Just got back from Long Field Practice. For those of you unfamilliar with Peace Corps lingo, on long field we go in small groups to volunteers's sites for four days to do small projects and see what they're up to. During the four days, we live with a family at their site and do the whole “cultural integration” thing again.

For me, long field was an emotional roller coaster. Three other volunteers and I went to visit Aaron in Solano Escobar, Paraguai (department directly to the east, only about 2.5 hours from Guasu Cora) for our long field. Aaron is G29 which means hes about to finish up his service in April, and one of the people in our class is going to be his follow up. First of all his site is GORGEOUS (I'll try to upload a picture if I can), hes got mountains and a lake and its generally a really pretty community. Also Aaron has an AWESOME house. Its brick and is all nicely finished inside with concrete and tile. From what I've heard its the second-nicest PCV house in the health group (the nicest belongs to Jordan and other PCVs have nicknamed it Jordan's Palace...never seen it myself but I've heard stories). All and all he has a great setup.

The family I stayed with was much different than my family in Guasu Cora. By now my family and I here are so accustomed to one another that we get along great. I've almost forgotten how awkward it was in the beginning. Not so with the family in Solano Escobar. They were definitely nice people but we just didn't click as well. They didn't talk to me terribly much and tended to laugh at my attempts at Spanish and Guarani. Normally the “poke fun at you” Paraguayan sense of humor doesn't get me down at all and I usually am laughing just as hard, but when you are put in a totally strange place with not-so-friendly-seeming people it gets reallllyyyyyy discouraging. To top off those weird feelings, the food the first day was aweful. For lunch we had overcooked pasta with really fatty bony carne followed by plain fried tortillas for dinner with tons of mandioca (manioc is a traditional staple food in South America and Africa. Its a tuber with the nutritional value of cardboard and not much taste. Usually its served just plain boiled here and its on the table like bread...you eat it with everything).

So after the super awkward dinner and after dinner conversation, I had a little pity party in my room and wrote it all out in my journal and told myself that no matter how bad it was, I was learning from this experience, and in the end, its only four days and I can survive. I took some deep breaths and told myself that I was going to be more “tranquila” about the small stuff that was getting me down about this visit and just take it all as a learning experience.

And it totally worked. I rocked the positive vibes the rest of the time I was there and ended up having a pretty good time and getting a TON done. On Tuesday, we built almost an entire fogon in one day at a local school, and Wednesday we did charlas (short lessons) about dental health to elementary school kids. Personally I was terrified about doing the charla because I have no teaching experience and I am not the biggest fan of kids. But, when I actually went up there and did it, it felt great. Getting those kids to laugh at my Spanish jokes really made my day. Ive also got some good pictures of them brushing their teeth.

Volunteer Visit

Hola!!
Sorry I havent given you an update in a few weeks but its been SOOO busy! Training is getting pretty hectic and we are doing a lot more “hands on” type work so I'm really starting to feel like I'm learning a thing or two.

A little more than a week ago we went on our first volunteer visit. We were all assigned different health volunteers that had been in site at least a year. My volunteer, Nicole, is stationed in the department of Itapua in southeastern PY very close to the major city of Encarnacion. Paraguay is a pretty small country but even so, it can take a VERY long time go get around because of the transportation situation here. Encarnacion is basically the farthest away you can get from the capital and not be going out into the Chaco (the other half of PY past Rio Paraguay—less than 3% of the population lives there). To put it in perspective, it took me longer to get from my doorstep in Guasu Cora to Nicole's site than it would  take me to fly from Miami to Montevideo :O!! Here's how it went:

Woke up at 5 and started walking to the Ruta (paved road) at 5:30. The walk to the Ruta is about an hour and it seems like a heck of a lot longer when the sun's not up yet. However, Riso and I were definitely not alone on the Ruta...so many people in Guasu Cora work in Asuncion that they start that early every day in order to beat the traffic and get to work.
We got to the bus stop around 6:30 and waited about 15 to 20 mins for the Nueva Italia bus to pick us up (I still havent found out if there is anything actually “italian” about NI yet but I'm really curious). Luckily there were two other volunteers on the bus from the other health community so we had some buddies. Even more lucky, one of them was going the same way I was and we could ride all the way to the Asuncion terminal together. Having never been to the infamous “Terminal” before, I was more than happy to have a buddy, especially since we would have to switch buses.

