January in Paraguay

It′s been about a month since my last update. So I′ll get crackin′ on what′s up in these parts. I love you and miss you all. Don´t forget that I like mail. Look over there to the right sidebar…that´s my address. (hint, hint, nudge, nudge)

Happy New Year

January 1, 2011, marked the beginning of Paraguay´s bicentennial year. I attended a party in the downtown area with live music, a comedic sketch, dancing, fireworks and a giant multimedia presentation projected on the wall of the old town hall that relayed the tumultous history of the country.

The low

I′m going to get honest now. A graph about culture shock and adaptation (wahmp wahhh). PC showed us this graph during training. I′d seen it before. State 1 reads, ¨Everything is new, interesting and exciting.¨ That´s the honeymoon! Stage 2 reads, ¨Differences become apparent and irritating. Problems occur and frustration sets in.¨ That was the month of December. State 3: ¨You may feel homsick, depressed and helpless.¨ I hit stage 3 on January 3.

I enjoyed the holidays in Paraguay. Read my last post. But schools closed and people had an I′m-on-vacation-it´s-too-hot attitude. Things slowed down. And it really was HOT. I would read a book a day. And showered off 3 or 4 times. Survival. The thoughts of the friends and family I was missing at home were tough. Our traditions. Snow and central heating. The question bouncing around in my head was, ¨What the heck are you doing here?¨ I felt isolated and alone. For the first time in my first 7 months in Paraguay, I broke and cried on the phone at just the sound of my mom′s voice. And then dad′s. And then again my brother′s. Ugh. That was low.

And then I pulled myself together. By doing what makes me happiest – visiting with my Paraguayan host family and friends. I make the rounds visiting my favorite socias, chatting with the post office workers, neighbors. Peace Corps will push your limits in so many ways. Fight or flight, right?

So I′m climbing out of my slump slowly but surely. I take an hour-long walk around the plaza everyday at 7pm. On my way there I stop to talk to my socia friend who lives nearby. She often feeds me fruit salad or fresh pineapple juice. Heyo! I take breaks to chat with the folks that live around the plaza. And at 8pm I visit my host family. This is what that looks like:

piernas. dear dad, thanks for the legs!

Host mom Ada will be in the chair next to me. We drink sidra (there were lots of bottles left over from New Years) or make fruit salad, we talk about the day, joke about the family and tell stories until the night has cooled off enough for us to go to bed. Jaha jaketa. Let′s sleep. And then we part ways until the next night.

It probably won′t be until I leave that I can thank her adequately.

Ñande Ha′e Tenonderã / Somos el futuro / We are the Future: SUMMER CAMP!

My sector (Community Economic Development) planned a 4-day youth leadership camp at a site near Ciudad del Este called Tati Yupi, a nature reserve operated by the folks in charge of Itaipu (the large, binational dam located on the border with Brazil, which in Guarani means ¨The sound of stone.¨)

I estimate 50 young leaders, ages 15-24, participated from all parts of Paraguay. The goal was that the participants attend the camp with the PC volunteer from their communities. At the camp, they took part in team-building activities, heard from Paraguayan professionals on the topics of project planning, conflict resolution, working in teams, self-esteem, qualities of a good leader, etc. Following the camp, the participants were presented with a challenge: complete a community project with your Peace Corps volunteer and then report back to the group in 6 months at our follow-up camp.

The youth demonstrated a lot of enthusiasm, and formed lasting friendships over the course of a few days. They organized a network on Facebook to stay in touch over the next few months as they work in their sites and begin to plan future camps.

playing games - p.s. y´all recognize that logo on the banner?

One of the highlights of the camp was a trip to Itaipu to see the lighting of the dam on Friday night. We had to do quite a bit of waiting in the parking lot until the buses were loaded to drive us out to the dam.  Meanwhile, the campers, inspired by a video seen earlier that day about a flashmob dancing in a park in São Paulo, organized themselves to dance in unison to Lady Gaga′s Bad Romance. Mini boom box included. It was fantastic and hysterical.

We created quite a scene. Bus drivers were taking pictures. Onlookers began surrounding us. There were conga lines. And a repeat of the no-chairs-needed circle game (pictured above, the first photo in this section). And chants of PA-RA-GUAY! and CUERPO DE PAZ!

flashmob - plus that´s my t-shirt design!

