Paraguay Adventures

Finally an update

2008-03-10T05:35:00.000-07:00

Hello!

First of all my apologies for not updating this in the longest time, but here goes nothing...

I am enjoying my 2nd year as Peace Corps Volunteer more than what I expected. When volunteers say that the 2nd year is better because you have more work to do and time flies by, it is definitely true... I am attempting to cram work in these last 5.5 months of service that I have... Specifically, I am working with 2 groups--

One is a group that fundraises for resources for the local health clinic. So far they have raised quite a bit of money through a bingo and selling food once a week. Luckily, they managed to receive a donation of $350 USD from Paraguayans living in New York to buy a refridgerator to store vaccinations. Together we are working on a SPA grant through Peace Corps in order for them to obtain more resources, so that they can function much better to the benefit of the whole community...

I am also working with a local youth group that seeks to build a community plaza. We have had some fundraises thus far and have managed to collect some money. We are still waiting on tree donations that were promised a few weeks ago. Hopefully it will fall through...

As for the cooperative, it goes the same as always. Disappointingly the people in charge do not want to listen to the auditing group that insists on cutting excessive, needless spendings by the people in charge. Of course the ones in charge refuse to listen and will keep on spending as they please without any regard for the overall benefit of the cooperative. May be a miracle will happen and things will change for the better, but I am not holding my breath til then...

My other work goes as same as always. I continue to do a radio show once a week with 3 other volunteers. Now that summer vacation is ending for the Paraguayan kids, I will start computing and English classes. My friend from Valenzuela and I will also offer an afternoon camp of creativity for young kids. I hope to teach them how to make really cool wired flowers that my Dad invented. We have yet to work out the rest of the details, but it will take place in March.

My love life goes suprisingly well. I have been dating a 29-year old Paraguayan for the past 7 months. People keep asking what will happen to him when I leave, and my response is always the same...I have no idea. For the time being I am treasuring the time that we have with eachother--however long that may be.

Oddly enough I am finding that I wish the future was now...meaning that I want to have my career already and start building my dream house along with being on the road to settling down... Maybe its just that I am anxious to have it now or maybe its just my age...knowing that the time will just fly by and the future will be here soon enough... dunno exactly, just a feeling that I have been having lately...

Anyways hope all is well with you and remember to enjoy the time you have now. Don't get bogged down if things don't go according to plan, in the end things will work out they way they are supposed to...just show a bit of patience and you will be fine...

Tons of hugs
-Claudia Vanesa :)

My 3-week Ever So Awesome Vacation!

2007-06-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

Hi people!

So I just took an amazing 3-week vacation to Buenos Aires, Montevideo (Colonia for a day), and Cuzco (Miraflores for a day). I went to Argentina and Uruguay with two of my sisters, Susy and Laura. They brought a whole bunch of goodies/sweets that we snacked on in order to save money and not have to go out to eat…haha! Needless to say we still had some ever so delicious Indian, Chinese, Thai, American, and expensive Argentinian steak.

Basically, I loved Buenos Aires! It is a wonderful dynamic capital, with sooo much to do. We managed to visit most of the large areas, including Evita's grave in Recoleta, San Telmo's antique shopping (I bought a really cool ring), Puerto Madero, quite a few museums, many large beautiful parks, Florida street where you can buy anything—we walked there at least 10 times…haha!! We of course enjoyed happy hour almost every night at our hostel. We taught our 2 ever so cool Brazilian friends and Irish pals how to play SPOONS. Needless to say it was a blast! I would definitely recommend Portal del Sur if you are looking for a hostel in Buenos Aires. We loved it there because of the friendly people we met and the different activities they offered, i.e. free tango lessons, matte lesson, and of course happy hour every night for 2 hours!! Also, it is located in a good place downtown.

As for Uruguay, only two good things came out of Uruguay, a $10 warm jacket and visiting Colonia del Sacramento. I seriously would not recommend visiting Montevideo because basically it is not worth it. Ciudad Vieja was nice, but overall it is just a run-down smaller version of Buenos Aires with a different feel to it. Unfortunately, my sisters and I had a bad experience in one of the parks. We sat down after walking for quite a bit because we were tired. A group of 14-15 yr old kids came to us and asked us for change. We said, “Sorry, we don’t have any.” So they proceeded to sit down next to us and one of the girls takes out a rock with a string on it and tells me that she will bash my skull in with it and check my purse to see if I really have any coins. That’s when my sisters and I got up and left, praying that they wouldn’t really do anything to us. Meanwhile, the girl who threatened us was screaming curse words at us. It was a very scary experience that in the end gave us a silly fear of wandering/sitting in parks…so just be careful if you ever do find yourself in Montevideo…

So not to be completely pessimistic, we loved Colonia del Sacramento. It is a cute small port town. The only thing is that you can do everything in about a day because it is just too small. Walking down the main street, you can see the ocean on both sides of you…pretty amazing! Also, walking around you just feel safe there, not like Montevideo…My only recommendation would be to walk instead of taking a taxi, we got ripped off with one of the taxis…thieves!!!

So the most eventful part of my vacation came in Cuzco, when we met up with my other two siblings, Jr. and Maribel. We arrived in Cuzco and basically crashed because we were exhausted from the early no-sleep flight and had a bit of trouble adjusting to the altitude (it is much harder to breathe up there because Cuzco is so elevated).

