Passing 3rd Grade

Last week I found out that my host brother passed third grade! I am still beaming from ear to ear for him. While passing the third grade might seem to be an easy feat, for Gustavo it has been an accomplishment three years in the making, because this past year was the third time that he repeated the grade. Not only is Gustavo 10 years old and just finishing 3^rd grade, but his 9 year old brother surpassed him and this year completed fourth grade.

Gustavo passing third grade was tangible evidence that my time in Paraguay has made a difference. Last fall when I learned that Gustavo was going to be repeating third grade again I started to worry that he would ever be able to move forward in his studies. I saw him eventually not finishing school because it would become too frustrating and the demand to start work and make money for his family would become more important, leaving him illiterate. I took it upon myself the task of helping him pass.

I brought books to his house and started to read with him almost every week. It was challenging at first. I started to realize that perhaps the reason that Gustavo couldn’t read is because he has dyslexia. I asked fellow volunteers that have dyslexia tips for teaching him to read. It was not only the teaching I did, but also the access to books. Reading became something fun that Gustavo and I got to do together. A couple of months into the school year Gustavo started to tell me that his teacher was noticing the difference in his reading level, and a couple of more months later he told me that he read the bible at the community mass, something a few months earlier he refused to do.

It’s hard to say that my reading with Gustavo is the reason that he passed, but I would like to say that it played a part. As Peace Corps volunteers we constantly question whether our efforts make a difference and we don’t often get to see results. I know that I made a difference in at least one life in Paraguay. Gustavo will enter the 4^th grade next year and I helped him get there.

 

Learning to Mourn in Paraguay

During my time here in Paraguay I have been to countless rezos. For me it’s not so much a spiritual experience, praying a rosary is not how I choose to connect with my maker, as it is a way to socialize in the community. The majority of these rezos commemorate the 6 month and annual anniversary of loved ones who have passed and to pray for their soul. But going to so many rezos has raised my awareness to the differences of how cultures understand and grieve death. When my host grandmother passed suddenly in May I got a unique inside perspective of the mourning customs that added to my understanding of cultural differences here. While I have been to a few Paraguayan funerals, none were as intimate or dear to me as Ña Elida and because of my relationship to the family I was welcomed into the mourning process as another daughter or granddaughter. But being a foreigner I also naturally express my grief differently and I began to compare and contrast the two cultures as I mourned and observed. I have not had a family member close to me pass during my adult life, so I don’t have a great breadth of experience to compare it to, nor does one death in Paraguay characterize all cultural norms.
Of course in all cultures death and the afterlife are a mystery that we will never fully understand until we experience it. Ña Elida’s life was cut short by an infarto cerebral, or literally a brain attack (instead of a heart attack). In past Paraguayan funerals I am very shaken up by the wailing that occurs, often to the point of fainting, and the suddenness of Ña Elida’s death only intensified the wailing. In the states, while there is sadness and emotion is displayed, what I have observed is often loved ones fighting tears back in public, or quietly weeping. No matter the age or suddenness of death this wailing occurs. When one of her daughters arrived from Argentina and spoke more Spanish I was able to catch the types of comments that are said during the wailing. She was especially expressive and upset and what she said was: “Fatima, tell me this is not my mama and that she is coming later. Where is my mama?” “My mama is not in heaven because heaven doesn’t exist because it wouldn’t allow this to happen to her.” She was in complete denial and upset that her mother had been taken from her. Although, while the physical signs of grief are more accentuated in Paraguay (wailing, fainting, etc.) after the final rezo on the ninth day life moves on with little acknowledgement that a person is grieving. In the states we realize that a person has lost someone they love and will continue to “check-in” and see how they are doing long after the burial.
The time between when a person dies until they are buried is a lot shorter than in the states. Mostly I think it is because Paraguayans don’t preserve the body and it is necessary to bury it before it decomposes too much. Until the burial it is said that someone must be up with body every hour and it can never be left alone. This time is called el velorio, and is probably similar to a wake. During Ña Elida’s velorio I became very aware of the customs. While even though the family is grieving, they are still expected to play host and offer refreshments to the multitudes of people that show up in their house. When a guest arrives they approach the family members and will say me pesame, or literally translated “it grieves me.” When I realized that this is what they were saying I chuckled a little to myself because at other velorios I have said lo siento mucho and in turn have received startled reactions.
A mourner will also turn their attention to the casket. When this happened I was always a little shocked at how much physical interaction there was between the mourner and the deceased as they caressed the face and held the hands of the loved ones while they wept and conversed with her. In the states I am more accustomed to maintaining distance between the deceased and the mourner. I think the best way to explain this difference is in what an aunt said to Ña Elida’s children the morning before she was buried. “Wake up. These are the last moments you will be able to spend with your mom.” They are saying the most final goodbye that they will ever say to her.
I interacted with many people at the velorio and the discussions I had with them all carried similar themes. The first were people sharing what they were doing when they heard that Ña Elida had died and how they were involved in the events leading up to her death. The second was people sharing how they knew Ña Elida. “She always came to visit me and drank térere. ‘Hola mi socia,’ she would say to me. She would always bring me things from her house.” Very rarely did I hear what I would call an obituary. They didn’t share about what kind of a person she was, her worldly accomplishments etc. In mourning rituals in the states we spend time celebrating the life of the deceased, while in Paraguay it is much more about saying goodbyes and grieving the loss.
As a foreigner I stood and watched these rituals, and partook in a few, and felt a little out of place, as I am accustomed to feeling. I didn’t weep over the casket or wipe my hand across the face of Ña Elida. Of course her death greatly affected me. I spent those 48 hours in shock and tried to be as helpful as I could when the family was so obviously a wreck. I shared stories of Ña Elida along with everyone else. She always called me her muñeca and her princesa and I would always ask for her bendición. I was at a birthday asado when I first heard that she had her attack, and then an hour later we found out that she died. The next morning I woke before the sun rose and went to her house to be with the family. Although I watched people around me grieving and I too felt their grief, I was not able to personally mourn the death of Ña Elida until they were laying down the bricks to close her into the panteón and I shed silent tears. And of course I continue to mourn her loss when I am with her family, pass by her house, visit with her social, or catch her face in a picture. She left behind 15 children and 11 grandchildren who deeply love her. She will be missed.

6 months is too long to go without blogging

A recent update e-mailed to friends and family in the states. Blogging has not been a strong point.

