2 weeks and counting!

So I’ve been here in Paraguy for a little over two weeks now. Pretty ridiculous. Seems like I’ve been here and I’ve know my other training mates for months not days. So I’ve gotten a few questions and I’m going to answer some of them here.

Number one: What is your living situation like?

So my “room” is separate from the rest of the house. I have what I think used to be part of the garage when they had a car. (Which they don’t anymore) This “garage” has been split into two rooms by a thin ply wood wall and my room is on one side and there is storage and random stuff on the other. I can lock the “door” to my side of the room and the door to the entire garage. (And sometimes I lock my chuchi stuff into my dresser with my luggage lock – p.s. chuchi means fancy) I have a twin bed which doesn’t really bother me and my chuchi green mosquito net. My room has a bathroom with a shower but I its all one room and I only use that shower to wash my feet off when they get dirty (which is a lot) and I only use the toilet if I have to go in the middle of the night because it doesn’t flush I have to throw a bucket of water down it. The bathroom in the family house though is pretty chuchi. The shower actually has a little step down so its not all part of the same floor which is normal for bathrooms here, there are no tubs; and I have hot water! But guess what guys … I never use it! I have never craved a cold shower so often in my life. It is SO hot here every day, mind you this is like mid-august summer time in MD (sometimes hotter) but the cold shower is my only escape.

Number two: General questions about language and my language classes?

Just in these two weeks here my Spanish is definitely improved, especially because I have my only little Spanish translator/teacher, Susi. Whenever I don’t understand something or didn’t hear someone she will repeat it for me or say it a different way so I’ll understand. She is awesome.

My classes are going well. Mainly I’m just doing a review of Spanish right now. But, I’ll start with Guarani classes very soon.

My Host Sister - Susi

Number 3: What is the food like?

So in Paraguay breakfasts and dinners tend to be smaller meals and lunch is usually the biggest meal of the day. My breakfast usually consists of “Hot Chocolate” – basically warm milk and some chocolatey powder, yogurt (which her is more of a beverage than something you eat with a spoon – but it tastes exactly the same) and some sort of fruit, usually and apple or a pear. Most of the times I’m eating lunch at school so my mom packs me a lunch, every once and a while I get to go home for lunch. Dinner I usually eat with just my mom and Susi. There is usually mandioca at every lunch or dinner meal. Mandioca is the Spanish word for yucca root. It’s very starchy kind of like a potato. I really like it a lot, some people don’t but it usually is at every or most meals. There are also these two corn bread type dishes, one is called Sopa Paraguay (and no its not soup – the word for soup in Paraguay is caldo) and the other is called Chipa Guasu. Sopa Paraguay is a little more drier than Chipa Guasu and Chipa Guasu tends to have more whole fresh corn used in it. I lean more towards the Chipa Guasu part of things but I like them both. There is a lot of meat … Beef, Chicken, Pork, etc. Also there is a lot of fresh fruits that you can just grab off a tree. Mango season is just ending which is sad. But, grapefruits are just starting to get pretty ripe! There are also apples, bananas, guavas, avocados, pinas, oranges and limes (and so many more I’m forgetting.)

I know there have been other questions and I’ll try to get to them when I can but I don’t have that much spare time and when I do I’m usually hanging out with my family or other training mates or sleeping. Here are a couple pictures. The first picture is of me and some girls in my training group and the second is my 3 year old cousin Lujan (not sure actually – maybe my niece. She calls me her Nueva Hermana) who is the cutest little girl ever.

Also, this past Thursday we went to Asuncion for the day. We were paired up with some one. My partner was Kalena (fluent speaker woo!) and we were supposed to go to the Mercado 4 and to the Public Health – Dental office. After getting a little lost we finally found the market, and it is nuts. Almost anything you could ever want you can find at this market. I got a pair of shoes they look exactly like a pair of Toms, super cheap. (If you didn’t know TOMS are actually based off of a traditional Argentine shoe because the founder saw them there … hence the TOMS logo looking eerily similar to the Argentine Flag) Then we went to the Public Health place and the dentist we were supposed to talk to only comes in on Tuesday and it was a Thursday … womp womp. So that kind of sucked because the lady in the office wasn’t very helpful either. Then we went to the Peace Corps offices and had class in the afternoon. Mostly security and internet security, but, a representative from the embassy came and gave a presentation on Paraguay. I thought it was super interesting!

On Monday I am going to visit a volunteer by myself. Her name is Lauren and her site is kind of near Caazapa (and kind of not ha). I’m so excited. I get back on Thursday and I’ll let you know how it went. The only info I have is that I might be helping build a fogone (a kind of stove).