Our Lares Valley trek took 3 days with the 4th in Machu Picchu. Honestly it was one the toughest physical things I have ever done in my life! The first day started easy because we travelled by van to the Hot Springs where we chilled for a few hours before lunch and then went on a few hours hike. The second day was the hardest because of the 5 hour hike uphill. Once we got to the highest point, it was simply amazing! We had a view of a beautiful lake…and I kind of figured that the next part going down hill would be a breeze, but it wasn’t! My knees took such a beating because it was steep going down. On the third day, after a 4 hour hike, and after a short taxi ride and train ride, we finally made it to Aguascalientes…So on June 22nd, my birthday, we got up at 4:30 in the morning to eat breakfast and catch an early morning bus out to Machu Picchu. Once we got there, I was stunned out how beautiful it was…simply amazing. Our guide immediately took us to the sun dial where we staked out a place to appreciate the winter solstice. At an exact time, the sun would hit Waynipicchu, which would then hit the sun dial at an exact spot, in turn creating a triangle around the eye of a stone llama on the ground…kind of fascinating learning all the details and history behind it. So ironically enough, my guide heard that Cameron Diaz was on the other side of Machu Picchu, and I doubt that just by coincidence he took us right after the solstice finished to the exact place where she was at…She literally passed right by my sister and I. I actually had a perfect shot of her and had my camera ready and all, but then my conscience grew on me and I didn’t take advantage of the shot, boy do I regret it…haha! My sister actually did get a couple of pictures of her, and yes she is very pretty and very skinny too! So anyways, we had our tour and then chilled on the grass for a bit, before heading down to Aguascalientes to eat lunch and then take our train to Cuzco. If you are looking for a trek company, I would highly recommend Sungate Tours, their service was terrific—the guide was great, friendly staff, and on the trek we ate sooo much good food!! Also, they had a cake for me and another client who hiked to Machu Picchu. It was really nice of them, considering there was wine too and one of the women, who likes to sing and dance…sang for us and made all of us get up and dance with her. Simply amazing unique sharing of cultures… :) Afterwards, my brother treated us to some yummy drinks and we called it a night because we were tired.

So in Miraflores, we walked around by the beach and ate a wonderful expensive restaurant called La Mar---incredibly delicious Peruvian food!! I said goodbye to 2 of my siblings once we had to leave for the airport and then at the airport, I said goodbye to the other 2…needless to say, miss them already!

So basically I had a wonderful memorable trip, I have my eye on Lake Titicaca and Ecuador next! Haha!

Ok well next time I will give an update on the work that I am doing in my site…since right now it is hard to say because I have only been back for less than a week!!

Take care of yourself and tons of hugs!!!

-Claudia :)

¿Am I Progressing?

2007-05-11T05:59:00.000-07:00

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!

Tranquilopa

2007-03-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

Once again todo tranquilo in Yegros!! So things are considerably slow right now…

My computer teaching is bearable right now, luckily!! I am not teaching too many hours… My English class is kind of on a halt right now because my students won’t show up—scandalous and of course they have my phone number yet they don’t feel like giving me a heads up that they won’t show up, so I wait around, wasting my time, for them…frustrating, but nothing I can do about it…So I am not sure if I have mentioned this or not, but the owner of my house is pressuring me to teach an English class open to all students. Even though it might sound like a great idea, it will give me such a headache, since no Paraguayan realizes that you cannot learn English in a couple of months---that it actually takes years and practice and study…that you just don’t magically learn English… The education system is so screwed up here in Paraguay that the students go to school and don’t really learn anything, most of their time is recess and copying stuff from the board because of lack of books—of course partly to blame is the teachers who don’t really care about teaching and the students who don’t really care to learn anything…I guess I just feel pressure to actually teach so that my students will actually learn something--in part so that the students will know what an actual class should be…but we’ll see how this will all play out…

So my women’s group started to meet up, yet I have not been able to make it to a meeting because when I can go, they cancel their meetings….haha…bad luck on my part I guess you can say… I will keep my fingers crossed for this Monday…

So of course that huge amount of money that I talked about before (that my cooperative would receive to create a new locale), has not gone through. Scandalous!! Empty promises, I say…Part of me thinks, well it is Paraguay (imperfect with soooo much corruption)….what can you expect, right?

The radio show continues to go well. Every Tuesday I meet up with my fellow volunteers in the area to cook incredibly yummy food and then we head over to the radio and take care of business…hehe!!

Well just wanted to tell you about my exciting trip that I will be taking…with my two of my sisters--we will hang out in beautiful Argentina (Buenos Aires and still don’t know where else) for about 12 or 13 days and then head over to Peru to do Machu Pichu with my 2 other siblings. I’m soooo excited about it because I know we will have a blast and it will be so much fun and I get to spend my birthday with my fam!! : ) very awesome!!!

Need to run off, but Hhope everything goes well y mucho
hugs!!

Mucho Trabajo...

2007-01-31T06:14:00.000-08:00

Hello people! Yet another update on what is going on with me in this tiny town of Yegros in Paraguay…

So lately I have been a bit stressed with the amount of work that I have. How is this possible-- you might be wondering considering that I am in an ultra tranquilo country??? Well, through the expectations of my cooperative and my community, I have taken on the role of being a teacher. I teach about 19 hours a week—mostly individual computer classes and just 1 English class. Even though this might be part-time work back in the States, it’s a ton of work over here! The part that worries me is how unsustainable it is. Because even though I enjoy having my students and mostly all are progressing well (and I’m proud of them), once I leave nobody will continue to teach computers…Sooo I though of piloting my next classes, so I will teach a student, but beforehand he needs to agree that once he is done with the course, he needs to teach another student. I am hoping this will work; I just have to invest more time in each student, so that they feel ready enough to teach what they just learned. I figure this way, more people can benefit from the computer classes and I will be less stressed and it’s much more sustainable…But we’ll see if this idea works out or not…