Itaipu at night

English Class

I′ve been teaching an English class twice a week, 1.5 hrs each class,  since school let out for the summer. Though I have had few students, it′s been a chance to get to know some of the youth in town. I′ve organized the class to mirror the Spanish class I had in training. I′ve even borrowed some of the games we played…like Simon Says to learn bodyparts. And I Spy to learn shapes and colors. Skits to practice conversations.

Because it was a course over vacation, I´ve kept it very low-key. No attendance policy, no homework, no tests. But should I choose to continue the class during the school year, to make it more worth our time, I might have to get a little more serious.

Here′s the day we learned about family members. I had the students draw their family trees, and then present it to the class.

karin in english class

I was really pleased the day that I visited host family′s house, and little sister Karin showed me the posters she created and put up around her room with study guides of the vocabulary we had been learning. Teacher earned an A+ that day!

The Pineapple Festival, Valenzuela

Each year, Valenzuela Ciudad de la Piña (City of the Pineapple), hosts a cultural festival of music and dance.

Francisco Russo performed. Plus the dance groups from the Valenzuela and Itacurubi. In the second photo below, note the dog that is dancing in the bottom right corner. His name is Panchi, and he wanted to dance, too.

musica paraguaya

danza paraguaya

Just a short anecdote about the Pineapple Festival.

The day of, a Saturday, we were without power from about noon until 8pm. It was a hot, miserable day. I could think about little more than how much I wanted a shower (when we lose power, we lose water shortly thereafter once the town′s tank has drained).

I was a mess. Cellphone was dead dead. What was I going to eat before the festival? I was expecting host family to come by any second. In my disarray, I shower quickly, get dressed and run out of the house.

It wasn′t until I walked into the packed gymnasium that I looked down at my feet and gasped. I had worn flip-flops. So?

Folks get dressed up for large town gatherings. Heels. Clean tennis shoes. Fancy tops. Dresses. Party clothes.  I point out my faux pas to host mom. She cannot stop laughing. She notes that I am a Floretin (her husband′s side of the family). Ha! ¨I forgot to change¨ is all I can muster. I am teased about my flip-flops the remainder of the night. Que verguenza.

As we′re leaving, host sister Celina remarks that I wasn′t the only person at the Pineapple Festival in flip-flops. There was one other person that appeared to have forgotten, and then there was the drunk guy. Awesome.

Reflections on Peace Corps

I got an email this past month from a family friend that is interested in joining the Peace Corps. He′s in the midst of the application, interview, essay stuff and wanted some pointers. My response to him was, I think, a good one. And it was therapeutic for me, giving me a chance to reflect on the question I had been asking myself on January 3, ¨what the heck am I doing here?¨

Read what I wrote to him if you′re curious.

As far as advice goes…it is DO IT! Peace Corps is by far the most challenging thing I′ve ever done. And I know that from now on I′ll consider my life in terms of BPC and APC. Before and After Peace Corps.

Regarding the application-essay stuff… Cultural integration is the big theme for Peace Corps. I wouldn′t recommend this job to someone who is uncomfortable with that idea. And it would be a good thing to talk about in interviews or essays.

PC is unique in that is the only development organization that I know of in which the people who are doing the work are living among, and are the very neighbors of the people they are trying to help. That′s a huge advantage. It makes this job very safe. When I am in my site, I know that at any moment there are people watching me and looking out for me. Cultural integration gives PC volunteers a leg up in earning trust of neighbors and empowering host nationals to make decisions so that when we leave, they have learned something, we have learned something, and the legacy continues. My boss has said before when reviewing people′s projects, ¨Where are the Paraguayans?¨ In other words, if they′re not involved, invested, start over.

So a successful volunteer is someone that gets that. That can be difficult for some people to learn. Day 1 in country a volunteer might be thinking, ¨I′m going to save the world!¨ When in fact, it′s not that. Adjusting expectations is difficult. For example, my wins today were having lunch with my host family and then running into my friends on the street and stopping to talk. I didn′t build a library or a well or a health center. But I did my job.

It′s also worth noting that of the 3 goals for PC (1-trained work force, 2-cultural exchange to host nationals 3-cultural exchance to north americans) goals 2 and 3 have nothing to do with projects. 66% of the job is just being you, and being open to the experience and open to the people/culture/languages/food/

sports/etc that you will encounter, and then sharing it with folks back home. 

I hope that helps as you consider and sort through the application process. It′s what advice or perspective I can offer for now!