Hello blog readers! Welcome to 2013! There are a lot of
jumbled up thoughts in my head about how to start/write this blog so I’m just
going to wing it. One of my New Years Resolutions is to blog more. I think I
started out my service pretty strong and since then I’ll halfway write a blog
and never post it – well no more! You guys are going to get tired of me and
have to stop following me (I have no idea if you ‘follow’ blogs but it seems
right).
For me, 2013 has already been a pretty awesome year. It started off in America! I was lucky
enough to be home for the holidays this year. I spent Christmas in Powder Springs, Ga and then made my way
down to Florida with my parents.
Elijah (American boyfriend who is also a PCV) also managed to meet me
down in Florida. He is a brave
soul and agreed to spend 5 days with my parents on an island that is only
accessible by boat or plane.
Little did he know that he was even luckier and my protective,
self-proclaimed red neck uncle also joined us at the beach! Although there were
threats of pool cue beatings, Elijah managed to make it through the trip
unharmed. He also caught a 6ft
lemonhead shark, which helped inspire some male bonding. Enough about America, you guys don’t
read this blog to hear about how a 24 year old is doing in America; you just
want to hear about how I poop in a hole in Paraguay.
I think part of the reason that my blogging has taken a hit
is because I feel like I don’t have exciting things to post about. This is most likely because after a
year I have forgotten that most of the things in my everyday life aren’t
normal. I never used to burn my
toilet paper, or be able to identify the scream of a pig being castrated. Somehow life in Paraguay is routine; I
have no idea when it happened but at some point I just started shrugging my
shoulders and rolling with it.
All that being said I am going to do my best to pull out the
actually normal stories from the Paraguayan normal stories and post more
blogs. If no one actually reads
them, that’s okay, I’ll still have this blog to look back on as a reminder of
events in my life. Plus, if I
don’t have anything to blog about I can just put up pictures of Copper. Yes,
she is coming home with me next December, and no, she won’t be quarantined.
To finish up this blog I am going to post the answer to the
most common questions that were asked of me in the states:
Do you live with a
family? No. I live about 20 yards from a family in their son’s house. He is
working in a different part of the country.
Do you really poop in
a hole? Kind of. It’s sort of like a concrete block with a slope in it that
is located inside of a little house.
I hate it. Ants live in it.
What do you normally
eat? Popcorn. I eat a lot of popcorn. I also have 4 laying hens that give
me an egg a day each so my egg intake has bumped up as well. If not popcorn
I’ll make a rice and veggie dish.
Do you have internet
at your site? No. A lot of volunteers have internet modems that they use in
site but to my frustration my site doesn’t have a good enough signal. I go into
town to use the internet.
How do you get to
town? I have about a 4km walk that takes between 45-50 minutes. When I get
to the main road I wait for a bus, from there it’s 15 minutes to the nearest
internet café. If I don’t want to take a bus I can go 10km to go to a different
town but they don’t have an internet café.
How often do you see
other volunteers? There is a radio show in a town that is about 45 minutes
away by bus every Monday. I don’t go to it as often as I’d like but if I am
feeling lonely I can go and see other Americans. Other than that I usually
leave site to spend the night in Asuncion or go see Elijah every 2 – 3 weeks.
What language do you
speak? Paraguay has 2 official languages, Spanish and Guarani. I speak
mainly Spanish but understand some Guarani. Another New Years Resolution of
mine is to study more Guarani.
Are you happy? I
have loved my time in Paraguay. I think it’s been really good for me as a
person. I am more independent and tougher than when I left. I actually am
really happy here. That being said, I love America and can’t wait to be back.
Would you recommend
Peace Corps to someone else? DO IT! Peace Corps has been awesome. However,
you know yourself and what you are capable of. If you can’t poop in a hole and
would die before shitting your pants then Peace Corps probably isn’t for you.
What’s been your low
point in Paraguay? Shitting my pants while living with a host family*.
If you are wondering about all of the ‘poop in a hole’
comments then you can blame my mother. I made the mistake of showing her this
video when I was home and she had me show everyone. The song, and the phrase,
are now stuck in my head.
Also, this song is true in just about everything it says.
*I wrote this blog on 1/5, when this was indeed my low
point. However, while traveling into Asuncion I fainted on a bus and was held
up by a random Paraguayan. This may be my new Paraguayan low point.
