dear friends and family, i am long overdue for a blog post. i apologize
for my lag in writing! I’ve been writing in my journal, a lot, but haven’t had
the time or mental space to sit down and write a complete entry here. I really
tried a few times – for instance, on February 10th when I was
staying at a hostel. I wrote:
hello dear ones. Hola from asuncion, el capital. I am
writing from the back yard of a lovely little hostel in the Centro. This
weekend I went into the city after being in my site for over a month and not
leaving! I am proud of myself.
And it stopped there.
It was an attempt! I think I was too distracted, going to Asunción is its own culture
shock coming from the campo, and there is just so much to talk about when I’m
finally hanging out with other volunteers, and speaking English.
I think it may
be easier for me to list some updates and random experiences I’ve had over the
past few months of being in my community:
11. I
moved into my own little casita! I live in a little house that used to be the
grandmother’s of the Gonzalez Garcia family, which is on their property. This
means I basically have a whole new family – with 7 sisters and one brother, and
one of the sisters (she’s also 25) has a 4-year old girl. It’s wonderful to
have my own space, but I’m even more in the “fish bowl” because everybody (the
family, and neighbors) visits, wants to know what I’m doing at every second,
and can watch me as they pass by or just gawk from their front yard. I
shouldn’t complain, really, because it usually means I get free food with every
visit. Living
on my own also means that I cook my own (vegetarian!!) food, and eat when I
want. I love my brand new little oven with two burners. I’ve been baking a lot
of pan dulce de banana (banana bread) and random other things it’s wonderful.
I’ve been sharing my food I cook a lot too (especially pan dulce and cakes) –
and I think will be the main way that I bond with the family and neighbors,
through food.
32. I’ve
finally gone back to no meat, except for when I eat with families I visit and
they feed me more chicken then I could ever eat in one sitting. I basically am
known now to not eat any meat, and I’m glad for it. When I lived with families
in their homes I tried almost everything, including pig intestine, fried pig
fat, cow organs, cow neck meat, crocodile, eel, and I’m sure other things I
couldn’t identify. I still haven’t had armadillo, but it’s common apparently to
eat in the campo. I have some chicken frozen in my freezer right now that was
given to me as a gift, and I think I’ll save it for when I have some other volunteers
visit. It’s been a very weird experience, this eating meat business, and
Paraguayans just don’t really understand a vegetarian diet. The most popular
dish for any kind of party or special occasion is asado (BBQ) of either pig or
cow, with mandioca, sopa paraguaya (kind of like corn bread) and rice salad
that has the teeniest amount of vegetables and a TON of mayonnaise.
(This is a photo from my host sister's 15th birthday bash - can you spot the pig head?)
43. I started my own garden next to my house with the help of some awesome community
members. I’ve been slowly getting it prepared to plant tons of veggies – so far
I have a starter bed with onions and lettuce that aren’t doing so well with the
heat, and seedlings I’m waiting to coming up of tomatoes, cucumbers, squash,
kale, beets, and something else I cant remember. I also have one little
cilantro plant I transplanted from the first host family’s garden. I’m excited
to grow things although it’s also a lot of pressure – if things die or don’t go
well, everyone will know about it. On the other hand, if my permaculture
techniques are wildly successful – everyone will know about it. It’s a little
Peace Corps technique – using a demo plot to experiment with sustainable
gardening and agricultural practices and thus demonstrate them to the community.
Wish me luck!
54. I’ve
been continuing my English and yoga classes, although right now my yoga
“classes” have been just me and a couple of my hermanas at my house doing yoga
in the evening. It’s getting dark earlier now, and its’ hard to get my students
to stay for yoga after English class lately. There are fewer students now, but
the ones that come almost every class remember a lot, and it’s so amazing to
see the learning process! It makes me think about teaching in the future, and
definitely appreciate the teachers I know in my life – it’s hard work.
There’s so much more
to write about, but it’s time for bed right now – it’s after 10pm. I think I’m
waking up early to go and harvest cotton with my neighbor Edgar and his wife
Lili – they are in their early 30s. I had dinner with them tonight and the family which was a
shared meal of some squash/potato soup I made last night and a Paraguayan dish
that is basically a corn mash with cheese. My next blog entry I will be
describing (with photos) how I made dulce de guayaba (guava jam) with some of
the sisters today. I haven’t cooked the small amount I saved to try to sweeten
with honey instead of sugar yet (they used 3 kilos of sugar! for 6 kilos of guava). More food talks soon, especially about the staggering amount of sugar that is in the diet here.
Hope this finds you
well and lots of love :)
