10 Months in Paraguay

It is hard for me to believe that I have been in Paraguay for 10 months.  In a few weeks G-39 will swear in, and after that G-40 (my sister G) will arrive.  I think this is a milestone for most volunteers.  The reason is that we along with our ‘older’ sister G, G-34, help train G-40.

–Side Note: We are G’s because we are trained in Guarambare, so my group was the 37^th group of trainees to go through Guarambare.  Every third G will be the same sector because it rotates, Rural Health and Sanitation swear-in in April, Community Economic Development swears- in in August and Agricultural Extension and Environmental Education swear-in in December.  This concept was confusing for me when I first arrived in Paraguay and it took a while for me to realize my sister-G wasn’t the G directly before and after me. 

After 10 months in Paraguay and 7 ½ in site, I wish that I could tell you that my Guarani was improving; it isn’t.  I started studying more and I have posters around my room with verbs and sentence structure but it’s not coming together.  My main issue is that I can already speak Spanish. I had thought this would be awesome because I could just focus on Guarani and not worry about Spanish; unfortunately, when I don’t understand what people say in Guarani they just switch to Spanish and encourage me to do the same.  They later ask why I don’t speak more Guarani. I found out that other Ag volunteers lied about their Spanish abilities in site so they would be forced to learn Guarani.  I wish I had found this out before I got to site, not 4 months in when everyone knew my Spanish abilities.  

Besides constantly struggling with language I have also been doing more work in my garden. Unfortunately it appears that my tomatoes have caught a virus, for which there is no cure, and will all be dead within the week.  I think that is what I get for being so proud of the absurd amount of tomatoes I had.  Next summer my plan is to watch them more closely, kill any that seem to be a little sick, and not brag about my massive amount of tomatoes.  I am doing my best to eat my humble pie but it isn’t going down easy. 

Luckily, I still have my garlic, spinach, lettuce, green beans, and carrots.  For my first ever garden I am going to (humbly) say it’s a success!  My demo plot with my contact is also germinating and I think that I might try to plant crops in order to make a homemade chicken feed this spring (fall for you northern hemisphere folks).  I also am planning on buying 3 egg-laying hens in early August (Sorry Ma, I know you wanted to get them first but you were just too slow).

I am still teaching English in the school and in the church, although the attendance in church is dwindling.  In addition I am working with a commission in the community to try and get funding for pipes, a tank, and a motor in order to give 10 families access to running water.  What this means is that I am in charge of filling out the USAID forms; it’s as fun as it sounds.  My main frustration with this project is that I am not being invited to the meetings surrounding the project.  Some of the people think that I just have to call Peace Corps, tell them I need 12.000.000Gs and BOOM I get it.  No strings attached.  Actually I need to write essays, fill out forms, make spreadsheets, and explain where every last Guarani will be spent. All this being said, I really hope that this project can happen. I think I am getting nervous about how I can positively affect the community and helping to fund the running water project would definitely be a step in the right direction.  

All in all Copper and I are doing well in Paraguay.  She is getting neutered in September and doesn’t chase the chickens as often as she used to.  She also hates the town drunk, which I am insanely proud of. She is only 5 months old but she growls at him with the ferocity of a 3 year old German shepherd.  I firmly believe she is one of the best decisions I have made so far in Paraguay.  She barks a lot and chases children but I sleep better knowing I have a furry little friend watching over me. 

Cooking with Friends: A Shout Out to St. Marks Methodist Church

In December of 2008, my Grandma, Mary Kay Staples, gifted her grandchildren with the Cooking With Friends cookbook that her church wrote.  When I was home this past April I came across a copy of the book (actually, it’s Sarah’s) and decided to bring it down with me to Paraguay (sorry Sarah).  Dean Boucher’s banana bread recipe is a real hit with the women of South America!

While I have really enjoyed trying out recipes from this book, I quickly realized that it doesn’t do me a whole lot of good down here.  The issue is that I can’t get 2/3 of the things I need to cook each recipe.  Grandma, I can’t tell you how many times I have looked at the recipe for Ro-Tel Fiesta Chicken with longing and then realized that I don’t have access to Ro-Tel, which judging by the name is a key ingredient.  I also have searched all over Paraguay and the only Elephant I’ve found belongs to the zoo and they said they won’t sell him for my Elephant Stew.

