Project Design and Management Conference

A couple of weeks ago my contact Basilio and I traveled to Atyra, Paraguay for a conference with Peace Corps.  The conference was held in a BEAUTIFUL church camp facility which had amazing accommodations and all local and fresh food.  This conference is one of two that I have to bring a contact to; the other one is in August.  The week was all about how to identify possible projects in our communities, and steps needed to plan and design a successful project.  For many of us PCVs it started out as a review from what we learned in training but for our contacts many of the ideas were very new to them.  PC did a great job taking us through step by step on project design and management.  The conference was completely in Guarani and Spanish and although I didn’t know everything that was said I am beginning to feel a lot more comfortable with my language level.  It was great for them to see all of the work that we as PCV have already done in site interviewing families and students and great to just be able to work together to create a plan.  Also Basilio was excited because many of the things he learned about planning and management he will now also be able to use as the director of the school. 

At the end of the week we went home with many different lists, schedules, and goals to begin to start a project in my community.  The project that my community is interested in is more trees to plant, with deforestation being seen as a major problem in my community.  So from that we saw that there isn’t a tree nursery close to our site so we decided that a possible project would be to create a tree nursery in the school with help from students, teachers, community members, and parents with the end goal of distributing the trees to people that want them in the community.  So at this point we are still in the planning stage.  I am trying to do a lot of reading on tree nurseries, even though I do have a forestry degree I can honestly say that I have never grown a tree from a seed so I am eager to learn more about the entire process.  Will be keeping you all posted on the results and I know this will be my long term project here is site so I am just trying to take it one step at a time.  

The following four pictures are of the facility with beautiful grounds and chapel.  

This is a picture of my contact Basilio and I standing in front of all the work we did.  The last night we had time to go around and look at everyone’s ideas and plans to see if we could use that in our projects.  The two most common themes of projects were trash management and reforestation.

The three pictures below are of some of the beautiful art they had hanging around the facility. 

One morning before we left we all went and toured an agriculture research center and learned about the facilities they have there and the research they are conducting.  They have many great resources that are available to us.

This is a picture of some of the research they are doing with insects and some of the traps they use for their studies.

This was just a huge Eucalyptus tree that was brought down in a recent storm that took out the electrical line as well.

This is an area where they do research on different varieties of strawberry plants.

Just a beautiful nativity scene that was just one of hundreds they had through the grounds.  (This picture is for you mom!)

Basilio and I with our certificates to show that we successfully completed the class!

Just a huge beetle I found one evening outside.

Now I am back in site for a while and starting to get some projects off the ground and finishing up all of my interviews with each family.  Part of our community needs assessment is writing up a large paper (in Spanish) that shows everything from a map of where our community is located to history of the community.  It also includes a lot of information about the school, agriculture, economics, results of my interviews, and possible projects.  This is something that I have been working on for months now and will be finishing up soon. 

I have also started teaching an English and Conservation class on Sunday afternoons in my house and the first week I had 6 students and this week I had 16 show up so I guess they had fun and wanted to bring their friends along.  Still working on my garden, we have had on and off rain now for about a month which makes working in the garden a little difficult but I am trying my best.  I have a lot of transplants that are ready to go into the ground but still working on making all my raised beds.  We are officially into winter here now which still just feels so weird to be cold in June but luckily it hasn't gotten too cold yet, everyone says July and August is the worst, so I guess I will just have to wait and see.

Weekend Fun in June

Well so far this month of June has just been rain, rain, and more rain as well as the falling of temperatures.  The rain itself wouldn't be too bad but combined with the fact that the electricity goes out with even the slightest bit of rain and the fact that it has rained off and on for a couple of weeks now makes everything a little bit more difficult.  I am quickly learning how to dry laundry inside as well as running out to grab clothes off the line when the rain comes in.  Sadly my garden has just been do wet to do anything with but I do have some lettuce, carrots, beets, radishes, and cabbage coming up.  Also I have a lot of things that are ready to be transplanted into the garden once I get a chance to get another bed dug which I can do once we get a few days without rain.  Even with the rain though I have been able to get a lot done around the house and have had lots of time to hang out with some of the kids in my community.

This is a picture that I took one Saturday afternoon.  It rained all morning and then let up for a couple of hours in the afternoon and I was getting a little stir crazy so I went outside and pruned my few bushes and planted them up and down my “drive way”.  They all seem to be doing well with the cloudy days and rain helping settle them in.  

You may or may not be able to see it but there is a beautiful rainbow following a storm.  Rainbows seem to be very common here with storms which I am thoroughly enjoying!

This is a picture of two of the neighbor kids and my nephew Junior that come over and color almost every day after school but most definitely every weekend.  My fridge is full and running over of pictures which I am very proud of.  

Last Sunday it didn't rain so I was able to get out into the garden and work a little bit and the neighbor kids stopped by to help and I was able to get a full bed made and we put a border of glass bottles that we collected from around my community.  You can also notice a draining ditch I dug in front of it at the roof line to collect the water.  I am still working on the design of it but eventually would like ditches to go in between each one of my vegetable beds; it is more of just an experiment right now but working quite well!