So my cooperative submitted a project to Itaipu (since Paraguay has co-ownership of a huge hydroelectric dam, it sells electricity to Brazil and money basically rolls into Paraguay through this and so it spends it however it pleases…). So this project asked for 190 million of guaranies (roughly $38,000-which is over here is a fortune!) to buy new land and to build a new modern locale for my coop. So guess what? With the local elections came a new mayor that is helping us push for our project. So in an ideal world there would be no corruption and my coop would get all that money, but this Paraguay! I would bet anything that we will see only a fraction of that money. In spite of this, I am excited that my coop benefits from whatever money we end up getting through this project. But truthfully I also have mixed feelings…Organizations come to my site and more often than not donate money without thinking about the actual needs of the people in my site. For example, health access in my site and Paraguay is a disgrace…So why is there no one donating towards better medical facilities for all regardless of social status? Because nobody thinks about the long term effects and sustainability of donating money to a project that may work now, but fails in the future. This may not make any sense at all, but I must say that my view of development and the role that money plays in it has significantly changed since I have arrived in Paraguay. Ok so I will keep you updated on how things go with this whole ordeal…

On a brighter side, I am part of a 1 hour a week show with 3 other volunteers. Our first show went well :) Luckily! Except there was this one part called Conspiracy Theory, where we each say why we think Pres. Bush’s daughter came to visit Paraguay. So I accidentally said off the top of my head that she was being bad in the U.S. so Pres. Bush sent her here as a form of punishment…haha!! I’m so scandalous! My neighbors teased me and asked if I was being punished and that´s why I was sent here!!Hehe!! Yeah I need to be more careful of what I say on future shows!

So I must take off, but do take care of yourself and a huge hug for caring enough to read this :)

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

2006-12-31T04:29:00.000-08:00

So updating you lovely peeps on what’s going on with me—

I started teaching computers. I only HAVE 2 students thus far, but soon will have more. One is incredibly quick at picking up what I teach her—so I’m hoping she will learn tons! The other one struggles A bit, but nonetheless I have faith in her :) So far, I find it rewarding, so hopefully it continues to be so….

Be HAPPY for me because I am moving! Woohoo! The landlady I have right now is a bit of a b with an itch. She never says hello to me—which is a must in Paraguayan courtesy. Also, I am paying a lot for a house that I am not happy in. I am always paranoid about finding rats, lizards, and frogs…sometimes I feel like I’m losing my sanity living here. So I´m hoping that my NEW house will actually be a place I can live comfortably—a place I can turn into a temporary home. The two best things about this new place are that I will only have to pay electricity and water (woohoo!) and my landlords are awesome—very respected people in the community :) I hopefully move end of Jan or Feb, but will let you know how it goes…

Be grateful that you have reliable running water. Twice it has happened to me that I go 3 days with out water. It’s insanely tough and of course I got moody—haha!! Now I know that it’s possiblE to take a shower with only 2 liters of water—ayaya!! Hehe I’m crossing my fingers—hoping that these coming 2 YEARS will bring me less of these experiences…haha…Wait it´s actually only 20 more months—woohoo!!

Guess what? I think I have a much better direction with my future—I HOPE to get my MBA with an International Development focus. So just in case I can’t get a job dealing with International Development(which for me is ideal), I can at least work for a company that helps create jobs in developing countries :) I already have a few schools in mind, but if you know of any good MBA programs that offer a focus on development, IT will help me tons if you would let me know please! My internet access IS not unlimited like yours—hehe :)

I spent Christmas Eve in a supposedly rich town called San Bernardino, which is right next to a polluted lake…hehe. It was cool…I went with my Berkeley pal, Jen. We found an awesome French café, where we made our own crepes and had chicken curry—both were insanely delicious! For Christmas Eve, we had French cheese, garlic bread, peaches, crackers, and merengue candy. Oh yeah we FILLED our glasses with Sparkling Wine too—all very yummy!! Hehe.. We watched Spider-Man 2 and Les Miserables. During the day, I went swimming WITH Jen in the hotel’s pool and we walked around in the center. It was very chill and tranquilo. Christmas day we travelled back to our sites. My afternoon I spent sick and lonely—boo!! Missed everyone back home tons!! It was ok—tough, but ok…

So my LOVE life, which many of you ask about…hehe I´ve had weird and awful luck with men here, but the good news is that I want to start dating again and look forward to it very much—hehe. I´m not ready for love, but dating yes!! Haha. So please keep your fingers crossed, so that my luck may change with the coming year :) hehe...

Oh yeah I am getting better at cooking...woohoo!! I've made delicious lentils, chicken curry, and an eggplant dish my Cal roomie, Lana, taught me way back....hehe...so cross your fingers for me so that I only get better...haha...

Ok well hope you spend your New Years well...
Huge hugs and kisses :)

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!!!!

2006-12-02T08:13:00.000-08:00

So lately in site it has been very chill...i have been doing a ton of excel work to just be able to keep track of records and i want to just know exactly how much money my cooperative has--so far it's been tough, but i'm getting there slowly...and as soon as i figure out how to put the info in a simple & friendly version, then i want to teach my contact how to use the computer and the documents i've created thus far. it's going to be a tough challenge especially since he needs glasses, but we'll see....hehe.... so soon i will be teaching computer classes, which i am looking forward too, but it's going to be a huge pain with the heat that is coming in the summer....aya....

btw i had a mama mouse have 6 baby mice in my kitchen....the grossest thing ever...my vecina and the grandma actually killed them all with a broom and machete...it was a horrible sight, but i was relieved that i didn't have to do it...hehe...they both just laughed at me for being sooo weak...hehe....so about a week later i see a tail coming out from under the fridge and i figured---oh no!!! i have a rat now!!! ewww!!! so i go get my vecina, who brings her sons and they actually chase out a huge iguana that was behind the fridge....ewwww since i've dealt with soooo many problems in that house i am hoping to move in about 2 months, so keep your fingers crossed for me so that i may find a place that i wont have to suffer in...... :)

so i went a whole day and a half without water in 90 degree heat!!! scandalous!!! it was dreadful because i couldn't do anything and i was dying to take a shower because i was scared that i had lice, but it turns out that i don't...sooo woohoo!!! i think i might invest in some type of container to hold water in case of emergencies....because sometimes it goes whenever i need it the most....

