I have my first language skills interview next Wednesday (that´s what the title says) and estoy preocupado (I´m worried). My language skills are a million times better than when I arrived, and my family has recently commented on how much better I speak now than 4 weeks ago. I can read quite a bit and understand most of it. Last Sunday I read all the US-based international news in the Sunday paper and got almost all of it.
But, I get really nervous in front of other people. It´s my competitiveness coupled with feeling embarrassed along with not wanting to sound stupid, so I freeze. But at the dinner table with family, I´m willing to sound dumb in order to learn, so I´m fine...more than fine. I´ve been able to have pretty complex conversations about money, lifestyle in the US, the role of fathers in parenting, and why we from the US leave our parents´s homes when we are only 18 (the Paraguayans think that is very weird as they live with their parents until they are married and oftentimes afterwards as well).
I will prepare some for Wednesday´s oral exam, which is only a conversation with a teacher who doesn´t know me very well, and I´ll hope that I sound intelligent when I do it. I am able to speak using the future tense (Voy a ir a Asuncion el Sabado...I am going to Asuncion on Saturday) and using the past tense (Yo comí mucho anoche...I ate a lot last night) and using the imperfect tense (Cuando era joven, yo trajababa todos los dias con mi hermana...When I was younger, I played every day with my sister) and even with the past participle a little bit (Yo he comido ya...I have eaten already). I also have learned a lot of idomatic phrases which are really helpful. (Yo acabo de comer...I just ate; No estoy razón...I´m wrong; and Estoy de acuerdo...I agree.) Idioms are the bomb and it´s no wonder my mom has a hard time teaching them in English to her non-native speaking students in Lowell...they don´t directly translate at all!
Que mas? My day to day life is actually pretty boring. I go to class, eat with the fam, talk with friends, maybe have a beer and do lots of homework and studying. We are currently in the middle of a series of Dia de la Practica, and Kimberly and I are preparing to present two ¨charlas¨ (workshops...chats) to the students at one of the high schools. We will do one about self esteem and one about why working hard is important. We are working with Fredy Olmeda, the director of the school. I am excited (and nervioso) to present to 30 high school students in SPANISH. We will work in concert with a teacher, which will be better.
There are yacares in the laguna here, in the middle of town. (Crocodiles...) We see them cuando hay sol (when there is sun). The funny thing is that yacare is a Guarani word and is also used to mean a man who sneaks into a woman´s room/house at night to hook up with her...apparently leaving your window open and making plans with a man results in a yacare visit. (NB: the word is pronounced with a hard J like in English...JACKARAY.) Just a little tidbit for those of you keeping track of cultural nuances. :)
We have visited with the director of the democracy project for USAID. Interesting. We have learned loads about how the municipalities run and the tax laws and the other stuff that the towns are responsible for. We have done workshops about relationships, machismo, dating, and using non-formal education technicques. We even learned how to use SWOT! (FODA in Spanish...)
Happy 4th of July. Everyone enjoy your breaks. Much love and missing.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Hace tres semanas que yo llegué en Paraguay
It has been three weeks since I arrived in Paraguay. Amazing. It feels like three months. Seriously. I do not remember the last time I was so ensconced in learning, whelmed (not over, but just whelmed, and I have lost enough English at this point to not know a good word to use here) with imformation, and happily acculturating. College was the last time, I guess. This is really intense and really great all at once.
The Paraguayans have a word for the life I´m supposed to live. ¨Tranquillo.¨ Translated to English, this would be "chill" and in Thai, would be "mai pen rai." But here, it is a true way of life. The way of being in the US, hurrying here and there, is totally foreign to this culture. I am already effected. I walk slower, I think slower, I am more willing to just figure it out later than I have been in a long while. This way of life is not natural for me at all, but I really like it and I think I will come to appreciate it.
We had a huge session on site matching and site placement the other day. I will visit my future site in week 9 or 10. Right now is only week 3. But, the process of matching seems meaningful and thoughtful. The Assitant Director here (my jefe) looks at the available sites (of which there are more than there are of us) and then at our skills, our language, our abilities and our attitudes and then matches us to a site. They also take our requests, but only to a point. Right now, I have no requests. I think I can potentially succeed anywhere.