That same Sunday in the afternoon we went on a little adventure down a huge hill in my community and into the forest where there is a tiny creek and what the kids called “waterfalls” but is just a small stream of water but we took our pictures none the less.  This will be a much better place to hang out in the summer when it is so hot and not in the cool winter.

Another picture of the small creek with all of the beautiful plants and trees.

The view from the top of the hill and we went down into the trees at the bottom where the creek was.

After our adventure to the waterfall we went back to their house and they have a beautiful poinsettia tree which I have started to notice a lot around my community.  Back home in the US we just see them in pots around Christmas time but here they are everywhere and can get really large and very impressive.  Between all of them flowering and the cooler temperatures my body thinks it is Nov-Dec and not June!

 The kids helped me dig up some new banana plants from their house and transplanted them into my yard, so hopefully I will be eating fresh bananas from them in about a year.  Also you can’t see them in this picture but we planted a couple of pineapple tops.  They are supposed to take two years to produce fruit, so although I will not be here to enjoy them either the next volunteer or my host family will enjoy them.

One day this past week I was able to get into the school and did a survey with the 57 students that were at school this week.  The girl in the first row on the left is my niece Rocio.  I was surprised by the number of kids that were at school this day because it was very chilly and of course the school isn’t heated at all and school starts at 7 but they were all ready to go.  I think if we started school at 7 am in the cold in the US we would have a lot of angry parents and students.  Sadly many families do not have the resources to properly clothe their entire families, especially the kids but they seem to just take it in stride and just seem to run around a lot more.  A lot of kids have been getting really sick which I think is just a combination of the cold and rainy weather so I pray that a few sunny days they will get better!

On Friday the kids had a rainy day (which means that school is usually canceled) so the kids came over and we were able to get a batch of chocolate chip cookies made before the power went out.  They had a fantastic time and had never made or eaten chocolate chip cookies so it was a treat for everyone.

This week I will be headed to a conference with my contact to learn about project design and management.  Luckily this week is supposed to have no rain which will be a fantastic break and I feel like a lizard or cat sitting outside soaking up the sun.  Hope you all are having a fantastic June!

Memorial Day Fun

For Memorial Day this year our VAC (the volunteers closest to each other) got together and went on an excursion to the east.  Our first stop was to Cuidad Del Este to visit Itaipu Dam.  This dam is the 2^nd largest in the world, which was overtaken by the Three Gorges dam in China.  Itaipu Dam does produce the most electricity than any other in the world.  We started out the tour watching a quick introductory video and then loaded up our “large” tour group of only 7 on a bus and traveled out to a beautiful lookout point.  From the lookout you could see the dam itself and the spillways.  It was a very overcast and cool day but we were able to see the dam without any problems and did our best to stay warm.  The dam itself was very impressive and it produces 80% of all the energy used in the entire country of Paraguay, the other comes from another dam Yacyreta that I visited in February.  After the dam visit we had a picnic lunch inside in the cafeteria and then traveled to the other side of the city to visit Salto Monday.

The falls of Salto Monday are magnificent and have a 40 meter drop.  The days before we went and visited we had a lot of rain so the falls were raging and was a little muddy but still magnificent.  We stayed and explored around there for a while and took some pictures which you can see below.  From there we traveled (after a nice long excursion getting lost, but seeing some new places) back towards Caaguazu and stopped in Campo 9 for dinner.  Campo 9 itself is a town that was started by Mennonites and they still have a very heavy presence there.  We ate at a fantastic churrasqueria which is just a place where it is like a buffet but then they come around with all different sorts of meats and cut them off for you onto your plate.  It was a great ending to a cold day and we all stuffed ourselves before we got back on the bus to head back to Caaguazu.  Although this year was very different than Memorial Days in the past it was still a great day to just reflect on those we have lost in the military as well as those that are retired or still serving in our military, God bless you all!  Below you should see some pictures of our excursion.  Enjoy!

With all of the rain we had right after Thad left I ended up being stuck out of site for 5 days and had to crash at my PCV friend Nari’s house.  One night we made stuffed cabbage.

After our wonderful stuffed cabbage a couple of hours later we were still hungry so we made a fantastic apple crisp!

Below you should be able to see some pictures of the dam as well as the spillway.

At the museum after the tour they had this photo booth that tried to make it look like you were in a helicopter tour looking at the dam so of course Nari and I had to get our photo taken.

The following pictures are of Salto Monday waterfall.

After stuffing ourselves and freezing walking outside the others decided they needed ice cream so we all went to Amandau.  I usually am good to eat ice cream whenever, but since we had just eaten at a buffet and were freezing it just didn't sound good to me.

This picture I just threw in of some of my transplants that are doing so well, I can’t wait to actually put them in my garden!

Insects Post 2

These are some of the weird and cool insects that I have found lately.

