Romance Paraguayan Style

Love and especially lust is always in the air here in Paraguay. However the way they go about expressing their love and infatuation with one another is quite different than that of Americans. We have spent a few hours here and there over the last weeks hearing about different experiences both men and women have had with Paraguayans and some of the dating "rules" Paraguayans follow. Most of the Paraguayans that do follow these rules strictly live further out into country, but there seems to be a universal understanding of most of the rules. Be prepared to laugh a little.

First off, there are specific dating days in Paraguay. The official dating days are Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. If a man visits you on these days it means that he is interested in dating you official and wants to make it known in the community. However, if a man comes over only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday that means that he wants you to be his mistress. And he wants you to be friends with benefits, it is called "amigos especiales" here in Paraguay.

Gestures are used here all the time to signify if people think you are good looking or if they want to sleep with you. They range from making the motion of revving a motorcycle to wiggling a finger when giving a handshake.
If you attend a fiesta or a quincinera and dance with guy for over three dances in a row then it is said that you two are now officially dating each other.
Women should avoid walking near the chakra or crop fields, because this is one of the main places that men and women have sex since at least five people live in every house and are always home. So if someone sees you walking out of the field they are sure to send the gossip out that you were there with a guy. I think that it sounds pretty uncomfortable to come home with bug bites all over your body.
It is unbelievably hot here at night time, but women can not sleep with their windows open unless they want a visitor called a Jakare. An open window is an open invitation for a man or Jakare to jump into your house and have sex with you that night. No questions asked on either end.

One nice thing that we learned is that women set the limits here in terms of dating and sex. Men here think that being overly aggressive is the only way to get a girlfriend or baby momma, but the women are the ones who have the control to say how far the relationship is going to go. However, gestures or body language outweighs anything said verbally. So I need to keep the smiling and eye contact undercontrol since both of these are very popular signs of interest expersing interest here.

Also the obsession with foreigners is outrageous here! Just because my hair and skin are a little lighter and I have blue eyes, all the men and women here think I am very good looking. This is a really strange comment to make about myself, but Paraguayans think I am very beautiful. It has been a strange adjustment to go from being an average looking girl in the US to being a very attractive foreigner here. Most older women want to adopt me, most girls my age want to have my hair or eye color, and most men from 13 to 70 make inappropriate gestures and comments attempting to be my boyfriend.

So far my blue eyes have started a fight between two grown men at the volleyball court, many pick up attempts at the local despensa, an invitation to be amigos especiales from a neighbor, and comments about how beautiful my eyes are from the city director of the environment at the municipality during an official meeting. And over the past few weeks I have been asked countless times if I have a boyfriend, why I don´t have a boyfriend and when am I going to marry a Paraguayan. But don´t worry mom, I keep telling them that there is no way I am going to marry a Paraguayn because you would cry too much.

So for all of you out there who are feeling a little lonely, just come down and visit me here. They will all love you here and I am pretty sure I can get you paired up in less than a week. A language barrier means nothing here!

Primera Comunion

Sunday morning I awoke at 6:00am to prepare for my host brother’s first communion service being held in the central Catholic church of town. Only my host father, Abrahm, and myself attended the service since Tina had to care for the baby and the twins had confirmation class during the service time. The three of us piled into the two person truck cab with Abrahm sitting on my lap all dressed in white as we bounced down the dirt and cobble stone roads to the church.

The communion class had nearly 200 students and the church became very crowded as the service began. I had never before attended any form of a service at a Catholic Church and I was interested to see how much I could follow of the Spanish and how similar the service structure would be to the Lutheran church. All the boys and girls were dressed completely in white robes and shirts, and the girls had a small flower or bead wreath placed in their hair. The students walked in with their parents and were placed in one of the front pews for the service divided by the middle aisle into boys and girls. The average age of the students was around 10, but some appeared to be younger and older.

