Hard week

My house in the works. The pictures start from most recent to the first day of work. It is coming together slowly.

I had to take a day in to the city for myself, just because ive been pretty frustrated lately. Before I get into all of this, you all should know that this IS normal for the first 3 months and it gets better. Atleast thats what everyone has told me, which helps. Anyways, things are frustrating. A lot of the culture, ie the food, the music (they play the same 4 songs, very loud, all day) and the general flakeyness. Also, they know I am new and im trying VERY hard to learn their language, and it hasnt been that long that ive been here but I still can understand that they are making comments or making fun of me. They do it as playful joking around, but when you get it everyday it really starts to bother you. And honestly, I wouldnt mind a bit more respect. I know Im new and I cant speak their language very well but I treat all of them with the utmost respect and I feel that it would be nice to get a little back considering that I have come here to work with them and help them on my own free will. But whatever. I realize that their culture is not MY culture, and that is something I have to tell myself everyday because even though I may not like it and I may disagree with it, it doesn´t make it wrong. I´m sure if they came into the US they would feel the exact same way towards our culture and that is something that I have to accept. Okay, sorry for that mini bitch session, but it was necessary.

Anyways, Ive been running almost everyday which really helps with my mood and also burning off the empenadas and chickenfried steaks. I run about 30 minutes and will continually try and up my time. Christmas was interesting, we ate dinner at midnight on xmas eve and then they shot off pistols and shotguns. The next day I went to a waterhole to swim which was a lot of fun. New years I will prob go to a party, we will see.

Ive started working on another garden by my house that we are building. It will be a small herb and flower garden.

I continue reading, a lot. Im just about done with A walk in the woods by bill bryson, which is AMAZING. SO hilarious and really interesting, it almost makes me want to do the AT...almost. This will be my 5th book completed in less then a month. Im going to read a LOT over the next two years.

Almost time for xmas

Today Im going to hang out in Santani. Things are going well in site, I´ve got the garden going and I´m going to start a youth group after the new year. Guarani is slowwwwly getting better, but it is very disheartening when they speak SO fast and I just cant keep up. Oh well. It is hot, very very hot. The kind of heat that melts your brain, you cant even think its so hot.
Ive started running everyday in the morning to try and burn off as much of the greasy fried food as possible. Speaking of which, the other day they served a soup made of cow intestine, liver, stomach, fat around the stomach, and other tidbits. I could not eat it, super gross.

We started working on my house. We put down a small brick foundation wall and the posts. It is going to be tiny - 4m x 4m. Barely enough room for a bed, fridge, and stove. I think it will be nice and cozy! After it is done I will build another garden, this one will be mainly for herbs and poha ñana, the herbs used in terere as well as just a nice flower garden.

When im not studying or working in the garden or playing futbol with the kids im reading. I finished a collection of short stories of isaac asimov two weeks ago, this past week I read 100 years of solitutude which was amazing, especially because my little pueblo kind of reminds me of Macondo.

Today I´m going to hunt out a hidden pizza place that supposedly exists in Santani, it will be nice to have something OTHER than Paraguayan food for a change. Even though the food isnt great, my health has been fine. I think training was the hardest on my system but I have gotten past it (hopefully).
By the way, I do have a cell phone for those that want to call my number is 011595971399104. It should work, Ive already gotten one call from the states. No drunk dialing! well, ok, maybe SOME drunk dialing.

Volunteer in site

Alright, so Im a volunteer! I got into site Tuesday the 9th, and things are going really well. I was going to start building a fence for my garden but the comite said it would be tough since they werent sure WHERE the house would be...BUT, they had a garden I could use. I went to check it out and its HUGE! I got to work immediately: hoed, put down some fertilizer, planted abonos verdes and some herbs. Im really pumped about the whole thing. Things have been pretty tranquilo since it has been raining, but I was able to go to a meeting of the comite de agronimos. Language is still hard to understand since they speak so fast, but I can usually get the main point the conversation. There is a lot of work that is needed in the community and it can be a bit daunting at times but I have two years and these first couple of months are really just for me to get comfortable with the community and work on language etc.