Dear Family and Friends,

A couple of weeks ago I turned 25 and I received several birthday wishes from friends and family where you all asked how I am doing. I started to realize that I have fallen behind on writing regular updates (I think it has been 6 months since I last wrote, and I thought that I ought to write one. So for those of you who sent birthday greetings, I apologize for the informality of a mass e-mail, but please know how much I appreciated the thoughtfulness.

So where have I been, where am I now, and where am I going? Summers in Paraguay are hot! Almost miserable, and this summer there was a drought. From around Christmas until the end of February it didn’t rain. This affected the crops and the pace of life, since there was no work. It was a slow summer and I spent it building fogones (a  cookstove and oven made of bricks for cooking with wood) with a nearby volunteer in her community, encouraged the women to plant crops for homemade chicken feed (the drought made this difficult), had a summer art camp for elementary students, and  picked cotton. I also started working with another women’s committee in a nearby community. I began working on a grant for a pig project, which recently has been set aside due to lack of funds from the NGO and my own perception that the women were not very invested in the project. I was very excited about the possibility of the project which would have included the installation of biodigesters, an alternative technology to animal waste and the creation of fuel, and was a little disappointed to not continue with it, but also relieved because I felt like already in the grant writing process I was carrying most of the work, and knew that this is how the complete project cycle would begin to look like. These women recently were able to put in a request to the local government for pigs.  I am hoping to be able to follow this up with sharing information with them about proper pig raising techniques as well as encourage them to plant and make their own pig feed.

Making Masks at Art Camp



At the end of February I made a significant decision about my living situation. As the relationship changed with the family where I had constructed my house and as I felt a need for more privacy and independence, I decided it was time for me to look for other housing opportunities. The reason that I chose to build my house in the first place was because of lack of housing, so I felt very stuck. I explored some mediocre options that fell through, and then a very ideal situation opened up near the end of March, and I moved in the first week of April. I am very happy that I made this decision. I am overall happier and more comfortable and it has impacted my relationships in the community for the best. I finally started my own garden, which has been a lot of fun to work in and experiment with. I just transplanted my tomatoes this morning!

My new house, a "typical" Paraguayan house, very old, but well taken care of.

I rent the room on the left. 

I am enjoying having more space!



Home Sweet Home!

 School started in February, which was a welcome to the slow summer, I started working in the garden with the students, teaching about composting and proper seed bed preparation. Shortly after I started my work with them, the school received funds for the 7^th, 8^th, and 9^thgraders to attend a special agriculture class in the afternoons. I now attend this class with them 1-2 times weekly and assist the teacher in the garden. The students learn aviculture, horticulture, natural resource management, rural administration, and rural engineering. They are also required to have a garden in their homes and the school. I have enjoyed this class and with the teacher and another volunteer we are exploring how to overlap our objectives.

Making seed beds!

At the end of May my host grandma passed away suddenly. She was a very dear woman who always called me her ‘princess’ or her ‘doll’ when I saw her. She left 14 living children. It was a very hard time for my host family as well as for me. I also learned and observed the differences between the Paraguayan death and grieving culture, and the one that I have known. I am working on a blog post to share what I learned. http://Maddieinparaguay.blogspot.com

I continue to follow up on the chicken project. Checking in to see if the chickens have started laying, what kind of food the chickens are eating and giving tips where I can. My chickens started laying the end of April! I now find 4 eggs in the nest every day. I have eggs coming out of my ears…and the women have plenty more than I do! There is a very distinct difference between the women who feed their chickens a complete protein diet, to those who feed a carbohydrate heavy diet. There are still chickens who have not yet laid and I am encouraging them to make more homemade chicken feed, which has a complete nutritional diet.

Making homemade chicken feed!

I have been talking to the women about proper nutrition for themselves and their families. I hope to follow this up with cooking classes. We received garden seeds from the local government and hope to also receive additional garden implements in the upcoming months. We are also working on planting trees throughout the community for reforestation. Yesterday a national organization, Refopar, brought 5 trees per woman and talked about the importance of the environment.

My puppy, Jasy, is no longer a puppy, she is about 20Kilos and likes to bark at everyone that passes, leaving them completely afraid of her, but she is the sweetest thing. She makes for a great companion and keeps my life exciting, especially as she chases Ara, my cat, through the house, or barks at the baby cows and tries to catch chickens. (She actually caught and bit my rooster so hard that I had to put him down.)

My time in Paraguayan is flying by so quickly. I only have five and half months until I complete the 2 year commitment. While a part of me would love to stay longer, I feel as if in 5 months my work will be complete, so at this moment my plans are to return to the states to celebrate Christmas with my family and new nephew (by then he will be over a year old!) for the first time in 2 years!

I thank you again for all your prayers, encouragement, and communication.

"Te agradezco muchisimo

Today I had one of those Peace Corps days. The kind where nothing goes the way that you planned, everything seems harder than it is, and you end up blaming the whole country for your problems. Ok, well it's not Paraguay's fault that I currently have blisters on my feet, but it feels like that. Because when I start to think about the good things about the day, I remember how many times I wanted to say "te agradezco muchismo" or "I really thank you" to a Paraguayan. Here's how the day went:

I was visiting my friend Barb in her site to create a world map at her site. I would love to write a whole post about Barb and the nice time we had together cooking, laughing, and drawing the world together, but words cannot describe. Anyways, Barb recently tried her hand at keeping bees. She had the beebox built and tried to capture a wild hive, but the bees didn't stay in the bee box. I currently have my eye on a hive of bees next to my house that I want to raise. So Barb offered me her really beautiful bee box. The problem was getting it back to my site since Barb lives a taxi ride, two 1/2hr bus rides, and a 3 Kilometer walk from where I live. But I said, "no problem, I will figure it out." Oh, let me remind you, today starts Semana Santa, or Holy Week, in Paraguay, which in this Catholic country is a big deal and everyone is traveling home for the week starting...today.

The taxi ride and the first bus ride were a breeze. I arrived in the town 1/2hr bus ride from my community (Ayala) by 10am and split up with 2 other friends I was with the run into the grocery store for some dog food and other goodies that I can't buy in my community. I met up with my friend (one had already caught a bus) and waited...and waited...and waited. Ayala's bus stop is in town and not directly on the ruta. It seemed that the buses that I needed to take chose not to enter town but keep on going on the ruta today. I waited until 12:45 (almost 3 hrs) when I decided that it was better to take a bus that would get me to the town outside of my community and wait for another bus that would take me to the entrance into my community. I put the beebox underneath the bus and hopped on. I was hungry and tired, and found a seat. When I arrived in my town I got off the bus and picked up my beebox from underneath the bus. I couldn't close the latch and nobody was coming to help me. I kept trying to slam it, finally some women helped describe the problem to me and I figured it out.