The focus of most of the service was of course about the body and blood of Jesus Christ and how it is represented for us at church through bread and wine. The priest, or sacerdote, gave a sermon and I understood a good 20% of what he was saying so I thought I did quite well. During the prayers, the students held lit candles while their peers read off the prayers for the day. The peace of the day was passed, offering was taken and songs were sung. It felt very much like a normal Lutheran service expect I couldn’t understand much and most people stared at me to see if I knew what I was supposed to do.

The big moment finally came for the students at the end of the service when they were ushered forward to receive their first communion. This took almost 45 minutes to get through all the students. Once all the students had gone forward, time was taken to pass bread out to all the students and parents in the church to take home to share with their friends and family not in attendance that morning. I laughed to myself a good amount as I watched lots of the students and parents start eating their bread before they had even left the church. I guess they wanted even more communion that day for all the time they had spent in class. The service took a little over two hours and most of the parents and I stood the entire service. I am glad I never wear high heels to church.

After the service Abrahm collected his certificated and passed out small communion cards to friends that stated he had received this first communion this morning. He was nice enough to give me one. They were quite silly since they had a drawing of a blonde haired pale skin boy praying and Abrahm looks nothing like the drawing, but I will hold onto it until I return to the states.

To end the morning Abahm and I both got a type of doughnut from a vendor in the plaza to celebrate his communion and to quench our hunger from being awake for 4 hours without food. The doughnut definitely put a close to the experience that made me feel like I was at church back in the states with friends and family. I always said that church makes people joyful and fat at the same time.

Tech Excursion

This past weekend, all the Environmental Education trainees got to experience the first, and only, overnight tech excursion during our training session. The overall goal of the excursion is to meet a few more current volunteers to hear about what they have done and are doing currently in Paraguay with EE, and to have the group experience of traveling to a new location in Paraguay for a few days. And our trainer Ricardo allowed us to have a little bit of fun along the way.

We left Friday a little before noon for Caaucupe, located about an hour northeast of Guarambare and east of Asuncion. Our group was divided into two different vehicles and for the whole weekend, I got to drive around Paraguay in the official supped-up black tinted windowed embassy plated Peace Corps SUV. This is pretty much the nicest looking car in Paraguay that no one would ever touch, but everyone stares at. On our way to Caaucupe we stopped for lunch at a roadside diner for one of the most amazing meals I have had in a long time: french fries, a fried egg and cheese sandwich, and a brownie ice cream dessert. I have never enjoyed fatty American style food so much. The rest of the group felt the same.

After our amazing lunch we met up with a volunteer named Dan in Caaucupe where he introduced us to the NGO REFOPAR. REFOPAR is currently working to reforest Paraguay, by providing thousands of trees to local area municipalities, schools, churches, and other community events for planting activities across Paraguay. We were invited by the executive director Paul to visit the vivero (tree nursery) where the employees’ plant, care for, and prepare the trees for their trips across Paraguay. The interesting thing about this NGO is that Paul, is from Belgium and decided to retire in Paraguay 6 years ago. He and his wife started the NGO themselves, and now employ 15 Paraguayans and have planted hundreds of thousands of native trees in Paraguay.

On the way to the vivero we were shockingly surprised to see a cow giving birth on the side of the road a few minutes from the vivero. As we drove by the first time only the front two legs were out and the cow was actually grazing nonchalantly! After we left the vivero we stopped and saw that the calf was already walking after only an hour. Crazy Paraguay!

After visiting the vivero, we returned to Caaucupe to visit a well known Basilica located in the center of town. The Basilica is well known for the December 8th walk that happens every year in Paraguay. Every year thousands of Paraguayans walk to the Basilica on December 8th in remembrance of the Virgin Mary.


