May comes to a close and Pete visits Paraguay!

May! May has been so fun! May brings about a feeling in me of excitement, content-ness, and sort of a proud-ness.  Its like I’ve been here long enough to feel comfortable, in my own routine, developed meaningful relationships that bring light to my days, know the ins and outs of my different jobs here, ya know- Just Living- here in good ol’ Paraguay. All the differences about Paraguayan culture has grown to be a part of me and while I own my North Americaness and love the US, I am proud to own a part of Paraguay that has literally grown inside me the past 10 months and become a part of me. It don’t know; its like Im proud, content and excited about everything right now! Haha. Excited to be here in Paraguay- just living. Excited to return to friends and family in the US soon too. I suppose May feels like—I still have time here to soak up more Paraguay awesomeness. But, I will be seeing my family and friends too sort of soon. Sort of like this in the middle super contentness. Ha

Anyways, what have we been up to this second half of May? We have spent some time in Aregua, a town about 20 minutes from us. Our friends Manuel and Emett live there- Peace Corps friends. Emmet’s parents and Manuel’s mom came to visit them so we met up with them in Aregua to meet their families. Manuel is out of control. He is pretty much Paraguay’s president. He gives tours to people for fun all the time and knows like every single fact about Paraguay, sometimes even more than native Paraguayans themselves. Ha. So, we hung out with the boys as Manuel took the moms and dad around like a tour guide, starting at Aregua’s big church.

Aregua is beautiful and very clean. They say out of all the Peace Corp placements, Aregua is the “castle placement” because youre literally living and doing service in this touristy/pretty town. VERY DIFFERENT from the campos.

That’s El Lago Ypacarai behind us. It is the same lake that is in other pics in my earlier blogs. Its like the only and only big lake here.

Closerrrrrrrrr

This is Aregua’s new logo to try to bring in tourists. The blue is a representation of the lake and the red heart shaped thingy is suppose to represent a strawberry because Aregua’s is known for its delicious strawberries.

After we made our way past some cows in the back dirt roads, we showed their parents the watercress. This was cool but also confusing on how it all works/grows/etc. So, basically some crops either need or better grow in flooded plains (rice, cranberries, etc.) and what they do in Aregua is dam up one of the small arroyos that feed to the lake and divert the water to the fields. There is obviously some CRAZY delicate about how the topography works to get the water through all the different plots and turned back to the arroyo. 

To the left is Maunel (Peace Corps friend/ Paraguay Wikipedia man), next to him is Emett’s mom, then Emett, then me, then Emett’s boyfriend (Paraguayan), then Emett’s dad.

Here is another pic included Maneul’s mom but missing Monetti.

This place is called "El Castillo de Carlota Palmerola." There is a smaller house next to it, where Manuel lives which is called "La Casa Amarilla". It used to be this politically important place involving some lady name Madame Lynche (forgot the details), but now it is used as a retirement and retreat center for Dominican Nuns.

Monetti, Manuel’s mom, and I waving like we are The Queen…

Hmmm what else, so most of our Peace Corps friends are involved in agricultural/environmental work. So, after visited Manuel’s wormy compost, we visited some of his gardens he has maintained.

Lechuga sprouts!! YUM!

Hmm what else?  We continue to hang out with our besties, the HERMANITASSSS!!! Passin mate, or having coffee and bread or watching soccer games with them, or just chillen. Older people are so cool. Im reading this book “Going Alone Women’s Adventures In The Wild.” Its cool- each chapter is written by a different womyn and her adventure. There is a chapter written by a middle aged womyn called “In the Tracks of the Old Ones.” She talks about how our American culture is so obsessed with aging- as we come out with a new “wrinkle-free” cream each week and as our “sexy” models are younger and younger each year. Anyways, she is totally this bad ass womyn that embraces each year of her life and I LOVE THAT!   She says “a reasonable person knows that age means more, not less.  She also quote Marilyn Monroe saying “I want to grow old without face-lifts. They take the life out of the face, the character. I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face that I have made.” I LOVE THAT! Why am I sharing this random lines from my book with you? Well, its how I feel about the hermanitas- the retired sisters- so many years of LIFE experiences- so much life inside their tiny 86 or 94 year old bodies that shines out- its never gets old to just hang around them, just Be- with them. I don’t think I can go one blog without mentioning them. I’m not going to lie, on the bus ride home from Bolivia, I had a mini break-down about being really sad to have to leave them in a few months.  They are just such cool womyn, each one of them, in their own special quirky way, I feel so so blessed to have them in life. I really am so lucky.