I then was in my town. I had mail that I wanted to pick up, but didn't want to miss any chance at getting a bus, so I called the mailman who came and met me at the bus stop and even brought me my mail. Then one bus passed, one the usually will pick me up and drop me off at my site, but they told me they wouldn't take me. I tried to be as pushy as I could, which isn't very pushy for me, but the location of my site along with the site of that big bee box didn't help persuade them. They closed the door to the bus and sped off. I stomped around and complained in my head for a while and told myself that I couldn't wait to get home and sit on my bed and cry about this horrible terrible day.

Finally a bus came that was willing to take me to my site, and without complaints loaded my bee box under the bus. When they dropped me off they gave me back my bee box and I went in search of my bike, that I had left at a home on the ruta. Once I had my bike I tried to attach the bike to the rack on the back, but my whole bike tipped over and made a mess. Luckily a boy and the woman at the home where I had left my bike came over and helped me load up and send me off. I had to walk and push my bike in not very supportive flip-flops, which gave me blisters, but I finally arrived home with a smiling puppy running out to greet me.

So did you catch the moments where I said "te agradezco muchisimo": When the women gave me advice as to how to close the latch on the door underneath the bus where I stored me beebox, when the mailman brought my mail to me from the post office, which was closed today, when the bus picked me up when no other buses seemed to want to pick me up, when the family stored my bike in their house without even knowing me and said "we stored it really safely for you" even though before hand she had seemed hesitant about letting me leave in there for so many days, and then when she and the boy helped me secure my beebox to my bike, and when my puppy ran to meet me, always making my days brighter.

There are hard days, good days, bad days, and easy days here and its hard not to blame the hard and the bad ones on the whole country of Paraguay, because when I sit back and look around, I see smiling Paraguayans looking back at me willing to lend a helping hand and they are the ones that make the days easier to get through. I didn't go home and sit and cry on my bed, instead I cuddled with my puppy and thought of all those kind faces that got me through a rough day.

Art Camp

If you have been trying to be a faithful follower of this blog, I am truly sorry. It has been months since I have posted. Hopefully I can post some more blogs to catch you up on what I have been doing since August (I know, its pitiful). But instead of trying to play catch up let me fill you in on what I have going on right now, this week. Its an initiative I have taken on my own, but one that I think is important. It is summer right now in Paraguay and the long hot summer days were starting to wear on me. Oh the boredome of trying to stay cool. And I watched as children mostly watched television and tried to keep themselves occupied as well. Something I have wanted to do since I arrived was art with kids. Well this idea started to take shape as I sat in my shade sipping Terere. A week long art camp for kids!
So after a few days of planning, asking the local libreria to donate art supplies, and inviting kids from two communities I was ready to go. This morning was the first day and I am off to a good role. The Peace Corps office had an art camp curriculum that I am following and it really gets at the goals that I am trying to accomplish. In the schools kids have art classes, but creativity is rarely emphasized, or it is creativity within a rigid set of requirements. What I want to do during art camp is help kids think outside of the box and use their creativity. The curriculum uses mediums of song and story to help lead into appropriate art activities. For example: today we sang "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" or La Arana Chiquitita and then the kids made masks of the different things included in the song: the spider, the tree(water spout), the rain, and the sun. Later I read a story about homes and then the kids drew pictures of their homes. Tomorrow we will spend time working on drawing self portraits and parts of the body by singing "Head, Shoulders, knees, and toes" and reading "Where the wild things are." I am having a lot of fun helping these kids tap into their creative sides!

Jakay'u!

So I don't think I have ever taken the time to explain the Terere/Mate culture in Paraguay. Maybe briefly in a blog mixed with other information, but not separetely. The difference between Terere and Mate is that Terere is cold water and Mate is hot water. What you are drinking are plant leaves that have been dried and cured over a long period of time from the plant called ka'a or Yerba Mate. In Guarani if you want to say let's drink terere you say "jaterere" and for Mate you say "jakay'u." The word for let's get drunk is "jaka'u" and can easily sound the same, so be careful with this distinction.
When drinking Terere you have your equipo, or your equipment which includes:
1. Guampa (a cup made out of wood for mate and a cow's horn with a wooden "plug" for Terere)
2. Bombilla (a straw that has a filter at the bottom that looks similar to a tea ball.
3. Termo (a thermos. For Terere you usually use just a pitcher, but for Mate the Termo is important so that you can have hot water the whole time)
4. Yerba Mate (The Yerba goes into the Guampa with the straw. You fill the Guampa up almost all the way with the Yerba.
5. Yuyos (Herbs. Found in the garden, in the forest, around your yard, in the street. Lemongrass, or Cedron Paraguaya is one of my favorites along with Burrito and Anis seed. You put the yuyos either in the water and sometimes in the guampa.

Now that you have your equipo invite some friends and sit in a circle. Start conversing about whatever you want. The weather, your day, a good story, some new information about farming. One person is the server. They pour the water into the Guampa and pass it to a person in the circle. That person will drink all the water in the guampa before passing it back to the server. The server will then continue serving all around the circle and will develop an order in the serving. When you no longer want to drink anymore it is polite to say "gracias" or "Thank you" so that the server knows.

Its a beautiful custom that has a lot of ceremony to it, but is surprisingly simple.

A Subtropical Rainforest Winter...explained

Do you know that a large majority of Paraguay was or is a subtropical rainforest and that it is the only subtropical rainforest in the world? It is fun to be able to say that I live in a rainforest and I love the vegetation that is here as a result of the climate. The trees are so different than the trees that I grew up in my frozen tundra of Minnesota. The weather in Paraguay is usually hot. In the summer it reaches 100 degrees F almost everyday. Starting in May we began to experience "Winter" weather.
Coming from the Minnesota cold that I know, I wasn't sure what to expect. They said that it would get down to 32 degrees F, or 0 degrees C occasionally during the winter. So yes, winter in Paraguay is cold. It is at its worst in the mornings, in the evenings, or when its cloudy and rainy. If there aren't any clouds and the sun comes out during the day it will warm up and I can sit in the sun and drink Terere with my neighbors. If its cloudy and rainy the day is miserable and I usually spend my day sipping hot mate and cooking banana breads or, my new favorite, Mexican Lasagna in my house. But then there are weeks where its as if we have an "Indian Summer." It gets hot again. Reaching back into the 90's. I stay cool in the shade sipping ice cold terere and aprovechar the nice weather by working in my garden, washing my clothes, or getting out and visiting a friend I haven't seen in a long time because its been so cold. I still haven't bought a fan for my house so these Indian Summers really kill me. I am waiting until it is more consistently warm and I have the money to purchase one. I know it will be necessary when the heat picks up again. For now I enjoy the cold on the good days, and dread the cold on the bad days. Its a love
hate relationship and it makes me miss those hearty Minnesota winters where on the coldest days you run between the car and the house and then sit in front of the fireplace until you thaw out. Unfortunately my house doesn't have any insulation against the weather so this makes the winters harder.
I recently tried to explain "winter sports" to my host brother and that when it snows it makes winter fun. You can go sledding, skiing, snowboarding, ice skating, play a good game of hockey, make a snow man, throw snowballs at your neighbor. Unfortunately there is no snow, so I put up with the cold weather and make winter enjoyable by cooking and drinking yummy mate!