The group was then divided in half, some stayed at Dan’s site for the night which was located about an hour north of town, and the rest of us traveled an additional 45 minutes into the country to meet Lindsay and stay at his site with host families for the night out in the campo. Brenda and I stayed together at a local school director’s house for the night where we were able to use indoor plumbing for the night! However, a 92 year old slightly senile grandma from the house kept asking us through at the night and morning what our mission was in Paraguay and if we were collecting information of the census. I never think she ever understood that we were apart of Peace Corps.

The next day we traveled to the National Park Cerro Kavaju. Where we met up with the rest of the group, Dan, and Dan’s group of 40 senior high school students from a local agro forestry high school he was taking on an excursion for the day. The day before had been so humid and warm, so of course the next day meant rain in the forecast. The rain started after we gathered all together at the entrance to the park and loaded into the back of a flat bed truck with the students. We were driven up a dirt road for 20 minutes in a crammed up top truck to the trail head. The park was absolutely gorgeous. It was great to finally see some of the untouched natural beauty within Paraguay, especially with a group of high school students of which most have never been on a hike before in their lives. We climbed up to the rock cliffs on top of a huge hill and slid down a natural rock waterslide that was created as the rain began to come down harder throughout the day. All of us got completely wet and completely dirty, but for all of us we were so happy to get outside after so long of being in cities littered with trash that we had huge smiles on our faces as we drove back to Guarambare.

Although we were busy during the two days we were gone, it was a refreshing break to training. We spent more time getting to know each other, our trainer, and other volunteers. And we all will remember to never go hiking in a skirt like Brenda did.

Mis amigitos

I am constantly surrounded by the sound of children. I wake up to the sound of children getting ready for school and eating their breakfast, and I fall asleep to their laughter as they get ready for bed. They are the hardest to understand since they don´t understand that I need them to speak slowly and I am still learning how to speak Spanish, but they also are the source of my biggest smiles here in Paraguay.

At my house I usually dance and draw away my lunch hour with the two daughters of Ana, the niece of my host mom. The two girls, Annie who is 5, and Vivi who is 3, play with me like I am a huge doll. I can understand a good amount of what Annie says to me since she is a little older and will repeat things if I don’t understand, but Vivi will sometimes just call me stupid and get upset at me that I don’t answer her. I wonder if you can guess who my favorite is at the moment. No, I really like passing away my time with both of them.

Abrahm, my host brother, at the age of 9 is my silent friend. We don’t talk to each other much, but he likes to water the garden we built in my family’s yard together. He also enjoys playing with his sling shot. I am trying to instill the idea of not aiming at birds, but so far I have not been that affective at convincing him that it is more fun to aim at cans or bottles. He is a great kid. He works hard and goes to school everyday, which is not true for many Paraguayan children. His first communion is coming up this weekend and I hope to attend with the family.

Derlis is the neighbor boy that fills the rest of my days with constant joy. He lives at the house of my neighbor PC trainee Brenda and is the grandson of her host mom. His mom is a good friend to both Brenda and I, since she is only 22 years old, and we enjoy sitting outside with her practicing our Spanish and playing with Derlis. Her family and I like to joke that Derlis is my Paraguayan boyfriend. No worries mom, he is only 3 years old. A little too young for me, but he sure is lindo.

And now I have a new addition to my host family to announce. Maria Pabla was born on Thursday the 15th of October at a little over 3 kilos (around 7 lbs. for all of us now metric folk). She has a full head of hair and looks like she is going to grow into a beautiful little girl. She was brought home on Saturday and so far I have not heard more than a few minutes of crying. Que suerte!

And there are lots of other neighbor kids that enjoy just staring and giggling at me while I try to practice my Spanish. The joy that kids bring to my life crosses all language barriers.

