I don't think I edited this blog...

There are a few problems that I constantly encounter with my blog.  The first is that I always forget what I have blogged about (I generally assume if I don’t remember blogging about it, you guys don’t remember reading it).  The second is that I only have a chance to post a blog every week or two (I can sometimes use my kindle to check facebook and email but writing a blog on a kindle is something I refuse to do, seeing as kindles don’t have spell check and I am already self-conscious about my writing).  The third is that I get really excited about random blogs during the week.  I don’t want to overwhelm you guys and post 4 at once and often my enthusiasm wanes and blogs are left unfinished and unedited, never to be read again.  The result is that my blog is a random assortment of stories and highlights from my service with no unifying theme, other than I felt like posting them at the time.  I would like to apologize for my lack of blogging skill; however, I didn’t major in blogging and you guys can stop reading at any time (but I secretly like that you do read, so please don’t leave me).

Enough rambling, the theme of this blog is Why All Peace Corps Paraguay Volunteers Love Rain.

First, let me state that this is a HUGE generalization. Possibly only Agricultural Volunteers like rain, or maybe only myself and my 3 closest volunteer friends.  Probably this should be titled “Why Maggie Flinn loves Rain”.  Well readers, this is why I love rain.

My site is made up of dirt roads and when it rains, mud roads.  This means that leaving site is not really a possibility.  I only really leave site to go buy food or visit other volunteer; therefore, the lack of road is generally not an issue.  A rainy day also means that you are trapped inside.  During the first 2 months in site, when I lived with a host family, this was torture.  You are trapped.  You have to sit and make conversation all day.  Even harder for me was when my contact’s daughters all came to visit and we got ‘rained in’.  You would think that with more people it would be more fun - this is not the case.  I would sit and listen to inside jokes and stories, watching a group of sisters interacting in the way that only sisters do.  I was an outsider and just kept thinking how my sisters and I were way funnier and had way better inside jokes (not biased at all). 

Independent Maggie can now look back on those long days and appreciate them because they did strengthen my bond with my contact and force me to use my language.  Independent Maggie also knows that she never has to suffer through another one of these days.  A rainy day when you live alone is a day to yourself.  No one judges you for not working or visiting families; it’s dangerous out there! You can spend the day reading and knitting.  Your brain gets a day off because you aren’t constantly speaking in a mixture of Spanish and Guarani.  You don’t have to deal with critical Señoras telling you that you are ‘demasiada gorda’ or harassing you about dating a Paraguayan so he can go back to the states with you.  Rainy days keep me sane. They are a time for me to just relax and not let cultural differences drive me crazy.  I have lame dance parties to Top 40 mixes friends from the states send me (Jill and Amelia, thanks again), I watch lame tv shows on my computer (Leigh, I’m still watching Vampire Diaries so thank Trey for me), and I try to learn how to knit fingerless gloves. 

The weird thing about being a PC volunteer is that you are a volunteer 24/7.  The people in my community are constantly watching me and gossiping about what I do.  People randomly (and creepily) take pictures of me weekly, often without asking.  Men in town get drunk and tell people that I’m their girlfriend (I am still not dating a Paraguayan).  I am constantly told that my American boyfriend is cheating on me with a Paraguayan and that is why he speaks Guarani better than I do.  Often after this statement I am encouraged to get back at him by dating a Paraguayan.  Rainy days save me from all of this.  I don’t mean to sound like I don’t love Paraguay, I do.  The people are more hospitable than anywhere I have ever been.  My host-mom is actually insane (in the best possible way) and has taken to flashing me and asking me if she can see my ‘tetes moroti’ (white boobs).  It’s fun having everyone want to be your friend and want to learn more about you – but that doesn’t mean that I don’t LOVE a good rainy day every once in a while.