A field trip with the after school program

25 kids and 5 adults transported in ONE pick up truck-no seatbelt laws!

View out the back of a pick up truck

The problem with unpaved roads-this car got stuck in front of us and we ALL had to get out and help push it.

whoever didn't fit in the pick up went in the jeep

Nature pics

This is a really cool moth I saw on the wall outside my house

When i went to take a shower, i found this guy waiting to join me

This is a common spider on my porch

Behind Bars

Yesterday was my first day working at the state prison in Concepcion. It´s is located just outside the city of Concepcion and about a 40 min bus ride from Horqueta. Lily, an urban youth volunteer that just finished her service and is now back home getting ready to start Law school worked for a couple months with her site mate at the prison giving lessons to the inmates on self esteem and job skills. She really enjoyed the work and said it was one of her favorite projects she had while being a volunteer in Paraguay. When she left, I asked if the prison was interested in having someone follow up her work there, she said they would love to have another volunteer there, and put me into contact with Andrea, a woman that works at the prison. Lily then left me a notebook filled with the work she did there and told me she would love it if i continued her work.

I called Andrea a couple weeks ago and asked for a meeting. Lisa, an educacion volunteer that lives in Concepcion said she would love to get involved. I was glad I would have a partner in crime (haha)as well so Lisa and I met Andrea in Concepcion last week at a little restaurant to talk about prison work. In the prison there is a school and every morning the inmates have classes with Andrea. If the school system behind bars is anything like the school system on the outside, i am sure it´s not very stimulating and is not really helping these men with rehabilitation. I gave Andrea my little peace corps resume that has a list of the topics I can give lessons and facilitate activities on:

Self esteem
Good Communication
Leadership
Working in Groups and Team work
Values
Gender Roles and Stereotypes
How To Look for Employment-making resumes, etc
Sexuality-sexually transmitted diseases and basic education
HIV and AIDS
Parenting-Motherhood and Fatherhood-IS it a job for me?


I gave brief descriptions of sample activities and lessons with each topic and when she looked at the list, she became really excited and started circling everything on the page, expressing that she wanted us to cover everything. She asked if we could come once a week, every Monday from 9-11am. We said we would start the coming Monday and as long as we had topics to cover we would follow through with that schedule.

On Monday morning I woke up, went for a run, then came home full of sweat and B.O only to realize the water was out-a normal occurance when there´s a storm like there was on Sunday. The electricity was out as well, and I hadn´t saved any water to bucket bathe in so sponge bathed using a small bottle of water that was in my fridge. Then I got ready by candle light and packed my things, headed out the door and got a bus to Concepcion.

I was on a very slow bus that stopped every 3 min or so to load on more passengers. People were standing in the aisles and I could barely see out the window. I was afraid I might miss my stop and pass the prison so when i figured we were getting close, I squeezed and pushed my way up to the front of the bus and asked the driver to please let me off at the prison. when i said that, everyone on the bus became wide-eyed and stared at me like "why is this white girl getting off at the prison?" As soon as I got off, i saw Lisa standing on the side of the road, waiting for me to enter the front gate to the prison. I told her how everyone had stared at me on the bus and she said she got the same reaction.

We went to the front entrance and were met by Andrea. The guard simply asked her who we were and she said "they´re peace corps volunteers" and with nothing more than that, we walked through the gates without being searched or questioned. We handed him our IDs and walked to a table where there were more guards. I thought, "oh, here is where we are going to get searched or questioned" Nope...all they wanted was our cell phones and keys. Lisa asked if there was anything else we weren´t allowed to take in, like our scissors or paper clips, etc that were in our backpacks. "no, just the cell phones and keys" they said. Lisa and I could not help but smirk as we were led upstairs, past all the holding cells and into an room that looked like a classroom. We got settled in and began setting up.

