Friday, September 3, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
ARRIVED!!
so i just arrived at my sight tuesday. haha i was a little freaked the first night. didnt know anybody. could barely understand them. had no idea what i was going to do. but after a day i realized that everything would come with time and i kinda settled down a little bit.
but my site (for jisi) is amazing and very tranquilo. my day will normally go as follows. wake up at 8 and go to the municipalidad to sit there and drink terere and do nothing because they all talk in guarani and i dont think they do too much anyways haha.
then after about an hour i go to the computer salon and help people out with computer issues and play on the computer until about 11
afterwards i go next door to the justice house where i drink terere outside with my host brother and his friends for two hours. still not sure what happens there but ill figure it out someday. then at about 1 i go home for lunch.
laydown for a little bit because the day has made me tired. then i figure out something to do for an hour or two and then play soccer with some guys. then dinner. and then who knows what comes next!!!! haha
but its good because i need a break after a long 3 months of hardcore training. this life will change though once i start finding more things to do.
BUT already i have done a lot in the past week.
ive met sooo many people. i went to the colegio where i introduced myself to every class and even practiced dancing with the dance class. haha they talked about it on the radio too!
worked in the huerta. garden. with my host dad. talked him about lumbricultura wich is creating a more rich abono (fertilizer) using worms. he seemed really interested and i think we are going to try starting it as a project and im hoping other people which catch and and try it as well. because it really does work amazingly.!!!
then yesterday me and my brother bought some materials and started making glasses and wine glasses out of wine bottles. an awesome project i learned during trainig and was a lot of fun. and of course to celebrate we had to throw a little get together in his backyard and test them out....of course!
last night also i went to my first meeting with the cultural commission. they were talking about how to survive the elections because a new municipaility could be put in place and they want to ensure they it will still recognize them as a commission. i was surprised but actually understand a lot of what they were saying. haha i think it surprised them too. i responded to something someone said and they all stared at me with mouths open because they were not expecting me to make a noise for at least a year i think haha
anyways.....its been the most eventful but chilled week of my life and i cant wait to see whats going to happen...
love you guys, miss you,
charlie
but my site (for jisi) is amazing and very tranquilo. my day will normally go as follows. wake up at 8 and go to the municipalidad to sit there and drink terere and do nothing because they all talk in guarani and i dont think they do too much anyways haha.
then after about an hour i go to the computer salon and help people out with computer issues and play on the computer until about 11
afterwards i go next door to the justice house where i drink terere outside with my host brother and his friends for two hours. still not sure what happens there but ill figure it out someday. then at about 1 i go home for lunch.
laydown for a little bit because the day has made me tired. then i figure out something to do for an hour or two and then play soccer with some guys. then dinner. and then who knows what comes next!!!! haha
but its good because i need a break after a long 3 months of hardcore training. this life will change though once i start finding more things to do.
BUT already i have done a lot in the past week.
ive met sooo many people. i went to the colegio where i introduced myself to every class and even practiced dancing with the dance class. haha they talked about it on the radio too!
worked in the huerta. garden. with my host dad. talked him about lumbricultura wich is creating a more rich abono (fertilizer) using worms. he seemed really interested and i think we are going to try starting it as a project and im hoping other people which catch and and try it as well. because it really does work amazingly.!!!
then yesterday me and my brother bought some materials and started making glasses and wine glasses out of wine bottles. an awesome project i learned during trainig and was a lot of fun. and of course to celebrate we had to throw a little get together in his backyard and test them out....of course!
last night also i went to my first meeting with the cultural commission. they were talking about how to survive the elections because a new municipaility could be put in place and they want to ensure they it will still recognize them as a commission. i was surprised but actually understand a lot of what they were saying. haha i think it surprised them too. i responded to something someone said and they all stared at me with mouths open because they were not expecting me to make a noise for at least a year i think haha
anyways.....its been the most eventful but chilled week of my life and i cant wait to see whats going to happen...
love you guys, miss you,
charlie
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Jurnamento
ola,
so friday we all came down to the capital of asuncion. there we checked in at the hotel, dressed up, and made our way over to the us embassy for jurnamento, swearing in. it was a nice little ceremony and i think they put us in the news too.
so officially, finally, after a year of waiting and three months of training we are VOLUNTEERS BABY!!!
haha friday was followed by a 48 hour celebration in asuncion!
i am heading back to ypane today until tuesday, to hang out a bit and say good bye to the fam. then tuesday, off to yegros!
finally started to heat up a little bit hear which is nice. hotel had a pool. yesterday went to a movie. saw plan b, or i think its the back up plan. whatever it was, it was terrible.
