1 Month-er!

Hey everybody! I've now been in site for a month and things are REALLY picking up! It's getting pretty overwhelming at times just because our first "3 month" rule kind of focuses on us getting to know our community better and getting to know families while evaluating the community's health and sanitation needs via census. So basically in Paraguayan terms that breaks down into T-reying (drinking terere — cold Yerba Mate) with families while they continually talk about the fact that I need a Paraguayan boyfriend/husband because I will be very, very lonely for two years, how I will learn Guarani very fast, why I don't eat meat because vegetarians will surely starve, and why I'm pretty much here. As much fun as that can be, I find myself drifting off during rapid Guarani discussions (clearly not including me speaking) and stressing myself out about everything I should or could be doing right now. I know I can handle jumping right into big projects like I mentioned previously but I really think the 3 month rule has some significance. I have a lot of pressure from members of my community to start quickly but as a first time volunteer to the area I think I have some more work to do in the confidence-building department. I want to make sure that people see me not just as a co-worker but as a member of the community and even a family member. With more connections like these I believe I will accomplish a lot more meaningful and lasting goals in this community. Although I've already made some amazing connections, I'm going continue on the slow route for a few more weeks. 

(Lucia & Cristina) My first and current host mothers watching the Independence Day Parade with their two girls (Ilse & Sandra) 

However, switching over to the fast lane of my life here, I just recently had my very first informational commission meeting. Since arriving in my site I have found a substantial amount of people who are quite eager to begin working with me on a fogon project. Fogon is the spanish word for wood-burning brick oven and they are useful and economical cooking tools in Paraguay. Unfortunately, even these affordable ovens are too pricey for many families living in the campo, which is why most people organize themselves and raise money communally to pay for them. That's where I come it! My involvement in such a project extends to the organization of this group, helping with official government recognition, finding ways to fundraise and/or request grant money if needed, and teach about the importance of having a fogon and what comes with it. The main reason Peace Corps Paraguay supports and urges fogon projects is because it takes the cooking off the ground to a higher, more contained, and ventilated cooking surface. This evicts many problems Paraguayans face like chronic back pain, respiratory diseases, and malnutrition. For example, people no longer need to bend over for so long to cook meals because their cooking surface is now elevated. Also, with a fogon (as you can see below), the smoke is contained and is then ventilated out of the kitchen. Finally, many of the models used with Peace Corps Paraguay include an oven. Many volunteers stress the importance of an oven in their sites because it helps reduce the oil in cooking. Paraguayan cuisine is loaded with oil and one reason being is that it's easier and quicker to fry things. In this case, using an oven while trying to teach healthier cooking practices is an easy way to reduce oil intake. Back to the results of my meeting! I had 15 members sign up who are all very excited and seem to want to work very hard, so that's a great sign. I explained to them that I am obviously very new to the area but to give me a little bit of patience and things will begin very soon. They all were very nice and helpful. First on the list is to get the papers from the Municipality and get them officially recognized by the government so in the future I can request government funds to help build their fogons. 

Wood-burning Stove/Oven = Fogon

On the more unpleasant side of things lately is the epic failure of bug spray in my life. I’ve yet to get used to the “pinchos” (bugs) here in Paraguay.  Although personally I’ve never been the one to NOT get bit, but it seems to be even worse here even with the excessive use of bug spray. One of the three favorite topics my community enjoys disccusing in reference to me is how badly I get bit by all the bugs. It’s sweet how concerned they are but I always like to joke that “los pinchos aman mi sangre nueva y americana y no saben que ya soy paraguaya” (the bugs love my new American blood and don’t already know that I’m Paraguayan). Jokes aside my legs, ankles, feet, and even butt are definitely taking the heat for it. I have a feeling I will be fighting this battle for some time. Let's be real here, I got bit on my face three times this past weekend, which isn't the best of news considering I was in Asuncion and they are known to be the ones carrying Dengay. Let's see shall we :/

Some exciting news: I got a new puppy! I have decided to name her princesa because sadly, in comparison to most Paraguayan pets, she will definitely be getting much more attention. 

