Che areko heta aguacate!

avocado and limes

I’ve got a lot of avocados!

Could there be better news!?

It was brought to my attention recently that I have an avocado tree in my backyard. Meanwhile the peak época of the avocado is upon us here in the southern hemisphere. So you know I’ll be eating avocados every-which-way from now through July.

Of course I made guacamole with the first avocado of the season.

guacamole

I took advantage of what I had in my refrigerator to pump up regular ole guac.

1 ( homegrown!) avocado

1 clove garlic

juice of 2 limes, plus some zest

salt

1 small green pepper

1 small onion

2 dollops of homemade salsa (mine contains tomatoes, onion, green pepper, carrot, green apple, green onion, cilantro, salt, vinegar and lime–this is how I usually use up my veggies that are no longer salad-pretty)

1 pickled jalapeño, seeded

Next: I fried up some flour tortillas (can be purchased at a supermarket in Asunción) and poured a glass of ice cold Coke from the glass bottle. If I closed my eyes, I could picture La Fiesta (a Mexican restaurant) in Burlington, N.C. (where I grew up).

Delicious!

Valenzuela Volunteer Dinner

There are three other volunteers from international development groups here in Valenzuela: two KOICA ( Korea International Cooperation Agency) volunteers and a JICA volunteer (Japan International Cooperation Agency). All three have relationships with the schools in town. Lizzy has helped improve a computer lab at the high school, Yuta teaches math at the elementary school, and Sarah has just arrived and will be teaching preschool/kindergarten.

Lizzy had the brilliant idea of inviting us all together for dinner (something we had talked about for a while, but let slip by). And she would make Korean food! Yes please. Paraguayans are not accustomed to eating spicy foods, but she knew that I liked spicy food and promised it would be picante (hot).

I brought orange Fanta to contribute to the meal. Lizzy served chicken in a spicy red sauce with carrots, potatoes and onions alongside white rice, and gim (toasted seaweed paper, like the Japanese nori used for sushi rolls).

united nations

After dinner we moved to the front porch to share some cold cerveza – Brahma. The conversation was great, although, there were a number times I looked around at our group and laughed to myself at the thought of none of us using our native languages, but rather meeting in the middle with Castellano. And I realized how far each of our individual language abilities had come along. We compared work stories and personal experiences, talked about town and town folks, dished insider info about Asunción and travel.

I hope to have the group to my casa next time. The menu I have in mind: lasagna, salad, garlic bread.

On the work front

I delivered a Plan de Trabajo (Work Plan) to my community contact this past week. I outlined what I would be doing in the next two months…that is until a travel to the states in early May. (!!!!!!!!!!!) Here’s what’s on tap:

• Resume English class at AMUR. The class will be Monday mornings and Wednesday aftenroons (students have half days of school in PY. Students who go to school in the morning may take the afternoon English class, por ejemplo) until winter vacation in July (with a recess in May). The class will be more formal than my summer class, and will include homework! and exams!
• Recruit a course from SNPP (Servicio Nacional de Promoción Profesional – part of the government’s Justice and Work Ministry) in bread-making and baking. SNPP offers courses to groups in areas that promote job training. This would be intended for the socias of AMUR. Many of the ladies are well versed in the area of baking, having taken a course before, but we’re going to try for another opportunity to brush up on our skills. They enjoy the courses, plus we have an industrial oven and most of the equipment necessary to continue the baking after the course. That is my vision. I would love to see the ladies with a regular meeting and baking schedule to sell their quality goods. Vamos a ver. We’ll see.
• Cooking Class at AMUR (Plus the Garden). Taught by moi. I’m stoked about this one. I have a fabulous cookbook written by some former volunteers that takes advantage of the ingredients (especially fresh, straight-from-the-garden, organic fruits and veggies) available in Paraguay. At our next meeting, I’m going to propose we resume our garden now so that we’ll have some produce ready when the class starts later in the year. The garden will require an immense amount of planning and scheduling. Ay yay yay.
• Youth Group/Commission at the Municipality. This was an idea put forward by the intendenta (mayor). She wants to form an advisory commission of youth that can help plan events to celebrate Paraguay’s Bicentennial. Along with the event planning to showcase all things Paraguay and Valenzuela, we’ll organize a mural project to be painted on the Municipality wall. This has a lot of potential, I just need to identify the right people to work with. In addition, I hope to form a larger youth group to meet weekly, play games, develop leadership skills, do a little community activism. Vamos a ver.

• Municipal Library & Library Taller. When the intendenta was elected, one of her platforms concerned the creation of a library and computer lab in the municipality. I knew it was a project I wanted to be a part of. So I went to chat with her about it, and she’s keeping me in the loop. An architect has been contacted to make his suggestions for the conversation of an unused room in the muni. Going along with this project is the attendance of a Library Taller (workshop) put on my some Peace Corps Volunteers (all costs are covered by fundraising–like overnight stay, food, materials. We just have to pay travel costs). I’m going to be taking someone from the municipality next week to a two-day workshop in all things libraries! How to organize materials, rules, roles of the librarian, existing resources for acquiring books and/or computers, how to repair books, how to involve the community in library events. Afterward, we’ll present to the intendenta and the library committee our learnings.

future library room

• Ahecha. That means “I see” in Guarani. It is a digital photography project started years ago by a former volunteer. I’m helping to co-coordinate this project with friends/volunteers Carolina and Zach. Ahecha in a nutshell: volunteer signs up to participate. Volunteer receives a camera kit that contains 5 digital cameras, battery chargers and manuals necessary to conduct a (roughly) 10-week course in digital photography with community youth. Afterward, the volunteer and youth organize a community exhibit to showcase what they learned. Volunteer selects the best 25 photos from the course and sends them to the Ahecha committee, who will then assemble a traveling national exhibit of the very best 25 photos from all over Paraguay. I’ll help to organize that. And then, we’ll plan a field trip for the 25 young photographers featured in the national exhibit to come to the capital for a 2-night, 3-day camp all things photography. Plus, they’ll get to see their work on display on the national stage!

So that just about wraps things up. 61 days until I’m stateside. Love and peace to you all.

Emily

 

 

 

 

 

Symbol Well Control