One day

So I decided that my story of what happened to me this past Tuesday deserved its own blog entry. Technically Tuesday was still part of my travel to Yhu, but I felt that to give it justice as a day that I will never forget, it deserved its own blog post. I will now recount my day:

I woke up in the city of Yhu at the host family’s house I had been staying with for the past four days while visiting Brendan. After enjoying a warm indoor shower and a small breakfast I waited in the sun reading my new Dan Brown book for Brendan to meet up with me to tell me when I needed to catch the bus back to Caaugayzu. We waited for the bus for a half an hour and then said our goodbye and thank you for a really great weekend trip. Unfortunately the bus was already pretty crowded and when I got on the bus there were no more seats. I stood in the center aisle with at least twenty others as the bus began its two hour bumpy and curvy trip on the unpaved road back to the terminal. On the way to Yhu Brendan and I stood for the two hours as well so I did not think much of having to stand again, however this time my stomach felt differently about the experience.

After twenty or so minutes into the ride my stomach had had it with the bumps and curves and people. I knew that I could no longer hold in the nausea. I squeezed through the crowd using broken Spanish until I came to the front window right behind the driver which had a few extra inches of space in front of the two women sitting in their seats. Again using my broken Spanish I told them I was not feeling well and I need to stand next to the window. Once my face caught wind of the fresh air outside of the bus it was over. I ended up throwing up several times, luckily outside of the window, until there was nothing left in me. I stood with half of my body outside of the window for a good ten minutes trying to collect myself as the bus continued along the bumpy and curvy unpaved road. Once I turned back into the cabin I noticed almost all the passengers were staring at me, the rubia blue eyed foreigner, throwing up outside of a moving bus. Luckily the ticket fare collector was standing near the front and allowed me to then sit on the bus engine hump right next to the driver for the remainder of the trip (at least an hour and a half). There were already two men sitting on the engine and they wanted nothing to do with me so I was allowed about half a butt cheek of space to sit and the metal bar behind the driver to hold on to. However, it was much better than standing.

While I sat with my head in my hands trying to control the nausea in the my stomach one of the women I had just thrown up in front of lightly placed her hand on my knee and slowly rubbed her hand on my knee. This was the most comforting and truly giving moments I have ever personally experienced. Here I am a foreigner throwing up outside of a moving run down bus in the middle of Paraguay and this woman finds the love inside of her to comfort me not with words but with the healing power of touch. The woman only spoke Guarani and since I am still in Spanish classes during training I was only able to smile and nod my head as she slowly spoke what I presume to be comforting words into my ear.

After finally arriving at the bus terminal in Caaguazu I sat for nearly two hours with a sprite in hand trying to clam my stomach. Once I realized that the nausea was not really going to pass I waited for the next bus to Asuncion that looked like it had a clean bathroom and air conditioning. Luckily one arrived and only after a small stall on the side of the road for a half an hour when the radiator stopped functioning did my second ride get interesting. We ended up losing air conditioning for the last hour. But then the bus ride back into Guarambare was a piece of cake compared to earlier in the day

Later that night once I finally made it back to my house I went to visit my neighbor trainee friend at her house since it was the dad’s birthday. After sharing stories with the family about our trip and my experience from earlier that day, the mayor of Guarambare arrived at their house for dinner. He is a good friend of the dad and came to celebrate with him. I kept thinking that less than 10 hours ago I was vomiting outside of a bus 6 hours away from Guarambare, I was now eating dinner with the mayor of our town talking world politics. I feel that this one day is a good representation of my daily life in Paraguay. I never know what is going to happen, who I am going to meet, what new Paraguayan will fall in love with blue eyes, or if I will end up getting sick. My life is full of ups and downs. I would not have it any other way.

Mis Viajes

This past week I traveled to both the capital city of Paraguay and to a small pueblo out in the center of Paraguay. Overall, both of my travels gave me more confidence in my Spanish skills and the ability to successfully travel throughout Paraguay.