Catching you up

It has been a busy few months and I haven´t gotten a chance to blog. I recently wrote an update to friends and family that I am pasting here to catch you up on life in Paraguay!

Dear Family and Friends,

Another 3 months of this adventure in Paraguay have passed, which means it is time to write you another update. I am at the point where instead of being able to rattle off the top of my head how long I have been here I have to count on my fingers the months since I swore in or since arrived in Paraguay: 9.5 months in Paraguay and 7 months as a volunteer. While I can’t believe how fast my service seems to be flying by, everyday has a sense of lagging to it as I wake up each morning and decide how to spend those 24 hours. I think that is one of the challenges, or joys, of a Peace Corps volunteer. It is almost necessary to be intentional about everything that you do in a day, otherwise it may go to a waste, but then there are others days when things seem to happen so naturally. I feel as if these last three months have been a huge transitioning point in my integration into my community and this life feels more natural to me.

At the beginning of April my house still wasn’t finished and I was still living in a room next to teenage boys, which was a huge challenge, to say the least. I visited a fellow volunteer for a couple of days and helped her make a world map at her school. This is a fun Peace Corps project to do with schools to help them learn geography and it turns out looking beautiful. I then got encouraged to start working in my school. I helped with the planning and planting of the school garden by giving informational talks about nutritional gardening. The fruits of our work are paying off and in a couple of weeks I hope to return to give talks about nutrition. I also celebrated Tree Day on June 19^th by planting saplings in May with the 7^th graders, who took care of the trees, and I went weekly and did activities with them to raise awareness about reforestation. On the actual day they presented a small skit and tree proverbs, and planted their little trees around the school. Working at the school has its joys and challenges. The kids are often the joys, and learning how to manage the cultural differences between myself and the teachers are the challenges.

Holy Week was in April, which is a long vacation and family time for Paraguayans. As Holy Week (Semana Santa) approached, I spent a lot of time helping the women make Almidón. Holy Week arrived with lots of different cultural traditions. The week is spent with family, who come from all parts of Paraguay to return to visit their parents Wednesday is spent making Chipa, which will be eaten from after lunch on Thursday until Saturday afternoon. The other exciting thing about Holy Week was that I finally moved into my house, which I think has been a transitioning point in my relationships with my community. I have felt relationships become more natural and my place in my community is more of a member than an outsider.

I would characterize this May as a month of parties. If there wasn’t one party, we were preparing for another. One of the big parties of the year in my community is the Mother’s day party. The community puts on a show of traditional dances, poems and songs to mothers, modern dances, and skits. I joined in on the festivities by learning typical Paraguayan “DanzaParaguaya,”which I danced during the party and it was enjoyed by everybody. That same weekend was the bicentennial celebration to celebrate Paraguay’s 200 years of independence from the Spanish. The following weekend there was an ordination of a priest who is from my community, so the women all got together to make traditional breads and I joined in by attending the festivities. There have been six men from my community that have become priests! Also in May I gave my first “Charla” or informational talk to the women’s committee about making homemade chicken feed. While it was a fairly successful informational talk, I think that many of the agricultural goals that Peace Corps is trying to accomplish are better done by showing rather than telling. I recently submitted a grant to a local NGO on behalf of the women’s committee asking for the funds to build chicken coops and to raise layer and meat chickens. The grant includes a project of planting and then making homemade chicken feed, which I think will be a more effective strategy. Hopefully we receive the funds for this project so that we can move forward!

In June I hardly felt like I was in my community, but it was a very exciting and fulfilling month nonetheless. Why, you might ask? Volunteers are granted 2 vacation days for every month of service. We are also allowed to have visitors come to our communities. My parents decided to come for a visit, which included a week-long vacation in Argentina, a week in my community, and another few days in Asunción. Argentina was a breath of fresh air for me. Buenos Aires is a very modern city and it was fun to walk around and take in the fun architecture. Some fun things we saw and did were going to Eva Peron’s museum and seeing where she was buried, going to the Plaza de Mayo, where she gave some famous speeches and where there is a weekly demonstration by the “Mothers of the disappeared.” We also went to a tango show! We got outside of Buenos Aires on our way back to Paraguay and visited Jesuit Ruins and the famous Iguazu Falls. I returned back to my community with my parents and we had a good week helping me continuing to get settled in my house, cooking together, visiting different community members, and celebrating my birthday with a big community celebration where I surprised my parents with more “DanzaParaguaya.” We spent the last 3 days in Asunción relaxing and seeing what there is to see. I had a great three weeks with my parents and learned more about the region and community I am serving in in the process. I also felt very blessed as I listened to my community members relate to my parents how much they love me and that they are looking out for me. Being able to see the development from where I was six months ago until now is a testimony to the time that I have put into these relationships as well as the God’s work in my life and in this community.

The week after my parents returned to the states there was an in-service training with a contact from my community at an Agriculture High School that is practicing sustainable agriculture. My contact, Antonia really enjoyed it and is excited to try some of the things we learned about here in the community. I am excited as well. We recently plantedLupino, a green manure, in herMandioca field and she just put a mulch layer on her garden!

Every day is a new adventure here in Paraguay as I learn new things about the culture around me. I will often ask Estela, my host mom here, or another friend why something is the way it is and then afterwards I will say, “ahoraentiendomás” or, “now I understand more.” I think this occurs at least once daily. I will continue to learn over this next year and a half and try to communicate as best I can with you about this country and culture so that you also can “entendermás.” So what’s coming up? If the women’s committee receives the grant money my life will become a lot more busy building chicken coops, planting crops, teaching the women how to care for chickens, and working on reforestation projects. From August 25^th until September 12^th I will be in the United States celebrating the marriage of my good friend, mourning the loss of a dear uncle, celebrating the upcoming birth of a nephew, and visiting friends and family! Thank you for your thoughts, supports, and prayers. You are in mine as well. I enjoy keeping in touch!

