Our New Home

As we've learned, our new home for the next 2 years will be in the department of Caaguazu, about 5 or hours east of Asuncion. We will be moving to our site in mid December, will have cell phone service, electricity, and running water, (I think).

We are off to visit our new home on Wednesday and will be back on the following Monday. Wish us luck!

Chris here, (in his debut entry):

Greetings everyone out there! and Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone!

We have been here in Paraguay now for just a little over two months and I sure have learned a lot! My Spanish is so-so and my Guarani is flat out terrible. We are moving soon and are to become "official" volunteers within a few weeks. Our site is a non-descript local near the bustling backwater of Yhu in the Department of Caaguazu. Caaguazu, I have been told means "forest paradise" in Guarani, but I have been assured that none of its left. Thank goodnees I sure hate trees! So for those who know Paraguay it's east from Asuncion (about 2.5 hours) to the town of Caguaazu and then north on red dirt roads. Peace Corps staff has assured me that its full of rural charm. I asked for a place way in the middle of no where and I think they met me half way. It may sound real remote to people who only have to drive five minutes to the Albertsons, but here in Paraguay I am not nearly as isolated as others. Its just a short dusty two hour Micro (bus) ride to the internet and a small grocery store. I feel blessed... other folks can't get out of there site when it rains and i have been told that I can. Marissa says there's running water but I think she doesn't know what she's talking about. There is another married couple from Texas 7 km away from us and they will help us get started in the community. They are leaving in April and have told us that we can have some of there things. They have also invited us to a BBQ X-mas eve. They will be slaughtering a 130 kilo pig. For some perspective on this, I weigh around 87 kilos. We are going to visit the site on Thursday and will post something for everyone in a week or two.
On another more general note...
I have met a ton of wonderful people here and Marissa and I are very happy. Neither of us has gotten real sick nor real depressed from culture shock. Our host family here is really wonderful! They bend over backwards to help us and are very generous with what they have, and at times they are understanding of our peculiar ways. They have made our experience here very positive and I will miss them when we go campo in a few weeks. Now I will give a short wrap up of the past weeks events.

We went on two seperate trips last week. I went to a city to play games with children and Marissa went way down south to work with farmers. Lets just say that my experience and hers were entirely different. I really enjoyed the experience and learned a ton about working in Paraguayan schools. Marissa also enjoyed her experience but had incredibly rougher accomodations. I am thinking of a few people who will probably read this entry that would flip out if they had to endure a week of what she endured. After our foray into the Paraguayan campo/city we returned to our "suburb" outside of Asuncion for a short week of training. Last Wendensday I killed a Chicken. Thats right, I killed a chicken, with my bear hands. How barbaric, no? I can't say I enjoyed myself or that I look forward to killing more chickens but I think my new skill will suit me well in the campo. After bloody Wedensday we had a marvelous Turkey day with our new Peace Corps trainees. It was something resembling a potluck... my favorite contribution was Cincy chili. God bless the volunteer who brought it. For the Cincinnati crowd, yes, she's a westsider but who can really complain when Skylines on hand. It was delicious! Then after much delay and anticipation we got our assignment!
All in all we are very happy here. I will try and get more entries down in the future and I hope all of our friends and family who are reading this are doing well. Today is "Who Dey" day and I still only wear only orange and black. Although I have to say Marissa and the Paraguayans think it's a bit ridiculous at times. I am looking forward to the Monday night game against the Colts. It will be the last night before we head out to the campo. I have been assured by folks here in Paraguay that its on cable. I can't wait! Ocho cinco better not let me down. Who Dey and Love to all,
Chris and Marissa

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

I just wanted to post something quickly for you all to read since it appears that we have a loyal following and that more and more people are starting to read this.

Well, on Friday the 24th, we will be finding out where we will be living for the next 2 years of our life. That´s all--nothing big. We are really excited and I´m actually a little nervous.

Until then, we have our last day of practice tomorrow where we have to give presentations which our language teachers will evaluate. I have to give mine in spanish and guarani, and it will be about composting. Thursday, our entire training group will be celebrating Thanksgiving by having a large potluck at the training headquarters.

Chris and I have been doing well lately and we celebrated my birthday with our family at the house. Our father came home with like 12 lbs. of meat and we had an asado (which is spanish for barbecue--only the meat and the grill are a bit different. We also celebrated our younger brother (same day) Victor´s birthday-who turned 17, and my other brother´s birthday(Ariel)who turned 5 on the 16th. It was also the confirmation of my other brother, Ricardo, on the 17th, so we had about 17 people over for dinner.
It was a very nice day overall and my sweet mom clipped fresh roses for me out of her garden to present to me on my birthday morning.

Everything is going well. We will be heading into the city on Sunday and will be trying to make routine calls to the family and will also update the blog and try to add pictures. We may even be able to use the Skype account before then to call home (thanks Sally!!).

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!! We are both grateful to have friends and family like you all who have supported us tremendously in our Peace Corps endeavours!!