Asuncion:
The focus of this one day travel excursion was to get both an understanding of how public transportation services work in Paraguay and how to travel safely in the capital city. I traveled with a member of the Agroforestry extension to the National University of Paraguay in the town of San Lorenzo, about 20 minutes outside of central Asuncion. We meet with both the National Forest Service to talk about their tree seed bank program and with a Taiwanese government sponsored agriculture program located at the University doing experiments on local produce. At both sites the people were very friendly to both me and my traveling partner. It did not take long until we had completed our given tasks and allowed to explore Asuncion for a few hours. We ended up going to one of the largest shopping malls in Asuncion where we ate really delicious fresh vegetable stir-fry and salads. The mall was pretty crazy, since it was obviously greatly influenced by western culture in terms of the types of stores and companies. After lunch we all gathered together at the Peace Corps office in Asuncion where we compared stories of our travels and learned about what the office has to offer us as resources. At the end of the day we were then given our locations for our weekend visit to a current volunteer in Paraguay.

Yhu (or Auga negra):
I spent four days in the small pueblo Yhu, located about 6 hours from Asuncion, with a current Environmental Education volunteer. My trip began at 5:30 am on Saturday. I left from Guarambare on a public bus to the terminal in Asuncion. There I took a bus 4 hours east to the city of Caaguazu. There I met Brendan, the current volunteer, who traveled the remaining 2 hours on the unpaved road with me. It just so happened that I was visiting this city during their fiesta patronal celebration and the town was loaded with relatives and friends visiting for the weekend to take part in all the festivities. We spent the first day visiting neighbors, watching the town futbol game, “working” at the town fiesta and then dancing at the huge fiesta until early in the evening be Paraguayan standards, but pretty late by the average American. On Sunday we visited more neighbors and families that Brendan lived with during his first three months at site and we attended the huge town horse show. That night a large storm hit the town and knocked at the power for the night and for the most of the next day. Luckily the weather was better by the morning and Brendan was able to show me most of the schools he currently works with and the municipalidade of the city. I had a really great time meeting lots of the people in his pueblo. I definitely think that I will be a part of the town gossip for a while. I also really enjoyed the time Brendan and I got to talk about his experience so far with the Peace Corps in Yhu and our discussions on other random topics like my broken electronics, religion, politics, and our enjoyment of JK Rowling and Dan Brown books. It was great to spend the weekend getting to know a current volunteer that I can later call for advice and added to the number of friends I have in Paraguay.

Side note for mom and girlfriends: Yes mom, Brendan is a boy and he was very nice to me during my visit. I would guess he would call you Mama Blatt if I had known him in the states. And yes girlfriends, Brendan is a good looking guy. And yes, I know that you might one day read this blog post Brendan, but you already know that you are very lindo. All the girls in Yhu think so as well.

Training

Training for the Peace Corps focuses mainly on language, technical skills, health, safety, and community integration. However, most of the time is spent focusing on language proficiency and technical skills for our work areas. I have completed a week and a half of training so far and I have found training to be very structured and focused. Training is planned to provide the most information to us during the 11 weeks in Guarambare, to prepare us for two years of service. My schedule during the week is as follows:

6:30am- I am awoken by a knock on my door by my host mom or dad. If it is warm enough I jump into our outdoor shower, however during our first week of training it drop over 40 degrees in one night and remained around 50 degrees most of the first week. I only showered once last week since I would have been a popsicle if I showered outside during the cold mornings. In Paraguay it is common to shower at least three times a day during the summer and at least once during the winter. Personal appearance is very important here. You don’t dress to express yourself in Paraguay; you dress to impress other Paraguayans.

7:00am- I drink cocida with my host family for breakfast. Cocida is similar to a black tea in the states, but they add sugar to it before and after they pour it into their cups. I usually have cocida con leche con cochitos (small hard bread sticks that you break up into bite size pieces and place in the cup with the liquid). It is similar to cereal. However, my family enjoys laughing at me because I don’t add a spoonful more sugar to my cocida like is typical here.