Okay, I can talk about the hermanitas forever so I’ll change the subject. Next funtivity: PETEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! PETE IN PARAGUAY!!! YAYYYYYY!!! 

Pete is the GSV program director and one of our biggest support systems for the past two years.  So, needless to say, we were so excited for him to visit us! 5 days of sugar and laughs pretty much sums it up. We took Pete to Lago Ypacarai, made him try all Paraguayan traditional food-chipa, sopa paraguaya, chipa guazu, empanadas, dulce de leche and the list continues. He totally spoiled ussssss. We went out to eat for EVERY meal except one meal that we cooked for him. We had sweets- and when I say sweets- I mean large quantities of sweets that is not okay to eat in one sitting—that we did, twice a day, every day for 5 days in a row.

Pete drinking terere and mate with us, passing around the whampa, going on a search for Pete to buy his very own whampa, bombilla, and yerba! LOVE IT!!!

Dulce de leche and chocolate sundaesssssssss!!

Pete got to experience one of main entertainments here in Paraguay- riding the buses back and forth looking at the beautiful landscapes. Pete getting a business phone call that he picked up on the bus-bringing US culture with him to Paraguay haha

Pete got to meet our leather man (the guy we work with who backs the aritsans work with leather)- DON BERNADINO!!! They hit it off and became besties instantly!!

Here is Hermana Julia, Hermana Neide (Brasilian sister), Hermana Maria Julia, Mo, Pete and I after a lovely dinner together. Sister Julia and Sister Maria Julia- in the blue shirts- are the two sisters that are “in charge” of us/our bosses.

Pete brought us pretzelsssss!! You know I was so excited!! (they don’t have pretzels in Paraguay.) Pretzels, twizzlers, smarties, tootsie rolls! Told you he totally spoiled us!

So, ya we had 5 days of literally, belly-hurting laughs- including and UNFORGETABLE game of Sherades, Pete feelings sick from too much dairy, artisan stands/artisan work in Plaza Uruguaya, bus rides, deep conversations over icecream or cookies or something sweet,  dinner/hang out with the hermanitas-DUH.

He finally got to meet each one of them – which was cool after he has heard us talk about them all year long haha.

Imelda. Catalina. Pete. Krystina. Elisa. Me

Pete’s visit was so simple with each day revolving around ice cream and meriendar. Krystina and I were talking about how lucky we are to have such an awesome director. With the nature of Good Shepherd Volunteers , with working at Euphrasian- Diagnostic Receptive Center Group Home for girls 12-18 years old, and this year with all the ups and downs of Paraguay- he has been all up in it. He probably knows more about our past two years than most of our family members and close friends. His office was 40 feet from the volunteers bedrooms last year when we lived in the top of a high school.  He’s heard about all the pains and joys of our last two years, its kind of crazy how well he knows us. He has seen us in every emotion- from cries to laughs to everything. I mean I make him celebrate my bowel movement with me! Haha Sometimes we forget he is our “director;” he’s more of like that cool supportive uncle.  You get my point- so it was just so much fun and exciting to have him visit/share a part of our Paraguayan life with him.  Pete, Super Pancho, nice man hands, Kah-tee-uh, Me Gusto (Pete kept saying me gusto instead of mucho gusto to people. Me gusto= I like you, romantically. Mucho gusto= Nice to meet you ahahaha Petee), etc etc. Fun times.

