This
past week as been insanely busy, which I’m sure I have said about many of the
other weeks. It seems like we have class
every day from 7:45-5 but it seems like we spend so much more time especially
now studying 2 languages at one time. I
have now had one week of Guarani and I am starting to learn a lot but still
have a lot more to learn. I am able to
introduce myself and say basic facts like where I’m from, where I live here and
a bit about my family, as well as basic greetings. Now we are learning all of the verbs in
Guarani and trying to learn the sentence structure which just seems so
backwards to me but I will get it down eventually. I have also learned that I can no longer
think in English for language but have to think in Spanish and Guarani which is
a lot easier said than done but I just need more practice. If I try to translate from English to Guarani
it just doesn’t make any sense at all. The
language teachers here are just so amazing, I only have 2 other people in my
class and they are very patient and helpful with our language. I just never realized how much brain “power”
it takes to learn a new language, mch less two so I have been trying to go to
bed early to try and get some additional rest.
We had our mid training language test today so I guess I will find out
tomorrow how that went. Below is just a
basic introduction and for your benefit and for mine trying to type it I have
left out all of the ^, and ~ signs.
Cher
era Kaitlyn.CheaspiranteCuerpo de Pazpegua.Che Estado Unidogua. Cheestadohera Missouri. Cheamabaapota Conservation
Ambientalpe.He’eaby’aParaguapie.Areko 23
ano.CheaikoTacurutype.CheaikofamiliaGomezndive.Chesyhera Elva,
ha’eTakuratupe. Cheruhera Vicente,
ha’eTakuratupeavei. Arekomokoiermano,
cheermano mayor hera Cesar, ha’eoreko 25 ano. Cheermanamenorhera Marcia,
ha’eoreko 19 ano.
We
have been having some awesome technical sessions learning about Paraguayan
Forests and learning how to make/ start a tree nursery, trash management and
recycled art, abonosverdes (green manures), lombricultura (worm farming), and
my favorite agroforestry! It is kind of
funny because all of my “classmates” call me the girl obsessed with forestry
because I am always so excited about learning about trees and learning the
different species here as well as learning everything I can about agroforestry
in Paraguay. During our tech sessions on
forestry/ agroforestry I ask about 101 questions and people get so tired of me
asking questions but oh well. I have
also been trying to help people learn the identification of trees but I am
having to find new words to use to describe trees other than what I learned in
dendrology because when I tell people it has compound or bi-penately compound
leaves they look at me like I’m crazy but oh well I guess my passion is
forestry.
On
Friday we worked in the schools in the morning with recycled art so in a group
of three we designed and taught a class on recycled art. My group made wallets out of the used milk/
wine cartons which was a lot of fun but a little bit difficult to do solely in
Spanish so I learned that just showing them even with my limited vocab was
enough and each of the kids went home with new wallets which was fun. Our technical sessions are a lot of fun because
we have wonderful, knowledgeable trainers and we always start out in more of a
classroom setting learning more about the science and theory behind it and then
go out and actually built things like a garden, worm compost, hot compost, and
plant abonosverdes. It is a great way to
learn new things.
The
weather here has just been a roller coaster similar to Missouri. One day it will be about 90 degrees and humid
like no other and then it will blow up a storm which will cool things off for a
little while until the sun comes out and the humidity goes through the
roof. It seems as if the summer will be
like a summer in Missouri but worse with the humidity, temperature, and the
fact that I will not be able to “escape” the air conditioning. So I guess all and all I will never complain
about a MO summer day again.
My
host family here is so amazing and I have a wonderful mother, brother, and
sister. We hosted another get together
on Saturday night and just had a wonderful time just sitting around and
talking. We have 11 of us in our group
and it seems like every day I learn something new about them. It is crazy because even though I have only
known them for about a month it is amazing how quickly friendships
develop. Well I have decided that an
easier way to say what I have been up to would work better in a list form so
here it goes.
1.
The Paraguayan way to get
someone’s attention because they don’t have door bells and the doors are open
are to clap your hands which seems very strange and awkward for me but I guess
I will get used to it.
2.