One by one the inmates started coming into the classroom and sat down. They were dressed in every day clothes, not uniforms, which was another surprise. They sat in their desks with their pens and notebooks in front of them and had big grins on their faces. Some of them asked questions like who we were and where we were from. About 30 men between the ages of 18 and 45 entered the room. There was no guard, Andrea was no where to be seen and Lisa and i stood there wondering when we should start. Finally I asked "is this everyone?" and when several heads nodded I started introducing myself and then Lisa introduced herself. Eventually Andrea came in the room and so did another teacher. I didn´t feel unsafe in the least bit but I could not believe that with all the guards with huge machine guns walking around, there weren´t any near us. I actually felt safer without the men with guns around and it made it feel more like a natural school setting and probably made them feel more like students instead of criminals.

Our first lesson was on Working in Groups and Team work. We started the lesson at 9:30 with an ice breaker activity called Human machine. We divided everyone into 6 smaller groups and each group had to make a machine with their bodys and each member had to be a part of the machine, working together to make it work. Every group participated and were very animated. They made planes, helicopters, cars and motorcylces out of their bodies. There was so much laughter in the room as each group presented its machine to the class, i knew right away what a fun group this would be. At the end of the activity I had the group that formed a helicopter stand in front of the class, and I took away the man that was the chopper part. I asked "what will happen to this helicopter now?" and they all responded "it will crash" and then I said " and what if this man here, takes over his part, will the machine still work?" and they said yes but it wouldn´t be as strong as before. They began to immediately discuss the topic of teamwork and they responded very well to questions like "what happens if there is a group of people working on something together and one person leaves the group?" This is how we introduced our topic for the day.

We then did two more longer activities related to team work and working in groups and they loved them. At the end of the lesson, we divided up into two large groups, one with Lisa, one with me. I asked each person to think of a word that describes how they felt about the activities today. Nobody could express just one word. Everyone wanted to say thank you to us, to tell us how much they appreciated us coming and working with them, that their own families don´t even come see them and how interesting what we Americans have to teach is. I thanked them for being such great participaters and told them we would be happy to come back once a week. They were thrilled we were coming back.

When we were led out of the prison, we walked by as the inmates were being led back to their cells. they were not locked up or being led in a line. It seemed almost as if this was their home. They smiled and were joking with the guards and the guards seemed to be a in a good mood too. They waved to us and said "adios profesora" I turned to Lisa and said "man, even in prison people in Paraguay just always seem happy and relaxed" Then we were led downstairs to the woman´s ward to retrieve our cell phones and keys. Right next to us were the cells for the woman prisoners. There were 3 woman standing at the gate holding packs of cigarettes in their hands asking Lisa and I for a light, then asking us for money, then saying things like "what, you don´t talk? What are you doing here?" They were scary looking to say the least. They showed signs of drug heavy abuse such as missing teeth, nappy hair, skinny bodies and sunken in eyes. Andrea whispered to me that they don´t work with the woman, that "they are very difficult to work with" I thanked my lucky stars that Lisa and I were working with the male prisoners instead.

We walked back to the front gate, got our IDs back and told Andrea we would see her next week to talk about Leadership. Since I was only 2k from Concepcion, i decided to go into concepcion and have lunch with Lisa and do some shopping. There are nicer grocery stores than in Horqueta and faster internet. Working once a week at the prison is something I am very excited about, it´s a nice break from my routine in Horqueta.

Some Paraguayans seem really confused as to why I want to volunteer there. Some people have even said the prisoners don´t deserve it, they already have better lives than most Paraguayans because they have food and school and a roof over their heads. My host brother Gino even said "well, maybe I should rob a store so I can be in your class too" Which made me mad because he gets more of my time and attention than any Paraguayan. But I understand these are the same aruguements and views people share in the U.S. What I plan to tell people is that of any group of people or individuals I have worked with, no one has made me feel so appreciated and been so grateful for my time and effort than the people at the prison. And besides, they will never be able to cancel my lessons for rain or other "commitments" and many other excuses I get from people. As a social worker, I am loving the opportunity to get to explore this kind of work because who knows, maybe one day I will want to work in a juvenil hall or rehabilitation program, having this on my resume will certainly grab some attention!

