Answers
Trip Start
Jan 24, 2005
1
8
33
Trip End
Apr 2007
Guarambare,
Paraguay
Sunday, March 13, 2005
We are going on long field practice for a week starting monday, which means we are trying out our new jobs in the real world, more or less. We will be living with families and working with a volunteer. In my group, we are giving a teaching workshop on gender equity, and teaching dental health at an elementary school. I can't decide if I'm looking forward to this or not; it may be just another exercise in futility, as many of the things we do in training seem to be, or it may be a taste of what is to come. Jahechata (that means we'll see in Guarani).
I'm going to try to answer all of the questions everyone has sent me over e-mail. Keep sending me questions; I don't always know how well I'm describing what's going on here.
Q: So-and-so isn't receiving updates. Can you fix that?
A: No. I have officailly added all the e-mail address I have. (Whether you gave it to me and I lost it, or wrote it wrong on the site is a different matter). So, if you want to receive notices and you're not, you can do it from right here on the site. Just find the button that says subscribe and click it and follow the instructions. Then, whenever I write one of these, you'll get a message that tells you to come look at the site.
Q: Can student council, youth group, etc. have a project to help out?
A: I don't really know yet because I am not in my site, so I don't know what people need yet. I'll let you know if something comes up. In the mean time, if anyone wants to send me letters in English, Spanish, French, or Guarani, I would love it :) My address is in the last entry I wrote in the U.S.
Q: Did I get the pictures Mom sent?
A: Yes, though I didn't open the video yet, I think I'll have to wait 'til Asuncion. It's really fun to see pictures. Some of them were ten times bigger (kb, not inches) than others, and they took a really long time to come up. I don't know why . . .
Q: Is the Guarani teacher helpful?
A: Yes. Guarani class is my favorite part of training. Class is four hours long, but there are only 2-4 of us in a class, so we have conversations and can ask all of the questions we have. We rotate teachers every 2 weeks or so, I think so we can benefit from different teaching styles. We are supposed to acheive intermediate-low level by the time we leave in 5 weeks. If you are a language teacher, you know how ridiculous this sounds, but on my last oral evaluation, they said I was in between novice-mid and novice-high, so maybe they have different standards then we do. Our final evaluation is done by ACTFL (U.S. national foreign language association), so I'm still worried.
Q: How is Simon doing?
A: He is doing well. We are both glad we're here and glad we're here together. I've asked him to put entries on this page so you can see for yourselves . . .
Q: Do they kill chickens and eat them?
A: Yes. Though not everyone does. Some people buy chicken from the grocery store. In towns far away from the grocery store, there is usually a designated chicken killer who will kill your chickens for you if you don't want to for a small fee (3,000 G, 50 cents). People do eat chicken, but they eat beef a lot more. I hear that any meat, however, is a luxury out in the country.
Q: What is the food like?
A: Decent. I enjoy my food 80% of the time. We eat a lot of meat with noodles and green salad. The meat is usually sketchy (meaning a lot of fat and gristle to seek out and avoid) and kind of tough. Simon and both decided that we are enjoying the asado more and more, depite this. I'm really excited to move into our own home and cook for myself.
Q: Is censorship an issue?
A: Hmmm. Yes and no. There was a big kidnaping case here when we first arrived. When the police found the body (they had actually found the body weeks earlier and were trying to extort money from someone, the victims family or the kidnapers, I'm not sure, but that is a big scandal now) the media was all over the scene. Like down in the pipes where she was found, probably destroying physical evidence etc. But as one man who has lived in both Paraguay and the U.S. put it, though that would make the case invalid in the U.S., the media presence probably would make the case stronger here. On the other hand, the weather report tends to have a positive slant (predicting a few degrees cooler than what the weather will really be, predicting rain when there's no chance). Makes you wander what else is slanted.
Q: What clothing do most people wear?
A: Well, young girls wear surprisingly racy clothes. School childdren and teachers wear matching uniforms. People wear black for 3 mos.-2 years when they are mourning. Mostly everyone else wears clothes to beat the heat. Dress here is to respect other people, not to express yourself, so if you are a professional, you wear a suit even if it is really hot.
Q: Where do you get meat, milk, juice?
A: You have options. You can get food from the grocery store, a specialty store (carniceria, fruteria, etc.), or straight from the source. It depends on whether you live in the city or the country which of these options is most convenient.
Q: What is the climate like?
A: Hot. 90-100 degrees most days. then we'll have a day of rain and it will cool off. Then hot again.
Q: Are you going to have time to travel?
A: Yes. We get 2 mental health days for travelling in country, and 2 vacation days each month we can save up to visit other countries. I really want to go to Brazil and Simon really waants to go to Machu Pichu in Peru.
Q: What do you actually do for the Peace Corps?
A: Well, I'm not sure. Here's what I think I might be doing. Spend the morning doing house work with Simon. Laundry, ironing, dishes, cooking, baking, churning butter (I'm the only one who thinks she is going to churn butter), garden, take care of our bee hive, mending, cleaning house. Spend the afternoon working with the school. The idea is to meet with people in the community do decide what they need and want me to do for the school, and then start a project that the community is involved in so they learn how to do it. Some examples of things I might do are plant a garden, give workshops for teachers on how to teach math more concretely, how to teach phonics (they teach reading using syllables here), how to teach through music, any number of other workshops, work one-on-one with a few teachers to improve their classrooms, teach health, give model lessons. I might also work with the community like have a women's group that focuses on child development, or cooking with soy, or reduce, reuse, recycle, or I might help Simon with his community health projects. A lot ddepends on how open the community is, the level of trust I can establish, and what the community really needs.
Q: Do you have an idea where you will be living?
A: No. There have been rumors that all education volunteers will be the first volunteers in their site (probably a good thing; no prior impression or money thrown around by other volunteers) and that they are sending one of the married couples to the Chaco (the deserty part). I don't know that there is any truth to the rumors, though. Simon and I both fill out a site request form and interview with the people choosing our site. Jahechata.
Q: Has our host family had other Peace Corps Trainees live with them?}
A: Yes. And they constantly tell us which ones were wonderful (the ones that write them letters), and which ones were crummy (the ones that don't write letters).
Q: Do you like it better there or here?
A: I am enjoying the change and adventure of being here. I can't wait to be living on our own and fending for ourselves (and churning my own butter). On the other hand, it is way more convenient to live in the U.S. I keep telling people that it's just as hot in Texas as in Paraguay, but we go from our air conditioned houses to our air conditioned cars, to another air conditioned building, so nobody much notices if it was 90 or 105. And I really miss my family and friends and students.
Q: Do you think you'll have a chance to see change while you're there?
A: From what I here, a lot of volunteers see small changes, like one woman who really want to take care of her family and starts cooking with soy and natural vitamins. Or one teacher who really wants to improve and takes all of the volunteer's advice to heart. I think I would like to see this kind of change. It's more personal. Culture really needs time to change, and I don't think any of us can really affect how the whole system runs. Probably, this is better anyway, if the change come from with in, it will be lasting.
Q: Are you in danger?
A: No. We might get sick, but it is extrememly unlikely that either of us would get a life threatening illness. We might get mugged or burglarized, but it is pretty unlikely we would get attacked. The most common reason for Peace Corps volunteers to be sent home on medical leave is a torn ACL from playing soccer.
Q: Are the people receptive? trusting?
A: More or less. The school we're working with now has some teachers who are receptive and some who aren't. Not unlike when teachers in the U.S. go to inservice.
Q: What can I send you?
A: Letters, e-mails. I love hearing everyone's stories from your lives. I sit in the internet cafe and grin like an idiot. It's great. I love and miss you all.