The eggs here are extremely
thick shelled! My mom and dad go into
Asuncion three times a week to sell milk, cheese, eggs, etc and she just puts
them in a plastic bag and none of them ever break, I’m simply amazed. Talking about chickens though there is a
common misconception that they need roosters for eggs which is why they don’t
kill the roosters so sadly they crow at all hours of the day and night. Also instead of a coop since there are no
predators they just nest in the tree outside.
3.
I have been eating more “good”
veggies here than I ever did at home including: onions, peppers, eggplant,
arugla, other misc greens, and squash so I’m sure my mom is so proud. I have also been receiving a tomato (which
here is like a roma) and a half a cucumber with EVERY meal including breakfast
which is good but I am eating more veggies/ day than ever before. I have also been showing my mom how to cook
veggies like eggplant because she never had before so it is a new learning
experience for all of us.
4.
Since I have been helping my
mom with cooking more because I just told her that I need to learn so when I
get to my site I will be able to “survive” even though I know I will be
fine. I have been trying to slowly teach
her about healthier cooking because here it seems like everything here is fried
including my good fresh eggplant so my first success was convincing my mom that
empanadas are better baked than fried so it took making a batch of 20 for the
whole family and I still didn’t win over the men of the family but oh well. My mom has also learned how to make soufflés
(egg, veggies, meat, milk, etc) and has proceeded to just about bake anything
and everything in those since she just recently saw it on the TV.
5.
The one thing that I have been
trying to get over is the standard of clean, especially in the kitchens. Back at home I kept a clean kitchen but here
it is perfectly normal for many different things including: putting raw meat
directly in the fridge (without a plate or anything!) or just simply leaving
things out all the time. Also using the
counter to use as a butcher block for killing chickens and then just washing
with the hose and using the same knife and counter to cut vegetables is
perfectly normal. I have not been sick
yet and I guess it is just hard coming from such a “clean” society to down here
but I guess if it works it works. I have
just started buying my mom soap so hopefully she will get the hint but we shall
see!
6.
My mom is horrified by my new
“tan lines” because we have been working outside so much I have tan lines form
my t-shirts, watch, and sun glasses and she is just completely horrified. Today my sister was making fun of my sunglass
tan and I was trying to explain to them that people back home called it “raccoon
eyes” but that was a little hard to explain considering there really isn’t
anything close to that here and I couldn’t even begin to think about how to
describe it.
7.
All of the banana trees are
becoming ripe all about the same time which is nice because I get fresh bananas
whenever I want but there is only so many bananas I can eat in a day I think we
need to start using other options (bread, dried, etc.) before we make ourselves
completely sick.
8.
Michi (who I originally thought
was a male cat) is having kittens in about a month which I am super excited
about and will have to post pictures when the time comes around!!!
Today (Martes- Tuesday)
we had a meeting with our APCD’s (Associate Peace Corps Director for the
environmental sector). This was our last
meeting with them before we are assigned our sites (less than 3 weeks away!) so
they ask a lot of questions about how much “support” we need (location, running
water, isolation, internet, etc.) what projects we are interested/
disinterested in and language, and I am one of the only ones in my group of 11
that said I would be happy pretty much in the middle of nowhere that I would
hate being put in a city and that I had to have natural surroundings
(preferable trees). They said that many
of the agroforestry sites are usually more isolated and far out in the campo
which is perfectly fine with me so I guess time (Nov. 20th to be
exact!) will tell where I get put and what my main project will be. Next Monday we will all be leaving for what
they call long field practice (LFP).
This is a time where we are in groups of 3-4 with a language teacher and
we go out to live with host families at a volunteer’s site and help them with
their projects and then of course have language class every day. We evidently also will be working on giving a
school presentation yet again in the site.
We will be there for four days and will be in Asuncion next Friday for
meetings with a river clean up on Saturday which I am looking forward to.
I hope everyone back at
home is doing well. It is sometimes hard
to believe that I have been gone for a month while others feel like I have been
gone for years. On Friday we will be
half way done with training and time is just flying by with so much more
exciting things to come. I love hearing
from you all at home, I don’t have internet access but about once a week so
please be patient. Also I sent 2 cards
today (Thad’s graduation card and Dad’s birthday card) that cost me about 35
mil in Guaranis (~8 US dollars, 2 days salary) so I guess we will see how long
it takes to get there!
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