I’ve finally perfected my guacamole recipe!

The secret to good guacamole is....Opps can’t tell you, it’s a secret:)  But in reality, how much do any of you really care about how to create a perfect bowl of Guacamole.  

The reason I really started writing this is that I found out that I will be spending the next two years in barrio Calle 1-80 in Blas A Garay in Caaguazu.  I don’t know much about it but I am going to visit it this weekend (so check facebook fo photos on Thursday). What I do know is that it is 4km off the ruta and there is no direct transportaion to get there, there is 120 families (about 700 people), and it’s a very poor/needy community. However, I also know that my community has a strong sense of community, they are very organized, my community contact is very guapa and I’m the first volunteer they have ever had. 

I’ll tell you more next Thursday, wish me luck!

Running, Reading, and other strange things I do in Paraguay

I’ve started running everyday just before it gets dark. Running is weird in Paraguay! During my first run in Paraguay, a bunch of the students in the class that I teach started running behind me. One of them asked who was chasing me. In Paraguay, the only reason to run is because someone is chasing you. 

I am also reading a lot. It’s a nice way to spend a few hours relaxing. No one reads in Paraguay, and it’s an ideal way to mark yourself out as a foreigner, as if it wasn’t already obvious. Books are very expensive in Paraguay and hard to find outside of big cities so I am reading whatever happens to show up at the training center.  I’ve read some very good books including The 19th Wife and Tears of a Giraffe, but on the other hand I’ve also read some not so good books. The one I just finished reading is called The Whole Truth....it’s so bad but it’s weirdly very hard to put down.  I am almost envious of the trainees who have Kindles, Nooks, and Ipads cause they can download good books. Oh well, I will have access to the volunteer library in 3 weeks and it is much better stocked.

Mandioca ass and other happenings in Paraguay

What a week....I am so glad that it’s Friday! It My week hasn’t been bad, just long. First, my host family told me I had chicken pox because I have itchy red dots on my back. I think that they’re bug bites, but my host family is freaking out. Second, I went to work in another volunteer’s site. He lives in a very urban site right outside of Asuncion. My language group and I did six charlas in three days. A charla consisted of an icebreaker, an activity, and a discussion about the activity. Third, while working in the volunteer’s site, I stayed with another host family. They were awesome. One day, I came home and my host sister goes “you’re looking really fat today”.....umm thanks was about all I could say.  And one night, they served me something and refused to tell me what it was until I’d eaten it all, it turned out to be morcial which is sausage made with cow’s blood.   Finally, while crossing the ruta, I got hit by a moto. Luckily, I’m fine, just a little bruised. 

After all of that I am in the mood to vent, so here is a list of absolutely ridiculous Paraguayan beliefs:

1. Lime juice cancels out calories (one of my neighbors is overweight and she puts lime juice on everything so that she can eat what she wants and not gain any weight....if only it were that simple)
2. If you sleep with a cat, you won’t get pregnant (hopefully that is not the preferred method of birth control in Paraguay)

I will clearly be adding to this list

First days of school (in Paraguay)

I observed my first class in Paraguay and taught my first mini get to know-you game.  While the teacher taught, the class of third graders copied the rules and details about themselves from the board for the whole 4 hour class period. There was no real classroom management and those kids that didn’t want to do anything, didn’t.   The one saving grace in the class is the teacher, she is very motivated and clearly wants the best for her students. Unfortunately, she was taught in a way that is non-participatory and  no one has taught her to teach differently in college, so, she teaches in a way that doesn’t work.  I actually did a diagnostic test to see what level the students were reading at. Half of my kids are reading on or above grade level, the rest don't know their letters.  

On the other hand, I visited a Escuela Especial (special needs school).  The students are divided by developmental ability and their classes are much more participatory. PS. They have a Special Olympics team at the school!!!!

Other than what I am up to day to day,  I should tell you that I am happy and really enjoying my day to day life. I can hardly believe that I have been here  for over a month. The days are flying by.

Getting a glimpse of life as a volunteer

Last week,  I visited a volunteer named Nancy. She lives in a in a barrio named Villa Madrid near a town called Limpio.  On my way there I got a little lost because the bus driver just stopped the bus and told everyone to get out.  I didn’t know where I was, or what to do so I walked back 2km to Limpio.  There people sent me in circles until I finally figured out the I had to get on another bus to go to Villa Madrid.  I eventually found Nancy’s house.  

The barrio  there is divided into three phases in accordance with which water tank they use.  Nancy lives in the first phase across from a community center that is run by the municipality behind the community center there is a bunch of asentamientos (hut like houses made out of traps and cardboard). One of the biggest problems in the first phase is water. It comes on 3 times per day, so Nancy and I took bucket bathes everyday! There is also a school and a church in the first phase, at least I think that’s where they are.  In the third phase there is a comedor (cafeteria where the poorest children in the barrio can eat for free).

After I arrived, Nancy and I made rompe cabezas (puzzles) with some of the kids in her barrio. Then we visited a few families that she needed to talk with. The next day we went to the comedor for lunch visited and talked with a few more families. Then we went out for dinner and drinks with Luke (another PCV) and Zach (another trainee). I had shwerma.  The next day, it was raining. In Paraguay, everything stops when it rains. But, Nancy and I ventured out anyway. We went to the school and I got a chance to talk to some of the teachers and the principal. Even though was the first day of classes, less than half the students attended because of the rain.  On thursday, we went into Limpio and visited the municipalidad and a library built by some Peace Corps Volunteers.  The we did a radio show. All we really had time to do was introduce ourselves, but I talked about how I went to school near Chicago and live in CO. 

First experiences

La escuela

On Friday, I visited the school that I will be working in for the next month.  I wasn’t really surprised at how poor the the conditions were. What did surprise me was that the teachers blamed the parents for not being involved enough in their children’s education and the parents blame the teachers for not working hard enough.

One of my biggest concerns with trying to help improve the Paraguayan teaching methods is that the problems seem bigger than me. For example, the Paraguayan Ministry of Education (MECA) gave all the teachers a basic skills test last year. Only 17% of all teachers passed it. Obviously, MECA can’t fire 83% of the teachers, so 83% of teachers can’t preform basic skills. Another problem is that many Paraguayans don’t have access to books because they are really expensive so much of the reading done by Paraguayans is purely for functional purposes. In fact, my family thinks I am super intelligent because I read books page by page. 

I have to have the attitude that I will make a small difference in one town. I am ready to start helping teachers one at a time, but its all going to depend on how motivated the teachers are to create cheap resources for their students and how open they are to new teaching methodologies. 

Going to the capital

As you know, on Thursday I went to Asuncion to do a treasure hunt (tapeapovo).  It was a lot of fun. I went to the mercado de San Lorenzo. The mercado there is an outdoor market in which you can buy absolutely anything you want for a ridiculously cheap price.  I also went to the multiplaza. The multiplaza is essentially a mall. We were supposed to visit a bookstore inside it called La Guapa India (which was a trick since the bookstore doesn’t exsist anymore).  Then we went to the Peace Corps office.

My group had no trouble with the Treasure hunt at all, but the other group had some minor issues.  A couple people finished early so they went to visit the US Embassy and they took pictures of it...but, apparently you’re not allowed to take pictures of government buildings because the people taking pictures were arrested and detained for an hour.  A few other people got...thankfully, I haven’t gotten sick,