En el Norte

I am currently in Concepcion, about 7 hours north of Asuncion, where I searched out a special internet cafe that could handle uploading photos.... and where, upon insertion of my usb falsh drive, the computer detected a virus and deleted my photos. Yes, they are still on my camera, but this means none for you yet. (sorry Laura, I was really trying to make your request about my blog come true!)

Anyways, it is my last night on my visit to a current Volunteer. I spent the weekend with Nina, a current beekeeping volunteer, and as I thought I would have to go far, the volunteer that is the furthest north they will place anyone in Paraguay beyond going in the Chaco.

The visit has been great. First we trainees got to go to a ´chuchi´(which means fancy or nice in Guarani) restaurant in Asuncion where Kendall and I split fajitas, however, we did drink until a little late, and got to the bus terminal about 30 minutes later than planned, switching the available busses to ones that took 2 hours longer, and so we arrived in Concepcion at around 9 am on saturday morning. I then got on another bus, which took me far into the countryside, where I got off and started hiking the 3 kilometers into my volunteers site with a dude that only spoke Guarani. I managed to exchange my name, learn his, talk about liking the countryside, name a few animals and express my hapiness in Paraguay amidst many lost phrases on his part, and then ran into Nina coming towards us.

We spent the weekend gardening, and visiting families to meet them and drink terere, terere, and more terere. I also bucket showered with tree frogs and am pretty sure I killed a baby tarantula. It was fun, calm, and a much needed break from the intense studying that will commence again on wednesday.

Since Nina´s site is so far in the campo, we came in to the city today so that I could make the bus tomorrow morning. All the other volunteers hosting trainees will come in throughout the day, and we´re all staying at a sleezy yet charming hotel available both by the hour and the night... Benefits include the 4$ cost and the fact that tonight, the bar downstairs hosts a Kareoke contest! Omarcha!

Stories and a purely photo post to come as soon as technology stops defeating my own capabilities. Now I will attempt to post stolen fotos from the internet to show examples of the countryside I am experiencing.

Jajotopata (see you later)- jess

Mbaéchapa

OK. So, below is a blog I wrote a few days ago.. wanted to post it before I go visit a current Peace Corps volunteer in their site this weekend. I could be as far as 10 hours away from my current host family! However, last night my host dad cornered me to try to get me to convert to evangelicism, so leaving will make things likely less awkward. Today we are in the big city and about to go to the peace corps office, so i have to go. But I hope you all enjoy!

Mba’echapa!

My life has become Paraguay, and fortunately the glitter and glam that newness provides to what I have heard others call a flat and dreary land has yet to wear off, I only hope it never does.

The repetitive every-day schedule of intense Guarani lessons, attempt to integrate Guarani into a Spanish-dominated lunch conversation and afternoons of lectures, crop practice or beekeeping has already grown weary mostly due to exhaustion and lack of time.

But beyond the confines of time, the lessons themselves have been pretty cool so far. Guarani reminds me of an Asian-ized Spanish, and while difficult, is fun to attempt to speak. So far the most I can figure out is that endings are very important, as adding a few letters to the end of a word can both change its tense and add entire ideas to it, such as where the object is or who you did the verb with. Also, tones are important, and so far I have found that I tend to get them wrong, and the words end up being sexual rather than the temperature or vegetable I am trying to talk about… pero, tranquilopa, ndaipori problema, I will learn.

My family is still great. My older sister Cindy is in town and the fam is at church now, which explains the blaring reggaeton from the kitchen. (Normally it would be Christian music… Pastor lives here…). My mom and I are also tight, we talk a lot and she has already promised to visit me at my site. Vamos a ver.

