Horqueta-My Home Town

I just got back from my future site visit. Let's see....what can I say about the town I will be living and working in for the next two years??? It is a town 6 hours north of the capital, in the department of Concepcion. (Departments are like our states in the U.S) It is called Horqueta and is a lovely, charming little town of 10,000 people. There is one paved road that goes through town where you can buy most anything you would need to survive, there is a really pretty plaza (in comparison to other plazas in Paraguay-not pretty plaza like in Spain or anything) a big church, a little pizza place, two high schools, two elementary schools, a girl's group home, a muni, a library and a soccer field. All the other roads are dirt roads, like most in Paraguay and it rained two of the 4 days I visited so I didn't do too much exploring. When it rains, the roads become like rivers and nobody goes anywhere, not even to work or school. Not to mention all the farm animal crap and trash that is in the road floads over your feet and that is just gross! It also leads to parasites getting in your feet so no thank-you, I will do as Paraguayans do and stay indoors!

The days that I did get out and explore, I went to the schools with my contact and he introduced me to some people. Everyone has been very nice and seems willing to work with me. I was trying to use my middle name (Kristine) and go by the name of Kristina in site since people have such a hard time with Jill but the previous volunteer already told some people in the town that my name was Jill so I think it will end up being Jill. RIght now people use both so we'll see what happens...

When I wasn't walking around awkwardly introducing myself to people, I was hanging out with my new host family. There is a single mom and her 5 kids. There is a baby, a 6 year old, 11 year old and 2 teenagers. They are all great kids. The Urban Youth volunteer that I am following up lived with the family the whole 2 years and I am sure I will too. She built her own house on the property of the family and by built I mean paid for the materials and the family paid for labor. The house is really cute, nicer than some studios I have seen in California. It has a bedroom, a bathroom with running water and a flushing toilet, a little kitchen with a sink and stove and a patio. The only problem is the roof is made of metal and it leaks in the rain and is very hot in the summer. As soon as I get a camera I will post pics of all this. My host mom owns a little store and I sat on the corner a lot and watched kids play soccer on the dirt field out front and drank terere with neighbors. Within the course of an hour I saw a kid walking by with a bicycle and a squealing pig strapped to the back of the bike, I saw 3 grown men piled on a motorcycle almost run into a pole, and saw goats, pigs, horses, dogs, and cats roaming around the street. It's funny how familiar these surroundings are becoming but I still laugh a lot at them. In my backyard there are pigs, chickens, dogs and cats. When we eat at the dinner table the little piglet walks under my legs all the time. I have to remind myself one day they will kill this pig and I'll probably have to witness it so I can't get attached!

There is another volunteer in the same town who has been here almost 2 years and works as a municipal services volunteer. He will leave in August and is really cool. He will be a big help in showing me around and for moral support. He did a radio show with the volunteer I am following up and would like to continue it with me. Where in the U.S can you just walk into a radio station and say Hi, I would like to have an hour slot on your program...and have them say yes!? I will give it a go but will be very nervous about it. I did speak a little bit on the radio on Sat with another volunteer in the area who has her own show. Radio shows are very common ways for volunteers to get information out to the community and educate. Also very fun once you get over your fear of speaking in a different language for hundreds if not thousands to hear!

Every volunteer as well as our boss has told us that the first 3 months in site are the most challenging. The make it or break it time. It's hard to get work going right away since you ahve to build trust of the community first before you start projects and building projects is no easy task. Also, saying goodbye to your fellow trainees after 3 months of training and living in the same town is hard. I will have to do that in 2 weeks and get on a bus and go off on my own to practically the other side of the country! Two more people decided Peace Corps wasn't for them and decided to leave before site assignments. One was from my Urban Youth Group. It was really sad because she is the first person I met on the plane from L.A to Miami and was someone I was close to. Now there are 9 Urban Youth volunteers and 6 of them have sites near the capital-Asuncion. I am way up north and my best friend here has been placed way down south! My other good friend is kind of in the middle of the country. The next time we will all see each other will be in August for another training for a week. Then the time after that will be at Thanksgiving.

While I won't see other people from my group that often there are other volunteers from other sectors that will be in the Concepion area. This group is called your VAC group, those that live in the same department and once a month we get together for meetings and to have fun. The VAC group up in Concepcion has a reputation for being very hard working and close and a lot of fun. I have met some of them and they are being really supportive of the newbie. I think I will fit in fine with them and the Paraguayans.

My Site

I have the folder in my hands, I just found out my site!! I will be living in The town of Horqueta in the department of Concepcion! Look it up on the map, it is nowhere near the capital of Asuncion. It is very far north, a rural site. It is a 6 hour bus ride to the capital or if i want I can take a boat down the river, a 20 hour ride complete with hammocks on the boat! I will be a follow up volunteer. That means I am the 2nd volunteer in that site. Luckily the previous volunteer was very hard working and left a good reputation. There is another volunteer in my site and two people from my training group will be within a 30 min bus ride!! I am very happy!!

Tomorrow I meet my contact and wednesday morning I go to Horqueta to see my site and find housing. Then I come back for 2 more weeks of training before I am living there for good!

Semana Santa

We only had 3 days of class this week due to Semana Santa (Easter week) Semana Santa here is a bit different than it was in Spain. In Spain there were huge parties and celebrations on the street and parades. Here, people go to church a lot, for hours and hours and they eat a lot of food. The thing they eat the most of this week is chipa. Chipa is a bread like treat that they make from homemade dough and cook in an outdoor brick oven that looks like an igloo. All day Wednesday people just make chipa. Everywhere you go, every family is making chipa. We made it with families in class on Wednesday for 4 hours! My hands were so tired from kneading the dough. Then we ate a ton of it, I actually really like it, other people hate it. When I got home, I was so tired I just wanted to rest but there were about 7 people in my kitchen making chipa with my host mom. So, I sucked it up and put on my "Yay, we´re making more chipa" face and made chipa for another hour or so! I´ve eaten so much chipa, I´ve probably gained 5 lbs this week. Of course my clothes are getting so stretched out from all the hand washings, it doesn´t really matter! In addition to the chipa Paraguayans eat a lot of pork, Thursday felt like the equivalent to our Thanksgiving. The whole family gets together and eats a ton of food. By the time Sunday gets around, it feels like Easter is over. Nobody really does anything on Sunday, they have been celebrating for a week and people need to get ready to go back to work on Monday so they go back to their normal routines. I woke up the other day to the sound of a pig being slaughtered for semana santa. If you´ve never heard a pig being slaughtered I don´t recommend it to anyone. They scream bloody murder because they know what´s coming! They cook the meat in the big outdoor oven igloo thing too.

Aside from eating chipa, I´ve been relaxing this week. Traning is coming to an end and Monday is the day we have all been waiting for-the day we find out our sites! At 3pm Monday I will know where I have been assigned to live for the next 2 years. We did give our input of what we would like in site but ulitmately we don´t have the say, we are put where they think we would be good. To keep our minds sane until 3pm, we are being taken on field trips all morning. I am going to Luque, which is a town famous for silver jewlery and guitars. I am going to buy a cheap guitar so I´ll have a good way to spend my down time once I get out to my site.

On Tuesday we meet our contacts, our contacts our people that live in our sites and will help us get aquainted in town, introduce us to people, give us leads on finding housing, etc. This person could be a principal of a school, etc. We will travel with our contacts to our sites on wednesday and stay for almost a week to see our site and find housing. Then we come back to Guarambaré for 2 more weeks of training and then we have our swearing in ceremony and we´re on our own.

I will let you all know where my site is as soon as I can!