Home Assigned

Last Wednesday was the big day: Peace Corps gave us the names and locations of the places we are to live and work for the next two years, and... I will be a follow up volunteer in a small rural town outside of Yuty, in the Caazapa department of southern Paraguay.

Understandably this means nothing to you all, as well as it pretty much meant nothing to me upon first hearing it. The name, the location, the hours that I will spend on a bus (7 from Asuncion sans traffic) are really minor details when it comes down to it, and so, what it came down to, what this post comes down to, are the three days I spent there to orientate myself, and to meet the people and see the land that I will call home for the next 24 months. However, it was important to learn that I will be close to two other volunteers, one only 7 kilometers away (and as you will see soon... I am pretty sure I am going to try to get a horse to make that ride feasible throughout the year).

Naturally, the visit was to be a reality slap. Fortunately it included a difficult, and yet fantastic arrival including the backs of several trucks, lots of walking, and many laughs. You see, my site is located off of a "ruta" that runs from Caazapa city to Yuty, and when it rains, that dirt Ruta becomes a massive mud slip and slide... and there are no Buses. Conveniently, there was a tremendous storm the night before we headed in.

The story could be longer, but lets just say that it resulted in a probably very dangerous, yet fun and mud-filled truck ride, a night with a random family in a town I could not ever get to again, and then thoughts of potentially walking 24 kilometers with my contact and neighboring volunteers, but fortunately hopping on a delivery truck and stopping at every small store on the ruta. But I made it to the cruce with my contact, and trecked the 3 Kilometers into site.

I am a follow-up volunteer to two other volunteers, who have both had successful projects, but there is more to be done. My town is very poor, and all Guarani speaking. Lucky for me they recently got running water (which means a spicket outside), but it is treated, and therefore chances of water illness are way down. I also have a house built for me already. Two rooms, wooden, electricity (most of the time at least), and a latrine and bath shack (for bucket bathing) located behind the house and the garden. I will most likely reroof it as soon as I get to site because water poors in right now, but it will come with a fridge, gas stove, bed, dresser, tables, chairs, and pretty much the main expensive things I would have to buy, so the allowance would cover it. I am excited to live alone, but will be close to neighbors who I will pretty much be living with, and therefore I should be safe.

For the first few months I will live with families. Since volunteers have been so successful in the past, I have a ton of offers, far more than I want, because I do not want to move around that much. I think I will strategize by sticking to central houses along the sprawling roads and houses with potential bee work (as I can do that with them even before my Guarani is perfect). But the people are wonderful, and I am excited to get to know them. Also, the community is big into growing oranges, and currently there are Peach trees galore, as well as mentions of avocados, mangos, and plentiful watermelon to come around Christmas time. Not very Christmas-y, but definitely a plus. I am sure more stories will come as I settle in.

Also, there is a refuge from the hard life in the town that is a 45 minute bus ride away (if its not raining) with a kind and well-off family that often befriends volunteers and allows them hot showers, internet, a bed, and pizza at the disco pub they own. While I am excited about site, I can already tell that I will appreciate the oasis. As far as I know, my site is one of the three furthest out of the sites from my beekeeping group, but I can tell that there is work to be done. It will be an adjustment for sure, and every ride in and out of site, not to mention every day in site, will be an adventure.

For now its back to studying Guarani (and preparing to be isolated by lack of language for a few months as I adjust), and enjoying simple things like showers, walking to the internet, and somewhat reliable busses, before I move out on the 15th of December.

Also, this means that as of now (since mail takes so long), I have a new address! Please do not send it to the old address, as the new address will be closer to me and should arrive faster (this is for anything new anybody wants to send)
It is simple:

Jessica Clayton
Cuerpo de Paz
Yuty, Depto. de Caazapa
Paraguay
South America

Photos of the land and the house to come as soon as I can figure out how to work Paraguayan technology. Now I must go to the supermarket to buy food to cook for a thanksgiving celebration at the Country Director's house tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Long Field Down South

No bad thing can come from riding in the back of trucks, and so that was the perfect way to end our trip last week. It was long field, and it was long, but went so quickly. We split into two groups (which was sad), and headed to completely different sides of the country. One group went to the site that I visited for my PCV visit, and I headed way down south to a little farm town called Isla Ro´y which means ¨cold island¨. It was exactly what I needed.
The countryside has a calmness too it. (the first picture is the view from my window). Luckily, it also followed the trend and gave us some time away from the heat, and away from the pressures of the routine life here.
I also got an amazing family. I was placed with a young married couple, age 28 in a new house close to others. They are both professors at the local school, one in elementary school and one at high school. Also, about the school, kids come on horses, from up to 20 kilometers away to get there... finally, a legitimate reason to not have school when it rains.
Besides stories of the crazy situations the town has brought its volunteer, the week went smoothly and was a great idea of all the potential work we will have at site. We finally successfully captured a wild hive. It may have helped that it was open and under a road stop rather than in a tree, but it was nice to end a traciago on a positive note, especially in a place where the bees will be utilized and provide additional income.
Beyond bees, we got to give two charlas, utilize our Guarani, and teach the local kids to play frisbee. I also ate grilled Carpincho (everyone should probably google image what that is). And it was delicious.
My other two favorite activities of the week were the sunsets and fishing. For some reason, despite the flatness and lack of mountains or snow for the sun to reflect, the countryside here produces amazing sunsets (as you can see on the attached foto).
Fishing was also amazing. The long awaited trip began in the back of the truck (see the shadow foto) headed out towards the river, where the land had been flooded only a few days before. The truck ride out was amazing, as riding in the backs of trucks generally goes, until suddenly we stopped as the road went below water again. Take off your shoes and roll up your pants, said the choffer, and despite having seen my first extremely poisonness snake earlier in the day, I trudged through the mud with my shoes around my neck and began the two kilometer trek to the water´s edge. Besides a few pricks and very squishy mud between the toes, the walk was beautiful, and the arrival at the river buggy. But fishing with expired cow meat we caught 3 piranas and a catfish! Then trecked back through the mud pits as the sun faded, and went back to town to eat the cake my host family made to say goodbye.
The trip was great, and needed. In the everyday schedule here its easy to forget why we are here, and the trip reminded me in every way. Paraguayans are what make this country; the beauty of the countryside, the chances to go fishing, the ample wild beehives, and everything else are just icing on the cake. There are still things here that will bother me, most likely for the next two years, but the trip confirmed that I want to be here.
This is a good thing, considering I get my site assignment on wednesday! This wednesday I will be told where I will be living for the next two years. I will hopefully be able to post my location soon! After that its off for a future site visit, and I will keep you all posted on how it looks.