So, sad for Pete to leave but excited to welcome June in. So September to May= either HOT or VERY VERY HOT, anywhere between 80 and 105 degrees. June goes like this- 35-40s in the morning until about noon. Then noon to about 5pm around the 70s. Once the sun goes down around 5:30 it drops and drops and drops and we are in sweats and sweatshirts by night. June is winter here.

Just a typical night eatin dinner with Mo. Dinner beans, potatoes, cabbage, eggs, and yucca medly.

We went to Asuncion to visit VIVI!!!!!!!! We haven’t seen Vivi since December. Vivi was our Spanish teacher in October and November when we first got here. We haven’t seen her in forever so we called and she invited us over for lunch which was so so much fun. We got to meet her husband and kids and had a wonderful day with the Vivster and her fam! She is too good to us! 

As April comes to and end and May blooms in...

Back from Bolivia- getting settled in from adventure to the slow-lifestyle of Paraguayan culture. So, we decided since we work artisans and the nanduti hardcraft- we ought to learn how to do it too! The needlework is so meticulous; it is def MUCH harder than it looks and requires A LOT of patience! Monetti is making a patch design. Early morning in the office-nanduti and mate-with Griz!

 

 Im attempting to make leaf earrings.

Sidenote: The cans of peas here are huge....ahahhahahaaa...

My English class continues to be something I look forward to each week. Im giving them an exam in June so we have been preping/reviewing for that. What else? We went to a Peace Corps party and hung out/met a lot of volunteers. Krystina and I are the only two international volunteers in our town. Peace Corps hosts 2 parties a year in Asuncion- the main city- to gather all volunteers/check-in and well just be around each other since most volunteers are very far away from each other and isolated in small pueblitos. People travel 20 hours just to come to the party bc its only two times a year and most of us live in the middle of nowhere so its a nice gathering!  We have two Peace Corps buddies that invited us- that was fun! There was also the Korean Volunteers Program there. There are about 200 Peace Corps volunteers here in Paraguay, two Good Shepherd Volunteers (Krystina and I), and about 50 or something Korean volunteers- all of which we never see bc every one is SO spread out but it was still cool and fun to dance and talk about our experiences together for that night.

What else goes on here in PY? We had to host U.S. students/cultural exchange type program. They came for one day where we showed them all the work we do here in the Obra- from Escuela Taller, to English classes, to Community Development, to the Fair Trade Program. We mostly talk about the Fair trade program. I guess after the visit, they have to do research on fair trade and propose some sort of research or something about Tekojoja- specifically, which is cool. So that was fun to be around energetic college students in a cultural exchange program because they have the "Im gonna change the world" energy and drive. It was also fun to talk English for a little bit! :)

April has brought about three very special birthday: Michael Simonetti, Kelly McConnell, and Ms. Krystina Monetti. Birthday celebrations! Cooked breakfast for my wifey. Our friend Silvana greeted the Birthday girl with a bunch of fresh avocados, grapefruit, and mandarins that fell from the trees in our yard. Do I really live with fruit trees two feet from my house!? Paraguay awesomeness!

Raining Avacados

Silvana and her tray of avacados

Birthday dinner bash with our besties- The retired sisters and Lourdes, Alba, and Silvana.

Lourders Mo Alba and Silvana

The only candle we had was a "2"

Oh wait, no birthday is celebrated with out Sister Mary Euphrasia! SMEEEEE ahahahha..this is my favorite photo of all the birthday photos.....ahhhha classic.

Hm, what else? Fabi house...hangin out....

One of our friends, Danny, really doesnt like cats and is always shoeing them away and Im usually yellling at him to stop. Anyways, I loved this moment bc he got up to go to the bathroom and this little kitten jumped onto his chair and instantly fell asleep like a baby. When he returned to his chair from the bathroom, this is what he saw..haha

So as April swings out and May rains in, there are more birthdays starting with baby Shelly.

