One Year done

ONE YEAR TODAY!

                I cant even begin to explain how good it feels to finish a year in site. A year ago today I left all my new volunteer friends in Asuncion and made my way to Horquetta. I had no idea what would be in store for me. I remember being scared and not wanting to leave the good training days behind. I knew it would be hard to live alone, but I knew I had to do it and that I would do it well.

                A year has flown by. But at the same time I have wanted to quit and go home. A year of medical craziness, obstacles and confusion has made me a stronger person. I can officially look back and say that now. A 17 months have been completed and I now only have a year. A year can be a lot of time, especially if I have another year like this last one. I know I can complete my service and I will end on a high note.

                Just to give everyone at home an idea of my recent situations, I will sum up since my last blog.  I can not remember exactly what my last blog was about.

But Semana Santa passed well. I made “Chipa” with my neighbors. “Chipa” is a traditional Paraguayan bread made out of corn flour and cheese basically. It is a lot of work for a bread that is not my favorite let’s just say. On Thursday of the Holy Week it is traditional to kill a pig and eat it. I dislike pork so I went to a ladies house that promised me she would have Cow meat. I thought I would be safe there and not have to see any pig killings like last year, but I was wrong. I might not have seen anything actually die. But this year I sat at the head of the table and during my whole meal I was forced to look at a plate with the Jaw of the pig. So appetizing.  Besides that I was able to end Easter Sunday with a couple fellow volunteers for a Sunday Brunch.

My closet Volunteer friend is about 10km away. His name is “St.John” (Santo in PY). I have been to his site a couple times to work on Fogons ( Brick ovens). The beginning of April was his last two weeks in Paraguay. He is from the Health group that arrived a year before me. So the first two weeks of April I took advantage of having Santo around. I asked him to come to my site to build a Fogon with me. We also started my World Map. For the Fogon we walked from his house to my community at 7am which took about an hour and half. Then we started working all day Sunday to complete the Fogon. A lot of work but successful since the family loves it! For the world map we had to make a grid on the floor so I could draw the world. Santo had his going away party and I met the new volunteer Amy. Santo left a week ago and I will sure miss him. He was like a big brother to me. Best of luck to him in the USA.

I have been working on my World Map a lot. Hopefully next week I will start to paint it all with the help of the kids. Last weekend I attended a HIV/AIDS workshop. I was meant to take a youth from my community. It is easier said than done to get someone to attend a workshop. Peace Corps pays for the travel expensises and once we are at the workshop everything is paid for (food, hotel etc.) It was a good learning experience and I was able to brush up on my knowledge of the topic.

So all in all I have been busy. I had a boyfriend (Rob) but it was a short lived relationship since it was getting harder and harder to see him. As well as I was unsure if he was lying or cheating. So I thought it would be better to call it quits before I got any more involved.

Lastly a weird story to end this blog with. A couple nights ago my friend Anna came to spend the night so that we could wake up early and work. At around 8pm it was already dark and we were getting ready for bed (brushing teeth, faces etc.) Anna told me a car pulled up in front of my house and than my dog started to bark. We ran inside, and seconds later my landlord was calling out my name outside my door. I was relived and opened my door. He shook our hands and told us that he would be “working” tonight in my yard. I looked at him like he was crazy since he said he would be digging in my yard at night. I thought he was joking but when he said he was looking for treasure I laughed. I then said “ok” thinking what the heck is he doing. We went back inside and for the next 3 hours we heard digging. Everything from “omg they have killed someone and are burying them” to “maybe they are looking for treasure”, went through our heads. We finally fell asleep. In the morning we were preparing ourselves for holes allover my yard. Instead we found a 2 meter deep hole about 15 meters away from my front door. When we asked my landlord/host family what lastnight was all about we got a “shady” response.  Bottom line is I do not know what is going on. I guess a treasure hunt! My boss of security is aware of this situation and finds it weird as well. So tonight my landlord will be “working” again. Vamos a ver.

So what a life I live right?  I never know what a day has in store for me. Tonight I am going to make bagels for my victory dinner of completing one year three months here in Peace Corps Paraguay.

 Rob and I the now X 

 Myself, Carly (standing next to me) Taylor (in the strips) and Jenny 

 The 2nd Fogon I built in my Community 

 The "treasure hole"

My World Map that i have drawn by hand

Until next time….