Fiona's untitled thoughts on Paraguay.

Challenges and Identity

2012-02-05T12:13:00.000-08:00

Im guessing most people who read my blog (if in fact anyone does *wink*), have already read this. For those who haven't, its an article I wrote about the challenges of being an lgbt volunteer in rural Paraguay. I was hesitant to put the link on my blog incase it became some sort of security issue, however I think that is incredibly unlikely. Plus, as I explain in my little essay, the stress of being closeted at site is enough. I dont want to censer and second guess my self in other facets of my life as well.

Ironically, having to be closeted in my day to day life has made my sexuality a more central part of my identity that it ever was before. The very need to hide who I am has made me relies how important that part of me is.

I have lots more to say on this, but for now Ill just leave you with the link to the article, and adorable photos from the pre-school graduation. The kids were dancing in boy-girl pairs, and then they were told to change partners... so most of them went to their best friends, resulting in same-sex pairs. Adorable.

Thermos Assumptions

2012-02-01T12:34:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, my family left Paraguay after a three week visit. Being able to spend the holidays together was wonderful. I am happy that in the future, when I talk about Paraguay and my experience here, they will truly have an understanding of what I am saying.

Now. On to Tereré.

Thanks to my friend Teresa loaning us her tereré thermos (my Dad is holding it in the photo above), I was able to get my family quite devoted to the fantastically refreshing drink of the Paraguayan Summer. Also, thanks to the thermos, I felt super Paraguayan. This point was driven home, when a group of four American tourists spotted us with the thermos on a bus to Iguazu Falls (technically in Argentina, but right on the boarder of Paraguay and Brail), and started talking in English about it. They assumed we couldn’t understand them!

One of the women not so subtly pointed to the thermos and said “look! That’s for drinking mate.”

My mother over heard this and decided she was thirst for some tereré so we started serving ourselves. The tourists watched us serve and pass the guampa back and forth and started discussing mate.

“Do you think its tastes any good?” one girl said.

“It has drugs in it you know” another says.

“Really? Wow. What kind of drugs? I wonder how ad

dictive it is” says the first girl.

“You got to watch out for things like that” says a friend.

“I bet they are real addicted” says another.

All four turn and watch us drink away.

At this point, tired of suppressing my laughter and tired of pretending I didn’t notice them staring at us, I start talking to my mother in English while watching the tourists out of the corner of my eye.

There eyes go wide as it dawns on them that we have understood anything they have said. They look abashed and say nothing for the rest of the ride.

What was interesting about all of this, is that it was the first time (that I’m aware of) that I have been mistaken for a South American… and it was all due to the tereré thermos. To be at ease using something so iconic of the region was enough to trump my other extranjero features (skin color, Chaco sandals, hair cut). In fact they must have mistaken my whole L.L.Bean clad family for South Americans.

Granted, like any slightly caffeinated drink, it can be addictive… but honestly. They were a little quick to judge something they clearly have no knowledge of. Also, I can understand the assumption that no one will understand English in campo Paraguay; I make that assumption everyday. Infrequently a Paraguayan English teachers or a Mormon convert will prove me wrong, and will strike up a conversation. But making the assumption that no one understands English while visiting one of the biggest tourists attraction in South America is just naive.

I plan on buying my very own thermos next week.

Out of Site: Virgencita de Caacupe, and the Swearing Out of G-31.

2011-12-22T03:45:00.000-08:00

I spent several days out of site a few weeks ago (but only now have an internet connection strong enough to post this update). But thanks to some wonderful friends, I got the opportunity to do one of the most quintessential Paraguayan traditions. I participated in the pilgrimage to Caacupe. Its hard to describe the role the Virgencita de Caacupe plays in the Paraguayan culture. In the space of about a week, around 300,000 people go to Caacupe, cumulating on the 8^th of December. The majority of pilgrims walk at least part of the way there. For the rest of the year, Caacupe has a population of only 42,000, and Paraguay itself only has a population of around 6,460,000. So having 300,000 people converge on one spot is phenomenal.

For me, the most fascinating part of the experience was the sensation of walking together with thousands of other people. It’s a fun, celebratory atmosphere. We walked from 9pm to 1am on the night of the 7^th. Walking at night has the benefit of avoiding the intense summer heat, and considering we are walking up one of the largest hills in the country, that is important.

Many people come to pray for a miracle, or to give thanks for prayers answered in the past year. But many people (not just Yankees like me), come merely for the experience of participating in a longstanding, uniquely Paraguayan, cultural tradition.

