First Post From Paraguay

I have arrived safely into Paraguay!  We arrived very early on Friday morning and went straight to our main training center about an hour and a half outside of the city.  We had a HUGE welcome party of Peace Corps (PC) staff and it was a little overwhelming with so many people so excited about us getting there.  We loaded up three small busses and an entire cargo truck load of luggage and drove outside the city.  The training center is very nice with lots of PC staff including our medical team, language teachers, and many others.  We had a short introduction and were serenaded by the staff singing us welcome songs.  We then had a treasure hunt around the main office where we met and sat down with the medical team, got our schedule and groups, got paid for the next eleven days(which is about $5 US per day), got all of our training manuals and basic information, an introduction by our security team, received Spanish/English dictionaries, as well as interviewed for our host family placements.  Although it might not seem like we get paid much considering that we are living with a host family and they are providing our meals and lodging, the only thing we have to pay for is our laundry which is about $3 US/load).  (Below is a picture of my last meal in the states.)

After we had the scavenger hunt we then had a wonderful lunch prepared by our staff including many local foods.  Most meals here are usually meat (carne or pollo) and lots of bread (pan y sopa).  It seems as if we do have internet at the main training center so we should be able to get emails out/update blog a couple of times a week depending on when were there.  I have been composing my emails/blogs at home when I have down time and then posting when it is available.

It seems as if our main health concerns are not going to be malaria but rather dengue fever, botfly flies (don’t look this up as it seems very nasty), as well as many other small parasites that can be picked up.  Although we can boil/ clean our water for our entire trip they (current PC volunteers) recommend that a couple of weeks into it we just go ahead and jump in and start drinking the water, they said we would be a little sick for a couple of weeks but then our body will adjust. So I guess being sick for two weeks out of twenty seven months isn’t too bad and would be a lot less time than purifying the water all the time.  I guess we will just have to see.  They said there are no major diseases that we would contract from the water just a different bacterial load than our bodies are used to.  We also do have to use mosquito nets to sleep at night, I got mine set up but it took a lot of time and lots of help from my host family, who was convinced I didn’t need it so I had to try and explain that it was necessary as a PC volunteer.    

                After lunch we had a lot of information given to us about our host family and what to expect/ what is expected of us.  We were divided into four small groups (there are 12 in my group) which is based on our sector (agriculture or environment).  My community is located in a more rural area about half an hour from the main training center.  In this community we have a small house which PC has rented as our school for the next few months.  We have three of our own language teachers and one technical teacher who is actually a PCV (Peace Corps volunteer) that has extended one extra year to help with training.  So far we have only had one language class which was on Saturday morning.  Our school days go from 7:45-5 with an hour or so break in the middle for lunch time we have class Monday through Friday with a half day on Saturday.  So far it seems like our schedule is extremely busy and we will be going back and forth between our satellite communities and the main training center, as well as into Asuncion every once in a while where the main PC office is.  It seems as if we have a wide variety of classes ranging from lots of language to health, security, technical, and many other areas.  This country is for sure a bilingual country so it seems as if they want us to have basic Spanish and then they will teach us Guarani.  The language seems like it will be a fun one to learn because it is very nasally and the tone/influx of your voice can mean many different things so I know that it will also be very challenging. 

We have arrived here in spring and it is a lot cooler than I was expecting it to be. 

So far in the evenings it gets very cool so I shut my windows and wear my flannel pants and a long sleeved shirt to bed.  I do have a fan and lots of windows so when it does get hot I can open it up.  My host family is extremely nice; I have a host mom and dad who both work at a dairy operation somewhere around here as well as an older brother and sister who also work, although I’m not sure where exactly.  They live in a very modest sized house and I luckily do have warm water, although not hot it sure feels good when the sun goes down (which is at around 6:30 pm).  We do have electricity and they have given me the biggest room of the house, which I feel bad about but it sounds like that’s how they treat us down here.  I have a small bed, dresser, nightstand consisting of a cardboard box with fabric on top, as well as a small plastic table and chair and a small shelving unit.  The kitchen and rest of the house is very modest (compared to US standards) but seems to get the job done.  I will try and post pictures as soon as I get them taken.  The most interesting thing is that everyone has chickens that just run around everywhere and our chickens like to just parade around and through the house all the time since each room opens up to both inside and outside the house.  At first I was a little freaked out when I saw chickens just in the house but I guess it is normal behavior.  Also there is no noise ordinance here so in the evening many people have huge parties with loud music so I am very glad that I brought ear plugs for sleeping. 

                We went to a “small family party” last night to help celebrate a birthday and it turned out to be a huge gathering with about 40-50 people.  The meal times are also very different than ours because they have a small breakfast, huge lunch, small snacks, and dinner isn’t until about 10-11 pm, which is something that I will have to get used to. It seems as if my host mom makes me meals at normal time because I usually eat by myself because I am long asleep before they eat so I guess I will slowly try and adjust to this change although I have no idea when, and if my host mom every sleeps.  She always is busy with something.  Just like with many other host families they try to feed you A LOT of food which I have to politely refuse after a while because it is just way too much.  Luckily there was one other volunteer at the party with me because everyone was trying to talk to us in a mixture of languages and it was a little overwhelming.  There was a ton of food which you had to fight your way into get and then everyone quickly ate very quietly and then plates were cleared and the drinking and partying began once again.  It was a very new experience for me watching the many social interactions which is very different based on age, gender, etc.  Much of our training will go over this eventually. 

Top 10 interesting things that I have learned thus far:

1.       Chickens are allowed anywhere including inside the house and in fact just help clean up the scraps dropped in the kitchen/anywhere really.  Also they are very loud at ALL times of the day!

2.       Although I can pay my host mom to do my laundry, undergarments have to be washed by the wearer so you just walk into the shower with them on and wash them out and then hand them up to dry COMPLETELY (goes back to the botfly fly L ).  Right now with the cooler temperatures it takes a few days for underwear to dry, but when it gets warm outside it will be quicker.

3.       A lettuce salad here consists of normal lettuce and tomatoes but also vinegar, salt, and oil.  I have learned they use oil and mayo on just about everything. 

4.       Terere and Mate is the popular drink of choice, depending on the weather.  When it’s cold or in the morning you drink mate and when it is hot is terere.  There are a lot of herbs included in the drink which should help with a variety of problems and does taste good but there is a very proper way to drink it.  So far everywhere I have gone people are drinking terere and everyone drinks from the same glass.  I will try and have a blog specifically on drinking terere.    

5.       In Guarani hello is “Ba-achieba”

6.       You have to always wear shoes because there is evidently some parasite that likes bare feet that lays their eggs and you have to dig them out (they say that we will all experience that at some point, but I’m hoping not J)

7.       The red clay is everywhere is going to stain everything!

8.       Toilet paper NEVER goes into the toilet but rather in a nearby trash can, the septic systems here are very bad.

9.       We have one cat that actually belongs to us but we have a constant parade of various other animals including many other cats, chickens, and dogs.  You never have to worry about dropping any food on the floor because there is always an animal (cat, dog, or chicken) that will fight each other for it!

10.   They all think that I have lots of boyfriends in the states because of my “curvy” figure; I guess it is seen as desirable.  But don’t worry Thad all of the guys thus far that have expressed interest are old and married J!

That’s all for now, I hope that everyone is doing well stateside.  Will try and post pictures and more soon!