Blessings,

Madeleine

Iguazu Falls, Argentina. “Iguazu” in Guarani means, ”huge water”

Dancing at the Mother’s day party

My House!

The Seventh Graders with one of their trees!

Making Chipa with Estela and her mother

Jack Bean (Canavalia), a green manure, intercropped with my corn

Mass Chipa making...as promised

Well...Chipa season has arrived. I am sick of chipa, that's for sure. Not just in my tast buds either, it has definately affected my digestive system. Here is how my Easter week (Semana Santa) has broken down: Sunday I went to mass with my host family and had Terere and lunch with my neighbors. Monday and Tuesday were "business as usual" (whatever that means)Monday I gave Charlas at the School about companion planting and helped them plant the garden and on the way home drank some delicious Passion Fruit juice (homemade) at a friend's house. Tuesday my house was ready so I bought a bed, cleaned the floors and moved in! I also dropped in and watch some of the women make Chipa. They were getting an early start.


Wednesday is the Chipa day. I went over to my host grandma's house because my mom doesn't have a tatakua(clay dome oven) and made chipa all day long. Thursday I helped Estela (host mom) make Sopa Paraguay for our Cena final (final meal), which was Asado, Sopa Paraguaya, and Mandioca. Then Estela and I drank wine and coke and talked for a while and then I went to a nemboe hape (prayer meeting) because someone in the community had recently died. From Thursday afternoon until Saturday morning no work is supposed to happen...actually until sunday as well. Friday I went back to the same friend's house who gave me Passion Fruit juice and hung out with her family and her sister-in-law's family. She gave me some chipa. Her house is pretty far away and down this huge hill in my community but luckily another friend passed with her family in their newish truck and I hitched a ride up the hill. We drank Terere and she gave me my own back of Chipa.


It seems to be a custom for everyone to give the Norteamericana her own bag of Chipa. I have a huge pile of it in my house now.


Friday afternoon the community met on one edge of the community and we walked house to house praying and reading each station of the cross. It was finished by saying the Apostle's creed at the Prayer Chapel. Saturday, Yesterday, rained all day and I stayed in my house with Ara, my cat, and read, and wrote letters, and did some more unpacking. That was my Semana Santa. I tried to go into Asuncion early this morning for an English Speaking service that I had heard about, but it never happened. It is kind of weird to not have all the Easter traditions that I am used to, but I appreciated walking the stations of the cross on Friday.


So...here are the Chipa pics:

Estela Mixing the Lard and the Eggs

Adding the Almidon/Corn Flour

Forming the Chipa

Taking the Chipa out of the Tatakua

A family event. All the women making chipa

The recipe for Chipa goes like this:

Lard

Almidon Flour

Corn Flour

Eggs

Anise

Whey

Can you handle it? Chipa, Chipa un Mil!

Mi oga'i (my little house)

The months of March and April have been rather busy for me, but not necessarily planting green manures with farmers or giving presentations about how to care for your chickens. I have been devoting a lot of time to building my house. My community has about 35 houses in it overall. All but 3 were occupied when I arrived in the community. Two out of 3 are extremely isolated and were not in the best interest of my safety. The third was filled with termites (kupi'i in Guarani) and I refused to try and use the "remedio" to get rid of them...let's face it, there are a lot of trees around and I didn't want to fight with kupi'i for two years.


Another option was renting a room with a family. Most families have children that come from Asuncion to visit every once and a while so renting a room from them was not an option. My last option was to live in a house that the previous volunteer built, but he gave it to the family, who then added onto it and used it for their teenage sons. Lets face it...female introverted American, sharing a space with 15 and 16 year old Paraguayan boys who love motorcycles and loud reggaeton music at all hours of the day (an night), and morning....


So I decided to build a small room on the property of my community contact. Her husband works construction so he helped design it and we build it together. He recommended using bricks, since wood is expensive and there is not longer straw around for roofs. The house is on the back edge of their property right before the soccer field/cow pasture. After the cow pasture becomes the fields. Don Ramon, my contact's husband, is extremely worried about my safety and since I am so close to the Chacra I am more at risk. I like the location. It is really tranquilo. I don't have to fight with reggaeton as much, and I am off the main road. When neighbors come over, which they do since my contact is an unofficial community leader, I can wave and say hello from my door.

building the foundation.

My materials. Bricks, sand, and more bricks.

building the walls.

Super Guapo (hard-working) Don Ramon Varela building the house up.

Paraguayan equivalent of scaffolding.

Framing the roof. Not the same as in the states.

Sticking my little head through the roof on the day we put on the Tefuelon (an insulation layer on the roof)

Oimpama la oga. (The house is finished!)

From the first picture in the series until the last it maybe took two and a half weeks, but I then spent the next month waiting for the doors and electricity to be installed.

Building a house with a Paraguayan man was an interesting experience. My training in SOS along with some church missions trips gave me some of the skills I needed, but I still am not well versed in technical construction language in Spanish, or in the techniques of building a house out of bricks. That, and the fact that I am a woman working in a culture that values Machismo, created their frustrations, but in the end the house is finally constructed and I have slept there for a total of 5 nights. I don't have the most recent pictures. Since these pictures were taken we have put in windows and doors and electricity. We also built pillars that will become my porch so that I can sit outside and read, drink Mate in the rain while drying my clothes, or hanging my herbs to dry.

Nuestro Pan de Cada dia

Paraguayan Bread = well, the way that I think about bread I would say that bread doesn't exist in Paraguay. Of course it does, but not in that fresh, whole wheat grains, out of the oven kind of way. Instead Paraguayans have "Sopa Paraguaya," "Chipa," and "Chipa Guasu." Sopa Paraguaya and Chipa Guasu are sort of like corn bread that are made with different classes of corn flour, with sometimes mixing in wheat flour, or "harina comun." Chipa, on the other hand, is made with Mandioca flour. I love Chipa. It is sold on the buses into Asuncion. The time of the year that it is eaten the most is during holy week, and the women in my community have started to prepare to make their chipa. My host mom is saving her milk to make cheese, my neighbor is buying firewood to make the chip in her "tatakua" or brick oven, another neighbor bought the fat that is in the chipa, and the women's comite have been makin the Mandioca Flour, called Almidon.

