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