Semana Santa and Other Updates

Happy belated Easter everyone. In Paraguay holy week is called Semana Santa and it is a big deal, and not so much a big deal all in one. It’s a big enough deal for schools to be shut down all week, for people to take off work, for families to gather and make 5-20 kilos of a traditional bread-like, non-sweet donut, have a few more masses than normal but not enough to actually even acknowledge Easter on Sunday. By Sunday, all the chipa making, family gathering, and masses seem to be over. I didn’t even remember it was Easter when Sunday finally came around.

During semana santa Monday and Tuesday aren’t very important. School is still held like normal on Monday and Tuesday, even though there are classes being held, what is mostly happening at school are these very dramatic reenactments of the crucification of Christ. I saw one of these last year during semana santa when I was in training and figured that was enough. Somehow watching high school kids whip the boy playing Jesus with pieces of leather that actually leave marks on his body and seeing him carry a rather heavy looking cross in circles around the high school campus and everyone following him around saying prayers that I didn’t have memorized in Spanish fulfilled all my curiosities. This year on Tuesday, I helped a friend clean her yard out with my new machete and prepare for a garden.

On Wednesday, I went with my host family to Concepcion for grandma’s 80th bday party. I think Mirtha, my host mom thought I wouldn’t want to go spend the day at an 80th bday party so was very ambiguous with me when I asked when they would be leaving. I was afraid I would wake up and everyone would be gone already and I’d be alone to entertain myself that day since I hadn’t made plans with any other families to make chipa that day. So, I got up really early and went over to the family’s house and sure enough, they were packing up to go and Mirtha said “Jaha” which means “let’s go” in Guarani. I grabbed my camera and backpack filled with Uno, pick up sticks, and a people magazine (prepared for possible boredom) and hopped on a bus with Mirtha, Gino (12), Albaro (6) and Luhan (1). We arrived in Concepcion and immediately abuela (grandma in spanish) was thrilled to have us there. That was the first time she met me and she didn’t seem too confused as to why there was an American with them. She only smiled and said I was tall and before I knew it I was sitting next to her listening to her complain about her cataracts and sore gums for 2 hours. Somehow everyone else seemed to be busy. The women were busy preparing lunch in the kitchen, the men were drinking terere under a tree somewhere, and Gino and the other kids were playing playstation in another room. (yes, playstation 1 has made it all over Paraguay and it’s a big hit, but few families can afford it) I didn’t mind having alone time with abuela, it had been awhile since I had gotten my old people fix. She was hilarious too, she kept telling me the gossip of the family, that mirtha’s husband had children from a previous woman, etc, etc. She would look around and make sure no one was watching then, leak more secrets. I enjoyed it since it’s hard to get the truth out of anyone in a very indirect culture where no one tells you anything more than necessary. We had a nice lunch, I took some pictures, played some video games and then we went back to Horqueta.




Wednesday and Thursday are the big chipa making days. All the women get together and spend 3 + hours making chipa from scratch. This is the biggest tradition of Semana santa and an important one since on holy Friday nobody eats anything…except chipa. It’s like a fast, only you are not cleansing your body, you are filling it with lard and cheese. Chipa is to semana santa like turkey is to Thanksgiving for us, or you all. I don’t eat it, maybe I’ll switch to chipa for thanksgiving too. To make chipa you get a big round, shallow plastic bucket called a palongana. These are what Paraguayans use for everything. For washing clothes in, for bathing their small children in, for giving themselves pedicures, to wash dishes in and to make chipa. I think the one we used had been used to bathe the one year old earlier that morning. My coordinator who is the volunteer that I followed up was visiting for Semana Santa because she lived with the same host family. She and I were following the instructions of Mirtha and making the chipa on our own for most of the time. We poured in a bunch of flour, Paraguayan cheese, some milk, some anis, 36 eggs and mixed it all together with our hands for a long, long time. We then kneaded it for a long, long time. My arms and hands were so tired I thought I would never finish. Finally Mirtha and my host sister Agustina began to help. We rolled the dough into the traditional shapes that Paraguayans use and then we threw in some stars, turtles, letters and other fun shape jus to add an American touch. When the abuela that lives next door to us came over she looked at the mess the Americans made and all the funny shapes and mumbled something in Guarani about what a catastrophe this had turned into and dug into the palongana and finished off the kneading and rolling. She made 10 chipa for every one I made in half the time. We then laid fresh banana leaves on a cake pan, put the dough on the pan and put it in a fire-heated outdoor oven. The first batch came out burned but each batch got better and better. We successfully made the 5 kilos and I probably ate about 4 of them.