The Other Side

Time here both drags and rushes. Days either seem repetitive or brand new. As the newness and excitement wears off, life becomes life, and the wear and tear intertwine with the hilarious and the every day.

This week Peace Corps gave us a chance to express some of our difficulties about Paraguayan culture. While some people couldn´t think of some, mine were easy and were as follows:

1) the inability to be straight-forward. This goes both ways, first, when you ask for directions, people will make them up if they do not know, which means any question you have you must ask 3 or more people and balance the answers.. when busy, this sucks. Then, it comes the other way, if I say that I am not going to eat much of something because I am full, they take it as a non-straight-forward way of saying that I do not like what they are offering me. As a fairly blunt person, I find myself constantly stepping on toes while attempting to adjust to the Paraguayan waltz around the truth that they so elegantly manage.

2) the somewhat cruel way they treat kids conceived outside of marriage. they end up cooking, cleaning, and kinda of being treated like dirt by the families that adopt them. fortunately they seem to adapt well and accept cookies from me with sweet smiles. Also fortunately Peace Corps has a rule that we cannot adopt kids while in service... I think that probably derives from volunteers like me trying to save them...

3) Guarani is still hard. For example, the other night, rather than saying I am going to brush my teeth, which are rai, I said ra´y (the y is actually pronounced like a high pitched sigh and thus is very similar to an i) and thus told my host mother I was going to brush my testicles. Oops.

But, beyond the unfortunate things, I also recently realized, much to my hilarity, that my host mother pretty much thinks I can see the future. First, while she thought I would visit a volunteer near the city, I told her I would go far away and I ended up with the volunteer the furthest north. Then I told her that I was sure my first illness would not be a stomache problem, and when I came down with it this week it was indeed a fever. Addmittedly, she was freaked out. She mentioned my ability to sense things, and then, when I told her that rice in the salt would help it not stick together.... she whipped the rice out of the cubbored and had it in the salt shaker in 2 minutes flat.....
apparently now I need to be sure of any advice I give....

that´s all for now.
-Jess

In practice

A quick note;

today David and I had our first actual dia de practica (or a day to practice finding and making work for ourselves once we get to site). We are working at the public high school teaching about trash and recycling and the like. We started off today with teaching the decomposition time of trash (who knew that a cigarrette butt takes 4 years to decompose?) Anyways, it went really well! I love working with teenagers, they were hilarious, as in the states.

Beyond that things are going well, though repetative. First Guarani interview on Friday... a bit scared, but we´ll see. Also, family is good, although this morning there was no water because of a storm last night and my host mom said, ¨now God is punishing us, the end of the world is beginning¨ . . . I laughed, and she turned to me and said, ¨no, seriously¨. Hopefully the domesday (sp?) sentiment ends before I get home for lunch!

Apensa ha fotos

Its funny when cultures start to blend, when normal is suddenly questioned and the unexpected or previously interesting becomes the every day. I would say that after about a month, my reality has more or less become Paraguay. I wake up and only have an interest in a hot cup of whole milk coffee with bread. Though throughout Guarani class breaks I joke around about the carb-heavy meals so common to Paraguay, come lunch time I happily dive into my pasta with a potato sauce, and then catch myself scanning the table for sweet potatoe fingerlings to complement the meal. As I slipped out of bed this morning I realized that I had forgotten how strange it would appear to an outsider that I army crawl under a tucked-in mosquito net to get out of bed. These idiosyncrysies that left my jaw dropped for the first few days are now my comfort blankets, the little normalcies of Paraguay I now appreciate.

I no longer an shocked at how the red dirt from the road cakes on, nor at having to dive to the side of an oncoming bus. I forget when I last washed my underwear anywhere but in the shower, and have willingly begun to sling spanish and Guarani back and forth throughout my english with friends. And while I understand that I am not nor will ever be Paraguayan, I am now comfortable with the idea of living as one, albeit one that is more white and speaks Guarani not so well, for the next two years.

Back in Costa Alegre, the schedule of class and lunch and more class and studying has already become repetitive (something big for me to say considering my love for schedules) still I have noticed recently that I am absorbing the information. I only hope it stays long enough to work once I get at site for the next two years! OK, now the long-promised photos. Enjoy! First is my house from the front with my cool dog Jango out front. Next is my kitchen, and then my bathroom (notice, there is no curtain, so after you shower everything is wet and you have to dry it off again, which sucks). Next is my family holding down the baby cow to cut off its balls. Then the group when we first got our gear, in the apiary checking a kenya top-bar and finally Kendall with a frame from the top bar hive!
Jajotopata-
Jess

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