Makin Almidon is a HUGE project that can take up to days. Luckily the women were able to acquire the money to buy a grinder so now it takes less days.

Step One: Harvest the Mandioca.

This leaves a pile of mandioca sitting on the lawn that was usually transported on an ox cart.

Step Two: Peel the Mandioca.

After 5 times of making almidon I think that I am finally getting the hang of peeling mandioca. I first tried to peel it like a potato, but there is actually a thick layer of skin that you need to get off. I am really proud that I have accomplished this.
My host mom Estela is really bombin' at this.

Step Three: Wash the Mandioca

Pretty straight forward: Scrub scrub scrub

Step Four: Grind the Mandioca

Step Five: Wash the mandioca and separate the "Flour" part from the other part. I really don't know what this is called, and I think this is more like a few steps thrown into one, because I don't understand the purpose of it all. The women stand over baskets with feed bags that the ground mandioca that has been mixed with "leche" (or water mixed with some of the almidon) is poured into. Then there are a couple of more scoops of the leche that goes into it and then a couple of scoops of water that you pour over it and then squeeze the water and "leche" out.

Step six: let the leche and almidon mixture sit for 3 hours.

Step seven: Pour the water out of the tubs and scrape the almidon from the bottom.

Step eight: Dry the almidon on a warm sunny day.

Step nine: enjoy!

My Feet after a long day of helping the women make Almidon.

So I have yet to see this mass making of chipa. More on chipa making to come....

An Inauguratory Ride

The 3:00 sun was beating down on the earth with such strength that it pierced my skin to the bone. The day before I had promised Na Adria that I would visit her. I had yet to visit her since she lives back in the fields behind the trees and I only recently knew her home existed. I didn't know exactly where it was so I asked my 9 year old host brother, Gustavo, to accompany me. The day before my bike had arrives and I was anxious to take it for a spin.
So with the power of the sun piercing our skin we set out on our journey, he on foot, and I on my new bike. It was a release to be able to zip through the Kokue (fields) after 2 months of going everywhere on foot. But the caminoe (path) is not as smooth as it used to be. The grass has been padded down and browned by traffic. The soil is exposed and when it rains the dirt is washed away. The motos and oxen carts beat it down and it has become uneven. I had to stop myself several times so I wouldn't fall. I heard Gustavo running behind me as I struggled over the rough terrain.
We passed the mandioca field and my small demo plot where my corn and beans are growing well. We passed a Senor's field of corn that I had watched go from being disced to my height in a short time. We passed sugar cane that is starting to reach harvestable height. When we reached some trees I decided we needed a rest. I was glad I had filled the water bottle (came new with the bike!) with water.
I climbed back on the bike and we continued. When we reached part of the ride along a barbed wire fence that is cow pasture I decided to walk to prevent falling and cutting myself on the wire! Gustavo, like a good Paraguayan "man" offered to walk the bike. He had told me a couple of days before my bike arrived that he would use it to go to school, so I told him to hop on and try it out. He did, and his short legs barely reached the pedals, and he was sitting on the bar instead of the seat. He continued to ride on the smooth road we had entered. As much as I wished to be the one to initiate my bike, I allowed him to continue. The sun had worn me out and there was no shade on the road, so I made the call to enter into Grandma's house for a rest. She welcomed us in, even though she was bathing her children, and we refilled our water supply with cold water.
We entered the Kokue again. Gustavo rode and I followed until we reached Na Adria's house. She invited us in for Terere and she and I chatted about her life, her children, and her crops while Gustavo rode back to get something from Grandma.
After a while it was looking like the visit was coming to a close (the pitcher of water was empty and the Yerba had lost its flavor.).
I hopped on the bike and Gustavo followed, but this time our hands were full. Gustavo carried a bag of things from Grandma and the winter squash Na Adria had given us. I carried a bag of Peanuts that she had also given to us.
The path was smoother and I was starting to get the hang of it, but Gustavo was falling behind, so I offered to let him ride for a while. When we reached the big hill, that I call the Montana (mountain), Gustavo kept trekking on up until we reached the top and I asked to switch. I wanted to finish the inauguratory ride I had started. The journey was all down hill and Gustavo was carrying our winter squash so he was left in my dust, litterally. After I arrived home and dropped our peanuts off, I turned around and met him on his journey. I sent him off on the bike and caried his things the rest of the way. We were each a part of the end of the bike's first journey through tercera calle! Gustavo followed me into my room to put the bike to rest until our next journey!

Splish Splash, bucket bathing

In my community there was a really "guapo" (hard working) volunteer about 4 years ago that helped bring running water to the community. I have been blessed to have cold showers and sometimes use a toilet to do my business. Well, a couple of weeks ago the community water tower broke, and it took a whole week to resolve the several problems associated with it. This meant that bathing was no longer showering with running water.

How to bucket bathe in Paraguay
Step one: aqcuire water from the well.
So the day that the water went out our really well made bucket from the well broke. It had bones tied to the sides to weigh it down and help it submerge in the water. This means that I had to swing the rope back and forth until the bucket would tip over and fill up with water. Then I had to hoist this larger bucket back up the 21meters. Uffduh! It´s a workout.

Step two(optional): Heat up water over the fire
If you want a warm bath, which is actually a luxury from the cold showers, this is a good option, also, the week that the water went out was cloudy and the well water didn´t heat up like it had been doing.

Step three: guard your bucket of water from the neighbors and host siblings while you wait for the bathing area to be vacant.

Step four: Bathe
I had to ask for instructions from my host mom for this part. There are two buckets, one has the well water in it, and the other is an empty "tub" like bucket that you pour some of the water into. Squat outside the tub and splash the water onto you to moisten your body, then suds up. Splash more water onto you to remove the soap. If you run out of water pour more water into the tub. Washing my hair was a challenge and I never seemed to get the suds removed from my back. I ended up lifting up the buckets of water and pouring them over my head (not Paraguayan style). Near the end of the week my host mom told me that when the other Peace Corps volunteer lived with them he had a pitcher that he used to bathe. I wish I had known that sooner because then I would have felt comfortable bringing a cup into the bathing area with me. Now I know better for next time.

Step five: Dry off. You´re clean!