We are not supposed to be thinking of projects now, really. We obviously know our interests, but we won´t really know what a site needs till we get there. Por ejemplo, if I decide that my interest is in garbage clean up and nutrition for kids and then I get to Chelmsford (my hometown in the US for arguements sake) and I pitch this there, who knows...right? Maybe some school kids are already doing garbage projects or this subject is a sore spot for the Town Manager/Mayor for some reason, and I upset them. Or, perhaps the kids have great nutrition, or the parents or health center are insulted by my insinuation that they don´t. BUT, instead, if I get to site, introduce myself, say I work at the Municipality (our equivelent of Town Hall) and say that I´m there to support projects, perhaps a mother´s group will approach me about the fact that there´s too much garbage in the streets and they want to organize THEMSELVES to do something about it. Now I can appropriately react. Make sense?
What I´ve learned, basically, is that development work is not to help folks HAVE MORE, but to help them learn how to BE MORE. The HAVING MORE sometimes can undermine the BEING MORE, if that makes sense. It´s slow, ardous, relationship-building-based work. And, I´m really excited about it.
Que mas? I visited a volunteer in her site last week for 4 days. It was great to see her work in real time, and see what a Muni voluteer does. I really liked her, too. It was great! We have also begun our Dia de la Practica, of which we have 5, to practice by talking to people in Ita and developing a "mini project" while we are here. Very cool.
Final observation: today, June 24 is Dia de San Juan, a celebration of a saint. It really lasts the entire month and involves these games and traditional things. Sort of like hotdogs on the 4th of July. There´s one game called pelota del fuego (ball of fire) in which a ball made of cloth and dipped in gasoline is lit on fire and kicked around. Crazy. Tengo mucho miedo, y, no me gusta. Me creo que este es muy peligroso. (I was very afraid and I didn´t like it and I think that this is very dangerous.)
Oh, and the US Embassy in Asuncion is hosting a 4th of July gig on Saturday the 1st. We´re off to play with the marines and other PCV´s and I am staying overnight in a hotel in Asuncion. Yay! Fun.
Love and missing. K
The Paraguayans have a word for the life I´m supposed to live. ¨Tranquillo.¨ Translated to English, this would be "chill" and in Thai, would be "mai pen rai." But here, it is a true way of life. The way of being in the US, hurrying here and there, is totally foreign to this culture. I am already effected. I walk slower, I think slower, I am more willing to just figure it out later than I have been in a long while. This way of life is not natural for me at all, but I really like it and I think I will come to appreciate it.
We had a huge session on site matching and site placement the other day. I will visit my future site in week 9 or 10. Right now is only week 3. But, the process of matching seems meaningful and thoughtful. The Assitant Director here (my jefe) looks at the available sites (of which there are more than there are of us) and then at our skills, our language, our abilities and our attitudes and then matches us to a site. They also take our requests, but only to a point. Right now, I have no requests. I think I can potentially succeed anywhere.
We are not supposed to be thinking of projects now, really. We obviously know our interests, but we won´t really know what a site needs till we get there. Por ejemplo, if I decide that my interest is in garbage clean up and nutrition for kids and then I get to Chelmsford (my hometown in the US for arguements sake) and I pitch this there, who knows...right? Maybe some school kids are already doing garbage projects or this subject is a sore spot for the Town Manager/Mayor for some reason, and I upset them. Or, perhaps the kids have great nutrition, or the parents or health center are insulted by my insinuation that they don´t. BUT, instead, if I get to site, introduce myself, say I work at the Municipality (our equivelent of Town Hall) and say that I´m there to support projects, perhaps a mother´s group will approach me about the fact that there´s too much garbage in the streets and they want to organize THEMSELVES to do something about it. Now I can appropriately react. Make sense?
What I´ve learned, basically, is that development work is not to help folks HAVE MORE, but to help them learn how to BE MORE. The HAVING MORE sometimes can undermine the BEING MORE, if that makes sense. It´s slow, ardous, relationship-building-based work. And, I´m really excited about it.
Que mas? I visited a volunteer in her site last week for 4 days. It was great to see her work in real time, and see what a Muni voluteer does. I really liked her, too. It was great! We have also begun our Dia de la Practica, of which we have 5, to practice by talking to people in Ita and developing a "mini project" while we are here. Very cool.
Final observation: today, June 24 is Dia de San Juan, a celebration of a saint. It really lasts the entire month and involves these games and traditional things. Sort of like hotdogs on the 4th of July. There´s one game called pelota del fuego (ball of fire) in which a ball made of cloth and dipped in gasoline is lit on fire and kicked around. Crazy. Tengo mucho miedo, y, no me gusta. Me creo que este es muy peligroso. (I was very afraid and I didn´t like it and I think that this is very dangerous.)