This photo is from a visit to the church last year. During festival de Caacupe, it was much to crowded to get past the courtyard.

I definitely want to do it again next year, and walk maybe two or three times the distance. I’m much to lazy/out of shape to do a marathon (or any sort of running honestly), but I can walk of ages! I’m also thinking about trying to bike it. Anyone want to join me?

The day after walking to Caacupe, I went to the G-31 despideda (goodbye party). I’m G-34, so G-31 was my sister G. They means they were the agriculture and environmental education group that swore in a year before us. When we swore in they had already been here a year. Now that they have sworn out, that means…. I have been in my site for a whole year, and a new Ag and EE group (G-37) has sworn in. We are now the older, more experience G! I didn’t really feel much last year when the old group swore out just as we were swearing in. After all, I hardly knew them. But this year it has been hard saying goodbye to people I have come to respect and gotten to know well. I no longer have wise seasoned Ag volunteers to turn to when I have a question (actually I still have the talented Ag coordinator). It’s the first time that a G has sworn out, and I have really felt the loss. I miss you G-31.

Love is Sopa Paraguaya

2011-12-02T16:37:00.002-08:00

Today was on its way to being a bad day. I stopped by a neighbors house and told him that the English class (that had been canceled last Wednesday due to a freak windstorm) was rescheduled for today at 4. I had been telling people in the community the rescheduled time sense Wednesday evening after the windstorm. Finally, this neighbor told me “you can’t have class today. Esquella San Jose is having their graduation this afternoon. No one will come to your class.”

Despite the fact that I had told several families about the class, no one had mentioned that it conflicted with this important community wide event. No one even told me the event was going to happen. I had several people say “yes. Ill be there” when clearly they wouldn’t be able to.

This happens frequently. People don’t want to disappoint or be rude by saying they can’t come (or they don’t understand a word I’m saying)… but that doesn’t mean there are going to show up. Honestly they same thing happened when I did turn-out for events in the States. However in the States I was able to culturally and linguistically interpret the responses better and fairly accurately gauge how likely someone was to turn up. In Paraguay, not only is it more difficult to interpret the responses people give me, but I’m also ignorant of important community events that could influence attendance.

Anyway, I thanked this neighbor for telling me and told him that the class was NOW rescheduled to Monday. I walked home incredibly frustrated and angry. Sometimes things just build up, and today was one of those days. No one in the community respects me. No one even bothered to invite me to the graduation. No one wants to be involved in the things I do. Why oh why is life so hard? I was emotionally over reacting to the whole thing.

Shortly thereafter, I decided go ahead and go to the graduation that was causing all the trouble.

It was great. The families were proud and the kids were excited. The children preformed traditional Paraguayan dances. Afterwards as the families split up into groups at various tables, a señora brought be a paper plate of food. Moments latter, another señora another plate…. By the end I had five or six separate plates of empanadas, sopa Paraguaya, and mellinasa.

It made me feel better about everything. My community cares about me. I’m awkward, I’m ignorant of things everyone knows about (and so no one thinks to tell me), I’m constantly doing strange things. But people are happy I’m here, and they want me to know that by giving me more sopa Paraguay than I can possibly eat.

I left the graduation with my heart (and my bag of food) overflowing.

A sad day in Peace Corps Paraguay

2011-11-28T11:43:00.001-08:00

There is not much I can say about the sad news of volunteer Emily Balog’s death. Aside from being a reminder of how delicate and fleeting human life is, it is a reminder of how far from home PC volunteers are.

Car crashes can and do happen all over the world. Hers was not a death unique to Paraguay. But to die so far away from family, after being away for so long, seems especially sad.

Aside from a brief conversation or two, I hardly knew Emily, but my thoughts are with her friends and family.

How to Prepare for a Holiday

2011-11-11T11:06:00.000-08:00

Sunday is the patron saint day for Santani (San Estanislao), the town closest to my site. That basically means there is going to be a big, city wide, party. That’s fine, except I was planning on going to Santani this Saturday to buy materials for building cook-stoves (fagones). Apparently, most businesses will be closed to prepare for the dia patronal.
This illustrates an interesting cultural difference between holidays in the US and in Paraguay. In the US, usually the day before or after a holiday is a huge shopping day. Stores and advertisers encourage us to get out there and shop! Examples include “black Friday” after Thanksgiving, “last-minuet shopping” before Christmas, and Labor Day sales. The thought of being closed the day before a holiday is very foreign to US companies and consumers.
The stores in Santani are closed in preparation for the holiday… Preparing for a holiday dose not have to be about buying things. Embarrassingly, that blows my mind a bit.
Guess I’ll head into down Monday… unless stores will be closed to recover from the holiday. Vamos a ver.