so i spent thanksgiving in encarnacion ( a city in the south of Paraguay). i took a midnight bus to get there and my friends and i basically crashed all morning to catch up on our sleep before the fun started:) the hotel was gorgeous!! it had 4 pools and it was surrounded by trees and awesome trails... so the weekend basically consisted of lounging by the pool, drinking, and stuffing ourselves like crazy....it was awesome!! also, we played ping pong, pool, and danced at night for hours....i had soo much!!! i was actually really surprised by the food because it was delicious, we had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, salad....etc...considering that i am in paraguay it was probably the best meal i've had here....so on the way back to asuncion (the capital) we took another midnight bus and it was dreadful....i didn't sleep at all and the bus was pretty runned down--we had decided to go on a cheaper bus....but once we got the peace corps office we showered and hung around....omg i had the best &closest to mexican food i've tried here in paraguay...insanely delicious....you have no idea how much i miss it....hehe....

so yeah this week we were in training. it was nice to be back in las piedras and visit my host family. we had a party last nite at my house and unfortunately i had a little too much drink...aya...not good...but i will definitely be more careful from now on ;) hehe unfortunately we weren't able to dance because someone we didn't know passed away and the family was in mourning....getting adjusted to classes was a bit tough cause they made me sleepy and it was hard to pay attention...hehe.... but at least i felt that i learned a lot and it was stuff that i really needed to review....also, i liked being around my g-21 posse and just being able to catch up and talk and act silly was something i really needed.....

so right now i am in asuncion, will go dancing tonight (woohoo!!) hehe and then tomorrow i will be returning to my site and try to be very guapa (hard working) but we'll see...hehe j/k

ok so hope everything goes well for you....huge hug and kiss :)

peace out....

RAID Works!!!

2006-10-29T04:58:00.000-08:00

So let me start off by complaining and then I promise it gets better :)

I woke up one morning to find thousands of ants building their colony in the corner of my living room. I showed my neighbor and luckily she had some insecticide. So I used the insecticide--well the ants didn't die, but they did disappear. I thought--Woohoo! Problem solved! (NOT QUITE!!!) For the entire day, I put insecticide all over my house until I wanted to vomit from the fumes. The ants would disappear and then reappear 15 minutes later in a different place!! It was the most frustrating thing ever. I was about to burst into tears and call home saying that I was ready to go home--but I didn't ....Instead I rode my bike 15 min to a store to buy something stronger to kill the ants and by chance I found RAID. So I huffed and I puffed my way uphill back to my house to kill the damn ants--and guess what? It worked!! RAID actually killed them in seconds--so I'm currently grateful to RAID for saving my sanity :) hehe the next day--I still had a lot , but I sprayed them showing no mercy...hehe....Right now no ants--Thank God!!!

So I mention this whole ordeal because I am honestly scared of the next time that I am going to feel like quitting and going home. It's tough--for me it's hard to live by myself in a community that speaks a language that I barely understand....it's lonesome too!! I just hope I make it out of this sane!!!

So on a brighter note:
It just barely hit me the other day that I will be doing something that I wanted to do for a while--doing development work in Latin America. Work thankfully is staring to pick up. Since my cooperative has some money saved up--it is going to buy a new computer for the office. They want me to transfer a lot of the paperwork onto the computer and help modernize the cooperative....Also, they want me to teach computer classes to children of the members of the coop--children that hopefully will work in the coop someday. I'm really excited about this project because I get to transfer knowledge and it's a sustainable idea!!!

The next huge project that might happen deals with Kaa'hee (Stevia) which is a natural sweetner. An organization from Japan (OISCA) and the InterAmerican Development Bank basically are showing up in my community and choosing 100 families and donating a watering system and putting up half the cost of the seeds. Honestly, I'm intimidated by this project because everybody thinks I'm an expert with Economics and Business since it is what I studied and of course I'm from the U.S. AYA! there is a huge market analysis that has not taken place at all. The Paraguayan mentality is to grow your prodcut first and then find a market for it and it needs to be the other way around!!! So this project if it happens will be a handful and I would have to find a way for my contribution to be sustainable...

Social life: I spent this past Sunday with 2 families that I lived with and I had a blast with them!! Both families make sure that I'm doing ok and take care of me :) Also, I've had some time to spend with my Peace Corps buddies--who of course I absolutely adore and respect--and are the main reason for my still being sane in Paraguay...hehe!!

Anyways--one thing you should be grateful for is electricity!!! I do have, but it goes out a lot of the time and recently we went 1 whole day without it and the day before I bought so many groceries, which I had to throw away because of the 90 degree heat and lack of electricity spoiled them :(

So seriously if you are reading this and you haven't updated me on what's going on with you please do!! Aside from me wanting to know---I need any form of entertainment that I can get especially since I have no tv or radio.....

Anyways take care and huge hugs!!!!

Peace out!!....hehe

Looking arriba

2006-10-01T07:20:00.000-07:00

Update # half a billion ;) jaja

So as I said before I was having a bit of a hard time adjusting to everything in my site...luckily I am starting to get out of my funk--finally!!! hehe

I guess it was just a matter of snapping out of it--once I get back to my site I'm gonna step it up and just find different ways to keep myself entertained and also find ways to contribute to my community--so that eventually after my 2 yrs of service I can hopefully see how I have made a difference...