Due to my lack of access to most necessary ingredients (biscuit mix, cake box mix, cream of mushroom soup, brown sugar…) I have been picking and choosing which recipes to make and which recipes to look at with longing and dream about.  Bringing back a cookbook was a really good idea and I wanted to write this blog to thank the authors of this book for filling some of my boring winter afternoons with activities.  Although I have messed up numerous recipes, mixing amounts improperly since I have no actual measuring cups and making up ingredients (sugar cane honey with white sugar is pretty much brown sugar, right?); I think it has been going pretty well.  I also should thank Mr. Daniel who so kindly replied to my tweet requesting how many grams go into a pound (the different measuring systems are a killer!). 

Winter in Paraguay, especially for an Ag Volunteer, can be pretty slow. There are gardens to tend to but the major field crops won’t be planted until around late July or early August.  I have started a demonstration plot with a contact and my garden is in full swing! I have around 100 tomato plants (a minor miscalculation on my part) so the spring might end up involving me trying to make my own Ro-Tel and canning sauces. 

I have also been in site for almost 7 months.  According to most volunteers, this is when things can get a little tough.  I think I am holding up pretty well, my down fall and homesick moment will most likely be when Katy gives birth to baby girl number 2 in August and I realize how bummed I am not to be there.  For now Copper (my dog) and I are bundling up in bed, trying to escape the cold, reading, and knitting - judging by this post I have retired not joined the Peace Corps.  

I am off to try and make some fresh pig fat biscuits, but seriously Crisco is just pig fat in disguise!  

Small Town Gossip

            The past few weeks in site have felt a little bit different to me.  I no longer feel like I am constantly visiting families to get to know them; I already have established relationships with them.  I recently took my contact with me to a one-day conference on Permaculture in Paraguay and it went really well.  I started teaching English classes in the elementary school once a week and in the Church on Saturdays for the older kids.  I have also started work on a series of lectures about green manures in my community.  To top it all off I discovered that there is still one committee that exists in my site.  This is important because in Paraguay a lot of the communities request funds from different organizations and often times you have to be in a committee to request funds and some times the committee has to be in existence for over 2 years before they can request funds.  I was excited because I believed this would create many more opportunities within the community.

            My host family and my contact are not members of the committee.  I have been told that they were at one point but the primary goal of the committee has shifted to obtaining water in the community and both of these families have wells that provide year round water.  I attended my first ‘meeting’ last Sunday.  The first hour was spoken completely in Guarani and I understood barely anything.  I learned that they have already paid to have an artesian well put in next to the school and they want to raise funds to purchase piping, a tank, and a motor to run the water throughout the community.  They also talked about my contact’s family and my host family for a good bit in Guarani.  I am fairly positive nothing good was said, I understood the words liar and untrustworthy.  They then switched to Spanish and began talking to me.  I explained that I would talk to my boss about requesting funds from different organizations but I could make no promises.  If I could not help them directly get funds I told them that I would be more than willing to help with fund raising activities, such as making and selling chipa.  They seemed to understand my point of view and the meeting ended.

            The next evening I went to return a plate to my host mother and was immediately asked a series of questions: Did you say you’d work with them? Are you giving them money? Do you not want to work with us? And so on.  I explained what had happened at the meeting and how I planned on working with everyone in the community but these people had an existing project they wanted help with, and that it would not take up all of my time.  I was then told that a lot of the members of my community were mad at me because this project would not benefit everyone in the community.  Then my host mom told me she was mad at me because I did nothing to help her get money when she was putting a well in her house.  After about an hour of explaining that it would be impossible for me to request funds for a single well, for a single family, I think they finally understood. 

            What I have learned from this is that my community is completely divided and they love to gossip.  My hope is that if I do not participate and continue to do my best to work with everyone that eventually they will understand that it is not necessary to pick sides.  I am going into Asuncion this week to meet with my boss about my plans for the next 4 months and after everything that has happened I now have a lot of questions.  Most importantly I need to take studying Guarani more seriously because apparently I sat and smiled while a room full of people bad mouthed my host family and contact, not my most successful day in Paraguay. Hey, at least my English classes are going well!

Sorry for the lack of pictures, I left my connector cord in the States.  The cord is in a package that hopefully gets here before Spring!  

Watch what you say...

I have developed the nasty habit of starting to write blogs and never going back and finishing them.  One idea for a blog that I had was all of the stories of my language mix-ups (of which there have been many).  I have forgotten some along the way but here are my top 4 language mistakes in Paraguay.

*Please be aware my Guarani is not perfect and a lot of these words aren’t in our books so I am doing my best with spelling, although I doubt any of you guys would realize I misspelled anything…

**Also some of this blog has more mature content, I don’t think I have a big children following but it might not be the most appropriate thing for them to read.