First Host Families

2011-10-25T15:26:00.000-07:00

After over a year in Paraguay, I am visiting the host family I had during training. I lived with them for 2 ½ months. They are special because they are the first Paraguayans to really interact with volunteers before we have gotten a handle on social norms, language, or even local food. We get off the plane in Asuncion, and (depending on what time the flight came in) we are bussed to our host communities and dropped on our host family’s doorstep. Volunteers are instructed to side step the possibly rocky conversations about religion, sexuality, politics or race that might come up, but other than that, we are very much our American selves. We haven’t yet learned that long, seemingly awkward, pauses in conversation while sipping tereré are perfectly normal. We haven’t yet become accustomed to people wiping their mouth on the tablecloth or picking their nose publicly without shame. We still might feel offended or uncomfortable if someone makes an observation about our weight or skin color. During training, our host families see us make many a fauz pas. They see us react uncomfortably to situations or comments that are perfectly normal and acceptable in Paraguayan society. They have to deal with us accidentally doing and saying things that are perfectly normal in the USA, but inappropriate here. They might see us battle our first bout of homesickness… or physical sickness like continuous vomiting and diarrhea (which must be almost as bad to overhear as it is to experience). Essentially they see us at a very vulnerable stage in our time in-country. We are still learning the basics. We make mistakes with them that after a month or two in country we would never dream of making, and by the time we get placed in our permanent site, we forgot we ever had to learn.

It is hard to be a trainee, but being a host family is challenging too.

One person's trash, is another person's ground cover...

2011-10-19T18:31:00.000-07:00

One cultural difference:

I am facing increasing pressure from my landlady/neighbor to “clean up” my yard. Everyone who sees my yard from the taxi driver to the refrigerator deliveryman, mentions how dirty my yard is. Now I going to set aside the fact that it is socially acceptable here for someone who hardly knows you to tell you that your looks like a disaster, and am going to talk about what is viewed as “trash.”

I am told that my house (usually meaning yard-the overlap between ‘house’ and ‘yard’ is enough for a whole other entry) is full of trash. When I look around, I see wonderful shady yard with some grass and lots of weeds. I do not see old tin roofing, glass bottles or broken toys (like I see in most other peoples yards). That’s because, culturally, I view inorganic litter as trash, and organic litter as… well, weeds no mas. However, in Paraguay trash (basura) can be both organic and inorganic. If you tell a group of Paraguayan children to go collect a bunch of basura, you are likely going to end up with a pile of leaves, sticks and weeds. When I clean up my yard, I pick up the candy wrappers and caña bottles that people have tossed. I don’t pick the groundcover (weeds). Trash is relative; its what you have learned to view as ugly.

For nearly a year now I have “cleaned” my yard as little as possible. When I look around, I just don’t see the trash like other people. To me personally, a yard covered by ground cover/weeds, is more lindo that an area picked clean and dusty with the red dirt of Paraguay. However, several people have informed me that I will “clean” my yard before my parents come to visit, and because I try to be culturally appropriate when possible, I am going to try to do just that.

Standfast, Buenos Aires, and other news.

2011-10-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

Now that I have regular and reliable internet access, I am going to try updating this blog similarly to a journal. Before I was just posting copies of my massive emails home to friends and loved ones. This will be a trial run. If, by treating this more like a journal and less like CC on an email, I end up writing in my paper journal less, I will have to reevaluate. But it should mean that my updates will be much more frequent.

Now, for the hot topics I’m thinking about and dealing with currently:

I just got back from a Buenos Aires vacation with other volunteers. I’m exhausted with good food, good wine, and amazing tango. I’m also vaguely trying to plot a future that has me living in BA for a while.

Departmento San Pedro volunteers (like myself) are on an extended Standfast (meaning PC says we cant leave site or travel) due to the State of Exception President Lugo ratified last week. A State of Exception “provides civil and military authorities broad powers to detain any individual that they suspect of wrong doing. The military and National Police have been mobilized and are currently patrolling San Pedro and Concepcion Departments.” This sounds way more serious and scary than it actually is. Not much has happened, and the Standfast will probably be called off next week. For me, the biggest downside of this is that I don’t get a volunteer visit from the new group of PC Agriculture trainees. I think a trainee would have gotten a lot out of a visit here seeing as how I am:

happy
in a supper authentic campo house
have a great garden
have golden nuggets of wisdom to bestow upon them
have a chuchi new bed and mattress

My garden has exploded with more vegetables than I can possibly eat. It has also exploded with more weeds than I can possibly pull.