Considering my site is a bit of a ghost town and everybody keeps to themselves--I've been doing ok in terms of meeting people. The fact that I am living with my fourth and final family has given me the chance to meet people in completely different areas in my site. Although I have no running water with this last family, the unbearable thing about this living situation is the latrine....it smells horrific!!! Ewww I try not to drink or eat to much just so I don't have to go that often....haha scandalous I know.....

So I am increidibly excited because this week I move into my new casita!! I came to the capital fo find furniture and I've had somewhat good luck.....If on Tuesday I can find someone to help me transport a fridge, I will soon have one--so please keep your fingers crossed for me ;) hehe If it doesn't work out I'm a bit screwed :(

Ok so check out the new pics that I will put up soon or maybe they're up already....jaja....

So I'm hoping that I will complain a lot less now since things are starting to look up for me.....hehe sorry so far if it's been dull :(

Please take care of yourself--a huge gigantic hug for just reading this

kisses and take care!!!

Frustrated and Up in the air

2006-09-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

Here´s the latest update with me: for a while it was difficult to get out of bed, but strangely enough things turned around after I moved out of my contact´s house and into a new family. Ironically my living conditions got much worse--sharing a tiny bed with a 13 yr old sister and having 6 brothers who don´t talk to me. Oddly enough the only one fascinated by me is the youngest 1 1/2 yr old brother. His name is Jesus and boy does he cry! Ha! Anyways, I was able to eventually win my brothers over by playing cards with them :) woohoo! Also, slowly I started to meet new people in the community---Most are incredibly nice....luckily :)

So things are definitely a mess at my coop since my contact was fired for stealing from my coop. The weird thing is that living with her and working with her I suspected she might be because of the way she kept track of the money, but I gave her the benefit of the doub because her family treated me well. So things are strange between us since she doesn´t want to talk about the situation. My plan is to lie low with her family for a while and see where things go. Sooo I´m frustrated because my contact didn´t work out and now I feel pretty much abandoned. I have to deal with housing on my own :( That´s going to be a pain!!

Also, recently I moved to a new house--that is an hour walk away from my coop. My ex-contact obviously did not take into consideration how much I would have to walk!!! She just chose people related to her :( The family is great, but it´s just soo far to be walking in 90 degree plus weather. I actually almost fainted yesterday because I was given a bike that didnt work...so I stopped every 10 minutes to take a 5 minute break because I was gasping for air. I guess I should have taken it as a sign that I was dehydrated...duh!!! So once I got to my coop and explained about the bike not working---I was told I was too fat to be riding it in the first place...then I was asked how much I weighed...that´s when i decided too take advantage of a free ride and go home. Of course I was laughed at for being at the coop only 30 minutes, but seriously I didn´t want to deal with anything and physicially felt like shit. My plan is to lay low with the coop eventhough things are a mess :( Since i live so freaking far away...I will just study guarani...sigh guarani!!!
Finally other volunteers!!! There is an overwhelming amount of volunteers in my region. It´s frustrating because I don´t think Peace Corps took into consideration other volunteer organizations in the area like JICA and Amigos. Why is this frustrating? Since there are a lot of volunteers, there is little work : ( People always talk to me about other volunteers and they ask if I am from the same organization. Sigh sigh sigh It´s interesting because the people in my region recognize all the problems within their country, and their solution is always migration. A mass majority of people have a relative working in either Spain or USA and rely on the money that is sent to them. So how in the world is sustainability supposed to be taught to a group of people that who think like this? I seriously don´t know :( Ayaya

Sorry I have been complaining quite a bit in these blogs, but I seriously hope that everything is well for each and everyone of you guys.... You have no idea how homesick I am starting to be :( I miss a million things from there and all you guys as well too...

Hugs and kisses :)

One week in site

2006-08-28T07:18:00.000-07:00

What´s the deal with my brain? Why I´m I so obviously insane? In the perfect situation, I let love down the drain. There´s the pitch slow and straight. All I have to do is swing and I´m a hero--gone down to zero...

jeje so i just decided to include the above by weezer because i love the song and the lyrics :) damn i miss listening to the latest english music....

ok so i ahve been in my site for roughly one week and things are going really slow :( i like the family that i am staying with and truthfully it doesnt bother me that i have spiders in my room or a field mouse (when i saw it--i remembered how i freaked out at cal when i discovered one in my bedroom. to me, it was disgusting and i also couldnt really sleep, so my roomie and i rearranged our beds so the mouse couldnt crawl on us when we were sleeping....jaja...when i told the manager about it, he asked if it wasnt just my imagination--the nerve of that punk!!!)

but anyways, back to paraguay--it somewhat bothers me that i always have to chase chickens and a dog with fleas out of my room and the house....

i think what really bothers me the most is that i get treated like a child--i cant even get a glass of water by myself...my host sister and mom are very over protective and watch over all my needs. not that it is necessarily a bad thing or anything...its just that there are some things that i prefer to do on my own. so currently i am counting down the days until i move to the next family (1 week and 1 day). i am really excited about living with the next family since they are very energetic and live downtown next to the school and church. also they have 2 increidibly cute sons--but my guess is that they are not pass 21 :( nuts!!! jaja

so the banana coop that i work with has one main problem---it has no money!!! its socios dont pay their dues. nobody knows why i am there---and i know its going to take a lot of explaining that i am not an employee of the coop, but im there to work alongside them so they can hopefully be more efficient and together solve some problems/obstacles they currently have.....

as for the rest of the town, it seems like nobody really cares that i am here. i get no questions whatsover :( recently i started visiting a couple of families--except my contact doesnt introduce me at all and immediately starts speaking in guarani with them....so whenever there is a pause in their guarani conversation, i jump in and ask questions....yup my contact definitely doesnt understand at all why i want to visit families and get to know them eventhough i have tried explaining quite a few times.....its frustrating because it is the complete opposite of what i was exposed to in las piedras--where everybody said hello and asked a ton of questions. for now i definitely consider las piedras my paraguayan home more than here...i miss it!!!

but ok enough complaining....i hope you guys find yourselves well and will soon enough write a bunch of personal emails....now that i have the downtime

un besote gigante!!!