Friday morning the entire town visited the cemetery, which happens to be located 2 blocks from my house. Everyone goes to visit their loved ones and they sing at their grave. They don’t sing Gloria Estefan, they sing hymns and if you sing really loud, you’re given chipa (as if anyone needs any more) and candy. I didn’t sing, since I had no relatives to visit but I did stand there and take pictures and film like a tourist for a while. After visiting the cemetery everyone eats chipa till about 2pm and then when that gets old they start drinking sangria or wine with ice and soda and or cold beer. Some people go to mass, but in my neighborhood, not many people go, so I sat and integrated meaning, I drank a lot of beer with my host family and neighbors and my coordinator. It was good times. On good Friday there is a small sort of parade around town that ends at the main church. They do this at dark and play music on a stereo along the way. Good Friday in Spanish is Dia de los Dolores, which literally means Day of Pains. That also means if you know anyone named Dolores, her name means pain. Anyways….that is basically what Easter is like in Paraguay. It was not big and flashy like it was in Spain and it’s not as carnival-ish as it is in other parts of Central and South America I’ve heard but it’s definitely fun and interesting. This was my 2nd Semana Santa in Paraguay and since I don’t finish service until the end of April 2009, I will see another one and become an expert chipa maker.

Next year, I am going to have an Easter egg hunt and liven things up a little bit since nobody does anything on Sunday. I don’t think I’ll find an Easter bunny suit to hop around in for the kids, though I’m sure they’d get a kick out of that. When explaining our traditions they were surprised enough that bunnies had anything to do with Easter. That would be fun. Hope your holy week was wonderful even though you had to go to work and school and survive without chipa.

Now that Semana Santa is over, I am finally able to start working in schools again. Even though school starts at the end of Feb, it doesn’t really start until now. Many kids are out picking cotton and sesame until now and therefore attendance is really low in schools. Many families can’t afford uniforms until after they pick cotton. Sesame prices are really good right now because Asia had a bad harvest so the supply has gone down. Farmers in Paraguay that could barely eat last year are now buying new motos here. Of course who knows what next year will bring. I wanted to go out and pick cotton one day just to see what it was like but the only family I knew was going was a family I didn’t want to spend an entire day with. I’ve heard it’s really hard to make money that way because they pay by the kilo and cotton doesn’t way very much. I think it’s less than a dollar a kilo but my next door neighbors were able to earn about $50 in a week because they are “expert pickers”. That’s a lot of money here but it’s tough labor.

So, now that cotton is picked, sesame harvested, uniforms purchased, I am back to work in schools, in the afterschool program, and teaching firedancing class on Saturdays. I have 12 students ranging in age from 10 to 47 who want to learn the firedancing movements. We made equipment out of string and plastic bottles to swing around and they are loving it. One mother asked me if it was really safe to do this and I wanted to tell her “if letting your child ride a motorcycle without a helmet and cut grass with a machete and swinging around a plastic bottle isn’t, then I don’t know what to say” But I smiled and assured her the kids would never use fire and it was perfectly safe.

The youth group work has had its ups and downs but the group seems really focused right now and connected. They are even talking about doing a project right now and fundraising for it. I also did an essay contest at a school to celebrate world women’s day and grades 6-9 participated. I had them write about a woman they admire and answer questions about her. 25 students participated and there was a winner from each grade. I got the library to donate library cards and I got some pencils and a ruler and a button from Rachel that said things like “there’s more than books in your library” in Spanish that Rachel’s mom sent down. The winners read their essays in front of their parent’s at a parents meeting and we read some essays on our radio program. A Peace Corps committee I am a part of called GAD, Gender and Development liked the project and now everyone else in the committee is going to replicate the essay contest in their sites for mother’s day. 

