Its not easy..but worth it...

This Experience is everything except easy….  September 21, 2012

 

I left the Capital this morning to travel back to site. It is always a long day when I have to travel 3 plus hours on a bus alone. The people I have met since I have joined Peace Corps have changed my life for the better. Every person in my community means something to me. I just have connected with some more than others.

A lot of the men in the community I do not talk to because they are men and I am a women and it is weird and out of nature to have a male-female friendship. So for me to be able to connect with a man on a non-romantic level was very important to me. (I do not want to mention names on this blog so I will name my friend “Purely amazing”, because he is purely an amazing person).” Purely amazing” became a friend of mine when I lived next door to him. His wife and I were also friends and I loved going to their house to drink terere. They were the sweetest couple and reminded me a lot of my mom and dad. Their love was pure and he was not just another man in my community but “my go to guy”. “Purely amazing” become more of a friend when we spent hours, days and weeks working on my house so that I could move in. He is the hardest working man I know in my community. He did not need to drink on his days off, but spend time with his family and friends. Lucky enough I was one of his friends. He was always willing to open up his house and invite me to eat with his family. When we worked together, we would laugh and talk for hours. He would sing a once popular song “te quiero tus ojos” over and over again. He has the best spirit I have met. I would see him working hard, but always around 1pm he would pass on his moto to go pick up his wife from town. Whenever I saw him he would wave, smile, yell my name and tell me to come later and drink terere. We would talk about my frustrations with the community and how we could get them motivated. “Purely amazing” helped me finish my garden, and showed me how he kept his so nicely. I spent the Thursday of Semana Santa with him and his family. “Purely amazing” loved meat (carne) and would always yell “Ale, vamos a comer carne, mucho carne… cancho.. que rico” ( alex, lets eat meat, a lot of meat.. pig. How delicious”) I would always laugh and say “no, lets eat vegetables, they are better”. Back and forth we would go until he got his meat and I got my salad. He always reminded me of a big kid, who just loved kids. He had so much patience. So much love for others.

 

I left my site four months ago. Apparently “purely amazing” got sick one day and was taken to the military hospital in the Capital. He spent 3 months there, fighting for his life against cancer. When he finally got some strength ( 4 days ago) he came back to my site. The disappointing part is that I had left site to go to the capital for a meeting. I was hoping to come back today and find him sitting in his house recovering. I was excited to catch up, joke around and spend time with my favorite senor. I arrived in my neighboring site to find out that “purely amazing” had passed away in the morning. I was speechless and hoped that this was just a miscommunication. So as I walked back to my host moms’ house, the reality was settling in, that my favorite senor had passed.

 

I walked up to his house to find most of my community in black and praying. I could see his wife, but did not have it in me to see the open casket. So I stood there in silence, and cried.  I had no words in English or Spanish to express my sadness, loss, confusion and disappointment.

 

Its days like this, which shake me up and allow me to reflect on the life I live. It does not matter what country I am in, how rich or how poor, how far or how close to home I am… I will always be faced with the sweetest and bitterest moments that life has to offer. I will see love and hate, I will see life and death, I will see it all no matter where I am in this world. It is reality and there is nothing I can do about it.

 

So I want to dedicate the remaining of my service to “purely amazing”. He inspired me to always stay calm, work hard and have a good time. I connected with him and his family on such a natural level. I am so happy I was able to meet him and share the time I did with him. God Bless him and his family.

 

September 22, 2012 ‘

Today I went to the funeral and burial for “purely amazing”. It was the hardest day of my Peace Corps service yet. My communities came together to say goodbye and it was not easy. It started at his house, and we had a possession to the chapel.  From there everyone got in their cars (15), motorcycle( 20) and two buses to follow the casket to the cemetery.

 

To stand there sad myself, watching my communities torn with sadness was the hardest thing I have experienced in a while. The people I was surrounded by are people I respect and love, and to see them upset makes me upset.

 

Today was hard… we have lost a great man in our community and all I can do now is support my community as the days go on. I have so many great memories with “purely amazing” and I am truly honored to have met him while being in Peace Corps Paraguay.

Funny stories and soo good to be back!

So I have been back for about a month. Time flies... I got back to site and basically hit the ground running with trying to get back into work. My community could tell I was happy to be back and finding work was not hard. In the USA we have jobs and are given work. Here in Peace Corps Paraguay it is the volunteer who goes out and finds work. It is the best job since I can turn an ordinary day into a "guapa dia" ( hardworking day).

I have been going to the school twice a day for three classes. While I was gone the school got 9 netbooks (laptops) and have no idea how to use them. When i went to go visit the school the teachers were so happy because finally the laptops could be taken out of their boxes. I set them all up and have started classes. I never thought of all the components needed to teach the basics. Just to turn on a computer to me is something i don't think of. But i have had to go back to the basics and the kids are loving it. First rule is to wash their hands. It is a new challenge to teach computer terms in Spanish. So everyday I have to plan for the next day and make sure I have the right vocabulary ready to teach. The kids seem to be learning, since now they know how to turn on and off the computer. How to open the version of Microsoft Word and type. We are now starting typing class. And I keep telling them "I am teaching you how to type now the right way so you do not end up my dad who types really slow and has to ask me to type things for him" ( Sorry dad but they laugh and really want to learn so they do not end up like that HAHA).

Some funny realities to living in PY.....

I now understand the terminology....

Sunburns- literally the SUN does BURN! I will be riding my bike or walking and i can feel the sun on my skin even if I am wearing long sleeves and sunscreen.

