Ben Sherman...

This is an a.p.b. going out to Mr. Ben Sherman of Cincinnati (and any of Chris' other delinquent friends) to please respond to this posting with your e-mail address so that Chris may be able to e-mail you directly. Thanks, Chris

Quickly......

Here are some more pics, and I hope this satisfies everyone for a bit. The first pic is me + monkey= love. The second pic is the caiman, which is mentioned in a previous post, and the last picture is of us in our community with our friend Adam, and his brother Juan, who is an invaluable tour guide. Hope you like, and please don't send any candy, exceopt for maybe one bag of dum dums or caramel apple lollipops, which I believe will be send by our super mom, Sally. My teeth will rot out of my head if I eat any more sugar, which was not the case as of a few posts back. And, please, don't send any actual caramel apples. They will be a rotten mess when they arrive.

Take care everyone! Miss you Dave and Jill and Ben and Hillary!!!

Monkey Business

The cutest and saddest thing I've seen yet.

In the Office

So, here in the Peace Corps Office in Asuncion, trying to get this thing updated because it's been so long.

Chris and I just got back from our 'Visit a Peace Corps Volunteer' weekend. It was pretty cool. We went 4 1/2 hours to the east on a bus in the middle of nowhere. We visited another married couple who were super cool and we ate some great vegetarian food of which they mainly grow all of it in their garden. We planted sesame, saw some no-till farming in action, and talked with the families that they work with for a little bit. We also took the opportunity on Friday night to come into the city and get a hotel room (with air conditioning!) It was SO nice to be alone and sit outside and have a cold drink and feel like we were kind of on vacation.

When we got out to the campo (countryside where poor people live, okay poorer people) I took some pictures of this monkey that lives with this little baby pig, and it was SO damn cute, but also very distressing that they kept them both leashed up on like a 2 foot piece of rope. I almost cried when I saw that, but you just have to divorce yourself of the way you think about animals in America if you want to be able to not get upset about everything you see that's animal related down here. It's very hard, and in some ways, I still deal with lots of tough emotions related to animals, even though I don't have the job I used to have anymore.

We went to the supermarket about an hour ago and we are stoked that we got some good food. Wheat bread, peanut butter, cream cheese, fruit loops, and a nail brush. Ooh, I can't wait. All they eat down here is hard white bread or biscuits and it all has anis in it. It's so gross. They make lots of juice with carrots or pineapple or melon, but then add more sugar to it!! My body craves clean cold water and veggies and whole wheat and lean beef. I do not feel like going back to the house and having to be productive in the morning once again.

We do have the fact that we have not yet become ill of stomach to be very thankful for. The heat has started to climb, and it's hard to believe that it's only spring. We haven't yet had the chance to find postcards, but as soon as we do, we'll send some out. We are in class 6 days a week, and there are no stores out where we live.

Halloween is coming, and of course no one (except for the uber rich in the city) even knows what it is. It's my favorite holiday and I am going to miss it!!!!!!!

Eat lots and candy for us and dress up and go out and party! Or at least hand out some good candy for us.....

Hugs and kisses to you all. We'll try to call and or write more later.

Love,
~Marissa & Chris

Lavar La Ropa

So, it´s been a little while. We two have been very busy with training and in the evenings we do things like wash clothes by hand which is extremely labor intensive. It takes like 2 hours to wash 10 articles of clothing, which makes you really appreciate your washing machine. Or, at least, it should. And THEN you can iron it afterwards so that you don´t get any parasites laying eggs under your skin from the clothes hanging outside to dry. And, Paraguayans take their appearance very seriously and they like to look neat. First time I´ve ever ironed my tee-shirts and underwear and socks. If you have a big family, as is usually the case, and you (being the mom) have to wash all the clothes for your husaband and children......well, do the math.

Yesterday it rained buckets and was actually quite cool. The day before was HOT, like 30 celsius. Weather extremes in the spring down here are bizarre.

Getting pretty tired of eating all the carbohydrates and chewy, greasy, fatty meat. But, you do what you can and kiss your mom when she makes things like empanadas and fruit juice. I tried to make mac-n-cheese from the box for the family, but it did NOT taste like shells and cheese or even Kraft dinner for that matter. Not a good idea. Good thing we had a bottle of hot sauce with us.

Next Wednesday we are going to the city of Asuncion, which we have not been to yet. I am looking very forward to seeing the city and possibly eating some food that is familiar. Wendy´s, Pizza, or sushi....even Korean food sounds good even though I´ve never had it. Anything but refined carbs, pineapple soda, or chewy carne de vaca (beef). We´re going to be fat when we get back!!

Love you all!!
(Miss carpet and fresh vegetables.....)

P.S.- If you get the hankering to send us something, People magazine, Caramel apple lollipops, hot sauce for Chris, and some mechanical pencils or good pens. THANKS!!!!