Update on odd foods eaten so far: 1. Pig liver....didnt actually eat it, the smell was too strong for me to even touch it. 2. Chicharones, fried pig fat. Not terrible, kind of bacon-esque but still REALLY heavy and made me feel queezy. 3. A roll made from pig skin with bits of meet inside...couldnt eat that either it looked GROSS. 4. Carpincho, also known as caapibara the worlds largest rodent which is quite tasty!

Today Im in Santani, which is about 30 minutes from site and the closest main city to me. Im in the Plan Paraguay office - an NGO that does the whole adopt a child gig but they also work with schools and communities for things like community gardens and what not and they do a lot of work with Peace Corps Volunteers. They are really nice and even let me use their internet.

Overall, Im feeling really good. Things are going well in site, though language is still tough. Im getting back into running in the morning, before its too hot. I have some pictures taken from the swearing in ceremony in the US embassy...that place is NICE! Really really big. They said that we can use their pool, tennis courts, gym, etc whenever we wanted. And yes, that is a moustache...we all in the Crop extension group thought it would be funny to come to the US embassy with moustaches.


Crop Extension, G-28

Me and the two ladies(Christina and Emily) of the crop extension. Christina is actually from Brevard, NC and went to UNC. Small world.

Keith, me, Nate (unbelievable moustache and hair) and Juan (went to Cornell), not sure why he had a straight face.

I also taught my littler brothers back in my training site how to do pushups...imbarete! (that means they are strong in Guarani) The video may take some time to load...if it doesnt, well, I have no idea how to fix it.

Asuncion

So, Im a volunteer now. We were sworn in at the US embassy yesterday and it was quite nice. It is a large, beautiful embassy. Last night we went out and celebrated in Asuncion. First we went to this bar which is British style, and kind of odd, but still a lot of fun. Then we went to an outdoor bar on the streets with live music. Today I went around town, just checking out different markets and little artisan shops. Im going to be staying here until Tuesday, at which point I will head off to site. The hotel we are staying at is nice and we get a good Peace Corps discount, it even has internet! Sadly I cant upload pictures onto this computer so it will probably be a while before I can show anything from swearing in and what not. I wish I could make this post a bit more exciting...but Im a bit hungover and am at a loss of what to write about. Ill post again, probably once in site.

Last week of training

Alright, this is the last week of training. It has gone fast. I visited my site which is in the department of San pedro, close to guayaibi. It is flat, and not the most beautiful but the people are super nice and hard working. They grow sesame and pineapple for cash crops and the usual crops for consumption. Im going to be building my house, letrine, and shower with the comite de agriculturos in the calle which should be cool. The week was hard at first...lots of hassle and frustration and ridiculous heat...but things got better. Im pumped to be going to the site. This thursday is my birthday and then the next day we go into Asuncion where we swear in at the US embassy and I will become a volunteer. not a bad gift. During the first three months in site i have to live with a family, but after I will live alone...thankgod. The family is nice, prof. miguel is 35 and is a teacher at the local school so I can work with him with the kids on all types of projects. The wife, dolly, is 24 and has a little girl jessica who is 4. A nice family who lives on the upper scale of the neighborhood. Thanksgiving was fantastic, we bought a pig that was slaughtered and we had 8 different types of pork dishes, turkey, and tons of food. yum!

After friday, we are staying in Asuncion for a couple days to relax, get what we need for site, and partttaaayy. It will be well needed.

There are tons of things I will be doing in site, but I will name a few;
1. Work on a community garden, the comite wants a garden where we will first grow and sell oranges grafted on lemon stock, then grow and sell eucylyptus, then vegetables.

2. work on getting all the farmers to try using abonos verdes (green manures) and potentially try no-till farming.

3. try to find a niche market with products from the community, maybe added value products such as sesame candy etc.

4. teach english, nutrition, HIV and/or sexed in school.

5. Work on a school garden

6. Work with the womens comite to do all kinds of stuff.

and much much more...I will have my hands full. The whole goal of the peace corps, in a nutshell, is to give the local people the techniques needed to better their lives through sustainable methods, so that in the end they themselves have the means to create a better life for their families and community. Through this, the other goals are met, which are the sharing of American culture to paraguayans, and the sharing of paraguayan culture to americans.
Okay, its time to post some pics.




My backyard.


Prof. Miguel and Dotty



Jessica, Definitely the queen of the house!