My Paraguayan puppy Princesa :)

Viva la Vida Campo

Hello All! I just wanted to start off by sharing a lovely little gem my friend Kelley Matney made for our training class. Thanks Kel & Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GazPSA8gqhE&feature=player_embedded

All right so I’m finally here now! First few days were sort of a weather shock with cold, rainy, thunder, and lightning nights. Something I had cruelly forgotten about since I came to blisteringly humid and hot Paraguay (being from good ole Oregon). Let’s just say daring to not bringing a sleeping bag was not the best decision I've made. Anyway, my new site is just as quaint as ever, where all the houses are located along one long dirt/rock road. My first host family was a complete turn around from any dynamic I have yet to encounter. For example, there were five kids with ages ranging from one to seven. Lets just say the mother was a little too busy this time around. Besides the constant crying, I did enjoy how easy going they were about my vegetarianism. They were very sweet but typical shy and timid to start conversation. While I was there I taught the mother how to make peanut butter cookies from scratch! Since this very agricultural town has so many peanuts to offer I couldn’t resist :). It is so funny how many delicious things are lacking in a Paraguayan cookbooks simply because they don’t know how to diversify. The motto stick with what's good is pretty standard. Making peanut butter from scratch was difficult and a lot of work but it turned out very tasty for my first time! I was also very relived to finally start talking to her about my objective in Peace Corps Paraguay after about three days. She was very interested in my potential here in her town, and I got the chance to explain Peace Corps three main goals to her and how I will (as a first time volunteer in the site) begin to approach the needs and wants of the people here. 

During my stay with this family I got to accompany her to on of the Women’s Committee meetings, scheduled every Thursday at 2pm. Although I still don’t have a comprehensive grasp on Guarani, I still love to hear these women chat and debate about what they want to achieve. Earlier, during my interviews with my bosses while discussing what kind of site id like, I never would have expected such a wonderfully energized and hardworking group of women when I asked for a strong women’s committee. These women get together every week when most groups I’ve heard about only reunite monthly or even bimonthly. They fund all their expenses directly out of their pocket through fundraising activities like bingo events and raffling, which brings in a small amount with them every meeting. All I can say is I really can’t wait to start working with them closer! Fortunately, in addition to the wonderful group of senoras, my site is also home to some of the nicest families I’ve ever met. I think out of all of them I have only had one hopeless response to my presence, which wasn’t even that bad. They just didn’t really understand why I was here or what I was going to do. They were probably just scared of an outsider, which is totally understandable. I think the hardest part about any Peace Corps Volunteer’s experience in any country is trying to explain to the people why you have left (what they think is) a “perfect” country to come and live where they live. In respect to all the distinct and personal responses out there, I'd like to think we are all here to experience a different perspective on life in addition to giving back. However, explaining that is never the easiest thing to do.

Since being here I have also been discussing with the senoras about my future living situation aka renting a house among the community. I have been introduced to just the cutest house ever! It’s directly in the middle of the entire community and right next to the Health Post and school! It has opens up to a living room and it has one bedroom, a modern bathroom (shower, sink, and toilet J), and a kitchen, all supplied with running water capabilities. However, just recently I was presented with another option which turns out to be just what I need. In the first house I would of had to buy literally everything I needed including a bed and furniture while paying rent. The house I will now be living in soon has everything for me. My soon-to-be neighbor's son was living there and up and left to Argentina so she offered to let me use everything for my stay! Awesome news! Pictures will be coming soon with that one!

I also recently had my Site Presentation Day with my bosses which basically means they come evaluate and talk about how you are doing in site so far and give a presentation to members of the community about What Peace Corps Paraguay does and what our mission is here in the Rural Health & Sanitation Sector. In my case, it did a lot for me and maybe too much lol. What I mean is I now have gone from pretty much leaning the language everyday and meeting new people to full-force project planning. Although, the first three months are pretty much reserved for the former objective, I'm stoked to get started. For example, I have currently finished about 10 censuses with family (to be explained later), began discussing a dental health presentation series in the school, english & computer classes in the colegio, exercise classes with the senoras, Futbol Feminino Torneo, and finally a brick-oven (fogon) commission creation meeting. Overall, it definitely helped my community fully understand why I'm here and how they can get involved. Oh yeah and my boss brought my new bike so that's exciting! The trails here are so beautiful! Take a look!:

Now that I have my internet with me in site I will be updating a lot more frequently but for now I'm going to end it here today and take a little siesta :) Thanks for reading and let me know if your interested in further explanation about anything! Chauu & Besos!

PVC Alex Batzer

Swearing-In Ceremony w/ all us G-38 girls and our wonderful Tech Trainer Hannah!

Oh Hello! I made it :) Yay! Pre-Service Training that is! I'm a real volunteer now. Before coming I never really considered the reality of swearing-in. I kind of brushed it off like "duh...of course I'm gonna swear in". However, training and site presentation was much more than I had in mind and you all will have to excuse my jump start into the blogging process because after a week of being in Paraguay I completely lost all "ganas" (motivation) to stay in the pueblo after 8 hours of training and try to use faulty internet in order to update my life. So now since I will be having A LOT of time on my hand these next three months trying to do my best to integrate into my new and beautiful community, I will try to be much more updated :)

My Spanish/Guarani Class with Aurelio (Best Teacher Ever!)

