I have a house! I originally wanted to live in the house that the volunteer before me left behind but it didnt work out...they were asking too much and I would have had to use a latrine and no hot water. Even just for WATER I would have to go about 30 feet from my house even to wash dishes since there is only one spigot in the middle of the house and the neighbor's house. So I went looking around in my community and I found the perfect place. Its very close to the Puesto de Salud (health center) and the school. And its NOT a mud hut!!
My house is brick and has 3 bedrooms but I am only using one (the others store all the landlord's crap) and a big kitchen. The kitchen has a dirt floor but I actually don't mind it at all. Its kind of nice to be able to spill something on the floor and not clean it up. I also have an "outside" kitchen that is made of wood which houses my fogon. I have actually tried using it but with limited success. AND its also got a modern bathroom and a HOT WATER SHOWER!! All for the same price I would have paid to live in the old volunteer's one room house. It still needs a little work but I love it. Its so nice to finally have my own space!
Everyone here keeps asking if I am scared to live on my own since its so rare for a woman to live sola here. I'm really not though. Not only is my house really secure (I have a fence and bars on my windows like everybody else here) but the neighbors are really protective of me. Nothing gets past the watchful gaze of my landlady.
I also now have a guard dog to keep me safe! She's not doing much guarding yet though, since shes six weeks and weighs less than a kilo. But she'll get there. Her name is Chipa.
Now that my fogones are pretty much done (I technically have one more to go plus the one I am building at my community contact's house but neither will be right away) I am looking for other ways to keep myself busy. I helped Miriam (the volunteer closest to me) with an HIV/AIDS course this week which went really well. It was exhausting to even WATCH all the work that she had put into this three day camp so it was even more rewarding that it went so well. We had 30 kids show up from her community and we all gave charlas (short talks) on themes dealing with STIs, reproductive health and things like that. My charla was on sex myths which there are tons of here in PY. Our HIV/AIDS coordinator from PC came and gave charlas and demos and we even got a doctor from UNICEF to come all the way from Asuncion as well. It was so rewarding to see these kids learn and to even open up a little and ask questions.
Since my last week or so has been filled with helping Miriam prep for this camp I hadn't really missed my fogones much but now I am starting to. It was nice to have a routine! Now school is on vacation (winter break here) so its hard not to be lazy. Next on the list of things to do will be working on my census (three page health questionaire I have to do with 50 houses in my community for PC) and working with the health post. I'll let ya know how it goes!
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