1. tembi’u vs. tembui:    During training we all learned the Guarani word for food, tembi’u.  During a class that I wasn’t even a part of, my friend Cari mispronounced the word, accidentally saying tembui.  The professor laughed and told her not to say this.  It turns that tembui actually means ‘little penis’.  The problem with this is that although everyone in my group has graduated college and is over the age of 22 we are all still pretty immature.  Everyone was running around saying both tembi’u and tembui and pretty soon it got mixed up in my head.  During training we were told that we needed to practice Guarani with our host families as much as possible since as Agriculture volunteers we were going to more rural areas and Guarani would be crucial to our success as volunteers.  During dinner one night my family asked if I was hungry and of course I said (in broken Guarani): Ha’use tembui.  Direct translation: I want to eat little penis. 

2.  porâ vs. iporâ:             Another mistake that I made for about a week during training was telling people that I am pretty.  In Paraguay they love anyone with eyes that aren’t brown.  They don’t understand what color my eyes are and they think that I am a ‘rubia’ (which they use to indicate fair skin).  Add this to the fact that this is a very machismo culture and men constantly hit on everyone and it is not the best combination.  Lots of volunteers get annoyed with the constant attention and Paraguayans don’t understand why we don’t fall all over them as soon as they confess their undying love for us.  The common Guarani greeting is “m’baechipa” which is essentially how are you?  The standard response is “ipora” which basically means I’m good.  Che in Guarani is I.  I wanted to say “che ipora” which I later learned is repetitive and unnecessary, but what I was saying is “che pora” which means I am pretty.  This means that while men in town would ask me “How are you?” I would respond, “I am pretty”.  They would then laugh and tell me how beautiful I was and go on and on and on.  It wasn’t until my professor corrected me that I realized how I was accidentally encouraging their ‘machismo’ nature and asking to be hit on. 

3. preservativas:             This is a mistake that I made in Spanish, which is bad since I was a Spanish major.  The cooking in Paraguay is extremely repetitive and generally has a ton of oil and salt.  However, the food itself is generally extremely fresh and delicious.  I do enjoy some Paraguayan food but I try and be extra polite and tell everyone that I enjoy the food here more than in the United States.  This usually results in them asking why.  The first time this was asked this is how I responded, “La comida acá es mucho mas fresco, en los estados usamos demasiado preservativas en nuestra comida.” Now I am sure some of you reading this immediately see my problem (Mrs. Daniel, Professora Barbas-Rhoden…) I just told my Paraguayan host family that the food in Paraguay is much fresher and in the United States we use too many condoms in our food.  My host-mom’s jaw dropped and her daughter immediately started laughing. I quickly realized my mistake and tried to explain and then just starting laughing as well. I still don’t know how to say preservatives in Spanish but I think from now on I will steer clear of that one.

4. Che ro’y vs. Che ro’u:             In Guarani the y and u sounds are very hard for me to distinguish between (one of my many language problems).  Generally based on context the people know what I am talking about but sometimes it can give me trouble.  Paraguay, being in the Southern hemisphere is in the middle of fall and there have already been some pretty cold days.  I decided to tell my host sister that I was cold when she saw me walk into the outside kitchen in sweat pants, thick socks, and a big jacket.  I looked at her and said what I thought was “che ro’y” which means “I’m cold” turns out I said “Che ro’u” which means “I want you to eat me” which is Guarani slang for “let’s have sex”.  My host sister, who is 27, started laughing hysterically at me.  She made some comment about how I needed to change if that’s how I was feeling and then ran off to tell the rest of the family what had just happened. I sat in the kitchen confused.  It wasn’t until later when I was talking to another volunteer that I realized what I had said.  Winter is on the way in Paraguay and from now on I plan on sticking to Spanish and just saying “tengo frio” whenever I am cold. 

Guarani is full of double meanings and they love to trap me into saying dirty things on accident.  I have told people that I was getting drunk when I wanted to say that I was drinking maté in the morning, I have heard volunteers say they were horny when they just wanted to comment on the weather.  It is important to watch what you say in this country, something that I have learned over and over.  I only hope that eventually I get good enough at the language so that I can get in on the jokes and they can stop being about me.

Have you met Copper?

           After getting back from the wedding and spending a week at training (I don’t have the energy to write about training, it was nice to visit my first host family and see all my friends!), I made the decision to get a puppy! I knew that I wanted to get a puppy at some point during my service but I felt that I should wait until after I went home since I would be out of site for almost 2 ½ weeks.  When I was at training I found out that my neighbors (well they live about 40km away, close in Paraguay) found 4 little girl puppies that they were trying to find homes for.  I decided which of the remaining 3 that I wanted based on personality descriptions and a blurry picture. 