Anyways, back to training, since it started about three whole months ago I'll try to sum it up a bit. My training class G-38 of 28 people was split up into two groups; 13 in a small community and the others in another small community. I lived with my sweet host mother and her 16 yr old daughter who actually had her baby girl when I was living with them. So I had baby fever the last three months :) From day one I felt like a part of the family. Always inviting me to parties and introducing me to the large family. The young primos always running around to make sure they gave me their daily saludo "Hola Aleee!" My mother was such an amazing cook and made awesome vegetarian food especially for me :) A part of Paraguayan culture that I definitely will not be taking part in unfortunately. Problem is here when I say I don't eat meat, chicken or hot dogs are served. "Pero, no es carne". Sorry folks not my thing. Yet, my mother caught on almost immediately and was awesome. Even though I technically consider myself vegan I will definitely be compromising that for the time living with families. 

Me and My Host Mother (during Training) making some Chipa

Kelley and I walking home from Training 

Besides my living situation, Pre-Service training was a little overwhelming at times. I will always remember one of the first days our country director warned us to brace ourselves because training was going to be nothing at all like Service (8 hour structured and planned out days). It was all the information we will need for two years basically jam-packed into three months, including two language classes. Direct quote: "Its like taking a drink from a fire hose" and thats exactly was it was. Although I did learn some great things, I'm so stoked to get out there and starting working in my own manner on my soon to be tranquilo but to-be=guapa (hardworking) schedule. 

Some of the Aspirantes and I after Site Presentation Day

No on to my new site! Unfortunately, due to security reasons I cannot disclose publicly my specific location. However, it is about a 4 kilometer walk in from the main Ruta and it has about 770 people living there. There is a school, a colegio, and a health post all within very close proximity. The people mainly speak Guarani, and Spanish is hardly ever used, so I will be studying a lot since my Guarani abilities aren't so great still :/. The town's economy is very much ruled agriculturally and the wealth divide is really polarized which is strange in a rural area. For example, poorer families live closer to the center of the village and more wealthier families live on the outskirts with larger land spreads. More land = more wealth. Furthermore, cows seem to be the dollar signs here as well. My site also has a wonderful and really guapa Senora Committe which I am extremely excited about. Basically everything that happens publicly in Paraguay functions with these "committees and commissions". For example, A group of people from a pueblo or town get together and become recognized by the government through bureaucratic paperwork. From there they begin to "pedido" (request) for set-aside government money to fund projects to improve their livelihood or health. If their request is well-developed and worthy they will most likely receive the money to begin working. Some projects include: building fogones, chicken coops, sanitary latrines, modern bathrooms, etc. Giving money out to groups who end up being very successful is somewhat of a political tool for these politicians. 

My first Host Mother's kitchen during Future Site Visit

My House To Be :) Imagine a huge veggie garden in the back!

The room I stayed in during Future Site Visit

Additionally, more recent news, I am the new main attraction here. During my site visit three weeks ago I stayed with one of the families who share a yard with the combined schools. This translated into anytime there was a recess (which also happens to be all the time) I had a captivated and silent audience staring at my every move. Eating, reading, talking, cooking, running back in a towel from my bucket bath, they would be huddled up whispering and staring at the new "Norte" that would be coming to live here. You might be wondering, oh come on that's not bad! You have new friends and they are all interested in meeting you, however, in a Paraguayan setting, that is not always the case ;) Very interested but quite shy are Paraguayans. A combination of my terrible Guarani, a lack of Spanish speakers, and an enormous amount of hesitation to start up a conversation or even to respond to my attempt at making conversation, I was stuck in one of many awkward encounters soon to come. Another note from Peace Corps we were given during training: "You will all become professional at dealing with awkward". Carpe el awkward! I have also been offered at least three different marriage proposals by some of the senoras. "Oh I have a boyfriend already", "I'm just here to work", "I don't need a boyfriend" = No excuse is worthy of rejecting. In the end, my community was interested in two things = why I don't eat meat and why I don't want to marry all of they're lovely sons. I foresee a lot of effort to convince my community why I'm here yet, I do feel like there is a lot of potential for great projects in the future. Guapo - Guapa Communidad!

As a wrap up to my first of many to come posts, I want to say that I am extremely excited to finally start my two years service, get settled in a new community, and starting working with ambitious members of this community! Anddd although I'm technically supposed to use my first three months to integrate and become closer with the people of my community by living and spending time with families, I will be starting my censuses of about 50 families in order to complete a Community Study/Needs Assessment. I will then use this is narrow down the specific problems or areas of concern, and from there develop ways to improve them sustainably. For more information about my Rural Health Sector, check out the this link to the Peace Corps website:

http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.wherepc.southAmerica&cntry=paraguay

Hasta Luego y Jajotopata! (See you later in Spanish & Guarani)