Chaco Material: My Life in Filly

tanto tiempo, verdad?

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 13:31:00 -0300

I’ve been in Paraguay for just over a year. I’ve done an amazing job of keeping this blog current (you’re welcome). What insight can I give my dear readers a year into my service? Well… How about this, my Peace Corps service has changed/is changing/will change my life. How vague and clichéd is that? Very. How true is it? Very.

I have met and will meet amazing people (host country nationals, Peace Corps Volunteers, Peace Corps staff & others)
I am living in South America… I can’t even explain how amazing this experience has been and how it will forever change my perspective
I am living in the ‘developing world’ - I don’t think you can understand that unless you’ve done it

Are you considering joining the Peace Corps? You should if…

You think you can handle turning your ‘world’ upside down, over and over again
You are committed to self-reflection and self-improvement
You are self-motivated and can work with little to no supervision or guidance
You can come to terms with the fact that you will more than likely gain much more from your Peace Corps service than you give to anyone (but really, who knows?)

What has been the worst/hardest stuff for my first year as a PCV?

Not being with friends and family for important, one-time events
Constantly having to readjust my expectations (in every part of my life)
Constantly readjusting to other people’s expectations
Getting to know myself

To be fair, all but the first were also some of the greatest parts of my first year. I have learned so much.

I didn’t make any resolutions for the New Year, but if I had… updating this blog more frequently would not have been one of them.

Photo

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 23:37:01 -0300

see the rest at my Flickr page

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 19:20:00 -0400

see the rest at my Flickr page

The Chaco: An Intro

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 14:27:00 -0400

tumblr ate this post…

hopefully I can summon the strength to reimagine it.

Excerpts from my non-electronic journal

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:49:50 -0400

February 17th, 2010

Last week I stepped off a plane, exhausted, after sixteen hours of travelling with 48 strangers I had met the morning before. It still hasn’t truly ‘sunk-in’ that I am training to be an Urban Youth Development Volunteer in Paraguay for Peace Corps.

The best way to describe the experience so far has been ‘whirlwind.’ We hit the ground running Wednesday afternoon when we arrived in Asunción shortly after noon. We were quickly split up by programs [Urban Youth Development, Early Elementary Education, & Rural Health and Sanitation], introduced to our technical trainers, current Peace Corps Volunteers, and some very helpful Paraguayans. The 49 of us were loaded on to buses and chauffeured to the central training site in Guarambaré.

After a very brief run-down of the next twelve hours we were loaded back on buses and driven to our respective communities to meet our host families. …

May 4th, 2010

I’ve been in Paraguay for nearly 3 months and have barely found time to write a page of information. I arrived in Filadelfia, Py this morning at 5am. Yazmin and I took the overnight bus and it took a bit longer than expected. …

Training was not a terrible experience. It served its purpose and I am thankful that it is over. It would have been hard to imagine in Miami that I would have grown as close to some of the people in my group [G-32] as I have. I am still very appreciative of my training host family. They have done so much for me and I know they truly care for me. I care for them very much too and plan to visit them regularly over the next two years. …

For the first month [in training] my family spoke a lot of Castellano around the house, by the second month and for the rest of my stay the only times Castellano was spoken in the house were when someone was talking to me. Luckily that gave me the opportunity to hear conversations in Guaraní everyday and to practice a bit too. I’m not sure how I tested on my first Spanish test we had in training, but upon completing training I tested at an Advanced-Low level. My first Guaraní test, mid-training, placed me at a ‘high’ Intermediate-Low and my final testing was a ‘high’ Intermediate-Medium. Our language teachers were really great and I am going to miss having class with them everyday. …

Yazmin is my closest neighbor by at least 5 hours by bus. She is an UYD Volunteer from G-32 [the group that I arrived with]. She is replacing an EEE Volunteer who has completed his service and will be extending for a year as our Volunteer Coordinator. Yazmin and I are the only two volunteers assigned to the Chaco from our G. …

I´m Here

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:14:28 -0300

After two long days of travelling I have arrived safely in Paraguay.

I don´t anticipate having much time to update during the next eleven weeks, but I will do my best to respond to emails as soon as I receive them.

Awaiting Departure & Beginning Preparation

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 02:54:00 -0300

I officially submitted my application to serve as a volunteer in the Peace Corps on December 26, 2008. I had taken my time to complete the application as I questioned my commitment and considered other options. I probably began the application process in early 2008.

I interviewed with my recruiter on February 18th, 2009. On May 4, 2009 I was nominated to a Youth Development Program in the Pacific that was scheduled to leave a year later. I quickly scheduled doctor and dentist appointments and had all the required paperwork to the offices in Washington within a month. I received medical clearance in late July and a minor financial concern was brought up and addressed within the same week.

The wait began…

Other than being asked to update my resume, I did not receive any true updates until late November when I was asked if I would be willing to change my assignment to a program in South America departing in February. I had originally been told by my recruiter that I would more than likely be placed in a Spanish speaking country due to the Spanish credits I acquired in college from having taken a Spanish AP test after high school. However, after investigation it was noted that my Spanish credits were not sufficient. Due to my experience working with youth, the country desk of my new assignment was willing to make an exception.

I received my official invitation to service in the mail on December 5th, 2009. I will be leaving in February to train to become volunteer in an Urban Youth Development program in Paraguay. I completed my passport and visa applications and mailed them to the offices in Washington within a few days and was able to officially accept my invitation on Tuesday, December 9th, 2009.

I am of course very excited and a bit apprehensive. Preparing to spend the next 27 months in a foreign country with less than two months of actual notice seems to be quite an undertaking. However, I am quickly on my way and am glad to be leaving sooner rather than later.