            On May 4^th I went to town to pick up my puppy.  She is adorable!  I eventually decided to name her Copper, after the fox and the hound.  She probably weighs around 8 lbs and is not going to be a big dog.  It has been really nice having a puppy, even though I have to wake up around 4 times a night to take her out.  She currently either sleeps in either a fruit crate or at the foot of my bed.  I am aware that some people might think this is gross because she could have fleas but she gets a flea bath twice a week.  Which reminds me, Mom if you are reading this would you mind sending me some front line? 

            Copper and I recently took our first trip back into town so she could get her first vaccines.  She managed to walk almost all the way to the route (a 50 minute walk) on her leash, which was very impressive.  She handled her shot like a little champion and everyone said how pretty she is! Although creepy men in town used petting her as an excuse to try and pet me, that did not fly with me. When I was ready to head back to site with the puppy it was around noon.  I had taken the Cardoza Hnos. (bus line) back to site the first time I returned with Copper and didn’t run into any problems. This time the driver’s assistant told me that if I wanted to bring the puppy on the bus she would have to ride below with all of the luggage - keep in mind she is an 8 lb puppy.  I said some very angry choice words in English to this man (which he didn’t understand which is lucky because the next time I rode the bus I got charged half price) and sat back down on the bench to wait for the next bus.  Thankfully the next bus driver wasn’t a jerk and Copper and I were able to ride back to site.  I also found out that for her next vaccine I could go into town with her “puppy book” and buy the shot from the vet so that she no longer has to come into town with me.  This will make my life much easier.  Copper won’t be traveling back into town until she goes to get fixed in September. 

            Copper also hates the town drunk! I am sure I have talked about Celso before but since my computer crashed I can’t check my old blogs to see (prepare yourself for some repetition).  Celso is around 36 years old and spends about 4 days a week obliterated.  After 4 years of college and working at a restaurant where I have seen grown men so drunk they try to pee on video games; I have never seen anyone get as drunk as the local drunks in Paraguay.  Since booze is so cheap here Celso spends 2 of his free days sleeping and recovering and the remaining day of the week working.  A liter of 80 proof sugar cane alcohol is about $1.75.   When Celso first met Copper he kept saying how pretty she was like her owner (he loves to tell everyone how pretty I am, and how I am “the queen of Paraguay”), Copper immediately started barking.  The hair on her spine even rose, which I have never seen before.  Copper also likes to spend her free time hanging out on my porch guarding it from people.  Although it can be annoying at times (she loves to bark) I have decided that in the long run it will be a good thing having a dog that will bark her head off if someone random comes to my house at night. 

            As of right now I am extremely pleased with my decision to get a dog. A lot of times Paraguayans kill female puppies or abandon them (which is what happened to Copper) so I think it will be a good example for the people in town to see that you can have a female dog without constantly having puppies.  I have also had a lot of people ask me if they can have her when I leave.  I have been responding that I am not sure if I will leave her or take her with me yet but it is nice to know that if for some reason she can’t come with me, people will be willing to take care of her.

Mom here is my address again for that frontline:

Maggie Flinn, PCV 258 
Cuerpo de Paz 
del Chaco Boreal 162 c / Mcal. López 
1580 Asunción, Paraguay 
América del Sur

Some people have been asking about packages getting to me.  I have been getting things eventually and I haven´t had any issues with things getting stolen from packages.  It takes between 3 weeks and 2 months for me to get packages.  I brought back a French press from the states so I would love some coffee, peanut butter is always good, cds, books, anything to help with the coming winter.  The sun sets around 5pm and I generally don´t leave my house after dark because the only people hanging out are people I shouldn´t be hanging out with. Bring on the movie marathons and charge up the kindle!

Sydney got hitched!

After seven months in Paraguay, I was lucky enough to get to go home for a week! My sister Sydney got married on April 21^st and I arrived home on April 15^th.  Unfortunately, I had mandatory training for the Peace Corps that started on April 23^rd.   The flight home was pretty long.  I arrived to the airport in Asuncion at 8 o’clock in the morning on Saturday and finally made it to Georgia by 10 am on Sunday. I went from Asuncion to Cuidad del Este to Sao Paulo to Miami and finally ended in Atlanta.  My Dad met me at the airport and back to the farm we went!  The week before the wedding went really well.  It was a little stressful since the wedding was at our house and everyone had to help out (I drug my feet a little bit here).  For some reason a part of me wasn’t too excited about spending my vacation from being an Agricultural extensionist in Paraguay by gardening in Georgia.

While I was home I also managed to go to Columbia, South Carolina to visit some of my friends from College.  I was extremely thankful that they took the time from Graduate School and real jobs to hang out with me for the night. My roommate from college, Devika, also managed to come to be my date for the wedding even though she had finals the following week. She was also nice enough to help my Mom out during the wedding, as did my friends Emily and Meredith. 