Its been really hot, but two nights ago we had a huge storm. My neighbor (12yr old best friend of mine) came over to make sure I had candles and matches. Her dad had asked her to come check on me before it got dark. Really nice, but I thought it was a bit weird to be so dramatic. I was expecting a little rain and some wind. Not what happened. So it was about 105 degrees during the day. I had been sweating all day. The power in my site has been questionable and when it goes out it is really annoying since I can not cook or use my fan. Also my battery on my computer, ipod and phone only last sooo long... So around 7pm the power went out. My fan turned off, my computer battery said it would last 3 hours and I began to sweat even more. For the next hour i laid in my bed dripping sweat. Then i started to hear rain on my roof. Then wind... A LOT OF WIND.. then HAIL... then before i knew it i was getting pelted with pieces of tile, leaves, rain and hail. I grabbed my cellphone and hid under my table. The candles I had lit went out and I could hear my dog outside wanting to come in. So i opened the door, grabbed his potato sack and let him lay under the table with me. For only 10mins but what felt like a lifetime i watched my ceiling disapear. Only 4 tiles, but those 4 tiles are needed to keep animnals, water, leaves and random stuff from coming in my house. I moved my bed under the table just incase more wind and hail was going to start in the middle of night. So there I was laying with my dog and sleepin under the table. Still sweating. Around 2am there was more rain and wind, and I heard something hit the back of my house. But it had finally cooled down and i was able to move my bed back and fall asleep with a sheet on top of me.

In the morning, I went outside to see the damage. Still with no electricity, I ventured out to find that "that noise of something hitting the back of my house" was the roof to my latrine falling off... I also found a lot of branches, leaves, mud and tiles all over the place.

My neighbor came over and some other kids. We laughed about the storm the night before and how i slept under my table. But then after talking I found out it was a smart thing to do. One of the boys who was talking with us said his house fell down, and his brother was in the hospital. His brother would be fine but the storm was not a joke and did damage to my community. My other neighbors outside kitchen roof had fallen too. Also a tree by the school had fallen and taken all out cable lines aswell. So I had no power for the whole day... Peace Corps (my bosses) called the volunteers in my department since we had gotten the worse of the storm.

And then my friend who lives 2 hours away called and said she wanted to go to the capital a day early. Every three months we have meetings with our bosses. And my original meeting was for Friday. But since i had no electricity and was really hungry I decided to move it to today (thursday) and leave site. So i packed my backpack and left.

So there it is... my update on life in Peace Corps Paraguay. Loving it, even with the downs, I just consider them good stories... and my kids in my community.. the people make it work it! I came back and wouldnt change it... I love what I am doing and I am happy!

Back and never felt better..

So may 21st i left py and did not know when i would return. I always knew i wanted to return but i never knew when the day would come.

On Sunday 26th of Aug it finally did. I flew from LA to Dallas. I had my last plate of Hot wings and a couple of whiskey sours along with a miller light. I then boarded the 11hr flight from Dallas to Buenos Aires. I did not sleep much on the plane and the movies sucked but I was happy I was on my way back to South America. An hour lay over in BA and then i was on my way back to Paraguay.

Landing in Paraguay was unreal. When the pilot said "bienvendos a Asuncion" my heart skipped a beat. Walking into the airport and immigration was the best feeling. My bags arrived and nothing was stolen thanks to the " travel Gods".

A Peace Corps chofer picked me up and we were on our way to the office. I first went to the admin office to get my cellphone, ID, and money. The two ladies who work in there welcomed me with open arms. I went to the medical office to see my doctors and say hi. Another warm welcome. In the afternoon I was re-sworn in. I walked into the main part of the office and was greeted by all my bosses who were clapping and welcoming me back. The nicest welcome to Peace Corps ever!

After a day of running around the office to get my stuff together I stayed in a hotel with a couple volunteers to rest up and shower before going back to site. On Tuesday the 28th of Aug I packed another Peace Corps car with my bags and bike and had a chofer take me back to site.

The whole road back I starred out the window and smiled. It felt soo good to know where I was and where I was heading. The chofer (victor, my new best friend haha) invited me to eat lunch at his house( a half an hr car ride before my site). So we ate with his family and then were back on the road to my site.

Turning off the ruta and entering my site was another moment of accomplishment. The moment had arrived and i was about to see my house, my community, my PY friends and family. We pulled up to my house and I got out of the car. Took a deep breath and looked around. I HAD DONE IT. I HAD GONE TO THE USA FOR MEDICAL REASONS, GOTTEN BETTER AND RETURNED!

The kids and my dog all ran up to me. hugging and saying "your back"! Victor turned to me as we were unloading the car and said " I see why you wanted to come back, you community loves you."

I swept my house, put my bags inside and then went to go say hi to everyone. Everyone was supper welcoming and glad to see me. They all called me heavier and whiter. The people in my community are all very open about their opinions haha.

Since it gets dark early (5:45pm) I called it a night early. Took my first bucket bath, unpacked, talked to my volunteer friends and read a little before bed. It felt good to be back in my little house.

On wednesday 29th I went to my other community to visit and catch up. I also passed by my school and was again greeted warmly. The teachers and kids were on recess and as I walked through the school gates everyone clapped and cheered. I caught up with them all and drank some terere for the first time back.

I noticed my world map that i had worked so hard on was a bit messed up. So in the near future i will have to touch it up. Also my school got 9 laptops. So next week I will start to teach the teachers first and the start with 6th grade and move down from there.

I gifted the toothbrushes to every kid in the school. They were so excited and so grateful. So thank you everyone who gave me toothbrushes to bring back.

Besides that I have been visiting people, hanging out with some volunteers and getting back into the daily life of a peace corps volunteer.

Its good to be back. I wont have internet for a while. I just came into the main town to have a volunteer meeting and to get food. But I am heading back to site for the next couple weeks most likely.

My new number is 986258558