Friday, May 11, 2007

¿Am I Progressing?

So lately I’ve been thinking about the value of my Peace Corps experience. Whenever I have a tough day, I question whether I should call it quits and go home…Yet at the present moment I’m hanging on to a glimmer of hope that things will improve—

So here is why it is tough:

· Many times I question whether anybody (I mean any Paraguayan) sincerely cares that I am here to work. By now you should have gathered that the Paraguayan culture is very tranquilo—most likely as a result from the scorching hot weather, lack of jobs, and history of dictatorship. I can see how Paraguayans in my community need a motivator to get them going otherwise nothing will get done and no change for the better can occur. But how long must I wait before they willingly put in their effort to work and change—a year? A year and a half? Well I only have two to give…Believe me it can be so frustrating to be so far away from home, in hopes of making a difference and yet find nobody to work with…
· Sometimes I feel like a second class citizen because of the way I’m treated. Since my language (Guarani) skills are not up to par—I can understand a good chunk of things being said, yet don’t speak it enough—people will speak poorly about me in Guarani right in front of me as if I did not understand when I do in fact understand. This hurt tons and in the end I pretend to not understand because why get worked up over things like that…I don’t know, but if you have a better way to go about dealing with this please let me know—I’m all ears…

So not to be completely pessimistic good things happen as well:
I know that I really enjoy going out and visiting the families that I already know. The mothers always pamper me with good food and I enjoy passing the time playing with their kids—for example teaching them how to use a Frisbee...So things are not all bad over here, I definitely have good days too..I guess it is just about finding that balance and thinking positively so I can get through those tougher days...

A specific update on my work:

My cooperative is expecting important people from FIDA. FIDA will soon be coming to explain in better detail what their organization is all about and possibly how they will help CEPACOOP out. My cooperative is getting a new paint job just because they are coming!! Also, roughly 100 people will attend and there will even be lunch. Huge event for my small town…Will report how it ends up going…

Radio has been postponed—Our radio time was given away to somebody else and the radio station wants to charge us for being on the air. We are currently looking into an alternative radio station that will hopefully not charge us. Keep your fingers crossed for us

Computer classes—currently I am wrapping up a majority of my computer classes since I will be on vacation soon. Instead of my students not having class while I’m on vacation, I am speeding them along so that they will hopefully finish before I leave.

Women’s group—Due to an argument over whether to sell a motor for milk production or not, the women have ceased to have meetings. Hopefully I can still work with the 3 women that sell veggies in the nearby towns, but we shall see…

Rain, rain go away, come back another day…hehe so it continues to leak in my bedroom!! Drives me crazy : ( Yet the owner has not come around to fixing it….sigh…and winter is starting over here, which means horribly cold days and more rain, darn it!

Ok well hope is all well up north. If you are reading this, please update me on how you are doing…

One last thing, I updated my Flickr account with new pictures of me teaching Paraguayan women at my friend’s site (Jen Cheng) in Valenzuela how to cook Mexican food. It was a class on tacos, fresh salsa, and guacamole. Luckily it turned out alright; the women seemed to enjoy trying something new… woohoo slowly bringing Mexican food to the masses!! Haha!!
Alright take cares and peace out!