7:45am- After walking with my PCT neighbor Brenda; we arrive at the environmental education training facility. It used to be the house of a police commissioner of Guarambre, so it has a pool and futbol field in the yard. We are told it is one of the nicest training sites ever rented by the Peace Corps in Paraguay. Right away we begin language practice. For environmental education we have to obtain a high level of conversational Spanish before we can begin studying Guarani. I am in the intermediate Spanish class, and should begin studying Guarani in a few weeks. I love my language professor. Her name is Pabla and she has been so helpful. There are only four of us in my group and we practice our Spanish for four hours everyday all in Spanish.

12:00pm- I return to my host house for lunch. In Paraguay, lunch is their largest meal and they greatly enjoy serving me way too much food. Usually my lunch is a pretty traditional Paraguayan dish that will consist of a madioca, rice, soup and/or beef. Luckily my family enjoys eating fruits and vegetables, so I am one of the lucky volunteers that gets a salad at every meal and usually a piece of fruit with dinner.

1:00pm- After lunch we return to our environmental education training center for an afternoon of technical skill work. Usually a current volunteer visits us during this time and will share a little about their experience in Paraguay so far and then teach us a lesson. So far we have focused on the school system, gardens, tree identification, and classroom materials. Some really cool things we have done so far with these volunteers is making drinking glasses out of wine bottles and we built a vegetable garden in my back yard.

5:30pm- I return for the rest of the night to my host house. I spend the next few hours showering, eating dinner, talking with my family, playing my guitar, studying Spanish, visiting neighbors and drinking tererre.

8:30 or 9:00pm- I try to return to my room about this time to enjoy some quiet time reading, writing or sleeping.

This is just a quick snapshot of my life here in Paraguay thus far. The training week is never the same, but this is the typical structure at least three days during the week. Some days we travel into the main training center in Guarambare to meet with all the other sector volunteers (agroforestry, bee keeping, and crop extension) to cover topics such as health and safety. We also have excursion days planned into our training. This Thursday I will be traveling with one other volunteer into Asuncion to visit possible volunteer reference sites. Also this weekend I will be traveling to visit a current volunteer in Paraguay. I will spend four days by myself with the volunteer getting to know a little bit about their site, the work they have done, the community integration process for them, and I will get to practice more of my Spanish skills as I travel across the country. I am nervous, but excited for both excursions and I hope to write soon after my return about both of them.

Mis pèsames/my condolences

A very sad and tragic event happened a few days ago in my neighborhood here in Guarambare. The mother at my next door neighbors’ house passed away early Friday morning from a brain aneurism at the age of 49. This was a very shocking event to the family, my host family, the neighbors and me. I will try to recount a little of what happened before and after the incident to share some about the customs surrounding death in Paraguay.

The woman woke up Thursday morning with a severe headache. After resting in bed for a little while longer, she decided to begin her day by working in my host family’s yard with the chickens. She was hit with a severe head pain around lunch and was taken to the hospital later that afternoon. The youngest daughter informed me that her mom was in the hospital, while I was both visiting her aunt’s house across the street from me where another PCT lives. I have often played games with this daughter at my house since she is best friends with my two twin host sisters. After returning to my home for the night, I was awoken at 4:30am to the sounds of sobbing in the next room. As I listened closer I could here my host mother and sisters saying that she had died. It was so unexpected that I just didn’t know what to do with myself. I just laid in bed all morning until the time I was suppose to wake up for class. In the morning my host mom explained a little about what had happened to the neighbor, but I could obviously tell that she was very emotional as well since she said the woman was one of her best friends and like a sister to her.

After talking with some of the Peace Corps staff members that day and with the other PCT Brenda who was also awoken in the early morning to the sounds of crying, since she lives at the house of the husbands brothers house, we both were able to share some our emotions we were currently experiencing and what the future days were to hold for us as PCTs in the houses of family and friends and neighbors to this woman. Later that evening after returning home I went with my host mom and siblings to the el velorio, translated it means the sit up. In Paraguay after someone dies a table is set up, similar to an altar, in the house where people are invited to visit to say their condolences during the 24 hours after death. People are then invited to sit up with the family for the night while family, friends and neighbors visit throughout the 24 hours. At the vigil I said my condolences to a few of the remaining family members (she left behind a family of eight kids), and sat around with at least 40 or so other friends and family members for a while.

