A Reality Check

It´s Tuesday Feb 27th and I just got back from a weekend trip. All the trainees were individually assigned to a volunteer that has been here for at least a year to spend 3 days with them to get an idea of what life will really be like as a volunteer. It was a reality check that in 2 more months I will be out there on my own, without the other trainees living just minutes away from me, without a scheduled day of language classes and technical training. It reminded me that I am already feeling settled in with my host family in Guarambaré and I will have to be uprooted again and placed in unfamiliar surroundings. This was both terrifying and exciting.

I visited a male volunteer who has been here two years. He will be swearing out in April, when our group swears in for service. Because of Peace Corps rules about opposite sex volunteers staying together and the local culture, I had to stay with a host family about a 10 min bus ride from his house. They were a great family and seemed to be doing great. They had the nicest home I have seen thus far and only had two kids because they could not afford more and even had a car. It puzzles me why some people are able to accomplish this when others are not.

On Thursday we had a tour of The Peace Corps office and we were given a powerpoint presentation that consisted of a lot of depressing statistics.

60% of the Paraguayan population lives in poverty and and 67% of the population is under at 30, 40% of those are children. 60% of the youth live in the urban areas near the capital, which is where i will most likely be living.

The education system is not well developed. Kids are expected to sit, copy, and memorize. It´s no wonder that the average years of study for youth is 8 years. I have seen many kids selling things in the street, polishing shoes, hopping on buses to sell stuff, etc. It´s really sad to see 7 year olds do this. Many kids in the country are expected to help out on farms and dont go to school to help the family with money.

When kids aren´t in school and not working, there isn´t a lot for them to do. They do play soccer but other than that, there are no community centers for community pools, etc for them to play at. A lot of volunteers have been successful in creating summer camps where kids and can come and play games, have reading groups, make arts and crafts, etc. The alternative is to get involved in alcohol and drugs and violence which is very common. Youth suicides and intents have increased which studies interpret as a sign of hopelessness and desperation.

Some volunteers have done a lot of sex education, HIV education, general health eduation like brushing your teeth, eating good food and wearing shoes so you don´t get parasites crawling in your feet!

Parenting is definately done differently, there seems to be a lack of explaing the WHY behind the punishment which is crucial in my opinion. I am told rebellious teenagers are just seen as disrespectful instead of examined for why they are rebelling. There is a lot of child abuse and although there are counseling centers for youth, the counselors do not have degrees. The healthcare system here is less than great. Dentistas are most available but they will just pull your teeth if you have a problem since they don´t really have training either. Paraguayans use a lot of herbal medicine which works great for minor things but not things like cancer. Due to lack of education some are led to believe herbs will cure their cancer. If you have money you can get to good heath care but remember that 60% don´t have money.

There are a lot of opportunities for projects to integrate youth into their families and communities. The volunteer i visited teaches English and got some computers donated and started a computer class. He works with a local healthcare place and does a lot of speeches in schools on sex education and HIV. Other urban youth volunteers focus on things like self esteem classes, career and future planning, etc. In general, creativity, self-value, social commitment, etc are not things Paraguayans are encouraged to do.

I definately learned a lot from my visit. I was advised to immediately start visiting families when i get to my site, talk to schools, start with something simple like getting kids together to paint a world map on a wall or teach an English class. It was great to see a volunteer in action, it made me realize I can definately do the things he was doing.

I still have no idea where I will be living but I will find out in a month and I think I will be happy wherever it is.

My health is good, I do have an ear infection right now and I´m constipated but all is well. I am told my stomach will be moody the whole two years but it´s not so bad. I´d prefer the diahrea I think because whatever doesn´t stay in my ass won´t stay on my ass!! I heard volunteers crap their pants at least once in their service so maybe I will eat those words later! Thanks for reading. I am trying still to get some photos up on my flickr account so check soon!

A Story About Poop

I´ve been in Paraguay just over a week and it feels like so much longer. Already I´ve been the 2nd person to be sent into the capital for medical treatment! The first few days our familes were given strict guidlines about boiling our water, etc and the first few days I didn´t have any stomach problems. During out orientation in Miami we were told we were going to bond very fast with the other volunteers and in no time at all we would be talking about our diahrea all the time. After about 3 days this was true. I have talked about my poop so much and heard about so many other people´s poop it feels like we´ve known each other for years! Almost EVERYONE has diahrea but it´s the kind we get back home where we are miserable all day. It just comes and goes and after you go, you move on with your day and it´s no big deal. I am pretty sure my family still boils my water but it´s so hot out I drink so much I don´t think they can keep up with the boiling. Plus, when i go to someone else´s house and drink terere, the very traditional tea drink Paraguayans drink 24 7 I don´t want to ask 'so did you boil this water to make this terere' it doesn't help with the cultural integration so much. They already think i am weird for not eating meat. I am eating a tons of carbs and a tons of fruit. The food is a lot better than i expected. Anyways....back to my poop problem. So, the diahrea was fine until I saw a lot of blood coming out with it. I read my book that was given to us by the Peace Corps doctor called Where There Is No Doctor and i diagnosed myself with amebas. I got picked up from my house, driven to Asuncion and was given a rectal exam and gave them stool sample and i will find out the results next week. It is probably nothing and i was told to stop reading the book it will give me nightmares! I feel fine and so far no more blood but it was a very fun trip to the city and it got me out of training for a half a day!

