5 Months in Paraguay

I have officially been living in Paraguay for 5 months.  I have done a lot of things here that I probably never would have done in the states. I now know how to bucket bathe, de-feather a chicken, remove a chickens organs, carry 5 gallon buckets on my head, and make more fried food than I ever hope to eat again.  I have also come to really enjoy spending time with my neighbors.  It feels like I haven’t done anything in site yet, and honestly I haven’t.  The first 3 months Peace Corps only expects you to integrate and to try to gain the communities trust.  That’s what I have been trying to do. I spend my mornings milking cows and preparing lunch, I take my siesta, and then I visit with families and drink terere.  School started last week so I plan on visiting and talking with the teachers about how I can help out.  I hope to work with the students in the school garden.  My site is different from most of the other volunteers because it is so small. I only have 30 or so houses in my site where most volunteers have 100 plus houses.  I also do not have any organizations that I can collectively work with.  This means if I plan on giving lectures I have to try to organize the meetings or go house to house talking to families.  It is intimidating now but hopefully within a few months I will have a system worked out and can be more effective.  Right now I am ready to start building my own garden and talking to farmers about future crops. 

Paraguay has also become more enjoyable since I moved into my own house.  I get to cook a few of my own meals each week, which means not fried food. My dueña (landlord) is more like a host mom and wants me to eat all of my meals with her.  She is awesome. Ña Julia is a fiery, short Paraguayan woman.  She is insanely hard working and never takes a break.  She yells at the town drunk when he gets too close to me and yells at me constantly in Guarani.  I think she is yelling nice things but honestly, I have no idea.  The other day I was watching her cook in the outdoor kitchen but apparently she didn’t hear me come up behind her.  I know this because she turned around and screamed when she saw me.  Then she started yelling in Guarani about how I am “too tall” and a “giant”.  She managed to use these as terms of endearment, I promise. We milk the cows together every morning and she worries if she thinks I am out too late running. It is nice to know that there are people that care enough about me in the community to look out for me.

I wish I had come big crazy stories to tell but nothing that intense has happened lately.  I’ve had women beg me to marry their sons, ask if they can have my eyes, and I’ve managed to cut open every finger on my left hand except my pinky.  I’ve been drooled on by the town drunk, been told I’ll be getting married in November, and constantly asked why my skin is turning red instead of brown.  I think that what were crazy stories in October are now just a part of living in Paraguay.  I accept the fact that I have to look out for ants when I use the latrine because if I don’t my butt will get attacked (it really hurts).  I accept that I only get to bathe with 2 liters of water because I need to save the rest of it and it is definitely not worth carrying buckets of water up and down a hill just to wash my hair every day.  I am a much dirtier person than I was upon arrival in Paraguay and I’m only 5 months in.  I am slightly terrified to see what happens after another 21 months.