The funeral was then held the next morning. While both Brenda and I shared with our family’s that we could attend the funeral with them, they both informed us to attend school instead. Funerals are usually held one day after the death and the body is then buried directly into the cemetery that day. The funeral process happens quite quickly, unlike in the states when it can take up to a week to prepare all the necessary steps for the funeral and cemetery.

After the funeral, there is a nine day process called el rezo, or prayer. Everyday at a certain everyone gathers to say a series of prayers lead by a clergy member. After 20 minutes of the prayers, everyone sits down to enjoy refreshments and the company of one another. I attended one on Sunday with my PCT neighbor and her family.

Overall I am still in a state of shock from the experience. Hearing the cries of my host sisters at 4 in the morning, seeing the tears of my host mom, and feeling the agony of the swollen and bruised face of the 11 year old daughter that just the other day was playing tic-tac-toe with me for an hour after dinner will stay with me while in Paraguay. But not in only a sad manner. I was happily shocked at the amount of love shown between neighbors and relatives. While the Paraguay people are known for their tranquillo nature, when a tragic event of death happens the open display of emotion demonstrated the strong connection bond of love family and friends have for each other. Paraguayans spend their time in the company of one another. Living together, forming ideas with each other, and teaching one another about life, love, and family.

Although this journey for me has just begun and I am a few years away from seeing many of you again, I want you to know I love you and carry you all in my heart.

Domingo

The weekends are a time for community integration during the three months of training. We have training during the morning on Saturday, but the rest of the week we have “off”. During the week we spend time with our family and very near by neighbors eating and chatting, but the weekends are a time to travel into the city with our families, meet more family members that come to visit, and just enjoy the company of our family in a tranquillopa’ setting. I don’t think I have ever been more nervous!

I kept thinking ‘My third day in Paraguay and I am spending the entire day speaking only Spanish to a family that I hardly know. What am I going to do?’ It actually ended up being one of the most eventful and entertaining Sundays I have had in a long time. Here is what I did:

I was awoken at 6 in the morning (yes it was very early since I still was not adjust to the time change) because I had plans to accompany my host father, Oscar, to one of the soccer games that he referees at on the weekend near Asuncion. After having a quick breakfast of the delicious drink cocida con leche, my host brother Abraham, Oscar, and myself piled into their two seater and well used car to travel to the game. First we stopped at the gomeria, which is a tire repair shop, where Oscar replaced one of the front tires. There are lots of gomerias along the main paved roads in Paraguay, because even the paved roads have lots of potholes, rocks, or trash in the road that destroy the tires. After that quick stop and one at the gas station we drove a little over an hour to the soccer field.

Paraguayan drivers are a slightly dangerous with their driving. Motos or motorcycles are very popular here, but are also super dangerous. Everyday in Paraguay at least three people die from a moto accident. As a Peace Corps Trainee and Volunteer I am not allowed to drive or ride on a moto during the entire 27 months. If I do and someone finds out, I will be sent home immediately, no exceptions. In addition to lots of motos on the road, no one wears their seat belts, there is no legal age for driving a vehicle and no one besides my host father seems to use their blinkers (thank God he does).

We arrived a few minutes before the game started, giving Oscar time to change into his uniform and for me to be graciously given a chair to sit in the shade with during the games. There were three games that Oscar refereed that morning. The teams that played in the games were adult club teams from the area. The first two were very competitive and required penalty kicks to determine the winner, but the last was a clean sweep by one of the teams. The games ended about 10 in the morning; however, it was already about 85 degrees out.