A Paraguayan Bean Harvest

The rainy afternoon had kept me closed up in my house all afternoon reading about Frank McCourts challenges as an Irish American immigrant. I was beginning to feel restless. Somehow our journeys seemed similar, entering an unfamiliar land all alone and trying to adapt. When the rain finally stopped I walked over to my neighbors house for a visit. Na Flora invited me in as she always does and I was given a chair. We chatted about the weather and her pollitos. She asked about my recently planted beans. Then she asked if I wanted to go harvest some beans with her in her kokue (fields). "Ko´aga", now? "Si!" She said. "Jaha" Lets go!
So she grabbed her harvest bag and I followed her. She, barefeet, me in my chaco flip flops. We reached the gate and I knew this wouldnt work. The red dirt had turned to mud and I knew the instant I crossed the gate I would sink into the mud or slip and fall. I kicked off my sandals and passed through the gate into the kokue. We walked through cow poop, grass, and tall weeds. I was nervous that I would get pikay, step on a prickly weed, or encounter a snake. Na Flora continued on and I followed, my feet squishing in the mud, as we passed the old Bitter orange trees, sugar cane, and Mandioca. We arrived at the bean field. It was like an ocean covered with mature bean plants. It reminded me of my days picking beans on ploughshare farm. Na Flora showed me which ones to pick. "The yellow ones" which yellow ones? I was lost. This was new territory for me. I thought Paraguayans only harvested the dry ones. As I followed Na Flora trying to pick out the yellow ones she pointed to another group of beans to pick, but these were purple. Then she kept pointing to others that were ready but I couldnt seem to follow her finger. I was frustrated by my lack of knowledge, like the first time I picked beans on Garys farm, except that Na Flora didnt scream and shame me for my lack of knowledge and experience. She patiently pointed out the ready ones. All the while my bare feet sinking into the mud, becoming caked in soil.
Once we finished we headed back to the house with a full bag of beans in hand, although I am sure most of the picking was done by Na Flora. I asked what you can use them for. She told me they were for me. I have no idea what to cook with them, but she told me that my host mom will be able to cook something.
I bid farewell, jajatopata! and carried my back of beans home, satisfied with my visit and excited about trying a new type of bean.

Casamiento Hape

It seems that every culture has some sort of ceremony that unites a male and female. While it is celebrated different in different cultures, it exists still the same. I was able to experience a Paraguayan wedding for the first time this month.
Of course there is the preperation that comes before the wedding. The clothes, the food, the venue...
The mother of the groom is a seamstress and was making the dress for the bride. She spent days handsewing the pearls while we drank Terere in her front yard.
The day before the wedding I went over to her house to witness the pig slaughter. It was an event. First we stood around waiting. Water needed to boiled, rope needed to bought. And then there was movement. The pig was being drug to a post and there was screeching coming from the pig and grunting coming from the 5 women that were trying tie the pig to the fence post. The mother of the groom yelled "mujeres adelantando" as the 18year old girl "clave'ed" or nailed, (which is basically the knife going into the neck and letting the blood drain out)the pig.
The day of the wedding I went back the mother of the groom's house to witness Sopa Paraguaya being made to serve all of the guests. It was prepared in a canoe looking think and mixed by hand until all the cheese, eggs, milk, and oil were thoroughly mixed, and then carried to neighboring tatakua, or brick ovens, to cook.
Around 7:00pm we waited for the bus to come through the community to pick us up and take us to the Church in a community some kilometers away. We boarded the bus with a large portion of the community that didn't have cars and of course the teenage to 20something girls dressed up in their gowns that could be worn to a homecoming dance.
The church was a beautiful church and it was a traditional catholic ceremony with prayers, songs, exchanging of rings and vows, and communion. Instead of a bridal party there are children that assist in carrying the train down the aisle. The parents of the "novios" sit in front during the ceremony.

Afterwards we boarded the bus again. The ride back was full of giggles for myself, my host sister, her friend, and my host mom. There was Paraguayan dust flying around the bus and we sat up high in the back. We were covered from head to toe in red dust. My black top turned brown and my white skirt...well...it is no longer that clean white color it came with.
We arrived at the Bride's home where it was beautifully decorated with tables, chairs, and lights. We waited while friends of the family carried out coca-cola, beer, then sopa paraguaya, then the meal of grilled meat and salads with more Sopa Paraguaya.
Afterwards there was dancing, which for Paraguayans means dancing in lines across from your partner. I danced a little, since for a month the conversation surrounding the wedding was "jajerokyta" or "we are going to dance!" Then I walked with my host family back home where I crashed long after the stroke of midnight!

Christmas - PY Style

So Christmas this year was less than exciting. Being away from family and friends for the first time made it challenging, along with all of the cultural adjustments I am going through during my first two weeks in site.
All that to say, for as unexciting as Paraguayan Christmas is, the simplicity to it was something that isn't present in Christmas in the U.S. The advent spirit was something that I was also missing, not being able to be amongst a community of believers to encourage this and draw this out in my. So let me tell you about Christmas in PY.
During the weeks leading up to Christmas there are prayer meetings every night. They are called something like "reso de la familia" or a family prayer service. The community (the attendees change each night) meet at a different house each night around sunset, say their normal prayers, read a passage from the bible, and discuss the passage in relation to a topic. I appreciated being amongst people who desired to discuss the word of God, even if I couldn't get much out of the conversation because of language difference. There is a final closing prayer service at the prayer chapel in the village a couple of days before Christmas.
Christmas Eve is a day of preparation. The pig is cooked, Sopa Paraguaya is made, fruit is cut for the Clerico, and the Pecebro (or Creche) is set up. Then comes the waiting, until midnight of Christmas eve, but once it comes there is a celebration, and families visit eachother and kisses are passed around and Clerico is drunk.
While this is about all that happens on Christmas, I appreciated the imagery of waiting, which is what Advent really means. But it is waiting with expectation and preparation amidst the wait.


This is the Pecebro, or the Creche that was made in preparation

To celebrate in a little more of a manner more comfortable to my cultural norms on Christmas morning I walked 20 minutes to the volunteer closest to me's house and we shared a pancake breakfast and a pizza lunch together!
Merry Christmas to all!

An official volunteer...What?

