24th Birthday in Paraguay

This past week on the 25^th of July I celebrated my 24^th birthday.  Over the years I have been a variety of places and countries for my birthday, from Japan to Costa Rica and from Pensacola, Florida to New Orleans, Louisiana.  This year seemed to be a little bit different because I have now been here in Paraguay for ten months which just seems so crazy and hard to believe.  Also this has been the coldest birthday that I have ever experienced with temperatures in the nights dropping to 35-45 degrees and daytime about 60-70’s.  We are now in the middle of winter and usually my birthday is one of the hottest days of the year!  It wouldn’t be too bad but considering that the houses are uninsulated and we don’t have heaters it feels like camping.  Luckily I have a large cat and some hot water bottles to help keep me warm at night.   I have also learned to take advantage of the sun in the afternoons and sit outside to soak up some sun and warm up.  Luckily I am prepared for cold weather with warm clothes and a sleeping bag which have been fantastic.  We haven’t had a frost yet but everyone keeps telling me that it is coming and we are just waiting for a clear starry night, at least that is what my family keeps telling me.

A couple of days before my birthday I traveled into Caaguazu to celebrate my birthday and one of my VAC mates birthday Brad.  He celebrated his birthday with his wife Katie earlier in July but this was the first time we could get together.  Below you will be able to see some pictures of our wonderful birthday dinner.  I also was able to go to the post office while I was in town and had some fantastic birthday cards and packages from my parents so I was able to open those on my birthday.  I also had a wonderful day celebrating with my host family and we had a fantastic asado (similar to a BBQ).  I was also able to make a German Chocolate cake for my birthday which my host family and community members absolutely loved. 

It was very interesting to see my communities’ reaction when finding out how old I was.  Some thought that I was younger and some older.  When I told them how old I was senora was beside herself that I didn’t have any children yet, she is convinced that I left all my children at home for someone else to take care of. I kept trying to explain that I don’t have kids and I then got a lecture that I am getting “older and wasting time”, it was a good time for a cultural exchange.  Another senora in the community was horrified that I am this “young” and living as a female by myself so far away from my family.  It is just interesting because you never know what you are going to hear from one day to the next, but they are keeping me on my toes I guess, never a dull moment.  Enjoy the photos!

This didn’t occur on my birthday but was my conservation/ English class that I hold on Sundays.  I went over with the kids how to plant in macetas (containers) as well as start transplants.  So we used egg cartons to start seeds that we will later transplant out into the garden.  They had a fun time and we ended up with soil and seeds everywhere but they kids had fun and learned a lot and most of the seeds are starting to sprout.

This is a picture of Brad and me with our wonderful birthday dinner that you can see below.  We made homemade hamburgers and hamburger buns as well as mashed potatoes and a side salad, it was wonderful!

My dad awhile back send me a Reese’s peanut butter cup muffin mix that was chocolate muffins with peanut butter filling so we made those and they turned out amazing, THANKS DAD!

On the morning of my birthday I got up and made myself a wonderful breakfast with my favorite foods.  I made chocolate chip pancakes (which are an all-time favorite of mine) with bacon (that is splurged on at the super market but worth it) with coffee and fresh pineapple.  It was quite the treat and change from my normal small breakfast in Paraguay.

For lunch my mom made boli-boli (don’t know if that is how you actually spell it but oh well) which is just like a soup with little balls of corn meal, almost like dumplings or something.  It is one of my favorite dishes in Paraguay but this was the first time I had ever had it with beef, usually it is with a fresh chicken that we kill.

For dinner we had a wonderful asado full of chicken, beef, and pork, so we had all of our animals covered.  It was a beautiful but cold evening so having the fire going was a great way to also keep warm.  My mom also made sopa which is kind of like a very fattening version of corn bread and we also had a lettuce salad and cucumbers and onion salad that I made up.  Overall it was a fantastic dinner!

This is just a picture of the German chocolate cake that I made.

Most of my host family singing happy birthday with my mom, host sister Rosa, and her family, and then the old director of the school that has been very helpful to me in the community.  Maximo, my brother is the one taking the picture and his family was in Caaguazu so were not able to celebrate with us.

Just a picture of me and Junior blowing out the candle.  We actually had to try and take this photo a couple of times because Junior kept blowing it out early and Maximo was set on getting “the perfect photo”.

A picture of me and my host mom.

Me and the old director of the school Jorge.

Maximo wanted a picture of me cutting the cake.

Just a couple of adorable pictures of Junior that evening  He was a lively one most of the evening running around in circles and having fun and then as soon as dinner was over he wanted a bunch of photos taken and then he just crashed for the evening.

A picture of the small fire we made after dinner that we all sat around and even the cats couldn’t stay away!

Overall it was a fantastic birthday and it was so great to hear from so many different people, new friends among old.  So here’s to another fantastic year here in Paraguay!

