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

My weekend

Right now I am watching futbol on TV...muy abborido (boring). So perfect time to write another blog. This was a pretty awesome weeknend here in Guazu Cora. Satuday was my host mom's mother's birthday, so we had a little party for her. The party started at around 11 when Carly (the volunteer who is staying with my host mom's mom) came to get me to let me know that it was time to kill the turkey. Now this turkey had been a much talked about subject among our family for weeks. Aurelia (host mom's mom) said it was going to be her present to herself to eat one of her fat turkeys. So all afternoon, Carly and I watched turkey prep. (note: vegetarians stop reading here and restart at the beginning of next paragraph). When I came over, we had just missed its acutal demise, and it was hanging upside down from a tree already dead. Next, Aurelia dunked it in boiling water and started plucking it. It took the better part of an hour to defeather the thing. Then she cut it apart, utilizing two different knives and then, when that didnt work, a two foot long hacksaw. It was quite the spectacle to watch. It went into a pot with tomatoes, onions, carrots and LOTS of garlic to cook all afternoon. Its amazing how disconnected we are from our food in the US. Since I've been here, I have watched the demise of two animals and I'm sure it wont be the last. I think I would be more than happy to be a vegetarian.

The actual party didnt start until late in the night (almost 10), and it was totally a family affair. 10-15 of the family came for dinner which consisted of the turkey with the sauce and rice (ricissimo!!!! --delicious in spanish), and the ever-present asado (this time beef ribs). The food was great and we got to drink a little beer and hang out with everybody. The only thing that gets awkward about family gatherings is that they pretty much ONLY speak guarani. So the only way we knew any of whats going on is that my host mom or her sister Daisy would translate for us. Guarani is SOOOO hard to understand. Every once and a while, I would pick out a word or two but its pretty few and far between at the moment. The party didnt go too long, we were all in bed by 11:30, full of beer and cake and yummy yummy pavo (turkey).

Today I got to sleep in til almost 10 which was awesome. Right after I woke up, another volunteer, Eric, came by to tell me that he and his dad were going to work on his garden and asked if we wanted to help/watch. I gladly accepted, since gardening in PY is definitely a skill I will need later in my site. Carly and I headed over to Eric's and learned to make tablones (raised beds) and how to spred compost. Very exciting (totally not joking...I'm really excited about gardening and teaching paraguayos how to grow and cook different veggies).

In the afternoon, my host sister asked me if I wanted to go to “the beach.” I gladly accepted because “the beach” around here is the Rio Paraguay and I've seen pictures and its gorgeous. I rode with Eric and his fam and my mom and host sisters followed in their moto. When we got to the beach it was really crowded but BEAUTIFUL...really rocky and full of tide pools. We sat on the rocks and drank terere with the families. It was really relaxing and we got to stay and watch the sunset before the mosquitoes chased us home. I definitely hadnt expected to go to the beach in a landlocked country but Paraguay continues to pleasantly surprise me.

Thats all for now, coming up will be highlights from our trip to the BIG CITY (Asuncion) on Tuesday! I love you and miss you alllll!!

A day in the life of a PCT in Paraguay

Hey guys! Sorry its been a while since my last entry but ive been really busy...so i though id fill you in on WHY its been so hard to write a blog :) Heres what a typical day is like for me here in Guazu Cora, dept. Central Paraguay.

I get up hellaciously early (around 645) and eat breakfast with my host mom. She gets up at like 6 when her other two daughters go, alone, on about an hour bus ride to the capital to work for their dad. The dad is a misterious figure in my life...ive never met him, but I know he exists. I am kinda afraid to ask my host mom if they are separated or something, because I never hear her talk about him or anything. The only things I know about him is that he is a buisnessman in Asuncion and that Dalila and Violeta help him out at his “store”. But I digress....so after I eat breakfast I usually sit and try and figure out what is going on on the news channel for a few minutes while I wait for Carly and Eric to walk to the esquelita (little school—where we do most of our training...basically a little building in our satellite community).

