abd the camp is called
ñande hae tenonderá...
this means ´we are the future´ pretyt much in guarani
Monday, January 17, 2011
been a while....
so yes i know its been a while since my last post.......wellll december was a month filled with visiting other volunteers, other cities, but nothing dramatically exciting
this past week however was the youth leadership camp in Itaipu, resort Tati Yupi. (itaipu means the sound a rock makes, and tati yupi means rising smoke). Side note, itaipu is THE largest functioning hydro electric dam in the world....haha and located in such a tiny middle of nowhere place. crazy.
anways for four days 20 volunteers from all over the country brought 3 or 4 jovenes or youth ages 15 to 19, to this resort for a leadership camp. i brought jorge, hernan and jose. there were a variety of speaches and presentations from youth to the youth and also done by volunteers. we taught them a variety of things pertaining to what it takes to be a leader in their community. there was also a number of activities done.
there was a lot of down time too, to play futbol, volei, talk and walk around exploring the amazingly beautiful park, forest, lake. friday night we took a fieldtrip to the dam to watch them light it up at night. it was pretty intense. amazingly huge. one second there was just darkness and the next, BAM a huge lit up dam.
but anways, more importantly was that the kids loved it!!! they had such a good time, learned a lot, and made a ton of new friends! the goal is that they go back to their communities and do a community project within the next 6 months. then we have another camp where all the same jovenes meet up to present the projects they have complete. this is only the second time the camp has been done but from what it seems like, it will be around for a while. awesomeness!!
so this is how you know your in peace corps paraguay...
my mom sent me a basketball in the mail. but in my pueblo there is nowhere to play....so what do you have to do?
you have to build yourself a basketball court.
and thats wat i have recently started doing. i got the support of the mayor to place it next to the highschool. the carpenter made me the backboard which i am in the middle of painting and the father of the family who i am living with is going to make me the hoop out of iron.....
i will keep you updated on this and hopefully post pictures!!!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
...btw
in the background of the photo on the blackboard is a crazy little story that i wrote in perfect Guaraní....how freakin awesome is that!!
Colación de mi primera Clase de Inglés
so yesterday was the last day of english class and this morning we had our little graduation party. only three of the five kids could make it but still everybody brought food and we had a good time. i handed out certificates and we took pictures. it was awesome. i feel like this picture pretty much expresses how everybody felt.
i am planning on starting class again in january after the holidays and all the kids showed interest in coming and entering my class again. I am excited to see their enthusiasm.
it was an awesome morning!!
......
this last weekend was the celebration of the foundation of my town of fulgencio yegros. it turned 119 years old. wow!!
haha the festival started thursday ngiht with a play and talent show in the amphiteatre. friday night there was a festival in the plaza along with bull fighting in the amphiteatre. afterwards there was a concert until about 5 or 6 in the morning.
sooo many people came from all over to be here and the town was hopping.
saturday night was the big night though. there was bulfighting followed by a dance party followed by a concert given by the most famous singer in paraguay right now.
her name i La Kchorra which means the puppy. but her songs are heard alll the time everywhere!!! so to have her come to our little town was a big deal. she didnt end up going on stage until about 5 am which meant that almost the entire town was up to see the sunrise together. kind fo cool
i think i ended up making it back to my bed around 1030 the next day.
then sunday night was one last night a bullfighting.
the bullfighting is pretty awesome. its not the one where they kill the bull but there are guys in nice outfits with the red capes and a clown and cowboys. like a bulfight slash rodeo almost. but was really neat to see.
cant really right too much more write now. but more to come soon!
love you all
charley
Monday, December 13, 2010
so the last couple weeks....
so havent been able to post in a while. ive been travelling a lot throughout paraguay...started with thanksgiving.
about 100 peacecorps volunteers met up in the southern city of incarnacion where we all stayed at this really nice hotel with a giant pool. there were a variety of activities and amazing food. we got to eat everything. turkey with gravey, potatoes, stuffing, and i even got a slice of canned cranberry sauce...
the culmination of the weekended was the dance party the last night of our stay. my friend had come to the dance floor and not realizing it had knocked over a wine bottle which broke and the glass had entered her foot. she finally realized that she was leaking blood all over the place and somebody carried her out of the room. when the lights went on we saw that there was blood all over the floor. i had never seen so much blood before in my life. haha they blocked off the area then every just moved over the the other side of the dance floor, the lights went off, and the majority kept dancing.
me and a few others went over to take care of her. we wrapped her foot up with our shirts. she was bleeding heavily and almost fainted. finally me and my friend carried her to the car where a driver took the three of us to the hostpital travelling at 100 miles per hour. the greatest part was that me and my friend were both shirtless and my friend didnt even have any pants on. dont ask why...another story for another time.
we arrived at the hospital and my friend who is in his boxers waits in the lobby and falls asleep so i enter into the emergency room shirtless to help hold my friends hand and watch them stitch her up.
she made it out alive. and i think its finally reached the point where we can retell the story and just laugh about how ridiculous it was.