Oh this is a random fun sidenote: So one of the days I was in the office working, and was called out for "an emergency empanada making" and had to rush out of the office to make 50 empanadas for the retired sisters to hand out after mass. How often do you get emergency called out of work for an "emergencia de empanadas?" Classic Paraguay. love it.

So we sow with Sister Gasparina. She loves to sow and said for our birthday gifts she is going to teach us how to sow bc every girl should know how to sow. Krystina and I dont practice bc to be honest, on our off time, we dont want to sow and really only sow to spend time with her bc we know how important sowing is to her. My favorite part of sowing lessons is when we are getting yelled at. She literally yells at us for not getting a stitch right. I definitely get in bad class kid mode and silently die laughing when Krystina is getting yelled at! ha

Speaking of retired sisters, Hermana Claudia fractured some bones in her knee/pelvis. Hospital visits. There is no security at the hospitals, at all. When we went to visit her, we looked at her knees and she had two screws coming out the sides of her knees. They put a glass bottle around each screw to keep the screw in/infection out. Glass bottles? I continue to be fascinated by the medical world of Paraguay.

Okay, what else can I tell you? Monetti and I put on talent shows for each other. She is perfecting her drag queen lip sink for your life performance featuring Cece Peniston's "Finally."

 I am perfecting my "running man" and my twirling routine. We both find it quite amusing that back in my elementary school days, I used to be a superstar twirler and had a macaroni and cheese yellow colored leotard that hard fringe and went to twirling competitions. So, I decided to bring out my twirling skills for the talent show. Although...my baton is a broom stick and its sort of hard to twirl with it bc its so long. Haha. Oh, and we have recently been into Black out Pictionary. So, when we loose electricity at night and sit in the house in COMPLETE darkness, we stumble for pens and paper and play pictionary- draw this scene. Then finally when the electricity comes back, whether that night or the next day- we get to find quite the humor in our creative black out drawings. Self Entertainment never gets old.

Chalice is the program that sponsors all that we do here. It is based out of Canada. They came to visit in May so every one was sure to have everything neat and together/presentable. There were 4 woymn who came, one of which couldnt speak Spanish. I had to go out to one of the communities with her to translate. But, most of the people we serve speak guarani- the indigenous language. I have probably a vocabulary of 20 guarani words. So, we went out to visit one of the sponsored elderly womyn, 84 years old. It was really cool. There we were sitting in a circle- the elderly womyn speaking in guarani to my friend Fabi, Fabi translating from guarani to spanish to me and then me translating from spanish to english to the Canadian womyn. That was really cool and quite hilarious in some moments!

What else goes on in May? MOTHERRRSSS DAYYYY!!
USA Mother's Day May 13th- SO much love to Gigi and Mickie.

Paraguay Mothers Day May 15th! Spent the day at Lourdes house with the girls celebrating 4 moms in that house! This was cool because we skyped our families from home in the US so they can meet them via skype for the first time!

Valentina and Lujan danced for our families :)

What else? We hung out, got our feet muddy from street soccer with the kids, and made some kick ass Yucca Empanadas with our friend Silvana.

Me Silvana and Laura, one of her daughters

It was quite the work but lots of fun to learn how to make. Boil the yucca, then mash it with a fork, then re-mash/squish it/ pat/roll it with your hands until it because like a thick mashed potato like consistency. Add a little corn flour, salt and oil then fill it with whatever you want- eggs, meat, veggies, really whatever you want. We filled it with soy meat and veggies. Then mold and fold the empanadas, rub a little egg on the tops of them and put them in the oven to cook.Very very very delicious and vegetarian friendly!