today we went and saw INCEPTION. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!i cant even begin to describe how much i loved the movie. haha felt weird leaving the mall tho. watching a movie in english, eating mcdonalds, i forgot where i was for a while. haha didnt realize how much i kinda missed that stuff. but o well, good to get one last taste. now i see why volunteers manage to make it back to the capital at least once a month!
other than that, not much. kinda sad, saying good bye to some people. but we will all be relatively close, sort of...
this weekend is the partido clasico. where the biggest two rivals in paraguayan futbol are playing against eachother, so the streets are dead right now haha everybody is watching. olimpia vs cerro. i am an olimpista. not sure the difference, only that they have different colors.
anyways, hope all is well! love you guys.
next time i post it will be from my sight!!
jajo'topata
so friday we all came down to the capital of asuncion. there we checked in at the hotel, dressed up, and made our way over to the us embassy for jurnamento, swearing in. it was a nice little ceremony and i think they put us in the news too.
so officially, finally, after a year of waiting and three months of training we are VOLUNTEERS BABY!!!
haha friday was followed by a 48 hour celebration in asuncion!
i am heading back to ypane today until tuesday, to hang out a bit and say good bye to the fam. then tuesday, off to yegros!
finally started to heat up a little bit hear which is nice. hotel had a pool. yesterday went to a movie. saw plan b, or i think its the back up plan. whatever it was, it was terrible.
today we went and saw INCEPTION. AMAZING!!!!!!!!!i cant even begin to describe how much i loved the movie. haha felt weird leaving the mall tho. watching a movie in english, eating mcdonalds, i forgot where i was for a while. haha didnt realize how much i kinda missed that stuff. but o well, good to get one last taste. now i see why volunteers manage to make it back to the capital at least once a month!
other than that, not much. kinda sad, saying good bye to some people. but we will all be relatively close, sort of...
this weekend is the partido clasico. where the biggest two rivals in paraguayan futbol are playing against eachother, so the streets are dead right now haha everybody is watching. olimpia vs cerro. i am an olimpista. not sure the difference, only that they have different colors.
anyways, hope all is well! love you guys.
next time i post it will be from my sight!!
jajo'topata
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
MAPA MUNDIAL!!!
so for the past...weeks we have been working on the project where the muni let us paint a world map in the front of the plaza...and today we just finally finished!!!!!!!!!
its sooo awesome and its huge! like 10 meters by 5 meters. and colorful and everything.
we started off just painting abig blue square and nobody wanted to help cuz nobody knew what we were doing. once we drew in the countries and started paiting everybody in town got to excited and started talking about it!
everytime wed paint we would get the kids and some adults to help us and everybody walking by would talk to us and ask us what we were doing.
its amazing how little the people here are exposed to sometimes.
we finished the map and some people still asked what it was. if it was a map of our country. and por eso is the reason we did the map. to help educate themabout the world.
but it was soooooooo cool getting to show somebody for the first time where their country is located in the world. haha very gratifying and satisfying.
but i will put a picture of it up on here sometime soon.!!
ahh soo cool...
anyways friday is our day.juramiento! very excited.today all the familys are gathering together for a little fiesta.
and and just skyped with jisi for the first time. think he is the first person from home i have seen since i have been out here. made me miss you guys!!
jajo´topata!
its sooo awesome and its huge! like 10 meters by 5 meters. and colorful and everything.
we started off just painting abig blue square and nobody wanted to help cuz nobody knew what we were doing. once we drew in the countries and started paiting everybody in town got to excited and started talking about it!
everytime wed paint we would get the kids and some adults to help us and everybody walking by would talk to us and ask us what we were doing.
its amazing how little the people here are exposed to sometimes.
we finished the map and some people still asked what it was. if it was a map of our country. and por eso is the reason we did the map. to help educate themabout the world.
but it was soooooooo cool getting to show somebody for the first time where their country is located in the world. haha very gratifying and satisfying.
but i will put a picture of it up on here sometime soon.!!
ahh soo cool...
anyways friday is our day.juramiento! very excited.today all the familys are gathering together for a little fiesta.
and and just skyped with jisi for the first time. think he is the first person from home i have seen since i have been out here. made me miss you guys!!
jajo´topata!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
day of rest
so today me and a friend are calling in sick to take ourselves a day of rest and relaxation. training can be a long pain sometimes and today was needed.
but all is well. only two weeks left till we move out and it couldnt go by any slower haha im dying to get to my sight. think today im going to asuncion to by my first hamaca....hamock.