soo after thanksgiving my group travels across the country to the capital asuncion to have a reunion and talk about our problems and also learn some new tools to help out us. we were also able to stay with our original host families in ypane. it was nice to get to see everyone again.
the following weekend i travelled to villa rica to celebrate my birthday and my best friends birthday. we danced the night away. i ended up getting stuck there for a few days due to rain....
and finally we reach my brithday which was last tuesday.....did i have a birthday!!!
i ended up buying 1000 40`s of cerveza and almost half a cow. we had a bbq at my house and half the town came. we partied all day and then at night there was the highschool graduation where we continued to celebrate my brithday until the sun came up at about 7 am.....finally it was time to call it quits haha
and finally this last weekend almost all the volunteers went to asuncion to celebrate the new group of volunteer´s graduation and also for a concert consisting of bands created by the volunteers themselves. it was a very lindo party and we celebrate to the utmost......
so that has been a recap of my past two weeks......sorry i kind of rushed through it all but estoy un poco apurado
te amo
ciao
karlo!!
about 100 peacecorps volunteers met up in the southern city of incarnacion where we all stayed at this really nice hotel with a giant pool. there were a variety of activities and amazing food. we got to eat everything. turkey with gravey, potatoes, stuffing, and i even got a slice of canned cranberry sauce...
the culmination of the weekended was the dance party the last night of our stay. my friend had come to the dance floor and not realizing it had knocked over a wine bottle which broke and the glass had entered her foot. she finally realized that she was leaking blood all over the place and somebody carried her out of the room. when the lights went on we saw that there was blood all over the floor. i had never seen so much blood before in my life. haha they blocked off the area then every just moved over the the other side of the dance floor, the lights went off, and the majority kept dancing.
me and a few others went over to take care of her. we wrapped her foot up with our shirts. she was bleeding heavily and almost fainted. finally me and my friend carried her to the car where a driver took the three of us to the hostpital travelling at 100 miles per hour. the greatest part was that me and my friend were both shirtless and my friend didnt even have any pants on. dont ask why...another story for another time.
we arrived at the hospital and my friend who is in his boxers waits in the lobby and falls asleep so i enter into the emergency room shirtless to help hold my friends hand and watch them stitch her up.
she made it out alive. and i think its finally reached the point where we can retell the story and just laugh about how ridiculous it was.
soo after thanksgiving my group travels across the country to the capital asuncion to have a reunion and talk about our problems and also learn some new tools to help out us. we were also able to stay with our original host families in ypane. it was nice to get to see everyone again.
the following weekend i travelled to villa rica to celebrate my birthday and my best friends birthday. we danced the night away. i ended up getting stuck there for a few days due to rain....
and finally we reach my brithday which was last tuesday.....did i have a birthday!!!
i ended up buying 1000 40`s of cerveza and almost half a cow. we had a bbq at my house and half the town came. we partied all day and then at night there was the highschool graduation where we continued to celebrate my brithday until the sun came up at about 7 am.....finally it was time to call it quits haha
and finally this last weekend almost all the volunteers went to asuncion to celebrate the new group of volunteer´s graduation and also for a concert consisting of bands created by the volunteers themselves. it was a very lindo party and we celebrate to the utmost......
so that has been a recap of my past two weeks......sorry i kind of rushed through it all but estoy un poco apurado
te amo
ciao
karlo!!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
f.y.i.
for those of you who arent a frequent facebook user.....just wanted to let you all know i posted a few pictures of my town and some people....there arent too many but its a start....oo and they are in the photo album at the bottom with the title
novmber 22nd 2010
enjoy...!!
novmber 22nd 2010
enjoy...!!
Monday, November 22, 2010
just one of those days.....that you will never forget
soo yesterday was our departments(states) futbol championship. between my town and the town about an hour away. the championship is a best 2 out of 3 series since it was tied 1 to 1, they decided to have to third game at a neutral field in the next closest town which happens to be only 2 to 3 hours away.
the game started at 3 and about 25 of us decided we were going to take my friends bus and leave at about 9, get there early, grill some meat and drink some beers.
weather looked like it was going to rain, but it was game day and nobody thinks or cares much about it.
and for those of you who don´t remember. the roads leaving my town are all dirt and are almost impossible to drive through when it rains, especially in shitty old bus.
we get on the road and of course it starts raining the roads immediately turn to mud. we are taking it slow and are about 12 kilometros away when bam we hit a turn and the back end of the bus starts to drift and slide down into a ditch.
what is to be done...ill tell you.... all of the guys rip their shirts off, including me of course. IM NOT MISSING OUT ON THIS!!!! haha and we get out in the almost knee deep mud and start to push. we are at this for about an hour or two. and so many times we almost get the dam thing back up on the road. but there is just nothing happening.
there is a bus filled with people stopped about half a kilo back. but of course they are from the opposing town and none of them want to come out and get wet to help us. but also they can´t pass us because our bus is pretty much perpendicular to the road and is blocking it.
enetualy we decide we will have a better chance getting the bus out if we push it all the way into the ditch to straighten it out and then push from there.