I have successfully made banana bread several times now. It is delicious.

My house doesn’t have mice, just finches that flit in and out. I think its rather nice.

My land lady finally moved into a house they have been building for months. Unfortunately its located about 8 meters from my house. I planted a small fence of trees to create a sense of separation. Alas they are only about 4 inches tall right now. Maybe I have nothing to worry about. Vamos a ver.

Paraguay update

2011-09-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

Time for another email! I made it through the long cold winter here in Paraguay, and now Spring is on its way. I had a wonderful three week visit from Cora, and than a fantastic month long visit from Kate. It was nice to have company for the long cold evenings when the sunset around 5pm. After nearly two months of visitors, it took me a while to get used to being here by myself again.

At least now I can fill up my evenings with Adventures In Cooking. Cora left me some tasty teriyaki sauce, and Kate invented curried madioca (also known as yuca or cassava)! Kate also taught me how to make grilled cheese sandwiches. Slowly but surely, I am learning to feel myself. Having a garden helps this educational process. In order to buy food in town, I have to walk or bike 4 kilometers up hill to the ruta (highway) and wait a half hour or more for the bus.Once Im in town, I usually have to rush a bit to get all my errands done by 2ish, so I can catch the last bus back to my community. Next, loaded down with all my groceries, I walk or bike (down hill this time) the 4 k back to my house. Because shopping is such an ordeal, I eat out of my garden whenever I can. I also get gifted homelaid eggs (highly valued compared to the store bought kind) and peanuts fresh from the field. I still haven't figured out how to cook meat, and haven't bothered to buy any. I got gifted a live chicken by a neighbor. Im hoping it will eventually start to lay eggs. I have come okra and eggplant plants that Im going to have to learn how to cook. Sadly, I still have not figured out how to grow chocolate chips.

Enough about food. My English classes are really taking off. During the last class, I was teaching the kids colors and we played Twister on a homemade Twister board. I have also ben building a lot of fagones (brick, fuel efficient cook stoves) in my site and in sites of other volunteers. Work seems to ebb and flow, although some of this is due to the weather. But things are beginning to speed back up again. Ill be doing some venenos caseros (homemade bug repellent) classes, and doing turnout in my community for a class my boss from Peace Corps is going to come and teach. Also, Ill be building more fagones and hopefully starting on a series of classes about reforestation. Every family that gets a fagone, also gets half a dozen trees. The idea is that people will see that planning a head for things like firewood can help avoid even more deforestation and soil degradation.

Im sure there is more to say, but this is enough for now. I have internet in my house now, so its finally possible for me to communicate by email easily.

Until next time,

-Fiona

P.S. Here are some photos for your perusal.

Carrots from my garden, of which I am very proud.

Cora and I and Iguassu Falls

Kate and I at another volunteer's site, reading in a hammock built for two.

My beautiful Twister board and matt.

English class Twister game.

My neighbor Sol, and my dog Berenjena.

winter

2011-06-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

I have been in Paraguay for 9 months now, and in site for nearly 7. I am completely settled in my little wooden house, and have a garden that’s over flowing with lettuce and hopefully some other vegetables soon. I have my dog Berenjena, who is recovering from a bit she received at the jaws of an other dog… unfortunately her wound got some sort worm infection (I promise that while not pleasant, this is not as gross as it sounds). My neighbors recognized what it was immediately helped me treat her. I also have my cat (of undetermined sex), Shrek, who spends days away from home. But when s/he dose finally decide to spend some at home, s/he is like a living hot water bottle during the cold nights.

Speaking of cold nights, winter started about a month ago. My house is so far from being air tight, that when the wind blows outside, the clothes I having hanging up sway in the breeze. I was wearing several layers of clothing and hats and gloves to bed… but then the “Little San Juan Summer” started, and I was back to shorts and t-shirts! Apparently every year around this time there is a week or two of very warm weather.

In the middle of this heat wave, Cora arrived for a visit. Luckily she packed layers and so was prepared for anything. We have been visiting my neighbors, making venenos caseros (homemade bug repellent) for the garden and working on my garden. We have also been feeling the garden worms I acquired and harvesting their castings for my garden (yum!).