A Visitor from the North

For the past two weeks I have been able to show Thad around Paraguay and my community of Yukyry Central.  He arrived on the 6th of May and we spent about a week and a half in my community working on getting my house and outdoor space ready to go.  We both took a bunch of pictures so we decided to just tell the story of his trip with the photos, so I hope you enjoy them.  Sorry they are in no sort of order since we were combining them from multiple cameras.

One of his first nights in my site we made nachos for dinner. Since I can only find the chips in Asuncion, we brought them back with us.  Don't worry mom, we also had veggies and beef with them.

This was a cool weevil that we found outside one day with a cross on his back.

This picture is of Thad making fresh pomelo juice one morning.

Another night we spent about two hours making homemade enchiladas. From the sauce, to the tortillas, to the filling, it was a lot of work but worth it in the end.

One morning after we had cleared up a bunch of brush, we had a small fire with Thad overseeing the operation with a hoe and bucket of water.

One morning we collected abono (manure) from the cattle corral then filled up toilet paper rolls that I had been collecting and planted some winter seeds like lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, basil, etc.

This was the big project of his time here was working on making a garden so Thad was very busy working on the garden.  Here he is taking a break and watching a big truck of logs go by.

Another cool insect that we found.

Thad was here for Mother's Day, which was June 15th. So the Monday before, the school put on a performance for the mothers and we were able to go and watch.  This is the 6th grade dancing in traditional clothes with pots full of flowers on their heads.

This was another group that told a story about mothers.

This was another group that did a traditional dance.

This was 1st grade that said a small poem and my host niece is the third from the right in a cute little jumper.

While walking around my community, Thad was very impressed with the huge termite mounds so he wanted his picture taken with it.

This was some crazy fruit structure we found growing on one of the trees.

We ate with my host family for lunches so he could get a taste of Paraguayan food while he was here.  This was a beef soup with bean salad, fresh orange juice, and mandio (which is like a potato that he LOVED!)

This was a picture of us sitting out on my porch one afternoon while I was sewing together my new curtains and he was working on the garden.

This was another picture of us on one of our nightly walks around my community.

My family has an asado (BBQ) every weekend so Thad was able to participate with us this time. My sister Rosa is sitting on the right with her family and my brother Maximo with his family is on the left with Thad at the end.

Here was another Paraguayan lunch which was mashed up mandio with meat which is always great.

For Mother's Day my host brother killed a young pig to cook up for dinner so this was just a picture of it cooking on the grill.

This is a picture of one of the huge toads/frogs that we have in my community. Thad was impressed by the size of it (next to it is a bottle cap for size reference).

One evening we walked down to the wetland in my community.

On Monday, we left my site and headed to Villarica to visit for a couple of hours on our way back to Asuncion. This was just a picture we took of the landscape.

One of the many hills in this part of the country.

On Monday night, we visited with my old host family and my mom had a starfruit tree that we were both very fascinated with.

On Tuesday night Thad took me out to dinner and I had a wonderful 'Miami cheese steak' sandwich.

Thad, one afternoon after he worked a little too hard hoeing the garden, taking a short nap.

Another dinner one night with roasted chicken and vegetables.

A small little moth we found on my patio.

Thad hoeing the garden and corralling the chickens to go in behind him because they did a great job of scratching up the ground and eating the insects.

The beautiful moon that we had most of his stay here.

Another night for dinner, I made a homemade pizza and Thad made a wonderful salad.

This is a small piece of the wonderful chocolate cake that I made for Mother's Day that, of course, my host family loved and wanted me to start selling them for birthdays (which I can't do as a PCV).

One night we had breakfast for dinner, which was great with my favorite, chocolate chip pancakes, and scrambled eggs.

My completed compost pile, it leans a little to the right but oh well. In a few months, I will have some great stuff to add to my garden.

Once we got the fence up, we put Junior to work collecting all of the small rocks.

For an appetizer one night, once we got the garden done, I made dough baked with green apples, craisins, and blue cheese with honey on top.

Dinner that same night with homemade pasta and bread sticks.

One morning when Thad was working on putting the gate together, I was trying to keep Junior occupied so we laid in the hammock for awhile with the cat.

The completed garden!  It was amazing how long it took without machines, but we got it done!

Dinner our last night in site using the rest of my veggies making a veggie bake with leftover bread sticks.

A cool moth we saw by the light one night.

A beautiful church we saw on our way into Villarica.

Thad standing by a statue of a tree playing a harp in the park.

A beautiful flower we saw.

Thad standing in front of the municipality in Villarica.

The last full day we walked down to the river front in Asuncion.

A view of some 'important' building from the river.

Thad standing in front of a naval ship that was docked.

A picture of us at the beach in Asuncion.

Overall Thad had a wonderful trip here. I worked him hard so he wanted to call the blog "14 Days a Slave (Just Kidding)" but I think he had fun along the way.  We were able to get A LOT done on my new house which feels like a home now. I can't wait for more visitors!