MY ADDRESS

2006-08-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

So if you ever want to send me mail....heres my address....cheapest airmail from the post office is probably the best way to go....and also putting crosses and religious stickers on the envelope will hopefully ensure that it gets here and not lost....jaja....i know that i need to still send some post cards out....sorry for the delay, but i will most definitely get around to doing it soon :)

Claudia Calderon PCV
Cuerpo de Paz
162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. Lopez
Asuncion 1580, PARAGUAY
South America

Im a Peace Corps Volunteer Officially!!!!

2006-08-20T07:10:00.000-07:00

Sooooooooooooooo i just swore in as a peace corps volunteer officially on friday and it was awesome. so now i am no longer a trainee, we finished with language and technical classes and will be travelling to our sites on tuesday.

so this past week we pretty much wrapped up with our classes. i am definitely going to miss language class eventhough i suck at it....jaja....i had an awesome class with diosnel (teacher), jen, and kyle...always talking about girls, guys, sex, and chisme....jaja!

we had a despedida at my house, so our families had an awesome lunch for us...it was tallarin...and our language teachers, mateo our trainer, michael the director of peace corps, and brandon and brad spoke to everybody...it was cool and then we gave our families a rose plant and and small flower...

so yeah it was definitely very hard to say goodbye to everybody....on thursday nite my family made me an awesome dinner--pollo, potata salad and other goodies....and my whole family was there...my 5 siblings, their spouses and their children.....afterwards i went over to andreas house for a bit, where a lot of the community was at dancing and having fun.....

so yeah come friday morning (swear in day) my mom was in tears and so was i when we said goodbye....i am definitely going to miss them tons!

so yeah the ceremony was short and sweet afterwards we went back to the office and then the hotel....we got started on some early drinking....a couple of people got drunk by dinner....jaja....but we headed over to a brit pub after having lomitos....and then we did some rock dancing....it was overall an awesome nite....and we ended up saying goodbye to our awesome trainer whom i am going to miss tons because he is increidibly cool....he actually made fun of me in a skit that the trainers did....he said that he made his trainees draw a pic of their feelings, so he took out a huge pic of me holding a knife chasing him into a grave....jaja it was the funniest thing ever....we trainees got our revenge when we performed our skit--which was hilarious because we made fun of sooo many things....jeje

so yeah rite now im sad that this wonderful part of training has come to an end and that i wont be able to see my buddies whom ive grown close to...on a regular basis....its going to be hard and i am scared for this new part up ahead....but i just hope i will love what im doing....

ok well im going to run off, but seriously i do hope that you find yourselves well and happy :)

tons of hugs and i do miss you people in the states tons !!!!!

things i pondered last nite

2006-08-05T15:34:00.000-07:00

i just thought of this last nite and wanted to share

THINGS I REALLY LIKE ABOUT PARAGUAY:

people embrace you openly and invite you into their homes before they even know your name

paraguayans are increidibly hospitable--i get to be spoiled by host families in terms of what i eat and practically do no housework (hmmm it reminds me of being at home in l.a....jaja)

people compliment me on my dancing eventhough everybody back home knows that i cant dance for shit....all you do is shake your hips and ass and you are considered good...jaja

generally i feel safe if i am in a rural community-- since everybody knows eacthother crime is minimal

people think that i am paraguayan because of my looks and are interested to know more about my background

THINGS THAT FRUSTRATE ME ABOUT PARAGUAY

machismo--being treated like a sexual object.... also, i would really like to see womens rights improve within the 2 yrs that i am here eventhough it might be minute/minimal---something is better than nothing....

i am having a really hard time learning guarani and truthfully since paraguayans speak it at home and it is their language of choice---in order to fully get to know a paraguayan, i have to learn it!!!

a lot of chisme--most of it gets invented and distorted along the way that once you hear it, you know that it is absolutely not true!!

i really wish there was more value in getting an education and therefore a better education system

access to credit really sucks and i know that this will be a big obstacle in my next 2 yrs since it is important for growth

you cant throw toilet paper down the toilet!!! arghhhh!!!! jajaja

damn roosters wake me up so early in the morning!!!!

THINGS THAT I MISS ABOUT THE U.S.

family and friends of course!!! seriously i do think about you guys often and seriously do pray that you find yourselves well, in good health, and happy :)

i do miss watching movies for fun and listening to english music :(

foods that i miss include:
flaming hot cheetos with kellogs frosted flakes--with no milk of course
red vines
pepperoni, mushroom, canadian bacon pizza...yummy!!!
chocolate--its not the same over here!!!