This weekend, Cora and I are going with another volunteer and his visiting friends, to visit Iguazu Falls http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iguazu_Falls where the boarders of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina meet. Apparently, its one of the most stunning water falls in the world. -on a side note, the movie “The Triple Frontier” or possibly “Sleeping Dogs” staring Tom Hanks is about this area (the illegal trafficking… not the falls). I don’t know when it will come out, but I think they started filming a few months ago.
On the 2nd of July, we will go to the Embassy to celebrate Independence Day (two days early). And then on the 7th of July, I loose one visitor and gain another! Cora heads back to the states, and Kate arrives. Its hard to plan anything too far ahead of time here, but Kate and I will probably work in my garden, start my demo plot (an example of how field crops and abonos verdes can be planed together), and maybe have a few English classes.

I am so glad that a few special people from back home are able to visit me and see my life here.
Jajotopata (Until next time)

-Fiona

as the months go by

2011-04-17T14:32:00.000-07:00

I go online so rarely now, that it is kind of overwhelming when I get the chance. This is part of the reason my updates are so infrequent and rather scatteredly written when they do occur.
Anyway, I am now well settled into my community. I moved into my own house about 3 weeks ago, and the new found sense of privacy is wonderful. Last week I started planting my first ever garden, and acquired a 2 month old puppy. The weather is finally changing and we are entering fall. It’s a welcome change from the heat, although I frequently find myself cold at night and yet sweaty during the day. My little house is very simple although I now have a few luxuries such as a refrigerator and a table. I still don’t have a stove, so I have been doing most of my cooking on a brazero… kind of a little barbeque or by building a camp fire under the thatched roof structure outside my house. Several things, such as a shower, a latrine, and a sink, are still missing from my house, but tranquilo, Ill get around to building those things eventually.
I have several photos on facebook, most of them involve me making the fence to my garden, of which I am very proud. Here is a link if your are interested:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=529484646586&id=22500047&aid=2038478&l=75cf2c3064

My Spanish is much better now. I can really communicate with people as long as we stay on subject that I have vocabulary for. My Gurani, on the other hand, has not really advanced at all. I can pick out a word here or there, but I don’t speak myself.
My parents are in the Middle East right now, in Oman. My mother got a Fulbright scholarship (que guapa!-“How hardworking!” in Paraguayan Spanish), and I have decided to take some vacation time and go visit them. I am leaving Paraguay on May 1st and returning May 14th. While it seem a little crazy to leave one obscure, beautiful country to go visit another obscure, beautiful country, I am glad I have such an opportunity. How many layers of culture shock can I experience at once?
I am successfully getting letters at my local address, in the near by town. But every so often, a letter addressed there still ends up being routed to the Peace Corps Office in the capital.
If you feel like writing me a letter, or sending me a package the best address to send it to is:
Fiona Martin,
Cuerpo de Paz
Punta Suerte, Santani
Codigo Postal: 8210
Paraguay, South America
Have a wonderful spring! Ill be thinking about you all as I head into autumn down here in Paraguay!

I am suerte

2010-12-30T19:16:00.000-08:00

My site is fantastic. I am about to finnish up my third week there. Its not easy, but I knew it wouldn't be, right?
Im living with a different host family every two weeks. So last Monday I moved from my first host family (who had two TVs and internet) to a new family (that has one electrical out let for the whole house, a latrine, a bucket to bath with, and a bed I share with the 10 year old granddaughter). It just goes to show that even with in one community there can be widely diverse living situations. I really life my second host family. Yesterday I ended up teaching a impromptu English class complete with a little blackboard and everything. Latter that evening, me and my 10 year old host sister lay in bed each studying. She studied English, while I studied Guarani. It was adorable.
My main goal in these first few months in community integration. How can I convince people to do intercropping and abonos verdes, if they dont know who I am and if they can trust me? So, I wake up early each morning before it gets unbearably hot, and I go visit a new family. I just sort of show up outside there house and clap loudly (its kind of like knocking). Usually the senora is at home and we all sit down to drink delicious, delicious terere and talk about the weather and how hopefully I will learn some Guarani. People are incredibly patient and usually I usually know enough Spanish and they know enough Spanish that we manage to get the gist of the conversation.
After a good long terere setion, I go back to my host family and eat lunch (consisting of an unknown part of the cow) and attempt to nap in the horrendous heat of midday.
After my nap I either go and visit another family, or stay and hope and study Guarani or agro. technical information. Some days are definitely a lot more productive than others.
I have found that although my language skills in Spanish and especially in Guarani are lacking, I am ahead of the game in awkwardly house calling complete strangers. So much of my job with AFSCME was house calling people and getting them to tell me about their work life, that I find its fairly easy to do the same thing here. I just trip over the language while Im doing it. I have been able to give a few helpful (I hope) tips to my peers as well. But it take people a while to learn that you cant just bluntly ask people "what do you want me to do for you?" or "why dont you use abonos verdes on your fields?" You have to have a discussion and eventually these things come out much more naturally. Eventually people start taking about how the soil is tired and drained of nutrients, and how one of their neighbor plans beans in between his corn- Thus the chance for a discussion about abonos verdes. But even though we were taught in training about the need for a discussion in stead of direct questions for change right off the bat, it is hard for many people take the time that is necessary.
Im not saying that I house call perfectly, but I finally understand why the Peace Corps accepted be despite the complete lack of language and agricultural training.