Maura, the secretary of the school I met awhile ago helped tremendously with the project and is in my firedancing class too. I am teaching her English now and just finished a class I taught with my host siblings. Gino and Agustina are doing really well with their English and now Agustina says things to me like “my boyfriend is ugly” and “you are crazy” haha. I was able to give them certificates through Peace Corps that says they took an English class and completed 20 hours of study. They will be able to put that on their resume. They want to keep studying with me and go on to level 2. I’m glad because I really like teaching them and it’s a great way to hang out with them.

In addition to working with youth, in my spare time I am teaching them the possibility of training pigs. I already surprised them with the ability to train a dog, I figured why not take it further and show them you can actually train a pig. So, I trained the little pig how to sit for a treat. I was a little surprised myself but they really get a kick out of it. The only problem is that now Lucy is jealous of the pig and hardly ate her food last week. I guess I’ll have to give up the pig training for awhile.

That’s all the updates for now. Miss you all!

Vacation Pics...Finally!

Sweaty White Girl with Red Face

This week marks the start of another school year and the doors of opportunities are opening themselves up to me again. My days of relaxing and catching up on my people magazines and novel reading are over. I will soon be busy working in the schools again, teaching life skills to young teens. I am actually very excited about this and ready to have my weeks fly by again because i am running around on my bike, preparing lessons and going to teacher's meetings. I am not required to work in schools, i just choose to because it's a great environment to get youth to listen and participate in activities. There are a lot of schools in Horqueta and I do not have time to work in all of them so I was starting to wonder which ones I should spend my time in.

Just when I started to debate which school really wanted a volunteer working with them, which ones obviously didn't appreciate me, which ones were too far away from my neighborhood, etc I became a little overwhelmed with my decision making. I love making my own schedule but I feel that going into my second year of service, i shouldn't waste time in places that don't really need or want me. I should have all this figured out now, but I'm not quite sure that I do.

Luckily, just a couple weeks ago, i met a remarkable woman who REALLY, REALLY REALLY wants to work WITH me. Her name is Maura and she came to a workshop i did with an Education volunteer at another school last November. She isn't a teacher at the school i did a workshop at but she was invited by her friend who works there. I took it as a good sign she came to a workshop that wasn't even at her school, because she was so interested in what we had to teach. Ever since then she's been inviting me over to her house. I finally went to her house after I got back from vacation. She made me juice, showed me pictures, talked about her family and asked about me. AFter 30 min of small talk, she started telling me that she's told her school all about me and they really want to invite me to work there. I asked about the school and found out it is very close to my house, it is kindergarden up through 9th grade and it's a very nice, progresive school. I then found out she is the sister of Pedro, a man i work with at an afterschool program on wednesdays. He is a very nice guy and right away I could tell this entire family was an amazing, educated, well doing group of people. I became even more excited when she showed me her bookshelf filled with books about sexuality, HIV/AIDS information and self esteem books for teens. She said that she wants these things taught at her school and although she works in the administration part of the school, she knows other teachers would love to work with me teaching this. I was in such shock that i didn't have to explain these things to her or why it's important to teach them to teens. She already knew and was actually asking me to help. She then sat at her very own computer and began to type out a plan of action for working with me. I sat on her couch (couches are rare in Paraguay) and watched as she typed out her plan for working with me to "better the lives of youth so they can become useful members of society". I was completely amazed, and watched as she ran around like an energizer bunny, serving more juice, typing at her computer, and running back and forth to her bookshelf to show me more materials. She also has a very contagious, loud, unique laugh and every time she laughed I would become a little scared, but then laugh along with her.