After leaving the game we went to an outdoor fruit market to buy oranges to make juice with and some watermelon for a snack. We then proceeded to the supermarket just outside of Asuncion. It actually reminded me of a Fred Meyer. It had food, household items like blenders and tupperware, as well as clothes. One thing that was very different was when we parked in the parking lot there were a few men loitering up and down each lane of parked cars. I learned as we were leaving when Oscar gave one a couple Guaranies (Paraguayan money) that they actually watch your car for you while you are in the store if you ask, so nothing will get stolen or broken into while you are gone.

After the hour long drive back into Guarambare in the now 90 degree heat, we return to the house where we consumed a delicious lunch of salad and panchos (hot dogs). I am actually super lucky that I get fruits and vegetables, some people only get fried food everyday, all day. After lunch I visited my neighbor Brenda, who is also a PCT. We spent the rest of the afternoon chatting with her family and neighbors and drinking terrere (matte with cold water). It ended up reaching 100 degrees in the afternoon. Once it started to cool down I got to play some volleyball with the neighbors. Brenda and I are actually very lucky to have a volleyball court in her backyard, because we get the opportunity to both exercise and it is a great community gathering activity so we get to practice our Spanish a lot while we watch.

Once the sunset, I returned to my house where I ate my dinner with the family and played tic-tac-toe with my host family kids and neighbors for over an hour. I was the "ganadora" for most of the games. I returned to my room around 9 and was able to take a small break for the heat. It was a long day, but I actually made it through it. Not only did I get to practice my Spanish all day, but I also got to see more of Asuncion and what the life of a typical Paraguayan is like on a Sunday. It was a pretty good day for only just arriving.

Guarambare, Paraguay

On Thursday, all 42 Peace Corps Trainees arrived in Paraguay after two full days of traveling and attending orientation sessions. We will complete our three months of Peace Corps training in the city of Guarambre. Guarambare is located about an hour outside of the capital Asuncion. While here we all will live with a host family located just outside of the main city center. Only a few hours after arriving in Paraguay we were introduced to our host families.

My host family consists of Oscar (father), Tina (mother), Maria Jose and Maria Fatima (twin 13 year old sisters), Abraham (9 year old brother), Ana (23 years old and the niece of Tina), Ana’s two daughters (3 and 5 years old), and grandma (mother of Tina). Oscar is a farmer and a referee for club soccer games. Tina is a housewife and 8 months pregnant! She is due on the 10^th of October. That will make 11 in the house. Jose and Fatima attend school somewhat regularly. Since I arrived neither has gone to school. They say they don’t really like school, but Oscar is very determined to make sure his kids study hard and have a future outside of Guarambare. Abraham doesn’t talk to me much, but we enjoy playing Tic-Tac-Toe together. Ana helps take care of the house as well, especially since Tina is pregnant. Her two daughters are adorable! I don’t understand much of what they are saying, but they enjoy sitting next to me at meals and I usually just make faces at them. Grandma is quiet with me, but from the conversations we have had she is very wise and has a lot of stories to tell.

I live on a farm with 7 dairy cows, 6 pigs (2 of which are piglets that were born on the day I arrived), 20 or so chickens, 5 dogs, and 2 cats. Everyday I drink fresh milk from the cows and they make cheese with the milk as well. My family wakes up around 5 in the morning to begin milking the cows and they are usually in bed by 9. I can tell that they do not have much money, but Oscar works very hard on the farm and he says that the extra money from the refereeing helps.

They have never had a volunteer live with them before. The other night while talking with Oscar he explained that he used to think that the volunteers in Guarambare were no good. He didn’t want anything to do with them, but after seeing the work that they do and the way they work with the community he wanted to have one at his house. He said he especially wanted a volunteer in his house to show his kids someone who has studied hard and attended college, and that it is possible for them to do the same.

The first day I could not communicate with the family much, but I think they forgave me because I played the guitar and sang for them. They are a very relaxed family that enjoys visiting with neighbors and spending time with each other. I am very grateful to them for opening their home to me for the next few months.