Finally an update

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!

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?

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

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...

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!!!

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!!!!

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....