We made a plan for me to go to the school this Thursday and I would meet all the teachers and show them what I had to offer. She asked if i would give a sample lesson on self esteem with the teachers. I was very excited about this, since no one at any other school has ever asked what I am doing with their students and don't seem to care. Ater we talked about business, i met her entire family, who all live on the property and they said whenver I am sad or want to get out of my house, i can come visit them, since they are a happy family. They also have a car, which is extremely unusual for Paraguayans and said they would take me out to their farm someday. Maura and her siblings have never been married, all of them were either going to be nuns or priests but decided that wasn't the life for them and they all pursued education instead of marrying at 18 and having children. They are amazing people and I am thanking my lucky stars that they have come into my life.

I wanted to make sure i knew where this new school was so i could find it on Thursday morning. So on Monday, i biked around trying to find it. I asked several
people where it was and I got several different answers. I rode around, working up a really heavy sweat. It was 4:00 in the afternoon and it was a scorching hot day. When I finally found the school, i got off my bike and decided to take a walk around the school grounds to get a feel for the size and see if they had room to plant trees (thinking a tree planting project would be a fun thing to do with them) and since the school was deserted I didn't mind snooping around. I was wearing my soccer shorts and a grey tank top that was soaked with sweat, especially the middle part where my fat roll created a solid sweat line accross my stomach. The only person I saw was a man mowing the lawn. Then, as i turned a corner I came face to face with Maura, my new friend and contact. She was very excited to see me and said "Jill, what are you doing here?" I explained i was on a bike ride and wanted to see if i could find the school. She grabbed my arm and said "come on over here, i am here with my co-workers" My heart started beating really fast as I realized what my appearance looked like. i crossed my fingers and hoped that there would not be many people around the corner.

As we turned the corner, i saw all the teachers sitting in a circle drinking terere in their nice teach uniforms. Turns out, they were having a meeting outside and someone saw me strolling around. They told me to take a seat and everyone leaned forward and started staring at me, asking questions and smiling. Maura, said "this ist he girl i've been telling you about" And then everyone began commenting on how red my face looked, and doing the typical Paraguayan woman friendly gossip. this is when paraguayan women talk about you like you're not there but it's a very indirect way of talking to you, and it's all done in a friendly way. They said "look how red her face is...looking how much she's sweating, look how wet her shirt is, look even her arms are sweating." they also said nice things like "look how pretty her eyes are, they're green! and what a pretty girl, etc" I took a hankerchief out of my bag and began wiping away my sweat only to have it return just seconds later. Maura sat next to me and served me terere for 10 minutes, without serving to anyone else. I was so embarrased but also knew this would be such a funny story to tell people later, and i am used to awkward situations now. We talked a little bit about where i was from, and what i have done for the past year in Horqueta. Everyone seemed very nice and excited to have me come show them what kinds of things we can do at the school.

I left the school and when i went home and told Mirtha, my host mom about what had just happened she laughed and said "well, at least they'll think you'll look really good on Thursday." I said "yes, that's true" and the teachers were inpressed with the fact I wanted to see the school before Thursday and were also impressed I was riding my bike in the heat of the day. They thought I was so "hard working" haha.

Sweat has never affected my life so much as it has in Paraguay. I sweat way more than Paraguayans and my face turns red. I will never be used to this heat or the fact that whatever temperature it is outside is what it is inside. Yesterday my floor fan bit the dust and I could not stop sweating even though i was just sitting in my house doing nothing. I decided to take a picture of what I look like just sitting in my house on a hot day. Sorry for the disgusting visual but i just thought it would add to the story!

Wish me luck on Thursday and pray that it's not a really hot day!

A Trip to The Optometrist

When I was telling this story to my friend she was laughing so hard i realized I had to share with all of you.