We switched buses in Guarambare (place were our big training center is so we know it pretty well) and got on the bus to the terminal. Unfortuanately, our bus got caught right in the middle of rush hour and it took nearly twice as long to get to Asuncion as it normally would. Normally, I dont mind public transportation much at all but the buses here in the cities are killer. The windows are always open, its crazy hot and the pollution is nauseating. Plus the crowds. They pack the buses SOOO full here its insane. You always think they won't be able to fit more people on and then the bus driver's assistant guy is basically telling people to hang out the doors and hold on for dear life. If you are lucky enough to get a seat you also have the pleasure of a face full or someone's fat tummy when he makes a sharp turn.
Anyways so we made it to the terminal finally and went to search for the offices for the right bus. I found it pretty easily and I got SUPER lucky because the next bus was in 5 minutes!! I hopped on it and was on my way. The Encarnacena was super lindo (lindo=fancy) and had super comfy seats. Good thing too because I had to ride on it for almost 7 hours.

The ride was beautiful...occasional towns and lots of green. Farther south there were lots of ranches and you could actually see the mountains! When I first got here I couldnt believe that there were palm trees! I didnt think it would be so tropical so far inland, but we have coconut palms and mango trees and banana trees...the whole shebang. Plus we also have scrubby grasslands that you would think of in Argentina.

Finally made it to Encarnacion around 3:30pm and we shopped around at the supermarket (it was almost like a real grocery store!!) and then headed to her site, finally getting there around 6:30! Over 12 hours later!!

But it was totally worth the trip. It was REALLY nice to be able to hang out and cook and ask her like a zillion questions about what its like to be a real life volunteer. She filled in a lot of blanks for me and it was great to be able to go out into the community with her and see what shes up to. One day we were able to go meet a family that she did cooking classes with and another we got to meet her community contact, the director of the school. I did also get a realistic PY experience, though, since it rained one day and we didnt get to do anything. When it rains here entire towns shut down. Buses don't run or anything.

Por suerte, the next day was dry and we were able to go back to Encarnacion and check out the city. It is a lot smaller than Asuncion but it still has a lot of cool shops and a beautiful plaza. We went to a sushi restaurant for lunch and I was STOKED to go but I was pretty disappointed in the quality. I guess I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up, but I was really missing Sushi Blues and didn't get anything close. For what I paid, I would have rather gotten awesome PY food than mediocre sushi. Other than that, Encarnacion was really cool, and I'd definitley like to visit again when I have more time.

Since we came back from site visits last Thursday, its been nonstop training. Language is getting a lot more intense, and we already had our first test on PC rules. This week we also had our first “Dia de Practica” where we went out and met people in the community and started looking for mini-projects to do in our training community. I'm working with Riso and Esteban and we think we might be able to build a fogon  for one of our neighbors (classic project in PY—its basically a big brick oven that allows people to cook more efficiently and not over an open flame so its healthier).

We also did some practice censuses yesterday which I really enjoyed. For our site, we will be required to fill out a health census form for 50 families, and its a big part of our community study. I was pretty proud of myself because me and my partner got out of our comfort zones and went and met new families instead of asking our families or their relatives. I was kind of surprised that people were so willing to help us and SO friendly. I feel like for at least three hours this week, I have felt like a legitimate volunteer and it felt AWESOME.

Alright, time to hit the Spanish homework, but I'll update again soon!

PS any of you that want to send mail, its apparently not as slow as I thought. Some people have already gotten packages and cards since we have been here. If you want, you can try and send me some snail mail love to this address:

Ashley Lauren Reef, PCT
Cuerpo de Paz
Chaco Boreal 162
Asuncion, Paraguay