A First Time for Everything

Well I hope that you all had a wonderful New Years.  I also hope that you all are staying warm and have electricity back in the US, I heard many of you had some major winter storms that came through.  So I pray that all of you are staying warm and safe.  These past few weeks have been full of “first times” for many different things and that is what this blog post is about.

The Friday before New Year’s was time for my community to celebrate the kids in my community that had their first communion and confession at the church.  The priest came into town and the services were supposed to start at 2:30 but as I have learned nothing ever starts on time here.  Once the priest arrived he set up two chairs under the shade tree and met with all of the children one at a time that were having either their first communion or confession.  After he was done with about fifteen children it was then the adults turn to have confession if they wanted.  So by the time it was all said and done the service itself didn’t start until around 4.  It wouldn’t have been bad except that it was one of the hottest days we have had so far and the church doesn’t have very much shade on it and only two fans so all of us were sweating and just sitting around drinking terere trying to stay cool.  The service itself only lasted about an hour with each of the kids coming up one at a time.  My host sister Pilar actually had her first communion.  It was just a great experience to be able to share with my community, and a great way to get to know some of the children in my community.

On Friday night my family was invited to help celebrate the 15^th birthday (quinceanera) of a girl in the neighboring community.  This is a HUGE deal down here to turn fifteen and there was an all-out party.  It kind of reminded me of a wedding, except no one was getting married and there was no groom.  The girl showed up wearing a beautiful white dress and she was all decorated up with make-up and her hair was all done up.  There were about 200+ people in attendance with beautifully decorated tables and decorations.  It started out with the girl welcoming everyone one by one and her receiving very elaborate gifts and then she had a first dance with her father.  After that dance she danced with 15 other men in her family before she was then passed off to those that were single.  This is a huge deal here because that signifies that she can then start dating as well as many other more “adult” things.  I was just amazed at how much work went into it with a live band, a sit down dinner, and everything else.  My host sister Maria will be having her big party in March and we have another one this Saturday night.    

The Saturday before New Year’s I was invited to one of my neighbors houses to make chipa which is very similar to bread made with mandio flour.  It is very popular throughout Paraguay and is very common to buy when you’re traveling on the bus, so before this I had only bought it but had no real idea how it was made.  So I arrived to her house early and helped them get everything mixed up and then rolled out the dough.  We shaped them like a donut and then put each on a piece of banana leaf.  While we were doing that the men in the family were working on getting the outdoor oven ready.  The outdoor oven is made of bricks and mortar and they had a big fire going inside of the oven to get all of the bricks hot.  Right before we put the chipa in they cleaned out all of the fire and ash, and the chipa was able to cook with just the heat left in the bricks, and surprisingly it just took about five minutes per batch.  In between each batch they had to get the fire going again.  So it took longer just dealing with the fire than it ever did to make the chipa itself.  It will make more sense with the pictures I took. The key (at least I think) is to have chipa that is hard on the outside but nice and chewy on the inside, but fully cooked.   It was a great time because I was able to get to know another family in my community and learn how to make this wonderful Paraguayan food.  The lady I worked with is the president of the women’s committee in my community and they make chipa a lot to sell to the community as a fundraiser, so it sounds like I will be a chipa expert soon.  By the end of the morning we had made 75 pieces of chipa.  Most of which was going to be sold for the ladies personal income, with of course myself going home with a half a dozen which I ate for breakfast and shared with my host family.  I am learning that chipa is best when it is freshly made and not so much a couple of days later. 

The last few weeks all of the watermelon in my community has become ripe.  Sadly it is very late compared to the rest of the country, so the farmers are not able to sell the watermelon because the market is just saturated.  At the beginning of watermelon season watermelons cost 40 mil and since then the price has dropped and now in the closest town to be they are 3 for 10 mil (~$2).  Here in my community though since they can’t sell them because it would cost more to transport them than they would make money they are just sitting in huge piles.  So here they are free you just have to a pile, find one you like, and then carry it home.  Sadly though there just isn’t any way my community can eat all of the watermelon so most of it is just going bad, there is just so much watermelon you can eat.  It is a nice treat though to put it in the freezer for a few hours when it is so hot outside and then just set it in your lap and start chowing down.  Here watermelon is just eaten with spoons with half a watermelon for everyone so you eat as much as you want and then you put it on the ground.  The chickens like the seeds and the red part and then the piglets come in and eat the rind and then if there is anything left the cows will finish it all off.  So I guess that is nice that every part can be eaten and the cows really like eating so much watermelon.  So all the animals in my community are currently eating watermelon to supplement their diets, could be a lot worse I guess.  Such a wonderful summer time treat!

