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!