Before I left for vacation, I noticed I had been having a bit of strain in my eyes when i read for a long time. Since school has been out, I´ve been able to read all those Newsweek and People magazines that have been stacking up, in addition to the stack of books other volunteer´s have been passing on to me. When i tried out another volunteer´s low prescription reading glasses I noticed a big difference. I didn´t want to give them back so she said "why don´t you just tell Peace Corps you want to get your eyes checked, they pay for one pair of glasses during your service you know" I said "okay, i will"

I scheduled an appointment for the day before I left for vacation, since all appointments have to be done in the capital. (anywhere else in the country and nothing would be up to Par for Peace Corps standards) I was given a map from the Peace Corps doctor to find the office of an optometrist. I navigated my way to a small office not far from the Peace Corps office. DR. Sulfini was his name and he looked to be about 75-80 years old. While I waited, his young secretary took down all my information onto a 5 x 7 blank card. She started asking me questions like my name, my age, my maritial status, my job, my address, etc. The questions didn´t seem that out of the ordinary but the answers she was writing down would never be sufficient back home. For my address she literally just wrote Horqueta, the name of my city. Then she made a comment about how far away that was and talked about how she had never traveled that far north. At some point during this process another man entered the waiting room and sat down in a chair next to me. After he told her his name, she went into another room and returned with his "File" which was also the same kind of 5x 7 card. It was then I realized this was the most advanced my "file" was ever going to get. No, folders, no papers to fill out, no clipboards handed to me asking my medical history or insurance information. Just an ordinary 5 x 7 card you would buy in a big packet at a stationary store! I had to restrain myself from laughing as she read from the card "the last time you were here was in January two years ago, you received a new prescription, etc" I smiled and thought "well, the system seems to work just fine" Then I calmly waited to be seen by the eye doc.

When Dr. Sulfini called me into his office, I felt like I was walking into a scene in a movie. The room was dimly lit and he sat behind a big, dark wood desk. Behind him was a bookshelf filled with books that looked more like antique decorations than the latest publications in the world of eye medicine. On the desk and scattered about the room were other contraptions that also looked like antique decorations, models of equipment that was used in the 1940s. While part of me marveled at these things (i love antiques) another part of me really wondered if these were still the things he used to perform eye exams. As he glanced over my file, he asked me a few questions about my eyes, my history and what the problem seemed to be. I told him I thought i need reading glasses. He tried to impress me with a little bit of English but i realized i just prefered if he spoke in Spanish so i switched back to the language in which i could really understand him better in. He told me he was going to exam my eyes in the other room (and i breathed a sigh of relief that perhaps he did have more modern equipment)

When I was led into the other room, my sigh of relief creeped back up into my throat. In front of me was a giant contraption that looked like it was out of a horror movie. I couldn´t tell what the original paint color used to be, but i think rust seemed to be the new color. I sat down in the chair and he made some adjustments to it, commenting on what a tall girl i was. He moved some things, tweaked a few screws (probably put a little oil on it when i wasn´t watching) and then put some contraption on my face and told me to recite the letters on the other side of the room. We finished the right eye exam successfully. He discovered i did have trouble see far distances and tried several lenses. He also discovered what prescription allowed me to read up close better. He said i would need a separate pair of glasses for far distance and reading. I knew Peace Corps would only pay for one and since i don´t drive here, and there are no street signs or anything really for me to read at any distance, i decided to only request reading glasses. We continued with the left eye exam and were almost done when the electricity went out (a common occurence in Paraguay). We waited for 20 min and it never came back on. Sine i couldn´t come back the next day he decided to finsih without electricity.

He asked his secretary for a flashlight and asked her to hold it on the cards I was reading, not 2 min later the battery died. I couldn´t stop myself from laughing, as i then saw him take the antique looking oil lamp from his desk and ask his secretary for lamp oil. As she was searching for it i thought "oh my god, i can´t believe this is happening" We then finished my eye exam by the light of an oil lamp and he assured me this would have no effect on the results. He was quite sure what prescription i needed and handed me a slip of paper to take to the eye glasses store. I thanked him kindly and headed over to pick out some cute frames.

I met a friend at the eye glasses place and with her help picked out some frames that I love. They are purple and a little funky but also still give me a professional feel. I picked them up after vacation and i was a little worried I wouldn´t be able to see a thing through them because of how the exam went but they are great. Now, i can read for hours and use my computer and all those little words look so much better! I will post a picture of me and my new look when i get a chance! Next time I will have a little more faith in how things were done back in the 1940s at the eye doctor!