A lot of people have asked about food. So before I get to posting pictures I’ll talk abit about that. So far I like it a lot. Today I had sopa paraguaya, which is not a soup at all but an oily cornbread with cheese, milk, and egg involved, and spinach spaghetti with a rough meat sauce that included hot dogs. Breakfast is mostly bread, dolci de leche and mate with milk. And Dinner is generally the same as breakfast. Lunch is when we have delicious fried tortillas (little eggy, cheesy, puff balls of dough that melt in your mouth) or begu (the g pronounced as a y) which is corn and wheat flour mixed with cheese and pressed with a spoon in a buttered pan until it gets hot enough to melt together. It is my fave.

In other news today my family castrated our little bull. Or the vet did, but as you can see below it was a family affair. The majority of our group came to watch, it was quite the experience.

We also had our first experience in the apiary with killer bees (see photos). The bees are definitely aggressive, and though they flew straight into my veil about 800 times, pegging it, bouncing off and returning, I somehow escaped without a pulsing and itching sting (a trend I hope to keep up).

OK, now I would put some photos but they are NOT loading fast enough and I have to jet to the embassy. Next time I promise!!!!! From now on I will try to post more often, especially since I now feel safe breaking out my laptop and typing posts up on my computer in my room while the fam sings and dances at church on Saturday night.

Jajotopata (See you later)

-Jess

Soon to come...

So today went by faster then I thought.... and therefore there is no blog post. Sorry! But I will work on it and try to upload one tomorrow or Sunday. Also I forgot to bring my camera chord... so it´ll be better if you wait anyways!

A hole in the wall and other stories

So not much has happened so far. A few funny experiences to recount though...

First, I asked if my room was done at breakfast yesterday and they said no. They then point at a wall and tell me that they have to tear it down so that I could have a door from my new room into the kitchen. They are tearing their house apart for me. Nice but funny. We´ll see when its done...

Also, my two brothers also still do not talk to me. But, one has now walked in on me on the toilet, so, maybe he will talk to me soon? After that I had a very awkward lesson with my mom about how to lock doors...

Finally, my parents are evangelical, that I knew, so I asked if I could go to church to have a cultural experience. Little did I know how much this could change things... luckily a few other people are in the same boat. Essentially it is a new age christian church that is very very very active and a bit pushy, and it turns out my mom is the band´s singer and my dad is the co-pastor. Needless to say, God has entered my life. Literally, everything they talk about now is about God, and they are constantly telling me that they prey for a good site for me that is close so I can visit them after I leave for site. It is all very nice, though slightly overwhelming at times,like this morning, at church again, when they had all three of us volunteers go to sunday school with the teenagers where a 15 year old told us how to rid ourselves of carnal emotions and have a good marriage...


luckily all of this is padded by delicious cold mate with herbs to sip on as a group. Now we sit and wait until drinking straight out of the faucet makes us sick...

until later,
love,
Jess

First Few Days in Paraguay!

So I made it to Paraguay after a brief overnight in Miami, where we stayed at a great hotel, and I got my fill on my last few American meals and beers! The flights were long, and as per normal, I could not sleep, but, they were successful... including all of my luggage making it!

Things have been surreal thus far. I guess I should admit to myself that I am probably in the euphoric stage of adjustment, but I can barely wipe the smile off my face. I met my host family yesterday. I have a mother, father, and four siblings, one of whom I met on the cell phone as she studies at a university in another city during the week, but will come back this weekend so I can meet her in person. I am staying in her room for the time being, but the exciting news is that my family is building an entire extension on the house just for me! I will be located right next to the three cows in my own little room with a large window overlooking the garden! (pictures will come soon, I promise... I at least have to wait for it to be built!) Besides 3 cows, we have two dogs (one of which is named doggie). So far I have little to say about my siblings, because they are too shy to talk to me, but my mom is hilarious and very kind.

The last 24 hours have been good. But I must admit little has happened. I spent the evening last night showing pictures I brought to my mother, and then crashed after a grilled cheese for dinner with some tea and slept until 6 am, when I woke up, ate two breadsticks and walked with everyone to the bus stop. Training is going well. I was forcefully stung by an africanized bee today (they got them angry, then layed them on our arm until they stung us) and I am not allergic. However, it did burn and scream, and I am mostly nervous about having to explain the angry words that come out of my mouth whenever I am stung to the farmers I work with...

