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!

Pictures and what not

Im back from long field practice. We went to La Colmena again where Joel, the volunteer, is finishing up his two years. Joel is a funny guy and a great volunteer, it was a fun time. Also, La Colmena is a beautiful, beautiful place. I took some pictures from the house I was staying at, breathtaking. I stayed with Don Maximo, his wife who everyone called De la Paz, and their 14 year old son Jorge. We worked out in Joel´s demo plot where he had planted different types of abonos verdes (green manures) as well as worked on this one guys field. We did curvas de nivel, which is countour planting, we made the curves using A frames and then hoed, and planted Pasto Camaroon which is a great forage plant for cows and also Kumanda Yvyra´i which is a nitrogen fixing legume that forms a small tree. Food was good, lots of fresh vegetables. However, Thursday during lunch I got a big bowl of steaming organs...I couldnt figure out WHAT it was until I asked Joel later. Turned out it was a big bowl of Cow livers.......yum. I couldnt finish it because i KNEW it was something from the depths of the cows insides. Didnt taste terrible though. I bathed in a creek a little ways from the house and man was it cold, but very refreshing! This was my first time using a latrine also...its kind of hard getting the squat just right.

This wednesday I will find out where my site will be, where i will spend the next two years! how exciting.

Every now and then I get homesick...I remember chapel hill and what a great city it is. But, I am having a great time here and couldnt imagine being anywhere else. Ive been reading a lot too, I finished three books in two weeks. Though now I think Im going to focus more on Guarani and less pleasure reading.

Mangoes are starting to get ripe, im very excited about that!
Okay, picture time.

Kankles!!!! Ahhh bees! My feet are fine now. How gross is that?




This is the view from my house in the peublo, I would sit here and read. Jealous?


Che familia. Don Maximo, De la paz, ha Jorge. They arent very good with having their pictures taken but are super awesome people!


This is the Kururu(toad) that stayed in my room. I named him Arlo. He was fat, but very tranquilo. People here are afraid of them and I cant understand why. He was a good roommate.

Rainy Sunday

I had some time this morning to head to Ita and use the internet cafe. It´s a rainy day...it always seems to rain on the weekends for some reason. Anyways, I took a picture of my super swollen feet but I cant seem to upload it so you all will just have to wait in suspense....it aint pretty. Tomorrow we leave for long field practice. We will be visiting a volunteer for the week and working with him and his community. My group will be giving a charla on venenos caseros....homemade pesticides. It should be interesting considering that it will be our first in guarani. Anyways, my feet are fine now. I was given some allegra since I had such a strong allergic reaction and that took care of it. I think I jinxed myself about getting sick. This Friday I woke up feeling terrible and realized that I had food poisoning. I wont go into details but it was not pretty. I was laid out the entire day with absolutely no energy and a VERY high fever. I havnt had a fever that high since I was young. Ndaipori problema (no problems) I was back to normal the next day, though my taste for Paraguayan food has diminished even more. Last Thursday we went to this amazing little farm, about 3 hectares in size. The family was practicing more or less a permaculture system. They had crops which they ate as well as feed their animals. Pigs which ate the crops and whose manure they used in a biodigester which fermented their shit into methane which they use to cook with. They had rabbits for food and also manure for their crops. A vermiculture setup so the worms ate the compost and rabbit manure which was then given to the plants. Cows which also ate the crops. Afterwards they gave us some of their products...different jams and yogurt...the yoghurt was amazing! It was very inspiring and interesting to see all these systems working together on such a relatively small plot of land but they made it work. We learned how to make yoghurt...which is actually quite simple as well as cheese. Im going to make yoghurt soon. Ive been reading a lot on my down time. I think my mind has been starved for that type of entertainment because when I read I read fast and nonstop. Ive read 3 books in two weeks. And it´s not like I have a ton of free time either.
Ahatama (im going to go) jajotopata!

Kankles

Hey all. So, week 6...almost done with training. Next week we do a weeklong visit to a volunteer and see what volunteer life is all about. Things are going well...got sick with ghiardia(sp?) but im doing fine now. Guarani is getting better by the day, though I kind of hit a wall for a bit before it started getting better. I have two stories relating to bugs (bichos) and one relates to the title of my post.
1. Two weeks ago it was super hot...like REALLY hot. I was sleeping with the fan full blast on me. Around 1230 the power went out and I woke up, immediately it was 90 degrees and humid..how terrible. But, it gets worse. Slowly I heard a horrible sound......the sound of SWARMS of mosquitoes slowly encroaching on me. Luckily I was under a mosquito net,, but I could NOT sleep. Then, sweet relief....the power came back on. Fucking mosquitoes.

2. Yesterday we were working with bees, we were checking out some hives and just doing some basic beekeeping practices. All of a sudden I got stung on my lower ankle. I had my pants tucked into my socks and it turns out that bees dont like wool socks...that are dark green. They had figured out they could sting through the sock and into my ankle. So on stung me. It hurt. The thing that sucks most about stings is that they let off a pheromone that tells others to come sting that spot. So a mini swarm came to my foot, I tried to smoke them away...the smoke covers up the pheromone. On a side note, we use dried cow shit as our smoking material so it was the best of smells. Anyways, another stung me....then another on the other ankle. I got away and luckily I didnt get anymore but I did start to freak out. Today I woke up and my ankles are HUGE, as well as my feet. So I now have kankles. Super lame. Ill try to take a pic if possible.

Alright, time to get out of here.
Suerte,
David