soo my week long sight visit was a success. me and the old volunteer had a good time. it was kind of sad because everyone was saying good bye to him but also made me excited to see what kind of awesome relationships i am going to build.
we hit up this dude ranch in the middle of no where on the way back with a couple other volunteers who live within a couple hours of my sight. stayed there a night. very interesting. this german guy just straight moved to paraguay and started a forresting camp in the middle of 2 square miles of nothingess. very wierd but he was nice and said he would love to have us back. his spanish was terrible just like ours so it was fun to have conversations with him. and interesting. the fact that he spoke only german and us only english and we were using this third language to communicate.
all in all i think everyone is very siked about where they are going to be living the next two yeras and that is great!
miss you guys and will post again after we swear in and are real volunteers!!! TWO WEEKS!!!
peace
carlo
but all is well. only two weeks left till we move out and it couldnt go by any slower haha im dying to get to my sight. think today im going to asuncion to by my first hamaca....hamock.
soo my week long sight visit was a success. me and the old volunteer had a good time. it was kind of sad because everyone was saying good bye to him but also made me excited to see what kind of awesome relationships i am going to build.
we hit up this dude ranch in the middle of no where on the way back with a couple other volunteers who live within a couple hours of my sight. stayed there a night. very interesting. this german guy just straight moved to paraguay and started a forresting camp in the middle of 2 square miles of nothingess. very wierd but he was nice and said he would love to have us back. his spanish was terrible just like ours so it was fun to have conversations with him. and interesting. the fact that he spoke only german and us only english and we were using this third language to communicate.
all in all i think everyone is very siked about where they are going to be living the next two yeras and that is great!
miss you guys and will post again after we swear in and are real volunteers!!! TWO WEEKS!!!
peace
carlo
Monday, August 2, 2010
ChANCHO!!!!!!!
so...i woke up this morning at 430 and went across the pueblo to a familys house which is a little bit more rural.
we started off the day milking cows...only watched haha i tried one time but the cow ran. i think i was squeezing to hard.
but what came next....???
WE KILLED A PIG!!!!!!!
nutz...they pulled the guy out and he was huge. they dragged him to a wooden plank, hog tied him, and i swear i have never heard anything make a noise so loud. i started off feeling really bad for him. they asked me if i wanted to kill him but i had to decline. next time for sure though. what hold him down and a quick jab through the neck and straight into its heart. its a good thing i just watched the first time because blood splattered all over the place and then just started flowing out of his neck. it was quick and painless though...i think. he died within 30 seconds. he was a big guy...lots of blood.
haha i had mixed emotions as this point...the feeling of pitty and remorse and sadness was disappearing. once it stopped moving i realized it was something they had to do to survive and it became easier to accept hahaha
next the took boiling water and poured it on his skin to soften it and with a huge knife they scraped the top layer of hair and skin off. after an hour it was a beautiful clean white pig haha i was able to help with this part. next we hung it up by its hind legs and i continued to scrape. finally they washed it down and it was perfectly clean and white. almost like a piece of art. next we cut off tis hooves and slicced its back open. we started to cut off the skin and grease like a huge coat. haha i got some good pics of us doing this.
next
we sawed it in half and its inards just fell out into a bucket. it was cool to see them save each part and they told us what they were going to cook with it.
haha then we cut off its head and took that guy apart too.
everything was then layed out on a table to be cleaned.
then we preceed back to the center to get some breakfast.
all this by id saya bout 830
haha quite the morning.
soo anyway i really like this pueblo. its pretty tiny and you can walk anywhere in about 15 mintues or so. only a couple main streets....if you would call them that....only one has paving which is new as of last year.
the people are really nice.
today is the current volunteers last day so people have been having despedidos...little going away parties for him. its been interesting and emotional to see him say good bye. its kind of wierd because i keep hearing how great he is and now i have to follow that....but im not too worried. im sure when the next volunteer comes to follow me up the same thing will happen.
but i have pretty much bet all the big players in the town and have made some friends.
i am excited to come back and stay for good.
i am staying with a family right now. mom dad and a kid my age. he is pretty smart and the dad is crazy. we will get along. i will be staying with them for a month or so when i first get back and then after move into the house of current volunteer. its pretty cool and im planning on fixing it up in my spair time and making a huge garden in the back.
he told me he had raised a pig there and then ended up eating it later haha but think ima stick with the garden. we will see.
still freezing here.....supposed to get warm by the end of the month and for this i am excited.
going back to ypane in the next day or two....excited to see my old friends and family again haha
hope all is well at home.....
love you guys
charley
we started off the day milking cows...only watched haha i tried one time but the cow ran. i think i was squeezing to hard.
but what came next....???