I picked up some letters in the office today! Thank you so much!
Happy New Years everyone!

my site!

2010-11-17T12:42:00.000-08:00

ahh! I found out my site today. I am going to visit it for a week tomorrow. My offical home for the next two years is: Calle Arroyense, Punta Suerte de San Estanislao, San Pedro, Paraguay.
Ill tell you more in a week after I have actually visited the place. As of now, all I really know is that they grow alot of sesame and pineapple and that San Pedro is one of the poorest and most politically active departments in Paraguay.
In a few weeks, once I actually know what this all means, Ill update again.

belated update

2010-10-28T13:37:00.001-07:00

Oct. 8th 2010
I am beginning to realize that I came to PC at the right time in my life. You have to have a really strong sense of yourself before you come, or it will swallow you up. Happily, I do have a very strong sense of myself, but I don’t think I did back in senior year when I was first considering the PC. I am really glad I ended up waiting two year. Im going to do a much better job now, than I would have then.

Oct 27th 2010
I have a bigger impact on the kids in my host family than I anticipated. My cousin saw me using flashcards (that I have been making our of poster board due to the lack of index cards in this country), and the very next day she had made some flash card for herself out of blue poster board party disks (she is studying English). Knowing that I have people watching me and imitating my habits, definitely puts me on my best behavior. I want to be a good studious role model, not one that ignores studying to write blog posts….).
I’m going to be sending out semi regular massive email updates, since some people don’t really read blogs. If your interested, and you haven’t already received one let me know and Ill add you to my rather informal list.

classes and training

2010-10-06T13:30:00.000-07:00

Wow have my days been busy! Each hour of the day (or at least the time between 8 and 5) is heavily scheduled during training. When we have training at the main center, we have to take two different buses from our little outer communities. All in all, it takes about 40 mins to get from my casa, to the training center. Not a bad commute, although very crowded on the buses.
My host mother tought me a new, and delicious way to eat oranges. First you cut a bit of the top off, than you peal it with a knife, but leave it encased in the white skin. Then you slowly squise it and slurp up the juice as it rises to the top where you cut off a bit. Once you have gotten all the juice out, you can open it up and eat the pulp (if there is any left).
Very good.

And it starts

2010-09-30T06:24:00.000-07:00

We are in Brazil now suffering through a 13 hour layover on our way to Paraguay. I got to meet the whole group in Miami at staging, and so far everyone seems fantastic. A great many of the 47 volunteers recently graduated college in May, but several of them have a few years of post college or gradute life under their belts. Its nice to finally be able to talk about my hopes and consernes with other people who have been obsesing over the PC in the last few months too. We each have little differnt bits of information about our job assignemtns and about Paraguay itself. Its difficult to remember names at the moment, but Im sure that over the next three months we will all get to know each other very very well.
Im sure my blog posts will get more exciting as we move along in training.

Leaving soon.

2010-09-19T13:59:00.000-07:00

Well, this is the start of my blog about serving in the Peace Corps in Paraguay.
I haven't actually left yet. I leave September 28th. In preparation of my departure, I haven been vacillating between packing up my room, and relaxing and enjoying the week and a half I have left in Indiana. I am leaving my friends, my family, and the person I love. Its hard to get everything ready, when I am trying to treasure the time I have left.
My To Do list was helping, but it might be time to write a new one. I have crossed out and rewritten so much, that its hard to read now.
Time to focus.