SOOO CLOSEEE we come. someone brought out a rope that we tied to the front and there were people pushing and pulling and everyones chanting COME ON YEGROSSSS WE CAN DO THISSS!!!.
so of couse now that our bus is out of the way the other towns bus can pass. and we actually help push their bus...why i dont know because they didnt help us.
so we get back on the bus and there is nothing to do except huddle together for heat and wait for something to happen. we thought we were gong to have to sleep there. because sometimes it can rain for two days and the road is so bad nothing can move.
the girls all ended up leaving in trucks that were passing by. so the guys stayed behind, we busted out the drums and cow bells and started singing our towns theme song.
eventually we get a call letting us know the the indendente of the town has ordered that a tractor comes to pull us out.
so two hours later, we are soaked, muddy and freezing but still in high spirits, we see the tractor at the top of the hill. and within seconds we are guiding the bus out of the ditch and onto the road.!! we did it!!!!!!! and of course we stop at the next little road shop to buy as manny beers and hotdog buns as possible.
two or three more times we had to get out of the bus to keep if from sliding off the road. eventually we made it to the game.
its cold freezing and everyones in the stands shivering in shorts and sandals and muddddd. nobody thought we would make, but we did. and we had our own little section of mud covered funs in the stands.
after 3 hours, the game ends in a tie and it comes down to the penalty shots. it was very exciting but sadly, we lost....so we get out of there as quick as possible. but wouldnt you know it...
on the road we are behind the same bus that wouldnt help us before. and about five times we had to get out to help them push....and not once did our bus get stuck!!! of this we were very proud. we stocked up on boxes of wine and coca cola and were drinking, singing, and banging the drums for the entire ride home.
it sounds like an awful day.....but now that its over and i think back on it, i will never forget it. it was a very bonding experience, and how often can i say i was shirtless in the middle of south america, in the mud pushing a bus, shoulder to shoulder with my paraguayan friends, singing the whole time.
it was actually amazing and i wouldnt have changed anything!!!... accept maybe i would have brought a jacket....
the game started at 3 and about 25 of us decided we were going to take my friends bus and leave at about 9, get there early, grill some meat and drink some beers.
weather looked like it was going to rain, but it was game day and nobody thinks or cares much about it.
and for those of you who don´t remember. the roads leaving my town are all dirt and are almost impossible to drive through when it rains, especially in shitty old bus.
we get on the road and of course it starts raining the roads immediately turn to mud. we are taking it slow and are about 12 kilometros away when bam we hit a turn and the back end of the bus starts to drift and slide down into a ditch.
what is to be done...ill tell you.... all of the guys rip their shirts off, including me of course. IM NOT MISSING OUT ON THIS!!!! haha and we get out in the almost knee deep mud and start to push. we are at this for about an hour or two. and so many times we almost get the dam thing back up on the road. but there is just nothing happening.
there is a bus filled with people stopped about half a kilo back. but of course they are from the opposing town and none of them want to come out and get wet to help us. but also they can´t pass us because our bus is pretty much perpendicular to the road and is blocking it.
enetualy we decide we will have a better chance getting the bus out if we push it all the way into the ditch to straighten it out and then push from there.
SOOO CLOSEEE we come. someone brought out a rope that we tied to the front and there were people pushing and pulling and everyones chanting COME ON YEGROSSSS WE CAN DO THISSS!!!.
so of couse now that our bus is out of the way the other towns bus can pass. and we actually help push their bus...why i dont know because they didnt help us.
so we get back on the bus and there is nothing to do except huddle together for heat and wait for something to happen. we thought we were gong to have to sleep there. because sometimes it can rain for two days and the road is so bad nothing can move.
the girls all ended up leaving in trucks that were passing by. so the guys stayed behind, we busted out the drums and cow bells and started singing our towns theme song.
eventually we get a call letting us know the the indendente of the town has ordered that a tractor comes to pull us out.
so two hours later, we are soaked, muddy and freezing but still in high spirits, we see the tractor at the top of the hill. and within seconds we are guiding the bus out of the ditch and onto the road.!! we did it!!!!!!! and of course we stop at the next little road shop to buy as manny beers and hotdog buns as possible.
two or three more times we had to get out of the bus to keep if from sliding off the road. eventually we made it to the game.
its cold freezing and everyones in the stands shivering in shorts and sandals and muddddd. nobody thought we would make, but we did. and we had our own little section of mud covered funs in the stands.
after 3 hours, the game ends in a tie and it comes down to the penalty shots. it was very exciting but sadly, we lost....so we get out of there as quick as possible. but wouldnt you know it...
on the road we are behind the same bus that wouldnt help us before. and about five times we had to get out to help them push....and not once did our bus get stuck!!! of this we were very proud. we stocked up on boxes of wine and coca cola and were drinking, singing, and banging the drums for the entire ride home.
it sounds like an awful day.....but now that its over and i think back on it, i will never forget it. it was a very bonding experience, and how often can i say i was shirtless in the middle of south america, in the mud pushing a bus, shoulder to shoulder with my paraguayan friends, singing the whole time.
it was actually amazing and i wouldnt have changed anything!!!... accept maybe i would have brought a jacket....
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