Oh, and the US Embassy in Asuncion is hosting a 4th of July gig on Saturday the 1st. We´re off to play with the marines and other PCV´s and I am staying overnight in a hotel in Asuncion. Yay! Fun.
Love and missing. K
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Algunos Observaciones
So I thought it might be time for a ¨Karen´s random observations¨post. Here goes.
--It is not winter here, really. It is warm. We´ve had a couple of chilly days/nights so far, but nothing crazy. Apparently it´s coming. Whenever you guys are the hottest in New England, that´s exactly when I´ll be coldest.
--My laundry set up is sweet. I bought the soap and a woman does my laundry at my house for free. But, she ripped a big hole in the leg of my only jeans. Nice. I did a very good sewing job, and I think they are able to still be worn...we´ll see. I do have a few other pairs of pants, so no worries...I won´t be wearing jeans in the heat of most of the year anyway, right?
--This country has a HUGE amount of patriotism. Considering the long and somewhat sordid history (for more info, read that post here), it is wonderful. As the guy from the American school in Asuncion who gave our history talk said, this is a country who´s history is based on on success but on survival (he´s Paraguayan and lived in the US for 16 years as a young person).
--There are not many birds. The number of stray dogs is bothering some of my companeros, but not really me, considering they are far less in number than in Asia. There are crazy dog choruses in the freaking middle of the night which are driving me nuts. I finally decided to sleep with the fan running in the corner in an effort to drown out the dogs. It´s working.
--The Spanish teachers really care about us. I talked one-on-one spontaneaously with Noemi today about my progress and although I told her I´m worried that I´m not doing well enough, she assured me I am. I told her I know it´s only the second week and that there´s still plenty of time and she agreed. She doesn´t speak English, so everything I need to convey I have to do in Spanish. So far so good. I am still scared to death of Guarani, but I will make an effort because it will take me far in my site if I do.
--Yesterday, we went to the chu-chi mall in Asuncion for a few hours. It was nice to be in a grocery store that had peanut butter and such, since you can´t really find it elsewhere. Remember me saying that you can go to Asia naked and with no bag and find everything you need there? Not the case here. I might even need to import OBs from home because you can´t even find those. Interesting.
--Food: lots of carbs. Not many veggies other than lettuce and tomatoes. Fruit in abundance, but so far, my family doesn´t eat whole fruit. I buy it on the street when I can. Lots of one-pot meals: soups, meat with rice, etc. Lots of frying. But because overall, food is less abundant in quantity, I have actually lost a little weight already. We´ll see. I´m looking forward to living on my own and cooking for myself again.
--Toilets. All western in cities. I have yet to use a latrine, which are mostly in people´s houses in the campo. It´s possible I could end up somewhere with one, but not sure yet. TP is not abundant, but not as absent as in Asia. Lots of soap. Parguayans care a lot about cleanliness.
--The sky is pretty. The streets are paved with huge cobblestones that aren´t flat, they are every which way, walking is a bit of a challenge. Lots of places don´t even have that, only dirt. Stores are tiny and have few things. Computers and internet are in towns and cities but not elsewhere. There´s a good chance that I´ll get a site where I only have internet once a week or less. I could have daily, too. You never know. There are amazing flowers and trees here. The flora is to die for.
--I have not taken a lot of photos. A few here and there, but as most of you know, I prefer to take things in first hand instead of from the other side of a camera. I promise to somehow get some to you. I haven´t figured out how yet.
--People stare. But not a lot. But, we are in Ita, where Cuerpo de Paz is very well known. They´ve had lots of volunteers in Ita in the past. When I go other places there is more staring. Yesterday on the bus, I was with three others and they were on the otherside of a VERY CROWDED aisle from me. I was totally incognito, not talking or whatever. Then, Jim yelled from the other side, are you looking where we have to get off? in English and I yelled back. So much for blending in...everyone stared after that! Hee hee.
All is well. Keep well, all. Love and missing.
--It is not winter here, really. It is warm. We´ve had a couple of chilly days/nights so far, but nothing crazy. Apparently it´s coming. Whenever you guys are the hottest in New England, that´s exactly when I´ll be coldest.
--My laundry set up is sweet. I bought the soap and a woman does my laundry at my house for free. But, she ripped a big hole in the leg of my only jeans. Nice. I did a very good sewing job, and I think they are able to still be worn...we´ll see. I do have a few other pairs of pants, so no worries...I won´t be wearing jeans in the heat of most of the year anyway, right?
