September 2008 — Another busy month!

On to September, another busy month!

I worked with the 6th graders almost 3 days a week to get our projects done.  The first week of September I started doing a map project with the 8th graders in the high school but since that first day I haven’t been able to go back and work with them because there have been too many other activities going on.

On September 9th I headed to Asuncion for my work progress and work plan (PTIP) meeting with my new boss, Holly.  I met her in July for my Peace Corps Volunteer Coordinator (PCVC) interview but this was still only my 2nd meeting with her.  My PTIP went well.  Knowing that the national soccer was playing Venezuela, I came prepared with my albirroja (striped red and white Paraguayan national team soccer jersey).  That evening Nick, my fellow G-22 volunteer, and I went to the game together and joined up with other volunteers and our PC doctors, Dr. Luis and Dr. Jorge (the visiting PC doctor from Peru; Dr. Jorge came to help our doc since our doc is new).  They were excited for the game.  We sat with them, other PCVC (coordinators – 3rd year volunteers) and other PCVs.  The game was so much fun.  It was such a high.  We were buzzing afterwards.  I am so glad that I went.  Watching a national soccer game in Latin America is quite an experience.  It was a blast, a sea of albirrojas all around.  We sat in the cheap seats behind one of the goals with all the hooligans.  There was no assigned seating so we were kind of smashed in.  I had MANY men offer up their seats for me.  I took one up on his offer because it was near the other PCV’s.  Paraguay went on to win the game 2-0 and scored both of their goals on the side where we were sitting, so I got to see my favorite Paraguayan players play in person, but also celebrate right in front of where I was sitting!  My two favorite players are Nelson Haedo and Roque Santa Cruz.  After the game I was exhausted.  After hiking on back to my hotel I passed out.

The next day I went to San Bernadino with my fellow G-22 volunteers to El Pueblo Hotel for our Completion of Service (COS) conference.  It is hard to believe that we’re already at this point in our service!  The conference went really well.  We talked about everything from cultural readjustment, health insurance, resumes, job interviews, and more.  We also gave suggestions for the next training cycle.  Then Holly and Gloria announced next year’s PCVCs.  And I’ll be damned if I didn’t get the job for the Environmental sector!  So, it’s official.  I’ll be saying in Paraguay for another year.  I’ll be living in Asuncion until January of 2010.  I am very excited to be staying and a little bit nervous as I am when I start anything new.  I am also relieved that I get to stay because I feel like I have left the job half done.  The end of the COS conference was actually kind of a downer because we realized that the last 3 months will fly by.  This would be our last time together until the despedida in December!   But the accommodations and food at COS conference were WONDERFUL.  I gorged myself on chocolate pudding, ice-cream, flan, and strawberries.

Because of the COS conference, I unfortunately missed the preparation for exhibition and Olympics put on by the high school in Tava’i every year.  The 8th graders had asked me to be their coach again this year but I was gone the entire week of practice and preparation.  After the conference I met up with my friend Fidel in Oviedo and we rode back to Tava’i on the bus together.  Fidel is the sub-chief at the police station in Tava’i.  After meeting up with Nilsa that evening, Fidel, Nilsa, myself and Nilsa’s date Ever (and Fidel’s co-worker) went to the Rember party together.

The following week, the high school students held their exhibition in the tinglado one evening.  Even though I wasn’t able to participate as their coach, I helped the junior class get the Jaku turkey costume from NGO, Guyra Paraguay.  The kids were doing an environmental themed exhibition.  Unfortunately they got 3rd and last place in their group.  My 8th graders got 1st place in their group, so I was proud of them for that.

That week, preparation for the September 24th fiesta patronal started with 9 days of mass and recitation of the rosary.  I didn’t go to the first few days because I was very busy but I went later in the week and it was fun; another new experience.  I also went to committee meetings to help with planning and what not.

The week finished with the Olympics competition for the high schoolers, then a day of celebrating the competition and, finally, a day off of school for working so hard.  All told, the kids missed a week of classes to prepare for the Olympics, then another week to actually do the Olympics.  Rough life.  The fiesta patronal parties were planned for the weekend but, of course, it rained and got bloody cold again, so everything was cancelled Saturday and Sunday.  On Monday, the kids finally went back to having real class, but I couldn’t go to help because my supervisor came to Tava’i.  She came to conduct interviews and prepare for my follow-up volunteer.  I was nervous about that but it actually went very well.  It looks like a guy will follow me in Tava’i because of the safety concerns.

Tuesday night I went to the first round of “running of the bulls”, or bullfighting (torin).  There were 3 matadors and 1 clown, but it was pretty sedate because they started 2 hours late (thanks to hora paraguaya) so it started at 10 PM and ended at 12 midnight.  Additionally, the bulls were really just steers, so they weren’t particularly aggressive.  It was more like “ambling of the steers”.  Wednesday the 24th was the day of the patron saint, the virgin of the Mercedes.  I went to the morning mass while Holly, my supervisor, went to Katy’s site to the south.  EVERYONE went to mass.  The whole town was closed and quiet and the church was packed.  Nilsa and I went together, and it was standing room only.  There was a procession afterward in which former presidential candidate Luis Castiglioni helped carry the virgin statue.  After the procession, as he was greeting people and shaking hands he came over to me and said “Hello my love” and kissed me on the cheeks (as is custom).  That’s the 2nd Paraguayan presidential candidate I’ve shaken hands with (actually when I met Lugo he was already president-elect).  After the procession there was a small artisan fair and traditional dance, BBQ lunch and the 2nd running of the bulls.

At noon, Holly and Nick, the PCVC, passed through Tava’I but brought Katy along with to drop her off.  At her site, a 17 year old kid got into a drunken fight and was stabbed to death the previous Saturday about 100 meters from Katy’s house.  She was upset and scared so she came to stay with me until our vacation to the falls on Friday.  Adam, Angela and my friend Nilsa came to visit, so the 5 of us ate delicious pig meat, drank too much beer, watched torin (the bull fighting) and then danced afterward.  The festivities ended at sundown.  Katy and I went immediately to bed thanks to beer induced headaches as well as too much sun – the weather had been perfect, very sunny and hot but not scorching.  The fiesta patronal was probably the most fun I’ve had in Tava’i, and definitely was the most appreciated and integrated I’ve felt in the community.  It was a blast.

Thursday after the fiesta patronal was like a Sunday afternoon and the day after Christmas combined.  Everyone was sad it had ended but also recovering from drinking too much, eating too much, and getting too much sun.  I packed my things for vacation and washed laundry and tidied up my room.  In the evening Katy realized that she had forgotten her passport and we started jogging for Castor Cue (11km away) but luckily got picked up in a truck and given a ride the first 7km.  It was pitch dark when we got her passport and started back, but we managed to get a ride back as well.  So all ended well.  At 3am in the pitch dark (thanks to a power outage), Katy and I caught a bus for Ciudad del Este to start our vacation!  My next blog update will feature details and photos of my vacation to Puerto Iguazu and Buenos Aires.

Hasta la proxima,

Robyn