Ladies and gentleman, my training is over, but my life as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay has just begun. On Thursday of this week I said farewell to my host family in my training community and boarded a van full of other trainees dressed in their best clothes and headed to the United States Embassy to swear-in as Peace Corp volunteers. I dressed in my new Aopo'i shirt, a typical shirt that is made to be "fresco." Paraguayans love ceremony, and this was a great Paraguayan ceremony with the Minister of Tourism and the Director of WWF (World Wildlife Fund) attending and speaking at the ceremony, as well as the ceremony being completely in Spanish for the first time.
Afterwards was a time of celebration. We ate a delicious cake that volunteers get when they swear-in and when at close of service. Mmmmm, it was delicious. We then took the walk from the U.S. embassy back to the Peace Corps office, which was a walk that, to me, signified the change that I had just gone through. No longer will I be driven around Paraguay in 4x4 vehicles. No longer will my schedule be made for me. No longer will my housing be automatically arranged for me. In some ways it is scary, but I appreciate the freedom as well.
Swear-in weekend is a fun weekend for the new volunteers to hang out and meet the "seasoned" volunteers. We also spend time getting to know Asuncion. This morning we swam in the pool at the embassy.
On Tuesday I will journey out to my site. It sits about 3 hours directly East of Asuncion about 3K from the main road. My emotions are a mixture of excitement and fear, and a lot of unknowns. My life will completely change...again!

Thanksgiving in Paraguay

Happy Thanksgiving...a couple of days late. As you may have guessed, Paraguay doesn´t celebrate Thanksgiving. It was business as usual. The nice part is that I work for the U.S. government, which celebrates all U.S. and Paraguayan holidays, so I had a holiday. The director of Peace Corps Paraguay invited all of us trainees over to his house for a Thanksgiving potluck. I decided to bring a sweet potato dish that I ate last year at Thanksgiving and absolutely love. Instead of yams I used Batatas...actual sweet potatoes and instead of brown sugar I used molasses. I had a lot of fun making them and learning how to find food in Paraguay and manage a Paraguayan kitchen. There is a supermarket in the training town where I got sugars and flour. I got butter at a corner supermarket in another town, and the rest of the ingrediens: nuts, sweet potatoes, milk, at the mercado. I bought an egg from my neighbor as well, and then used a little of my host mom´s molasses. A large majority of the lower class Paraguayans have gas ovens and stoves, so I learned how to use a gas oven for the first time. The dish turned out a success and everyone at Thanksgiving loved it and I am passing around the recipe to friends here.

So the director of Peace Corps Paraguay has a really incredible house in the capital of Asuncion. It reminded of some of the houses that I visited in East Memphis. We swam in the pool and lounged in the yard, along with eating an incredible amount of delicious food...including vegetables (vegetables have become a luxury in my Paraguayan diet.) I enjoyed visiting with other trainees that I don´t get to see very often and relax by the pool. The cold water of the pool was refreshing in the Paraguayan heat!

Training is quickly wrapping up. We have two weeks before swear in. Last weekend I visited my future site. It is in a beautiful location only 2.5 hours from Asuncion and 3K from the nearest paved road, which is pretty nice. I have it better than a lot of my friends that have a two hour walk to the bus stop. My bus is only 1K away. Although I think I would have enjoyed a more remote community, I think I am going to like my site! One of my contacts has a kitten that she is going to let me have so I am reading up on how to care for a cat!

Ciao for now friends!
Jajatopata!

5 weeks down

I have been living in Paraguay exactly 5 weeks. I was thinking earlier this week that this is starting to feel familiar, natural, & almost comfortable. Of course there have been days when I wish I was back home in the states and would rather be drinking a latte at Dunn Brothers than being here in Paraguay, but I wouldn´t trade this for anything, not even a steaming hot shower (although I do have these for now...).
I am still in training. I have 5 weeks to go. I am fairly impressed with the training program that the Peace Corps has. They are very strategic about what they do to help us become integrated into Paraguay culture and life. Their approach is that the individual is responsible for their own learning. Every time I am doing something new I realize that a previous activity is helping me to realize the current activity. So it is very cumulative and experiential. It is also rigorous and I have a hard time keeping up. We normally have language in the morning and technical areas (mostly agricluture related things) in the afternoon.
Sometimes we will go to town and meet with our entire group of 47 for common areas (health, safety, development, policies, working with youth.) The technical areas are pretty interesting. We built a bio-intensive garden and learned how to build a compost pile. We created a demo plot of common cash crops in paraguay and experimented with fertilizers and mulch. We learned about vermiculture, soilds, and green manures. I taught about tree planting, and last week we learned how to do some beekeeping. I only got stung once. We also have talked about methodology in a Paraguayan context. Oh, and we are raising chickens!
Something cool we got to do was go alone into the campo and stay with a volunteer for 4 days. This was helpful to see exactly what being a volunteer is like. This upcoming week we will go in groups of 4 for a week of living and working in a current volunteer´s community.
Something neat that they are working into training is a ¨day of practice¨ where we go and work with a contact in our community and use methods that we are being taught in training. I am working with a very guapa (hard-working...BA) woman that has 70 chickens, 2 pigs, and 5 cows. She also makes her own cheese and sells eggs.
I am enjoying my family stay as well. My family is very sweet. I live with a Mother, a father, their 2 year old daughter and their 5 year old niece. Sometimes the girls get on my nerves, but I lock my door if they do. Sometimes I get antsy to be done with training and be in my site and living alone, but we will find out in less than 2 weeks where our sites will be!!

Aqui Estoy en Paraguay

Mba´eichapa? I made it to Paraguay! What a journey it was to get down here. We had a 15hour layover is Brazil and we finally made it. Sometimes I walk down the street in the town I am staying in and I have to remind myself that I am in Paraguay. It has been easy to pick up my Spanish again. Luckily my family here speaks Castellano (what they call Spanish) but I have started to learn Guarani already. It is a pretty easily constructed langauge but it is hard to remember all these new words.
My life really consists of days filled with taking in new (and some old) information and theories. I moved in with a host family in a small village outside of the capital. The dad is a farmer of mostly vegetables that he sells to the supermarkets. They have 2 young daughters (5 and 2) who are mostly sweet and sometimes annoying when I just want to be alone in my room and even when I close the door they open it without knocking! Talk about different definitions of privacy! But it is fun to have them around. Earlier this week we had a huge storm and the night before the storm the power went out and the water shut off...for different reasons. My house is pretty modern (running water inside, hot showers, electricity, washing machines), so it was definately preparation for the campo.
The training sessions are fairly interactive and I appreciate the Peace Corps training staff. We have gotten to have volunteers come in and do training sessions with us and it has been so helpful to hear about their experiences and imagine what my life might be like in the campo (country). Today we planted out garden. It was fun to learn new things and hear about what other trainees know! We planted beets, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, lettuce, and onions. We also learned how to make compost! I really like the agricultural society and drinking Terere/Mate. This place is tranquilopa.