WE KILLED A PIG!!!!!!!
nutz...they pulled the guy out and he was huge. they dragged him to a wooden plank, hog tied him, and i swear i have never heard anything make a noise so loud. i started off feeling really bad for him. they asked me if i wanted to kill him but i had to decline. next time for sure though. what hold him down and a quick jab through the neck and straight into its heart. its a good thing i just watched the first time because blood splattered all over the place and then just started flowing out of his neck. it was quick and painless though...i think. he died within 30 seconds. he was a big guy...lots of blood.
haha i had mixed emotions as this point...the feeling of pitty and remorse and sadness was disappearing. once it stopped moving i realized it was something they had to do to survive and it became easier to accept hahaha
next the took boiling water and poured it on his skin to soften it and with a huge knife they scraped the top layer of hair and skin off. after an hour it was a beautiful clean white pig haha i was able to help with this part. next we hung it up by its hind legs and i continued to scrape. finally they washed it down and it was perfectly clean and white. almost like a piece of art. next we cut off tis hooves and slicced its back open. we started to cut off the skin and grease like a huge coat. haha i got some good pics of us doing this.
next
we sawed it in half and its inards just fell out into a bucket. it was cool to see them save each part and they told us what they were going to cook with it.
haha then we cut off its head and took that guy apart too.
everything was then layed out on a table to be cleaned.
then we preceed back to the center to get some breakfast.
all this by id saya bout 830
haha quite the morning.
soo anyway i really like this pueblo. its pretty tiny and you can walk anywhere in about 15 mintues or so. only a couple main streets....if you would call them that....only one has paving which is new as of last year.
the people are really nice.
today is the current volunteers last day so people have been having despedidos...little going away parties for him. its been interesting and emotional to see him say good bye. its kind of wierd because i keep hearing how great he is and now i have to follow that....but im not too worried. im sure when the next volunteer comes to follow me up the same thing will happen.
but i have pretty much bet all the big players in the town and have made some friends.
i am excited to come back and stay for good.
i am staying with a family right now. mom dad and a kid my age. he is pretty smart and the dad is crazy. we will get along. i will be staying with them for a month or so when i first get back and then after move into the house of current volunteer. its pretty cool and im planning on fixing it up in my spair time and making a huge garden in the back.
he told me he had raised a pig there and then ended up eating it later haha but think ima stick with the garden. we will see.
still freezing here.....supposed to get warm by the end of the month and for this i am excited.
going back to ypane in the next day or two....excited to see my old friends and family again haha
hope all is well at home.....
love you guys
charley
Saturday, July 31, 2010
YEGROS
YEGROS::::
so thats my sight....that i have been waiting pretty much 1.5 years to find out....
and actually, i am typing this from there, here right now.
wednesday night we had sight presentation where everybody found out there sights and then thursday morning already we were off.
thursday we had this thing called encuentro where we all met our contact from our new sight at this chuchi retreat. we did a bunch of activities to get to know eachother and the town.
then friday morning we headed out to our sight....it was a long 6 hours cramped bus ride through the country side but finally we made it.
me sight is pretty cool. its got about 1500 people. its pretty small and tranquilo but i like it alot.
i stayed last night with the volunteer that is currently there. but he is leaving tuesday for good, then i come back in three weeks to take his spot!
how crazy is that!!
the rest of the week i will be staying with a host family....hopefully getting to know the people and the town.
so looks like i will probably be teaching computer classes and english classes. helping out with civic education and maybe family financing but we will see....still a lot to do and get acustomed to before this happens.
well post again after the week and let you know how everything goes!!
love you guys,
carlo
so thats my sight....that i have been waiting pretty much 1.5 years to find out....
and actually, i am typing this from there, here right now.
wednesday night we had sight presentation where everybody found out there sights and then thursday morning already we were off.
thursday we had this thing called encuentro where we all met our contact from our new sight at this chuchi retreat. we did a bunch of activities to get to know eachother and the town.
then friday morning we headed out to our sight....it was a long 6 hours cramped bus ride through the country side but finally we made it.
me sight is pretty cool. its got about 1500 people. its pretty small and tranquilo but i like it alot.
i stayed last night with the volunteer that is currently there. but he is leaving tuesday for good, then i come back in three weeks to take his spot!
how crazy is that!!
the rest of the week i will be staying with a host family....hopefully getting to know the people and the town.
so looks like i will probably be teaching computer classes and english classes. helping out with civic education and maybe family financing but we will see....still a lot to do and get acustomed to before this happens.
well post again after the week and let you know how everything goes!!
love you guys,
carlo
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