The walk to the esquelita is like 10-15 mins. Its a dirt road in pretty shistey condition so when it rains, it becomes a mud river. So we get to the school and start classes around 745. Right now im in the intermediate spanish group so I study with 3 other people who are at around the same level. There are 4 other people learning beginner spanish and 4 others learning gurani (in spanish). Hopefully I will get to an acceptable level where I can start learning guarani by like week 5.

We have lunch at 1130, and since Carly and I live at the end of the road, my host mom brings us lunch on her moto (moped...they are super common here along with motorcycles and dirtbikes and no one wears helmets. Fun fact, 3 people per day die in paraguay because of moto accidents...in a country the size of NC). Lunch is the big meal here and its usually full of meat and starch. These people dont really believe in veggies.

After lunch we get picked up to go to Guarambare (aka the big city to us out in the campo...actually a small suburb of Asuncion) where we switch gears to talking about the “other stuff” like development goals and health and safety and all that other fun stuff. Today for example, we had a talk about how not to get robbed on a bus (most common crime against volunteers) then we had a talk with some current volunteers about what its REALLY like out in the campo campo (cuz apparently Guazu Cora is the Ritz compared to whats to come). They talked about their projects and how they went about planning etc.

After class we have like an hour to hang around in the town before we have to back to campo-land. Today I went right to the internet cafe to do the blog thing. When you get to the internet cafe, you sit down at a computer and just hope to god its going to work today. The computers are decently modern (like a few years old) but like everything is held together with glue and tape and one thing or another generally goes wrong if you sit there long enough. Like skype for example will misteriously take like 10 mins to boot up. Or the internet goes down for a few mins. Or your headphones are crap. So you sit there wasting your precious internet time (which is a little more than a dollar per hour) while there is a Paraguayo under your desk trying to fiddle with the wires when it doesnt work. So you can see why its a little frustrating to try to get anything done during your precious internet time.


After the cafe, we wait for the oh-so-unpredictable bus to take us home. Its "supposed" to come every 30 minutes but its kind of a crapshoot. After my 15 min bus ride and hour walk home, I usually just hang out with my host fam until its time to go to bed. I have a fair amount of reading and homework so im pretty much running on empty by like 11. I am the first to go to bed at my house usually. Sometimes Carly comes over and studies with me since shes two houses down and my fam loves her. My spanish is def getting better but its just taking time.

Phew. Long day right? Speaking of which I need to stop being antisocial on the computer and go hang out with the host fam. I love you guys!

First night in PY

I MADE IT!! A solid 15 hours later, I have officially made it from Miami to beautiful Asuncion, Paraguay. To my complete shock I was actually able to sleep for approximately 5 hours on the overnight flight from Miami to Montevideo, which is the reason I am able to be up past 10pm right now writing this blog. We only experienced minor delays and luggage loss (apparently 23 bags wouldn't fit on our flight from Montevideo to Asuncion, including one of mine, but they will be arriving tonight sometime to our host family's houses). Today was pretty chill after we got in. After all of the luggage was sorted out, we headed to a “retreat center” in Guarambare to eat and hang out. Real training starts tomorrow morning where I can hope to get vaccinated for all manner of sub tropical diseases that have it out for me and then we have our Spanish placement interviews. Next, we will be meeting our host families. For me, this is one of the scariest parts about training (besides the language of course). I am just petrified that I will say something or do something completely culturally inappropriate during the first five minutes that will make them think I am an insensitive doofus. I know I'm overreacting, but I haven't lived with a family (even my own!) for almost 5 years so it will take a bit of getting used to.

As I am writing this, I am scratching all over. I remember PC documents stating that Paraguay is not a malaria country. Wellllllllll that doesn't mean that it isnt chock full of mosquitoes and other bitey insects that want to suck my blood and keep me up itching all night. Blerg.

When I stepped off the plane in Asuncion, it was second nature to reach for my cell phone and start to call all of you guys to let you know that I've made it in safe. HOWEVER, my cell is now disconnected and I won't be able to use the internet until at least lunch time tomorrow. It is REALLY weird to be disconnected from the world, even for less than two days. Its so funny how reliant we are on technology.

  

This is my real life!!