For New Years I traveled with my host family about three hours back towards Asuncion (west) to stay with Mabel’s parents and family.  We showed up on the 30^th and spent the day just sitting around and visiting with all of the family.  Families here are very large, I think with the large Catholic influence, so there was plenty of family to meet.  On the 31^st we spent most of the day getting food ready for the evening.  Sadly my host dad killed another one of our piglets that they sliced in half and cooked over an open pit fire all afternoon.  The ladies made a bunch of chipa, chipa guasu, and sopa paraguaya.  The set up was very similar to Christmas that we ate around 10 pm and then some of us took a nap and then woke up at midnight to wish everyone a happy New Year’s and then went back to bed.  On the 1^st I went with some of my cousins on a hike through the cow pastures to see these amazing rock formations and scenic views.  It reminded me of many of the places that I have visited in Missouri down in the Ozarks.  I was just amazed at the completely different ecosystem there with it being so dry almost like a brushy desert.  All of the trees were no taller than about 20 feet and there were just cacti everywhere, but the views were spectacular.  After we got back from our hike we all loaded up in the vehicles and went to the river, which was a lot better than the one we visited for Christmas.  There were actually trees everywhere providing great shade and the water was nice and refreshing.  That afternoon after lunch we headed back to my community. 

Many of you have been asking what I have been doing as far as “work” goes.  The Peace Corps considers us to be working 24 hours a day 7 days a week.  So I don’t really work from 8-5 but rather my work consists of working on my language, visiting my community, and currently looking for housing.  The last month I have just been visiting different people in my community and just really getting to know my community.  I have drawn a community map with the houses, fields, and other natural resources.  The first three months in site my “job” description is to just get to know my community and integrate as much as possible.  After the first three months I can begin to start projects.  Also since I am the first volunteer (in the PC cycle of three volunteers) I have spent a lot of time just explaining who we are and what we do.  So although I don’t have a lot to show for it, like you would a normal job, I am working everyday on my language skills and integrating into my community. 

My other big project right now is trying to find a place to live for the next two years.  I have to live with a host family for three months and then after that I can move into independent housing.  There isn’t really a lot of options when it comes to empty houses here but so far I have found two different options.  So right now I am exploring those options and then will be making a final decision on the 22^nd when my bosses come for my site presentation.  I have a huge safety/security checklist that my house has to pass in order for me to be approved to live there.  I am also trying to find a house with a more modern bathroom/ shower because although I don’t mind a latrine I don’t really want one for the next two years, especially when I have other options available.  As I have been visiting other houses in my community I have learned that only a few houses (including the one I am currently living in with my host family) has latrines, most actually have a more modern bathroom.  Also both of the houses that I am looking at has wonderful yard spaces with abundant fruit trees and grape vines.  So now I am just working on negotiating for what I will pay for rent and other logistical things. 

The last week or so I have been working on invitations for my site presentation which will be on the 22^nd of this month.  This is when my bosses will come visit my site and just explain to my community what the PC is and what my role in the community will be as a development worker.  There are a lot of misconceptions about PC and many people just assume that I come of a short period of time, have outside funding for different big projects, and then just leave, because that is what a lot of other organizations have done in the past.  I can honestly say it is hard to compete with some of these other organizations because they come in, spend a bunch of money for something, and then leave.  Sadly though, at least around of here, many of those projects have just stopped or are completely run down because there was no training of the local on how to problem shoot or fix the problems.  PC has a very different philosophy because I will actually be living here for two years (which just blows their mind) and ideally all of my projects will be self-sustainable using the resources available in my community.  When I leave my community ideally the projects I begin will be able to continue with local leaders and will not require much (if any) outside funding.  So now I am just trying to get my community excited about my site presentation so that they will actually come and learn about PC and what I will be doing. 

We had a three day break from the heat after New Year’s with a series of storm systems that rolled through the area.  It was a very nice and needed break from the heat but it has come back with a vengeance.  So I hope you enjoyed the post, it will be interesting to see what else new will come about in two years, will try and keep you posted!

This little neon green caterpillar looks great until he stabs your pinky finger when you are getting your dried clothes off the line.  I lost feeling in my for most of the day but finally it went away.  So now I make sure and shake out my clothes when I take each piece off the line.

First communion (my host sister is second in line)

Making chipa with the fire with the man putting in in the oven with a big paddle and the lady loading it up again. 

Our finished product.

Getting the fire ready for round 2.

The chipa cooking on the banana leaves.

One of the many HUGE piles of watermelon ready to go.

Some views from the overlook and some cacti.

The nice river we swam in on New Years Day.

This is a picture I took from the car ride home that is along the main routa.  This is pretty typical, what used to be huge expanses of forest are now cattle pastures with a few trees here and there.

The cats for some reason really love my computer, I think because it is warm but I don't know how they can be cold when its 100+ outside but whatever, perhaps maybe they just like the penguin folder!