There was a neighborhood cookout this month- where the local neighbors each cook a typical Paraguay dish....I guess sort of like a bbq type thing--with a bunch of neighbors cooking their own dish. Then you go through each of their dishes and pick out a little something from everyone/pay them for whatever it is you pick. We tried Mbeju, which is this tortilla type pancake made of flour, anis, eggs, and cheese. We also tried Villaruel, which was a boiled egg inside of fried yucca. We tried a new type of chipa called Chipa Asador which was this hollowed out grilled chipa. It was really chill. Music, traditional/typical food made with love by our friends/neighbors. Oh, we also played bingo! The chickens were oh so generous for donating some of their food (corn kernels) for our bingo chips!

May 14th was Paraguay's Independence Day so we spent 2 days in the city-Asuncion- because thats where all the traditional/fun activities were going on. Not much going on in small Itaugua. We hung out with our friend Nico who lives in Asuncion and his friend Miguel. He is our friend Lourde's cousin. He took us around the city where we went to different museums that were free that night, explored the local hand crafts/artisan stands, listened to popular Paraguay band/harp/piano/guitar bands, and saw some fire crackers! We also went to a free concert to see one of Niko's favorite bands form Ypacarai, Paraguay named "Salamandras."

Fireworks! Nico and I

Me Nico and Mo- Lit up in Paraguays Flag Colors- red, white and blue 

Me Mo Nico and Miguel

May 17th, 2012- we saw signs for a LGBTQ Besaton rally. Besar in spanish means to kiss. It was basically a rally to fight for LGBTQ rights and show people that we are here. 

There were some crappy moments and people being really mean but also moments of swirling, twirling, and vogue-ing to Madonna- celebrating the dignity and love for all people!

This past weekend, Monetti and I headed to Ayolas, Paraguay which is in the department of Misiones- a 6 hour drive from Itaugua to visit Sister Gregoria and Sister Nidia.  The call Ayolas "the tail or butt of Paraguay" bc it is the very end of Paraguay/border of Argentina. The Parana River separates Paraguay and Argentina. Typical Paraguay bus ride adventure. Ayolas is a very very empty, calm, and peaceful town. Upon arrival, Sister Gregoria was clapping and hopping so excited to have us! haha, like a proud mom at a kindergarden play! so cute. So, ya spent a really calm and fun weekend with them. We visited the hydroelectric Yacyreta, "country of the moon," which provides electricity to 20% of Paraguay and a large portion to Argentina. 

Ayolas is also know for its fishing. What else? We cooked with them every day - learned how to make "Mandioshururu" aka Madioca frita aka fried yucca. It was good. Boil yucca. Then fried it, add onions, little bit of cheese and eggs. Yum!

We loved when they told us to wear their aprons!

The Sisters here basically work in the same projects as we are involved in, in Itaugua. We actually translate their childrens letters for them. They also play a major role in trying to diminish the prostitution  there in Ayolas. We had some really cool conversations about service and the work they have done throughout their lives (Sister Nidia is 72 years old- so much life experience we were trying to soak up!) We got to visit the center where they work with the children and womyn and all that which was fun/cool. I did some errands on a moto (moped/motorcyle) with one of the local girls that work for them which obviously I loved!