The Bane of Our Existence...

is the picture of the cheese featured in the photo at the above, left. Yes, that is a picture of Queso Paraguaya, which is the common and pretty much only used cheese in these here parts. Basically it's gross country cheese that poor people make and really seem to love. I hate it and they put it in everything. Chris and I think it tastes very "animal". If you have traveled to any latin american country and had their version of campo cheese, then you know of the cheese of which I speak. And the small hard pretzel shaped biscuit things are called like 'roquitas' or something like that. I tried to eat them the first week, but have since stopped. They are served at every meal, and is the only thing available as a food for breakfast. I have consequently also stopped eating breakfast. They are anis flavored. Oh yeah, ALL the bread here is anis flavored. Even the hot dog buns that our mom buys. I brought home a loaf of whole wheat bread (thank you, wonderful Germans!!) and was told by our mom that only people on diets eat that kind of bread. (This was a reply in response to a question I asked about why people commonly do not eat what bread). The fridge in this picture is not typical, as this picture was taken after a recent cleaning. It IS usually this bare, but usually there is some sort of unknown meat part laying DIRECTLY (yes, no plate, no plastic bag- yes, saran wrap does exist here, but I´ve never actually seen it in in action.)laying on the grids.

The other pictures are of our backyard at our house, complete with mini- landfill, and the last pic was taken earlier today at the hotel where we stayed. The Paraguayan gnomes are sending many thank you's and love to Jim! (Note: you may be able to see the silence-of-the-lambs-style cage in the background of the yard photo. This is where a pig was apparently jailed and slaughtered for a X-mas feast. Not that this is disturbing in and of itself, but if you could see the remnant bone parts littered about the inside, you might be affected.



So, last night, Chris and I celebrated our 1st year anniversary by coming into Asuncion, eating at a "nice" French-influenced restaurant. The food was o.k., and the ambiance and waiter-clad-in-a-tuxedo was a really nice touch. I almost forgot I was in Paraguay, but was quickly brought back to reality once I left the confines of the air conditioning and cleanliness of the restaurant. We stayed at a nice hotel frequently used by PC volunteers, called The Alpes. How nice it was to have air conditioning, t.v. in english and a semi normal breakfast!

So, on to our daily routine, just so that you can get a feel of what is happening in our daily lives. I get up at about 6:30, skip breakfast (due to reasons stated above)and walk about 5 minutes to get to the office where Chris trains with his environmental ed group. I get picked up in a van with some of the language teachers, and we travel to a neighboring community about 15 minutes away so that I can train with my group of crop extensionists. I proceed to sit in language class (Guarani)for four hours, trying to learn an indigenous language. There are only 4 people in that class, and because my Spanish was pretty good already, I've been learning Guarani ever since we got here. The language teachers are great, and the ratio is 1 teacher for about every 3 or 4 trainees, so it's very intense and effective. Then we have lunch and siesta for an hour and a half, and I eat lunch at my neighbors house. Her name is Dona Gladys and I am lucky to have her because my lunches are slightly healthier and tastier there, and she is a bit more conscientious when it comes to hygiene and food. After lunch, we have 4 hours of technical training which consists of lots of learning about everything from farming methods to animal care to farm planning and the economics of small farms and how everything works for a farming family here in Paraguay. I've learned so much and am eager to start our real job. We do lots of hands-on training- we have a vegetable garden, a bigger field where we are growing other crops and green manures, and baby chicken which we are raising for slaughter. Out trainer, Tim, is awesome, and has lots of experience with farming and worked in the Chaco during his peace corps service. The basic goal of my extension is to improve the nutrition of the average rural family living in the campo, to manage farmland in a more effective manner, and to maybe (if we are lucky)increase crop yields to sell for more income. We are also very concerned with overall soil health (because this is vital for good crop yields), family nutrition, and ways to raise your animals correctly so that they provide more food to feed your family. It's intense, difficult and slow work due to all sorts of cultural, financial, and social reasons, and I've been told many times that it's definitely one of the harder jobs to have here.
At five, I head home. Chris and I do our laundry by hand of most days. We could pay someone to do it, but we have so much clothes, it would become really expenisve and we like to save our money for other things, like calling home and using the internet. We do laundry about 2 hours, inter-mixed with some reading or homework, hanging with the family, and trying to straighten our room. Sweeping often helps keep bugs out and there is always dirt from our shoes everwhere. We eat dinner at 9, and then usually read, shower, and then go to bed. On Wednesdays, everyone travels together to the main training center to have training on security issues, medical, language, cultural stuff etc. We also get our vaccines and are able to see the doctors, etc.

Top Ten Annoying Things on An Average Day:
1. Bad Food- bland mandioca, fruit juice with added sugar (makes teeth hurt), everthing is fried or with lots of added oil, or unknown cuts of extremely chewy beef or chicken
2. The 'burping' of the water pipes and drain in our bathroom which makes the bathroom smell like raw sewage occasionally, especially after it's rained
3. Cockroaches living in your bathroom
4. Parties that start at midnight on a weekday, and keep you up all hours.
5. Roosters crowing at the break of dawn
6. Dead or dying kittens and puppies which have been abandoned in the field of the middle of the hot-ass sidewalk
7. Watching the dog(s)pee on the kitchen floor and then seeing it just sit there
8. Lack of the ability to communicate with family and friends
9. Having your clean laudry which has dried outside smell like burned garbage
10. Seeing your own personal garbage on the ground. Surprise! This is where it goes after it leaves your bedroom!

Okay, I'll stop griping. Everything will be lots better 4 months from now when we can live in our own house, and our family is really great and they bend over backwards for us sometimes. It´s just hard to give up autonomy that you once had.

Chris' day is just about the same.

Thanks again to mom and dad Jim and Sally for paying our cell phone bill. I consider it our anniversary and my birthday gift!!

We love and miss all of you all!! We missed Halloween so much! Hope you all had a good time and will try to update this again very soon.

Love,
Marissa and Chris