This is my real life. I can barely believe it. I cant believe I am lucky enough to be on a plane right now to start my Peace Corps adventure in Paraguay. You guys don't even know how excited I am.

The last few days I was in Raleigh were awesome. I couldnt believe how many people came out to my going away dinner and how many people even just called me or txted me or facebooked me to tell me that they were excited for me and wish me luck. I have been kind of a wanderer my whole life, and I can honestly say that Raleigh has felt more like home for me than anywhere else I have ever lived. I am truly blessed to have such awesome friends and family and I will miss you all sooooo much while I am in Paraguay. Thank you all for supporting me even though you might think I'm a little nuts for doing this.

So right now, I am looking out my window on the ridiculously tiny plane to Miami (seriously, this is a little scary. Its only got three seats across and I cant stand up all the way in it. To top it off we were 20 minutes late getting off the ground because we needed more oil in our left engine. Good to know that I'm flying around in a tiny bucket of bolts lol) and I still can't believe that this is real. Even though I've been stalking other volunteers' blogs and reading up on Paraguay nonstop, I still don't think I really know what to expect. But for me, its kind of the fun part. I get to just get in there and make it happen all by myself and see what I can bring to the table to make people's lives better. I know its going to be incredibly difficult at times, but I have no doubt that this will be the most rewarding thing I've done so far.

The next few days are going to be crazy crazy. I'm getting into Miami around 4 today and then just hanging out with other volunteers until orientation starts tomorrow morning. I'm going to be going strong from 8am to 11pm when we get on our first plane that takes us to Uruguay. The flight is like 9 or 10 hours but its going to feel SOOOO much longer because its overnight and we also lose two hours on the way. I am not so happy about the whole overnight flight thing. I mean I know it allows us to now lose an entire day to travel, but you KNOW I am going to be way too jacked up on excitement to sleep at all on that plane. The next morning I fly to Paraguay and we start training. I think I will be able to have the interwebs again on Thursday so I will definitely try and give yall an update then and let you know how insanely hot and humid it is while you all are still freezing up here in winter-land. :)

En Route to Miami

This is my real life. I can barely believe it. I cant believe I am lucky enough to be on a plane right now to start my Peace Corps adventure in Paraguay. You guys don't even know how excited I am.

The last few days I was in Raleigh were awesome. I couldnt believe how many people came out to my going away dinner and how many people even just called me or txted me or facebooked me to tell me that they were excited for me and wish me luck. I have been kind of a wanderer my whole life, and I can honestly say that Raleigh has felt more like home for me than anywhere else I have ever lived. I am truly blessed to have such awesome friends and family and I will miss you all sooooo much while I am in Paraguay. Thank you all for supporting me even though you might think I'm a little nuts for doing this.

So right now, I am looking out my window on the ridiculously tiny plane to Miami (seriously, this is a little scary. Its only got three seats across and I cant stand up all the way in it. To top it off we were 20 minutes late getting off the ground because we needed more oil in our left engine. Good to know that I'm flying around in a tiny bucket of bolts lol) and I still can't believe that this is real. Even though I've been stalking other volunteers' blogs and reading up on Paraguay nonstop, I still don't think I really know what to expect. But for me, its kind of the fun part. I get to just get in there and make it happen all by myself and see what I can bring to the table to make people's lives better. I know its going to be incredibly difficult at times, but I have no doubt that this will be the most rewarding thing I've done so far.

The next few days are going to be crazy crazy. I'm getting into Miami around 4 today and then just hanging out with other volunteers until orientation starts tomorrow morning. I'm going to be going strong from 8am to 11pm when we get on our first plane that takes us to Uruguay. The flight is like 9 or 10 hours but its going to feel SOOOO much longer because its overnight and we also lose two hours on the way. I am not so happy about the whole overnight flight thing. I mean I know it allows us to now lose an entire day to travel, but you KNOW I am going to be way too jacked up on excitement to sleep at all on that plane. The next morning I fly to Paraguay and we start training. I think I will be able to have the interwebs again on Thursday so I will definitely try and give yall an update then and let you know how insanely hot and humid it is while you all are still freezing up here in winter-land. :)