Biodigestor Class: Training of Trainers

This week I had the opportunity to travel down to San Juan Bautista, Misiones to attend a class about biodigestors.  In order to be able to attend the conference we had to fill out an application and then go through a selection process.  For the class there were 6 PCVs and 6 Paraguayans that underwent the training.  I had worked a little bit with biodigestors when I was living/studying in Costa Rica a couple of years ago but the design here is very simple and intended to be used throughout Paraguay and especially in more rural areas using locally available materials, simple design, and low cost. 

On the first two days we were trained in theoretical and practical elements pertaining to the construction and maintenance of a low-cost biodigester, and were instructed on how to teach a day-long biodigester workshop. On the third day of the training session, we conducted the workshop for people from the community of Ysypo (Misiones), teaching the theory segments and constructing a biodigester. 

We stayed at a local agriculture school which is a publically run school that students apply to and is high school but they study everything related to agriculture.  They spend the mornings usually in the classroom but then every afternoon they work.  The school itself is a very large farm consisting of orchards, tree nursery, production ag with corn, soy beans, sugar cane, as well as many types of animals (cows, chickens, pigs, goats, sheet, rabbits).  I think this would be a great way to learn as a student and every two weeks they rotate around to learn about something new, one of the stations is also learning about making bread and other goodies in the kitchen.

Overall I had a FANTAISTC time learning about this wonderful technology that can use animal manure and in about three weeks can turn it into biogas to use for cooking as well as produces a substantial amount of great fertilizer that can be applied to just about anything.  Below you can see pictures and more information about our conference.

The first morning of class we spent the time learning the science and theory behind biodigestors.  We learned about different designs from all over the world as well as the design of Paraguay and why it was chosen.  We also talked about the science behind the system and how it all works which is very interesting to me and I am interested about studying more about this since we just talked about the basics.    In the afternoon we went out into the community to a family that is getting ready to install a biodigester and met with them and determined where the best location would be to place it.  

The next step was to lay out the basic dimensions and dig the trench that the plastic would sit in.  I was the only female being trained with another female volunteer teaching the class and Paraguay is a very machismo society so we both tried to work our hardest and using the traditionally “manly tools” to show that we can work just as hard as they can. 

Did you know that you can use a clear water hose as a level?  Well I didn’t and my mind was just blown even though now thinking about it, it makes total sense.  When you are building a biodigester it is very important that everything is level because you have to form the siphon that makes in an anaerobic (without oxygen) system.  So we used a clear water hose to make a level line across the trench that we then used to measure off of.  I was just so impressed by this and to me it seemed so much easier than using a level, especially over a long distance like this (~10 meters).

Once we got the trench dug and everything level we then went back to the agriculture school where we were staying to look at the biodigester that was just recently put in there.  So with their system they used pig manure (which with the biodigester you can only use 1 type of animal manures due to the bacteria) and are just now starting to get out good fertilizer and biogas (since it takes a few weeks to get started).

 The biodigester was located right next to the pigs so it was fun to be able to go around and look at all of the baby piglets.

 This is a picture of the stove that is connected to the biogas line coming out the biodigester.  They said that when it is up and running people should be able to get 2-4 hours of fuel every day, which obviously depends on a lot of different factors but in general.

The next morning we got up and went to another site where the trench had already been dug as well as a fence and roof put up over it which is SUPER important to keep out animals, kids, and the strong Paraguayan sun!  This picture is of us cutting the bottom out of the barrels that you use for the entrance and exit.

 The guys just wanted their picture taken in the barrels before we put them in; they said next year they want to dress up for Halloween as a biodigester.

 Just a picture of us just trying to set the barrels using our level line and this is very important and exact process to get the siphon action just right later on.

 This is a picture of the three pieces of plastic that we used to put together to form the tube, two are polyethylene and the other is polyvinyl. 

In the afternoon we practiced cutting out the hole which needs to be made to form the gas line seal that comes out the top.  So we practiced cutting a hole in the three layers of plastic as well as with rubber (old tires) that we use to make the seal.

 This is a picture of my new favorite tool.  I don’t really know what the English word for it is but something along the lines of threader I think.  Anyway you take a PVC pipe and in order to connect it to a T or elbow joint you make the thread that it attaches into with.  I was just super impressed and I’m sure this exists in the US but I just don’t have much experience with PVC piping.  Also I have to say a quick shout out of thanks to my dad among others who have helped me learn how to use many different construction tools growing up and that came in very handy this week and the Paraguayan men seemed to be impressed that I actually knew what I was doing and was able to show them how to use different tools, THANKS DAD!

 On Friday morning we had about 10 different people show up for the class that we then taught about the basics of biodigesters.  During this time we were explaining how to set up the barrels.

