karen, Alex and I rented bikes and cruised along the coast for the afternoon. The weather was perfect, the water refreshing, and we stopped for an amazing lunch of fresh seafood!

Punta Del Diablo, Uruguay: Small, hippie beach town on the southeastern shore of Uruguay. I rented a house there with 3 of my best friends for the week, and there were 2 other houses of Peace Corps Paraguay Volunteers as well. Days were spent relaxing along the beach, while nights were passed with friends at the beach bars. Usually a week on the beach is too much relaxing for me, but this time it was exactly what the doctor ordered. We also had a huge Christmas dinner with the volunteers there, and that was the highlight of the trip for me!

Buenos Aires, Argentina: Not going to lie, going from tranquilo beach culture to huge city was a little rough for me. Is it possible to be exhausted from vacation? Because I think I was a little. I loved the city, but hopefully I make it back before I leave the continent to explore it more. The city is full of adorable little neighborhoods and nooks and crannies that I still have to see! Highlights include hitting up Boca (photo below) and watching a Tango show during lunch, the Buenos Aires Pub Crawl at night, and of course daily stops at Starbucks.

Overall an awesome trip with friends! Now that I am back in Paraguay, I am spending the month of January doing summer camps. With 3 other friends, we are doing a week at each person’s site. It will be health related (talking about hand washing, teeth brushing, parasite avoiding, and exercise), but will also have lots of fun games for the kids to play!

Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday season!

New Years Resolutions

Tomorrow 2013 begins! Thus, it’s that time of year when we all join gyms and buy all natural food, hoping that this year is going to be the year you finally make those changes you have been saying you will for years now. And while I don’t have gyms to join, I still made up a couple of resolutions that I am hoping I continue for longer than just the month of January.

1) 52 books in 52 weeks. I am aiming for a book a week, although if I end up skipping a week and then reading 2 later on down the road, I am okay with that. If you have any recommendations for me, let me know! I don’t have a kindle and am thus limited to what is floating around the Peace Corps library, but suggestions are always welcome! And you can check out my Book List to see how the progress is going!

2) Learn to enjoy running. Okay, I know probably 5 of you literally laughed out loud reading this. This is ME we are talking about! But, what better time to actually give this goal a go than in the Peace Corps. I am going to wait to start until March or April once temps cool down a bit, but this is something I am really hoping I can achieve. I am not looking to run marathons or anything, just to be able to go for a 30-60 minute run without wanting to jump in front of a passing moto…

3) Meet more families in my community. Over the course of the past 8+ months in site, I have grown very comfortable. I have my friends and my families I visit, and that’s about it. And while I am happy, I know I should meet (or at least attempt) all the families in my community. I know most of the kids through the school and the library, but not the parents. So I am going to aim to visit 2 new families a month.

What are you all aiming to achieve this year?

If I remember to, I will try to post again around June to give you all an update. Although if I failing miserably at them, don’t expect to hear from me… Hope you all have a fabulous and safe NYE! I am ringing in the new year in Buenos Aires with some friends. Should be great!

Hot hot hot!

While summer officially starts in a couple of days, the heat has already arrived in full force! It is HOT here, and I am definitely missing the cold Chicago weather. But just because the heat came, doesn’t mean that things have slowed down. The past month has been crazy busy with various activities, so here is a quick update as to what I have been up to.

First up: Thanksgiving!
On the actual day, I did laundry, worked at my library, and ate a dinner of Mac n’ Cheese. No joke. Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday, so I was definitely bummed to be missing the McWilliams celebration! Thankfully though, I had an awesome weekend with volunteers to make up for it! Some PCVs organized a huge pool party at a hotel in Encarnacion for the Friday and Saturday after, and it was SO much fun! There was a cooking committee, so I was able to get my fix of turkey, stuffing, and other delicious treats on Friday night. Then it was hanging out by the pool, listening to music, and hanging out with friends the rest of the weekend. It definitely made up for my lame Thursday evening!

Next: GAGA
For those who know me, I like Lady Gaga, but definitely not a fanatic. But when tickets are on sale for the equivalent of $40, how can I say no?! Her concert was the Monday after thanksgiving, so I went straight from Encarnacion to Asuncion with a bunch of other volunteers who were going. Not gotta lie, it was AWESOME. So much fun! We got dressed up all crazy, covered in glitter, danced like fools, and it felt like I was back in America for a bit.

Boring part…: Training
During the first week of December, my G reunited for a weeklong training. It was in 3 parts: Project Design and Management, HIV/AIDS workshop, and an in-service training. The first two parts were meant to be with a contact, but because of how long the training was, I couldn’t find anyone to come with me. It was a bummer since so much of it was working with our community contacts, but at least I was not alone in not being able to bring one. The last part was just for us volunteers, and much more enjoyable. We had chats with current volunteers who have successful projects, and I definitely left with new ideas and feeling motivated. The best part of that week though was definitely just hanging out with G38. We all get along so great, and I feel very lucky to be a part of such an awesome crew!

To End: Adios
One of my best friends here, Andrea, was my neighbor out in the campo. We immediately got along and probably got together at least once a week for lunch/dinner/American time. Sadly, her group of volunteers swore out last week, so she is now back in the good old US of A. She will definitely be missed, but thankfully she got a follow-up in her site, so I now have a new friend to hang with! Also, the last couple months with her were spent with lots of conversations about the future, so it will be nice to get back to living in the present. But if you’re reading this, Andrea, you were the best! Good luck in ‘bama, have fun with Indy, and please don’t start talking with a drawl! Miss you already!

Today, I’m off to Uruguay to spend Hanukkah/Christmas on the beach with 8 friends, and then will be taking a ferry to Buenos Aires to ring in the New Year! Happy Holidays everyone!