The wedding was absolutely beautiful.  My whole family obviously put a lot of work into it and it was a very special day.  All of the groomsmen wore bowties and converse and naturally my Dad wore jeans and a cummerbund.  I am extremely grateful that I was able to attend the wedding and that Syd and Jason were nice enough to hold off getting married until I had been in site for the appropriate amount of time (PCV’s aren’t allowed to leave site until they have been there for 3 months, which for me was March 13).  Seeing everyone was also a lot harder than I expected.  I think the reason for this is that when I am not seeing everyone it is easy to not realize how much I really miss them. 

After spending a week eating fantastic food and seeing family it was back to Paraguay for me.  I was sad to leave but ready to get back to Paraguay.  I am finally getting to a point in my service where I feel like there are projects that I can start. It was also really nice talking to everyone at the wedding and seeing that people actually read my blog.  To everyone that I talked to about the Peace Corps: thanks for caring enough to talk with me about it! I also managed to bring back a French press so I am back to drinking good coffee! If anyone wants to send me something to help get me through the winter (House without insulation) strong coffee is the way to go!  

Semana Santa

Hello everyone! You may notice that it has been awhile since I last blogged and for that I apologize.  I wish that I could say that I have been super busy in site and overwhelmed with projects but that would be a lie.  What really happened is Semana Santa (Holy Week) or Easter, then I went home for a week, then I went to a week of training and now, I am back!

Semana Santa is a big deal in Paraguay.  If I remember correctly (I am typing without internet so I cannot double check this stat, please don’t quote me on this or anything really), Paraguay is about 90% Catholic.  When I arrived in site everyone asked if I would be here for Christmas, New Years, and Semana Santa.  I think everyone in my G (group of volunteers that I swore in with) was a little curious about what all the hype was about.  The first few days of Semana Santa are like any normal week, and then Wednesday comes.  Wednesday of Semana Santa should just be called National Chipa Making Day in Paraguay.  This was my first experience making chipa from start to finish and I was lucky enough to get to do it 3 times in one week (it’s not really something you need to experience more than once).  This is the list of ingredients that can be found in chipa (Ña Julia’s recipe): 5 kilos pig fat (yum), 7 kilos Paraguayan cheese (make by taking fresh cow milk and soaking a cow stomach in it, the cow stomach causes the milk to curdle and they collect it and let it harden making a soft cheese), about 5 kilos corn meal (fresh, I know this because I helped grind it), about mandioca flour (has to be bought but can be made in a long process), and a little bit of anis. The flour numbers may be off a little because they had huge bags of each and poured it in until they felt the recipe was right.  We then mixed this huge mixture in a big metal pan (that we also use for bathing).  From what I gathered you have to mix it and roll it out with your hands for a while because you need to heat up the pig fat?  Some of these things may be a little wrong because I am having everything explained to me in Spanish and Guarani.  While we were doing all of this the men were heating up the ‘tatacua’ or huge brick oven outside.  We filled it with wood and let it all burn, then took a piece of bamboo with leaves attached to it and swept out the oven.  Then we put the pans of chipa (we took about 3 hours forming little shapes with the dough) into the oven and my host sister Lourdes took care of cooking them.  Then ta-da, Chipa!

The whole process took around 5 ½ hours and was exhausting.  Fresh chipa is actually pretty delicious if you try to forget about how the recipe is almost ¼ pig fat.  The problem is that EVERYONE in town makes over 200 pieces.  Then they try to share them.  Naturally everyone wanted to make sure the PCV tried their chipa so I was gifted over 20 pieces of chipa.  I think I ate only 3 or 4. 

I spent most of Friday and Saturday at the Church since some missionaries from a church in Asuncion had come in and most of the town was there.  What I enjoyed most about this is that since the people running the show were from Asuncion they spoke less Guarani (it is really a language used in homes in the campo, or countryside).  I was able to understand more and help them out.  By the time Sunday came around I was on a chipa high and just wanted to sit in my house and not be given food.  Semana Santa was an interesting experience.  I enjoyed comparing the differences since in the States (or at least in my family) we put more importance on Good Friday and Easter Sunday and here it is all about the chipa.

*I made sure to take a lot of picture of the whole process because I felt it would be easier to explain.  Then when I was in the ATL airport getting ready to head back to Paraguay my computer died and I lost all of my information on my computer. Although I had everything backed up on an external hard drive my pictures are impossible to locate! Sorry for the lack of photos, maybe I’ll find them later?