Training is fun. There are 35 of us, mostly in our early to mid twenties. There are two 30 year olds, one married couple and one person over 30. I learned there are currently 7,000 volunteers in 73 countries. Peace corps only uses 1 percent of the foreign operations budget too! Peace Corps Paraguay is considered one of the best programs because it´s been here for 40 years. we are getting trained by a company called CHP and they are contracted with The Peace Corps. Many of the trainers are PC alumni and the rest, such as our language teachers are Paraguayan. They are so patient with us and so nice. We are already reviewed on our Spanish and are learning Guarani. It is such a fun language but really difficult. There are vocal sounds and nasal sounds. There a lot of weird sounds with the throat and my family laughs at me when i pronounce somethign for the first time.

My family is great. My host mom is 55, and she´s a teacher. They are on summer break right now though so she`s home all the time. I wake up every morning at 6 thirty and have coffee with her and fruit. Then i go to school, come home and have lunch. Then go to school, get out at 5 and come home and play with my host nephew David. He is 7 and so cute. we play Jenga, i am so glad i brought it but i am going to get so sick of it. We also play with bouncy balls that i brought and i am teaching him yoga. He loves it! I have two teenage brothers who are gone a lot out doing their thing. My host dad is a mechanic and i think he works far away. Kids here dont have a lot to do. I am already getting ideas for projects. Today we ran a day camp with a current volunteer and only 12 kids showed up, most who were host brothers or sisters of us trainees but it was still fun. we played games, read to them ,etc. >They are not used to people reading to them. We eat dinner around 8 or 9 then i usually journal, write letters and go to bed. It so hot, i just sleep on top of my sheets and i have a mosquito net i have to use because there is an outbreak of dengue fever that has killed a lot of people. Its on the news every day. But we have bug spray and now that i know how good PC medical treatment is i am not worried. There is a certain time of the day when those mosquitos come out so at those times no one goes outside.

Tomorrow i am going into asuncion again to go to the zoo with another trainee and her family. Next weekend we are individually being sent to another volunteers site with instructions on how to get there. we will spend a couple days with them to get an idea of what it is like to really be a volunteer out there alone, without going to classes all day with your fellow trainees. It should be fun and a nice break. I think they do that on week 3 cuz they know we cant handle anymore information and need something to break it up. We have to be on our best behavior, and its exhausting to always be smiling, etc and to accept every inviation your family gives you. alone time is very much an american concept so we dont get very much, if any. I am getting more adjusted every day. I have running water, although it turns off at random times in the day. Paraguayans shower like 4 times a day cuz its so hot so i feel clean all the time. at first i didnt want to shower that much but being clean shows respect so i have to shower at least 2 or 3 times a day. The first thing my host mom asks me when i come home is 'so do you want to shower before you come eat` I used to say `no i´m good´ but now i say `why yes i´d love to`

It was a huge shock to see the reality of the 3rd world and i dont think i´ll ever get used to it but i think i can get used to living in it. The next challenge will be learning how to work in it.

Welcome to my blog

Welcome to my blog. It's not much right now but I hope to use this as a way to share my experiences, thoughts and adventures in The Peace Corps for the next two years. As requested by my PC handbook, I am stating right now that anything on this blog site does not reflect the opinions, views, policies, procedures (you get the point) of The Peace Corps.

I leave in 3 days and I think I am prepared. With the help of my patient mother I've purchased everything on my list, stored all the material possessions I won't be needing for the next two years but will want to fulfill my life upon my return (that's a strange feeling-knowing I can live happily with just two suitcases but still need to keep all this stuff), and successfully packed my two check on bags.

Now I can just sit back, relax and continue to eat everything in site that "I won't be getting for the next 2 years". Gaining weight right now guilt-free has been fun. My friends have assured me that it's okay to stuff my face on all my American pleasures because they're convinced I'll get a tapeworm and will loose all the extra pounds. I'm not too worried about parasites, they're not deadly and I'm coming prepared. The extra baggage I'm carrying on the plane will not be in a suitcase ;)