 All of the new trainers that completed the course along with our three wonderful G40 trainers.  We had a great few days and I am so excited now to come back to my community and tell them about it and I hope they are as excited about it as I am!!!

 This picture is hard to see but right after we got our pictures taken we had a troop of monkeys that moved into the area and I was so excited because these are the first ones that I have seen in Paraguay, many volunteers have them in their sites but I don’t so it was great to see the monkeys and many of them had the cutest babies.

Am now back in site and gearing up for another busy week but also trying to enjoy the “winter vacation” before school starts back up next week.  My birthday is also on Friday which just feels weird that it is winter vacations since my birthday usually occurs during summer break, but oh well I will have a great day I am sure.  My host family is so excited and we will be having an asado (BBQ) on Friday and I will be making a cake for myself, will try to post some pictures!  Also we have been here in Paraguay 10 months already, the time is flying by, I actually wish it would slow down a little bit since I am having so much fun!

Work in July

This month we have been blessed with perfect weather.  Although it has still be raining a lot the temperatures have been about 70-80 during the day and cooling down to 50-60 at night.  This weather has just been perfect for working outside and working with my youth.  Below you should see some pictures of some activities with my youth as well as pictures of my new cat Sam.  I received Sam from another volunteer who finished their service so now Sam is living with me in my house although he leaves early in the morning to go outside and doesn't come in until after dark but he is still good company. 

I have also finally completed visiting all of the houses in my community to complete my community needs assessment so will now just be interpreting all of the data and placing it in my book about Yukyry Central.  On Friday started our Winter Break for two weeks so all of the kids and teachers are free from classes for a couple of weeks, even though it doesn't really feel like winter I am not going to complain!  This week I will be headed back to the department of Missiones for a biodigester conference where 5 other of my fellow G mates and I will be learning about the technical aspects of biodigestors as well as actually building one in a community, so will try to have a post about that up later this week. 

This is a picture of my English/Conservation class playing a version of Twister learning colors as well as right, left, foot, and hand in English.  They had a great time playing the game and I had a lot of fun making the board and coloring it in during a rainy day one day.

This is Sam looking out the window which is where I can almost always find him in the evenings.  He likes to duck behind the curtain and watch everything going on outside.

This is just one of the charla papers that I have been making this month since we are on winter break from school to try to get ahead a little bit.  This charla is about trash in Paraguay and the breakdown between organic, plastics, glass, etc.  I’m sure it is very comparable to the US but still very eye opening.

This is a presentation about mulching and the benefits and examples of mulching here in Paraguay.

This presentation is about growing plants in containers since here in my community there is not recycling with plastics and glass so I am trying to encourage people to reuse the materials for other purposes instead of just burning them.  

This is a great picture of Sam one night trying to help me make a charla paper one night sitting perfectly to get his picture taken.

This is a charla about companion planting.  This was something that I had always heard about but had never done but am now trying it out in my garden and having great success.  Although I am not the best artist at drawing vegetables I think I still get the point across.

This is about decomposition times of different materials to try and explain that some things take a lot of time or never decomposes, trying once again to emphasis trash management and the 3 R’s.

Trash or residues?  This charla is explaining the difference between the two as well as the difference between organic and inorganic material.

This charla is about composting with lovely drawing of the layers.  This week in class we actually made a compost pile in my garden and the picture of that is a little later below.  Many people in my community just burn everything including all of the leaves and other organic matter so I am trying to get them interested in alternatives especially emphasizing that they can use the compost to increase crop production.

This charla is about lombricultura, or worm farming.  I have become quite the worm farmer at my house and am just amazed at the amount of material worms can eat and the wonderful compost they produce in such a short time.  The kids seemed too really like this but when I got the worms out for them to touch many didn’t like them, but we had fun none the less!

On Thursday night we welcomed a beautiful new calf into the world they had tied to my flag pole at the house.  It was so fun to see him trying to get up and get used to his long legs and figure out how to lie down.  He is growing so fast and full of energy now running circles around his mom.  Unfortunately the flag pole is one of the posts for my clothes lines so when I did laundry on Saturday and hung everything up the mom decided that she needed to taste my freshly washed laundry.  By the time it was all said and done she tried to eat a shirt and licked just about everything else.  I eventually convinced my brother to move the mom and calf further back for the day while my clothes dried but they all though it was hilarious. 

This is a picture of my class on Sunday with our completed compost pile.  I only had ten students this week but have had a little as 6 and maxed out at 16 so overall a good turnout!

Insects in July

With all of the rain that we have had so far in July it seems to have brought many new insects out, mainly moths and butterflies (which fly too quickly and I can't get pictures of).  Also we have had a great increase of monarch butterflies which are just so beautiful and seem to be everywhere right now.  It just amazes me how many different colors and patterns the insects have.  Some of these pictures are a repeat from another blog post but I wanted to put them all together in one.  Enjoy!