SOooooooooooooooo
truthfully i am still really intimidated by all the work i will be doing----but after getting to know my town a bit more and seeing its beauty in simple ways and appreciating its tranquilo environment, i hope that i can learn to be happy in this really tiny rural town of fulgencio yegros....

ok well i just wrote this stuff to share, but really do hope that you find yourselves well

a huge kiss and hug just for reading this

claudia a.k.a vanesa ;)

Fiesta error and Finding out our sites :)

2006-08-03T06:31:00.000-07:00

hello

so this has to be quick....but some things

2 saturdays ago i got increidibly drunk with my buddies kevin, kyle, and brad at brad´s house because it was his brothers bday party.... it was an increidbly awesome nite since i got to boogie with my buddies and see them (and myself) commit fiesta error....jajaja.... unfortunately for me every guy there wanted to dance with me, but luckily kyle and kevin were increidibly sweet and dance with me pretty much the whole nite eventhough they dont remember it...jaja... they were more wasted than me!!! jaja

but anyways so last week we found out where we would be living for the next 2 years, so of course we celebrated by drinking and eating lomito and chilling at mateos pad...that was nice....and on saturday once again we drank at mateos and went on over to check out a party but doug and kyle didnt want to go in since it was mostly populated by guys, so we didnt...which i later regreted since i wanted to dance....but anyways sunday we spent at orlandos place, we drank sangria which i love sooooo much, its the one alcohol that really affects me and tastes good....jaja....so yup we just sat and chatted and had a bit of pizza.....but oh my gosh that morning i spent 3 1/2 hours washing my clothes in the freezing cold...it was unbearable, but i did it because we were going to stay for a week at our new sites....damn i hate washing clothes!!! jaja

but anyways so rite now i find myself in my new site where i will live for the next 2 yrs and truthfully i am scared...it is a very small town....rural but luckily with a paved road....i know that i will be living very modestly for the rest of the time here in paraguay...and that part doesnt scare me so much....but just how in the world i am going to deal with everything....the coop needs sooo much work since it is barely starting....and i just hope that i will be able to accomplish things while im here....and unfortunately there arent a lot of things to do here in fulfencio yegros....so its most likely a lot of tv and reading in my spare time...ayaya since its not good to be out after dark....so yup im scared....scared....scared.....since i finaly have a glimpse of what my life will be like for the next 2 yrs....

ok so i guess i will just slowly have to cope with my new situation once i come back official to start work which will be august 22....so please cross your fingers for me so that things will slowly work out for me....thanks and ciao :)

long field practice

2006-07-22T06:38:00.000-07:00

so this past week i visited itacuribi del rosario with kyle, mateo, kevin and my profesora sylvia. so we had this long field practice basically so we could experience what another volunteer is doing in their community and also to get a little bit away from las piedras...haha....

so we visited sandra´s site and overall i would say it was a good week.....there were ups and downs....but i definitely learned a lot....we got to visit quite a few farms and learn more about agriculture and crops....and of course crop rotation and abonos verdes....so that was good....

we also gave 2 charlas (presentations) the first one went a lot better than the 2nd one.....the unfortunate part is that without guarani, we are pretty much useless.....mis companeros and i explained in spanish and then sandra would translate everything in guarani....and for the first charla we made a couple of mistakes and its not like you realize that you are making a mistake in that instance, not until later when it hits you...are you like oh crap!!! that first charla was about productions costs....and our teacher sylvia and sandra said that we did an awesome job....

as for the 2nd one, it was a bit tougher because there was a lot of politics involve in the asociacion that they were not really paying attention to us....we had each person write down their idea on a piece of paper--1 thing that their organization did right in the last year and 1 thing that they think can improve....so yeah it was really hard to read their writing.....so lesson learned---dont have people write down their own ideas....or actually individually go to each one and you write down what they have to say....

so yeah we stayed for a bit longer after our presentation just to listen in on their meeting...and it was a bit heated...and not until after did we realize all the corruption and screwed up things taking place in the asociacion....very disheartening....and i also have to seriously think about how i am going to deal with machismo in the future....many men were talking about me and my body parts in guarani...saying really inappropriate things.....so its frustrating to think...how the fuck am i going to deal with that if it comes up in my site....so yeah...for now i dunno what to do.... :(

this friday we find out where we will be living for the next 2 yrs, im a bit nervous about that....but then again we pretty much have no choice as to where we will be sent....so kinda up to the higher powers....

the family that i stayed with for the past week was nice....well the mom was nice and quiet...we got along great...the dad on the other hand was a bit of a jerk....he said that peace corps volunteers dont come to help people, all they do is come learn about paraguay....because we have no experience with agriculture or guarani....so we dont really have anything to offer them....i tried to explain to him that we do offer other things, like a business background to help organize their coop/asociacion....and that many people want to help, but paraguayan culture is all about taking it slow...making friends first...being nice...and then slowly getting things done...so thats an obstacle in and of itself....i dont think he really understood my point because he didnt bother to talk to me the rest of the week....haha oh well his loss....

and finally before i take off...my sympathies to my buddy kyle for having the worst case of chivivi (diarrhea) and vomiting...poor thing felt awful for pretty much the whole trip and not until the end was he finally ok....so yup

i kinda thought that my buddies would drive me a bit crazy by the end of the trip, but on the contrary they definitely grew on me :) hehe

ok well i need to be off....sorry for not proofreading, no time

take cares
hugs and kisses :)

2006-07-16T07:20:00.000-07:00

so updating you guys on what´s going on over here with me.....

so last weekend the red group got to visit acahay...its actually a very nice quaint city....we visited a member from the cooperative--who had his own farm....it was amazingly cool because we got to learn about the different abonos(fertilizers) that he uses in order to prepare the land to have vegetables and fruits....also he brought out some bees in a box and showed us how they were making honey....very awesome and luckily they dont sting..... otherwise i would not have gone near them....jejeje
afterwards we got to go to a park and see a small waterfall...damn the water was freezing, but it was sooo much fun to able to get wet and just relax for a bit.....and of course the group of people i was with are just soooo amazing that it was tons of fun because of them :)

so i watched the worldcup at brad´s house with his family....we were divided--some rooting for italia y otros rooting for francia....i actually wanted italia to win so i was very happy with the outcome...jeje....

so language class is now more stressful than ever because we changed groups and now i really have to study since the 2 new people in my class (jen and kyle) are actually awesome with guarani.....damnit!!! sucks!! pero le estoy hechando ganas por lo menos....