What else happened this weekend? Oh, we went to mass with the Sisters on Sunday and the sisters introduced us to the priest before mass - volunteers from the US/the work we do/into, whatever. So the mass goes on- Monetti and I play games like immature kids in church, typical. The mass is about to come to an end and all of a sudden the priest gets on a microphone and announces that there are two North American girls here. So we are like oh crap, thats us! Then he asks us to stand up. I slightly raise my hand bc I didnt want to stand up! The church was filled!! Then Sister Nidia hits me like an aggravated mom telling me to stand up!! So we stand up- embarrassed/slightly nervous. Then he asks us to say our names outloud- meanwhile everyone in the church is staring right at us- so we say our names and Sister Nidia hits me again telling me LOUDER LOUDER! Im like Sister, I dont wantt to!! Shes like Jessica do it!! Im like ohhh man Jessica! ahahaha then the priest asks us to come up!! to the front of the church- in front of everyone...Im like this is notttt happening. So we stand there, not moving and once again Sister Nidia drop elbows me to get my ass up there- so we nervously walk up to the front of the church- thinking okay the priest will say a few things about us and then we can go sit. Oh No...he simply hands me the microphone. Monetti looks at me with a look that says dont you dare hand me that microphone. He says "Can you tell everyone where you are from?" I say Estados Unidos. He says "how old are you?" I say 24. Then he asks me to explain my we are here in Paraguay/what work we are doing, etc. I looked at Monetti and we both wanted to start cracking up but were equally nervous at the same time. I was nervous about speaking in front of all those people, let alone in a 2nd language! Anyways, after the first 5-10 seconds of beginning to speak, the nerves went away and it all just flowed out- THANK GOD! ahahahah but we were dying!! I cant. Then later on the bus ride back from Ayolas to Itaugua, some random lady approached us and was like HEY YOU TWO ARE THE GIRLS FROM CHURCH!! ARENT YOU!!! A moment to remember for sure.

Oh, I definitely had a moment of humility this weekend. So, at one point when the Sisters and Monetti were taking siesta (nap time), I was awake reading my book "The Monk Who Sold His Ferari" by Robin Sharma- EXCELLENT book! Yes, excellent! haha- it is such a great read and highllyyyy recommended! Anyways, a womyn came to the door speaking guarani- the indigenous language. She was asking for the Sister but they were sleeping and both their doors were shut and locked/I felt weird about waking them. I couldnt really make out anything she was saying. I think she was trying to sell her chicken/wanted the Sisters to help her find some one to buy it but was not positive and didnt want to pass on the wrong message. I apologized to her in Spanish telling her Im sorry I cant understand her/Im from the US/dont know how to speak guarani well with my vocab of 15-20 words. So, I told her to wait and ran inside and grabbed a piece of paper and pen so that maybe she could write her message down- in guarani to the sisters bc obviously they speak the indigenous language. I KNEW this womyn came from the neighborhood in which I was staying, which had one room houses, dirt flooring, owning nothing outside of chickens. And then there I go asking her to write a note for the Sister, assuming that she knew how to write. She just shook her head no at me- and I felt a rush of lkjdfdsjfdsjfsdljdf;ljsf-ness in that moment!! Talk about pushing my education privilege in my face. I felt humiliated in that moment and like I know better!!! I've been in Paraguay for over 9 months now and know that putting food on the table even just once a day for the kids IS the day's job, not learning how to write.- Jess!! Come on! Anyways, I suppose the universe wanted me to repeat a lesson/learn. Humility.

Mate sharing, cooking, playing with the Sister's dogs Oli and Tuki, playing with their chickens, ducks, and dickens.

Sister Naida and I are good pals even though she hits me in church.

Cows, always cows :) Cow milk in our coffee every day. Going for long walks getting lost amongst the peaceful silence of the town. During siesta time one of the days, I couldnt sleep so I went for a walk- passed a family all sitting out on the grass--there were 6 adults talking and passing around mate (herbal tea), while this boy was on the roof of their house picking mandarins from the highest parts of the tree and throwing them down to a teenage girl who was trying to catch them. They were hysterically laughing. Then 10 feet from them were the kids- 5 of them under 10 years old playing a soccer game using a grapefruit as their ball. It was such a perfect moment and I felt blessed to be a witness. Everything about everything was perfect- and in sync- Paraguay awesomeness full fuel.

There are so many amazing things about this country and all/who that are in it. It has been such a privilege to share life with Paraguay and Krystina and I are starting to feel the weird ancy beans that our year's contract is coming to an end soon.

Until then, we are determined to continue to squeeze out the fun, love, and amazingness that Paraguay offers each day....and so this wild and precious adventure continues....