--This country has a HUGE amount of patriotism. Considering the long and somewhat sordid history (for more info, read that post here), it is wonderful. As the guy from the American school in Asuncion who gave our history talk said, this is a country who´s history is based on on success but on survival (he´s Paraguayan and lived in the US for 16 years as a young person).
--There are not many birds. The number of stray dogs is bothering some of my companeros, but not really me, considering they are far less in number than in Asia. There are crazy dog choruses in the freaking middle of the night which are driving me nuts. I finally decided to sleep with the fan running in the corner in an effort to drown out the dogs. It´s working.
--The Spanish teachers really care about us. I talked one-on-one spontaneaously with Noemi today about my progress and although I told her I´m worried that I´m not doing well enough, she assured me I am. I told her I know it´s only the second week and that there´s still plenty of time and she agreed. She doesn´t speak English, so everything I need to convey I have to do in Spanish. So far so good. I am still scared to death of Guarani, but I will make an effort because it will take me far in my site if I do.
--Yesterday, we went to the chu-chi mall in Asuncion for a few hours. It was nice to be in a grocery store that had peanut butter and such, since you can´t really find it elsewhere. Remember me saying that you can go to Asia naked and with no bag and find everything you need there? Not the case here. I might even need to import OBs from home because you can´t even find those. Interesting.
--Food: lots of carbs. Not many veggies other than lettuce and tomatoes. Fruit in abundance, but so far, my family doesn´t eat whole fruit. I buy it on the street when I can. Lots of one-pot meals: soups, meat with rice, etc. Lots of frying. But because overall, food is less abundant in quantity, I have actually lost a little weight already. We´ll see. I´m looking forward to living on my own and cooking for myself again.
--Toilets. All western in cities. I have yet to use a latrine, which are mostly in people´s houses in the campo. It´s possible I could end up somewhere with one, but not sure yet. TP is not abundant, but not as absent as in Asia. Lots of soap. Parguayans care a lot about cleanliness.
--The sky is pretty. The streets are paved with huge cobblestones that aren´t flat, they are every which way, walking is a bit of a challenge. Lots of places don´t even have that, only dirt. Stores are tiny and have few things. Computers and internet are in towns and cities but not elsewhere. There´s a good chance that I´ll get a site where I only have internet once a week or less. I could have daily, too. You never know. There are amazing flowers and trees here. The flora is to die for.
--I have not taken a lot of photos. A few here and there, but as most of you know, I prefer to take things in first hand instead of from the other side of a camera. I promise to somehow get some to you. I haven´t figured out how yet.
--People stare. But not a lot. But, we are in Ita, where Cuerpo de Paz is very well known. They´ve had lots of volunteers in Ita in the past. When I go other places there is more staring. Yesterday on the bus, I was with three others and they were on the otherside of a VERY CROWDED aisle from me. I was totally incognito, not talking or whatever. Then, Jim yelled from the other side, are you looking where we have to get off? in English and I yelled back. So much for blending in...everyone stared after that! Hee hee.
All is well. Keep well, all. Love and missing.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Enfermeras, Solderos y Veudas en El Desfile
Today was a holiday in Ita. It celebrates the end of the Chaco War, which was fought with Bolivia over a huge piece of land in the north of Paraguay which essentially has nothing but they thought there might be oil there. We won in 1935. Today was a huge parade with all the school kids, teachers, firetrucks, etc down the main Ruta in Ita. It lasted a long time and there were food and balloon vendors and such. It was a lot like the 4th of July in Chelmsford. Somehow, I always get to foreign countries right when there´s a major holiday. It´s cool.
In my hermanita´s (small sister´s) school, which, oddly enough, is named Escuela Walt Disney, there were all the 4 and 5 year olds dressed as nurses (the girls), soldiers (the boys), and widows. The widows each had a sign with the name of what I can only assume is their dearly departed. The little nurses each had on a hat and carried a little medical kit. Each little soldier had a gun, a canteen, and had been painted with beards. It was amazingly cute. And it made me think: whoop-de-do for the Minutemen. Where´s those who helped on the frontline and those left behind in our rendering of our war success in our desfiles (parades)?
I´m an idiot and left the house without my camera, so I´ll have to beg copies off friends who aren´t so dumb. We had a beautiful early winter day for the parade as it is a clear blue sky and about 60 degrees here. So nice.