so yesterday our red group went to an expo....it was ok and very chill since we got to see animales, different stands, and there was delicious food....i had a lomito arabe (wrap made from pita bread) yummy!! also in our community there were 3 different birthdays....one was eloy´s a 12 year old boy who use to have a crush on me, but now ignores me....jaja....my nephew also turned 1 year old....they had a huge celebration for him....but damn the kids got to be sooo out of control throwing things and just a huge mayhem...jeje....finally it was celeste´s birthday too she turned 14....i actually had a bit of a headache with her because she was mad at me because i told my friend brad to not spread rumors about me and another volunteer because people will start to believe it...so she got mad at me because he got mad at her for telling me that he was spreading rumors...jaja such a mess but in the end i told brad to just flirt with her and talk to her and everything turned out ok....ayaya teenagers!!!

so yup friday nite a whole bunch of us got together and drank at mateo´s house...it was tons of fun since we tried giving a charla on how to make babies....lol...while of course most of us were buzzed or drunk.....and yeah we woke up some poor guy to sell us more beers because we wanted to drink more.....jaja so yup i am definitely drinking more here in paraguay.....

yesterday at my brother´s house i danced my butt off...jaja just because i felt like it....but it was fun since at least its some form of exercise and people complimented me on my dancing which i think is funny because as many of you know---im a horrible dancer....jaja

anyways i am actually leaving for a week to another city called itacuribi del rosario....its about 4 or 5hours away and my group will give 2 charlas so im a bit nervous about that....but hopefully they will turn out ok....

ok well i have to run off....

but individually i send you guys tons of hugs.....and hope that you guys are doing well and are at least happy wherever you find yourself :)

2006-07-02T11:09:00.000-07:00

hello everybody

so this is going to be quick----wanted to wish you guys a good 4th of july!!! i spent part of it at the embassy yesterday...they had a bbq with hamburgers and hot dogs and ice cream---YUMMY!!!! also this weekend i spent it in asuncion (the capital city) and unfortunately i had a bit too much to drink last nite and missed out on tons of fun (it was also one of my friends--kyle's bday) yup i was vomiting the whole nite...YUCK!!! i am barely starting to recover rite now....scandalous....jeje

rite now i have to go back to my city and prepare for a presentation....sigh work!!! but aside from that everything else is ok.....

there was a get together at my house on friday nite--i made salsa!!!! my mom made chips from potatoes, and my friend made some delicious guacamole :) luckily my salsa turned out ok...jeje and some paraguayans actually liked it which is surprising considering the culture does not like spicy things....i have no idea why....we also drank a bit and hung out, which was fun.....

ok so i hope everyone is well....tons of hugs and kisses and i will hopefully have more to say soon....

:)

Mi Cumpleanos en Paraguay

2006-06-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

hi guys

so i wanted to update you guys on how i spent my birthday in paraguay :) first of all, on the day of my birthday i had class since it was a thursday. on the way to class, mis companeros that i always walk with started to sing happy birthday to me :) luckily that day we were making food and learning how to sing in guarani....jeje....so the whole class sang once again happy birthday but that time in guarani. my birthday was pretty chill...and it ended with mi familia from estados unidos calling me....woohoo :)

so yesterday was my birthday party, my host family decided to throw me a party on the weekend because it was much more convenient.... sooooo for my birthday party we had pizza, empanadas de pollo, and popcorn.....yummy!!! all my peace corps buddies hung out with me and i had such a terrific time. there was a lot of alcohol and dancing too....jeje i have a ton of pictures to show you guys, but unfortunately this dumb computer is not letting me upload the pics. also i have two buddies that play the guitar...so one was singing for me ....hehe :) yeah i feel increidibly lucky because i have an awesome family and all the peace corps volunteers are simple amazing and funny....later on i will describe a little about each one.....

so there are 11 of us in the rural economic development project and 7 in the municipal project. since we have different projects, we live in different cities--but luckily they are like a 20 minute bus ride from each other. a lot of us are soccer fanatics, so i was increidibly sad to see paraguay out, then u.s.a lose...and finally mexico.....not good....all my teams lost :(

but anyways, rite now we are still in training until august, then we are told what city we will be moving to...at that point we become completely independent in the sense that we will be the only american in our city and thats when we start working with a cooperativa....

oh and something i wanted to mention is that in training my teammate (tammy) and i will be working with a women's group formed by many of our moms in the our community... so the object of their group is to receive credit from a larger institution called fundacion paraguaya. i think that at the basis of it is a wonderfully idea, since these women are for the most part dependent on their husbands---so offering credit to them directly will give them power to be a bit more independent from their spouses and also more importantly the power to invest in what they see fit....luckily the interest rate that they are offered is very low--compared to anything else around. unfortunately the banking system in paraguay sucks!!! nobody trusts the banks since not too long ago they went bankrupt. so tammy and i will definitely be working with this womens group and i am increidibly excited about it :)

as for the food, i know i mentioned that it is greasy....and my stomach is unfortunately not taking it well.... everything is pretty much deep fried....of course its good--but just fried.....dude im going to gain sooo much weight!!! arghhh!!!! hehe another day i will explain how i have been insulted about my weight :( but my looks no....jaja how ironic.... quite a few people have told me that im pretty, which i think is weird because i look like one of them.....everybody tells me that i look paraguayan....jaja.....

but anyways....im doing great over in paraguay....and maybe later i will be able to upload the pics to show you.....

in the meanwhile do take care

hugs :)

Peace Corps Paraguay

2006-06-19T13:19:00.000-07:00

hello everybody

so this is my first blog and will be back soon to update...jeje :)