PERU!

I have been pretty fortunate in my life to have taken some pretty incredible trips, and now I can add Peru to that list. It was everything I expected and so much more! The landscape is breathtaking, the history is rich, the crafts are beautiful, and the people are kind. Here is a summary of the trip I took there with my parents!

Sacred Valley: After landing in Cusco, we immediately headed down to the Sacred Valley to help adjust to the altitude and dig right in to their culture. We stopped at the main market in Pisac that was HUGE (and not even one of their big market days). After making several purchases (which then turned to be a major theme for the week), we got settled into our cozy hotel in Ollantaytambo to get a good night’s sleep before the next days activities. On our first full day in Ollaynta, we got a guide to take us through the Inca ruins right in the town. How they moved those HUGE rocks and carved them down to be so perfect I still don’t understand, but it was beautiful and impressive. The next day was one of my favorite activities of the trip. We visited the small mountain town of Patacancha, famous for their weavings. There were six of us tourists with a guide, and we sat down and learned about the weaving process while Andean women wove, caught up, and played with their children around us. And naturally, at the end, we came home with some amazing woven goods. I’ve learned that I love to get into the small towns to see how the real locals live, and get a real feel for their lifestyle.

Machu Picchu: Obviously, the highlight of the trip. We took the Inca Rail train deep into the valley until we arrived at Aguas Calientes (the town) around noon. After a quick stop in our hotel, we took the bus up the mountain to meet our guide, Kucho. A friend of my father’s had recommended him to us, and he didn’t disappoint! Machu Picchu was clearly a sacred place for him, and his love for it certainly rubbed off on us. As we hiked up the ruins, Kucho stopped us just before we reached the top. He had us hold hands, close our eyes, and he led us to the lookout point. Cheesy as it may be, it really made taking in the whole view pretty unbelievable. Taking it all in was pretty incredible. After all the classic photos, we continued our way through the ruins while Kucho described their significance. My personal favorite parts were their water system, sundial, and the rock sculpture formed to the shape of the condor.

The next day, we woke up super early to catch the first bus back up to the ruins. We had an 8:00 ticket to hike Huayanpicchu, and didn’t want to be late. As soon as the hike began, we knew it was going to be a long one. No matter how many insanity videos I did, nothing prepared me for the steep and narrow climb up the mountain. I will say though, that the views from the top made it totally worth it! Absolutely spectacular. After we climbed back down, Kucho led us to a more private part of the ruins to relax. Once my legs stopped shaking (ha), I was really able to take in the views. Machu Picchu is a truly beautiful place. Definitely a great 2 days spent there!

Cusco and Lima: Our stays in both these cities were brief, but good. In Cusco, we did more market shopping (shocker), visited the sun temple, and ate some delicious food! And in Lima, we relaxed along the waterfront watching the surfers, and of course sipped on some pisco sours. And don’t fret, I got plenty of starbucks in!

So what am I thankful for on this Thanksgiving week, you ask? For that amazing vacation, travelling the world, meeting new people, living in Paraguay, and my hammock. Hope you all have a fabulous holiday! I will be spending it poolside in Encarnacion with some fabulous volunteers!

Parents in Paraguay

Hello! I was planning on just posting one blog when I got back from the whole trip, but it has been pretty darn busy and the Peru one is a long one, so I thought I would break it up.

My parents came to visit!!! They got into Paraguay Halloween night around midnight (spooky, eh?) and thankfully had no problem with any of the flights. I’ll give a brief rundown of the highlights of their trip visiting me in the campo.

Lunch at Lido Bar – After hitting up the local market for some craft items; we met up with a bunch of my volunteer friends at a local Paraguayan restaurant in Asuncion. It was great for my parents to meet some of the people I talk about on the phone all the time! (And I know all the poor volunteers greatly appreciated them footing the bill) :)

Hanging at Sixta’s – They were the first family we met in my site, and we ended up going back to hang again when they offered us mbeju for dinner! The kids LOVED all the toys my parents brought (Frisbee, glowsticks), and my parents could easily see why I love this family so much. Easy conversation (even with the language barrier), and overall a great couple of hours spent with them.

Chipa and Sopa – On our first full day in site, we got things started off right! We headed to an old host fam’s house, Albina’s, to make the local breads with them. While there was some initial hesitation when looking at all the ingredients that went into it, my mom jumped right in to making the chipa while my dad played Frisbee with the boys. Once it was all ready, we all enjoyed the grub! My parents were easily most impressed with the tatakua, the wood-burning oven used to cook the food.

Volunteer Neighbors lunch – Saturday was a jam-packed day full of Paraguayan activities, so I decided to make Sunday a little more relaxing for them. We headed over to my neighbor Andrea’s site where we met up with my other neighbor, Emily. We spoke plenty of English, drank terere, enjoyed beer and a yummy lunch, and just relaxed. The only downside was that it was a scorcher outside, so the walk home was rough! But hey, they wanted to see how I live, so now they can feel my pain next time I tell them about my long walks in the heat.

Chickens – The day I went to pick up my parents at the airport, was the day my chicken commission received their chickens from the government! 20 chickens each to all of the 12 women in the group. I was certainly excited about it, and was glad my parents could see one of my projects succeeding!

In addition to the highlights, we visited more families, they watched me teach an English class, visited the library, and just enjoyed campo life. My parents definitely enjoyed passing time by watching all the cows/horses/chickens pass by my house, and really appreciated how friendly all the families were. I think the visit absolutely gave them a better idea as to what my life is life, and made them more comfortable knowing I have so many families who care about me around.

That’s all for now! Have a great week and thanks to all those vets out there!