Obama (One who has moved)

Home again? Home at last? Who knows how to put it, but I have been moved. Conveniently, obama in guarani means one who has already moved, a word I can now use, and one that I always remember. Moving was a whirlwind experience. The security employee of Peace Corps was kind enough to drive me all the way to my old site to gather my things, and then take me to my new site. In the twenty minutes I had to pack at my old site, my neighbors and host family there made it clear that they thought I should stay. After all, I didn´t have an allergy, I must have had the reaction, they say, because I worked too hard on my first day, and showered when it was too hot out. A new belief nonetheless, but demonstrative of their wanting me to stay. If only I had eaten watermelon amidst the shower, then the entire Paraguayan country would say that my blood vessels exploded. But despite their greivences, I said goodbye and drove off.

My new site is located about 7 kilometers outside of Villa Rica. Its rural, on a dirt road, with beautiful mountain views, and the people I have met thus far have been amazing. They speak spanish, which is nice, because we can talk. But still rely heavily on Guarani, which means that hopefully I will successfully become tri'lingual in the next two years. I am living with a great family, who live in and take care of the community house. The house was actually built by a Chinese NGO about 5 years ago. They share a large room, there is a large classroom across the way, a decent sized storage room and a kitchen. After much lifting, moving, cleaning, sanding, re'painting and my host dad installing a ceiling fan for me, I am officially a resident of the storage room.

The community is pumped to have me, which is nice. They have a huge plan to begin a community goat farm and sell the products. First though, they must be able to raise enough pasto to feed the goats and still have enough land to raise food to live off of. Thus, we will be working together to teach crop rotation, crop partnering, and the use of green manures to restore the soil and get the needed things growing. Since my training in all of this was fairly brief (compared to my vast knowledge of now useless bee information) I have been spending a decent amount of time reading up on things. The long-term goal is really exciting though, and I am hoping I can be a big part of its success. But it will not be me alone, this afternoon an engineer is coming to help teach about pasto, and I will likely work heavily with her.

That's about all for now. My family is sweet, very protective, and fantastic. The kids are super sweet, including the little 1.5 year old Tobias. Its going to be weird to get used to being so near a town. This internet cafe is in a very fancy and complete super market! The town is also very near a German colony, so there are blond'haired blue-eyed paraguayans speaking German at my side as we speak.

Its going to be a different experience here, but I am excited. I will work to get up some pictures the next time I come to the big city. Jajotopata.