Yesterday, the 7 of us who live in Ita travelled to Las Piedras, about 15 minutes away by bus to visit the other 11 folks in our group. They live in the campo (the country) which is a suburb of Ita. They live in a farming community because their project is Rural Economic Development. We were fed yummy food and then played soccer, hung out in the sun and spoke bad spanish with little children. The day wound up with dancing and then we headed home. We are all kind of glad we live in the big city instead of the campo.
Last night was declared (by us) NO FAMILIES, NO SPANISH night and we played cards at my house in my room and drank a couple of beers and only spoke English. It was nice. But, also turned me into an idiot all over again when I tried to talk to my family that night. Too much English is not a good thing.
Overall, though, my Spanish is pretty good. As soon as I stop trying to directly translate in my head, I´ll be better off. But for now, my vocab is growing every day and I am getting better at my tenses and remembering that sentences (and paragraphs) need verbs!
All is well in Paraguay, a small little landlocked country with a wicked history that needs some help to take the next step. I´m hoping I can be part of it.
In my hermanita´s (small sister´s) school, which, oddly enough, is named Escuela Walt Disney, there were all the 4 and 5 year olds dressed as nurses (the girls), soldiers (the boys), and widows. The widows each had a sign with the name of what I can only assume is their dearly departed. The little nurses each had on a hat and carried a little medical kit. Each little soldier had a gun, a canteen, and had been painted with beards. It was amazingly cute. And it made me think: whoop-de-do for the Minutemen. Where´s those who helped on the frontline and those left behind in our rendering of our war success in our desfiles (parades)?
I´m an idiot and left the house without my camera, so I´ll have to beg copies off friends who aren´t so dumb. We had a beautiful early winter day for the parade as it is a clear blue sky and about 60 degrees here. So nice.
Yesterday, the 7 of us who live in Ita travelled to Las Piedras, about 15 minutes away by bus to visit the other 11 folks in our group. They live in the campo (the country) which is a suburb of Ita. They live in a farming community because their project is Rural Economic Development. We were fed yummy food and then played soccer, hung out in the sun and spoke bad spanish with little children. The day wound up with dancing and then we headed home. We are all kind of glad we live in the big city instead of the campo.
Last night was declared (by us) NO FAMILIES, NO SPANISH night and we played cards at my house in my room and drank a couple of beers and only spoke English. It was nice. But, also turned me into an idiot all over again when I tried to talk to my family that night. Too much English is not a good thing.
Overall, though, my Spanish is pretty good. As soon as I stop trying to directly translate in my head, I´ll be better off. But for now, my vocab is growing every day and I am getting better at my tenses and remembering that sentences (and paragraphs) need verbs!
All is well in Paraguay, a small little landlocked country with a wicked history that needs some help to take the next step. I´m hoping I can be part of it.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Yo vivo en Ita
After a very long journey which included American Airlines putting us in a hotel for 12 hours in the middle of the day and the best shower of my life, we finally arrived in Asuncion on Thursday night, June 1 at around 12 a.m. We stayed at a retreat center for the night and then went to the training center in Guarambare on Friday morning. We spent the day dealing with logistics, such as shots, getting books issued to us, and getting some moola. Then we spent the afternoon in sessions and language interviews and such.
We met our families in Ita (about 25 km from Guarambare) that night. Mine is amazing. Mom and Dad are 38 and the girls are 10 and 3. They are fun and loud and crazy just like my own family. There are always a million people coming and going and around the kitchen table. It´s great.
We train from 8 to 5 every day with a 1 hour break for lunch, which we go home to eat with the family. My house is about a 10 minute walk from the CAPICI where we train. I walk with two other volunteers who live right near me. At night, we have been out twice to the Donna, a local bar for beers. Next Saturday morning, June 10 is the first Paraguay game in the World Cup. Looking forward to that.
There´s WAY more, but i don´t have time to post it all right now. I will tell you more later. I am really pretty happy. No worries.
We met our families in Ita (about 25 km from Guarambare) that night. Mine is amazing. Mom and Dad are 38 and the girls are 10 and 3. They are fun and loud and crazy just like my own family. There are always a million people coming and going and around the kitchen table. It´s great.
We train from 8 to 5 every day with a 1 hour break for lunch, which we go home to eat with the family. My house is about a 10 minute walk from the CAPICI where we train. I walk with two other volunteers who live right near me. At night, we have been out twice to the Donna, a local bar for beers. Next Saturday morning, June 10 is the first Paraguay game in the World Cup. Looking forward to that.
There´s WAY more, but i don´t have time to post it all right now. I will tell you more later. I am really pretty happy. No worries.
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