Also, we are diving straight into Guarani lessons. It is a super cool language, and besides sharing a few words with Spanish, sounds nothing like it. Beekeepers are required to reach an intermediate level (which pretty much means fairly fluent) by the end of the 11 week training session, so I have to get studying!

Sorry this post has not been uber-interesting, but I am sure a funny story leading from an awkward situation will come soon. This weekend plans include making tortillas and terere tomorrow morning, and afternoon soccer with the women of my community on sunday. Tuesday I will have my first official beekeeping training session-- more tales to come.

PS. In the case anybody ever sends a package they suggested today that we tell everyone to be sure to tape them closed very very very well because there are noses that pry. Also, don´t include anything valuable, as although it will make it to paraguay, it will likely not make it to me. Finally, use USPS, because the others are expensive and USPS makes it in about 2 or 3 weeks.
much love.
-jess

Adios to the familiar (and contact info for Paraguay!)

I leave tomorrow. I leave tomorrow. I leave tomorrow. No matter how many times I run it through my head it does not sink in. I have what I think my life over the next two years should consist of (in material terms) packed (or stuffed) into a roller duffel, a backpack, a small duffel and a shoulder bag. I am loading my iPod with the most up-to-date music that I actually like, knowing that in 2 months I will no longer have any concept of the US top 40. Granted, by then I will be able to make a mean cow's head soup, concoct a perfectly sweetened terere (cold mate), and hopefully have a handle on one of the only indigenous languages in the previously colonized world that is also the current countries official language. The emotions I experience now are nowhere near as complicated as the random thoughts I have, and the random fears, and specific excitements... as well as the sadness that I have no room for my own homemade zucchini bread...

I spend tomorrow night in Miami. Maybe a good place to practice spanish. So, for those of you who might want to talk to me before I go, the cellular will be with me and on until I ship it home via the USPS at around 3 pm eastern time on the 22nd. For those of you who do not want to talk to me tomorrow, or those others who have asked for my address time and time again, here it is:


Jessica Clayton PCT
Cuerpo de Paz
162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. Lopez
Asuncion 1580, Paraguay
South America

Airmail is suggested, as it takes like 8 days and has about an 85% success rate. I must admit that I would love anything that is sent to me. I love letters! And anyone that writes will receive a response. If you do want to start a letter chain, be sure to number your letters in the order you send them, that way I will know if I miss any. (this is Peace Corps advice, although I must admit that if I do find one is missing, I will have absolutely no way to claim it or find it, so I am not sure what good it does). but...
Packages will surely be welcome as well, as well as photos! But, if you send a package declare it to be worth like nothing, and don't send anything too valuable, as it will probably be opened by a customs officer and taken as compensation for their work. So, send them airmail via UPS, FedEx, or USPS with a declared value of no more than 100$, hide the valuables inside kangaroo pouches, and keep it in about a shoe-box size. Then we'll be all good, and I will be very very happy and send a beautiful postcard in return.

Now I must get back to pretending that I will remember everything, and that I will be able to sleep tonight... Keep in touch. I know my adventures may seem exciting, but I can promise that stories from home will keep me content for hours, days, and maybe even my whole time there if I can get them often enough!

A Taste of Summer

Here are some shots composing a summary of my ventures this summer as I said goodbye to people and places in the US. Climbing the mountains of Colorado Springs

2 Amazing weeks in Hawaii with Chris
Exploring East Coast beaches
Successful whale watching with beautiful sunsetsVisiting Middlebury People
Nannying two sweet babies in Shelter Island

And spending time with family (especially my niece and nephew... photo to come).

I head out in 2 weeks. Now begins the attempt to pack, much less even think, of all the things I will want and need for the next two years that will fit into my 80 lb. luggage limit!