I Was On The Radio!

Mbaeichapa, Che Cherera Jill, Che Californiagua. Che aiko Guarambarépe!! That is how I introduced myself on the radio show I was on this week, in Guaraní!!! It was so much fun. I then participated in a 3 minuted skit that demonstrated a couple of examples of what Urban Youth Volunteers do. I played the part of the volunteer and the other 2 UYD trainees played the part of youth. We got our 5 min of fame and then sat back and watched the hour long show that 5 Peace Corps Volunteers put on once a week on the 2nd biggest radion station in Paraguay. I was really impressed with how well they did. Getting on the radion in Paraguay is not hard, sometimes radio stations are just a beat up old computer in someone´s house with a micorphone attached somehow and then a stack of CDs next to it! This one was pretty nice though.

Being on the radio was just one of the things we did during our long field practice. I went to a small, rural town called Quiindy. Quiindy is the equivilant to the smallest urban site a UYD volunteer would be placed in and I loved it. So it made me alter my site selection form to say I could be happy in an urban or rural site, so basically put me anywhere you think i´d be happy and where i am needed. The air is cleaner and there is beautiful scenery the farther you get from Asuncion. One girl actually developed asthma in Asuncion so i don´t think i would mind being more out in the country. I find out in a week where I will spend the next 2 years, eek!!

The week was a wonderful insight and motivation into the work I will be doing. We gave 3 charlas, (speeches) during the week. One was on nutrition and we did it with some rural health and sanitation volunteers out in the country in someone´s front yard. Only 2 Paraguayans showed up but it was still really good and those 2 Paraguayans are more informed about nutrition now!

We did a charla on Values in a class of 30 students, all 17 year olds. We did a fun ice breaker, then we handed out pieces of paper that had different things on them like "marrying someone outside my religion or culture" etc....and each student read the paper and said what their family thinks about it. Then we put up a big piece of paper on the board that had all kinds of value on it like "being a virgin when i get married" "buying a house" "having a good job" "living in accordance with my religion" and each student put them in order of what was most important to them. When they were finished I asked if anyone wanted to share, expecting no one to raise their hand, but someone did right away. After she read, every single person read theirs! Then we did a wrap up about how you may have values different than your friend or family and it is important to learn what your values are and live in accordance with them. They were so into the activity. Everyting we did required participation, creativity, getting up out of the desks, etc. They are not used to that kind of thing. Class time is always spent copying word for word, VERY neatly what the teacher says of writes on the board, for hours.

We did team building games in another class but that class was a little more rowdy and the Principal of the school was blabbing for a half hour, so our 1 hour slot got bumped down to a half hour. It was really frustrating but good to see how some charlas will go great and others won´t.

The volunteer we stayed with was awesome and very motivating. She kept saying "you guys did so great, i am so proud of you!" I heard stories about some of the other trainees having horrible volunteers that were telling them to dress nicer and critizing them on their work.

My host family was great in Quiidy as well. The only bad thing about all of long field practice was that one morning I went to the plaza with the other 2 trainees to run. I put my nalgene bottle and tevas in a very hidden spot under a statue in the middle of the plaza. We were literally running in circles around the tiny plaza but somehow a little girl stole my bottle and tevas. (tevas are expensive sandals just in case) It was dumb of me to leave them there but I just didn´t think that would happen. A woman said she saw the girl and pointed at the house she went into so I went clapping at their front door (people don´t have doorbells so you clap outside their gate) The mom came out and said her daughter went to school and insisted the little sister take me to the school to get them back. I went to the school, which happened to be right in front of my host family`s house. My host mom came out and asked what happened. Once she found out she demanded the girl come out of class. That is why host families are great. They got your back! The teacher came out and I felt horrible because everyone was accusing this girl of stealing my stuff but I still wasn´t positive. She said she touched the stuff , then put it back and her "friend" took it. So then she took me to this imaginary friend`s house at whichpoint i realized I didn´t have time for this wild goose chase and gave up. I am sure she passed it off to her friend in class, although what she wants with size 10 Tevas I don´t know. The amount of stuff I own that I value is getting smaller and smaller so pretty soon, if anything goes missing, i bet i won´t miss it.