Monday, June 20, 2011

The days are slow but the weeks are really fast..

I realize that may not make any sense but let me tell you its the truth! The days sometimes are soo slow but the weeks and the months go by so fast!


So currently it is raining. It will rain very hard for the next 5 minutes and then stop for 10 minutes and then start again. Its kinda annoying..I have a metal roof..I will hear it every single time it starts up..all night long...but the good thing is all my neighbors crops need the rain!!


Tomorrow I will be traveling to the CHACO! Where and what is the Chaco? The Chaco is the more natural/wild part of Paraguay. It is in the North of Paraguay. I will not be going that far into the Chaco because this is for 2-3 days of training with a contact from my community. One of my contacts and his wife are coming with me so that should be good. They are all of support for me here on the Island. I will also get to see my Ag/ Bee amigos! Very excited for this as well!


SO I live in my house now. Or I should say nice dorm room..because it is only one room of the house. The house itself needs alot of work and it would be very difficult for me to fix up because of money. But I like my room and bathroom (Modern Bathroom! WOOT!)  I went from living with 7 people to living with a cat...a cat which basically sleeps with the neighbors daughter because I refuse to let him sleep with me...But sometimes he does sleep at my house. He likes to have options..just like a cat..no loyalty! haha Although he is  a very cute cat.


I will be starting bee presentations in July to start the process of getting of the people in the island ready to capture some bees in September when it starts getting to warm weather more often. Well tomorrow officially starts winter but today and yesterday were very hot because it was getting ready to rain. After it rains it is super cold. And then I get a cold. haha no really today I officially got over a week long cold I have had. Finally! :)


I cannot believe my birthday is next week...its crazy! I asked my host mom in the island to make me my favorite dish.. Chicken and rice...I am over eating pig for a while..so I will be spending the day with my host family in the island and then going to visit my family from training. I am really looking forward to it. I think it will be fun. 


I have been cleaning my yard for the past month and I am still not satisfied but I will get there. I will be putting in my garden soon which I am excited about because I have some good soil. I am also about to have A LOT of bananas because my banana plants are in great shape. I spent a good hour in a tree near my house chopping down limbs with a machete...not as easy as it sounds..I have no problems using a machete in a downward motion but upwards...lets just say I am getting a workout..


Which by the way is happening with out my knowledge..because none of my pants fit! Which is good I guess but I need to buy pants..its starting to get a little embarrassing haha 


Otherwise not much is going on. I can't even explain how books I have read thanks to my wonderful Aunt Julie. I also read a lot of tech stuff to make sure I know my stuff when I am talking to people. I also try to study Guarani which I have been slacking on lately! 


Things are going well with Jose, he is the best :) I am teaching him English and he is teaching me guarani little by little I think we are both making progress! Also, I am helping him with his bees which are doing great. I put some pictures on facebook that he took of me. We harvested honey back in April/May to make more room for his bees for winter and that went well. They are strong hive and good practice for me to keep myself in check.


Well folks..I promise to update more often! I know I am terrible at it! But now I have internet more often so I try more!


Miss and love you all so much <3





Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Todo Tranquilo

Hey Everyone,
So I know I have not written in a VERY long time. Sorry about that! The internet I have isn’t great but I promise I will be better once I am officially in my house. Speaking of my house it is coming along POR FIN (finally). The house is big but I will only be using one room and I am excited because I am going to have a modern bathroom WOOT WOOT! Hot showers for Victoria! Especialmente porque it is fall here and winter is on its way. I like my neighbors so that is all good. I won’t say I have a true community because it is an island and the only time people really meet up is for meetings for the committee which I go to. They are very interesting and I think good change could be in the works! Lets hope so.
This past month I went to Asuncion and saw Shakira which was AWESOME she was great and worth every guarani. Jose and I went with a bunch of other volunteers and had a good time.
I bought my first official thing for my house (besides the materials) it is a fan and a heck of a good one. The community wanted me to have air conditioning…because they assumed I am American and I would want that…that would make me the only person on the island to have A/C….Wrong! I don’t think so. I survived a whole summer without it and I can do it again. I promise I am taking pictures throughout the whole process to show everyone. I have been working my butt off on the yuyos (more less weeds in this context) I have cleaned out a lot in order to hopefully soon setup my huerta (garden). I have banana trees and lemon trees (YA! Seriously lemon cures everything and makes lots of things taste better, it is practically my new best friend). I also have this tree called Sabel that everyone is going to want the leaves from because it is really good in mate so I am very excited about that as well! I still need to buy an electric oven, a mattress and the FRIDGE! But I am working on it. I have Jose to help me which honestly he makes my life SO much easier and happier haha J Speaking of Jose, things are great. I wish you all could meet him!
I have a kitten now, named Rio because I live in the Rio Paraguay. He is SUPER tiny and way too little to be away from his mom but I am hoping he will make it. I have only had him for about 6 days so far he is doing really well minus the CONSTANT meowing haha and the fact that I have to get up at 5:30 every day to feed him. He eats all day long so I guess that is a good sign too..we will see.
Besides that, not too much is going on. Working on my families compost and talking to people about Bees. Hopefully after winter I can get some Charlas (speeches) going for the committee and get people more interested in Bees. My brother here on the island is interested so that is a start. Also in May I will be working on getting my contact/host mom a anaerobic biodigestor for her  pigs so she can have free gas. That project might spread throughout the community as well because a lot of people are interested.
But for now I am living with my family helping them with normal everyday things and talking to them about projects and working on getting my house ready.
Everything is good here in Paraguay. I miss you all A LOT! I think about you all, all the time. I’m pretty sure I have told Jose so many stories that he could write a book. But he loves listening to my family stories he is usually is laughing by the end.
 I would also like to say hi to Granddaddy and Grandma since I know they read this! LOVE you both A LOT. Granddaddy I talk about you all the time to Paraguayans when I talk about bees.  J Grandma..I may attempt to make chicken and dumplings one day here for my family..Not sure. I am a little nervous about it haha! But If I do I  promise to take pictures to show you J
Love you all miss you all,
I will try to upload pictures soon!
<3 Caitlin Victoria
Ps. My whole family enjoys saying "What?" to me now..because apparently I say it alot haha

Monday, January 10, 2011

HAKU....(It is Hot!)

It is HOT in Paraguay! Especially here on the Island...It is really pretty but its also difficult for me to get around. Like there are clearly no stores (dispensas) here on the island. In most communities in Paraguay there are stores that are like connected to the families home for little things that a person would want, coke, beer, flour, bread, etc. For me I have to get in a canoa and cross the river and find such store. Seeing as I currently do not own a canoa its more difficult because it involves asking either of my two oldest siblings to row me to shore. Needless to say this does not happen very often because if I were my sibling...I would think its REALLY annoying having to row the American to shore everytime she wanted to go somewhere.
On a more positive note I did find out about a house that is available for me to stay in for the next 2 years which is nice. Its kinda big but only a one room up to par to live in so I hear. The house does need  some work like the fact that I have no bathroom or latrine which I consider an issue but I believe my other contact is going to take care of it. He kept making sure that I wanted to be in the house by March and that he needed to call the owner of the house too. Although aparently the owner never comes to the island because he is away so the house is definetly available.
Went to my first Comite meeting of Agriculturas on Saturday...that was interesting..I felt like I was sitting in a very heated PTO meeting at an elementary school...there were about 7 people (including me) which isn't very good for a comite that have i think around 20-25 people...Attendance is a normal problem in Paraguay which is sometimes why things do not get done or fall apart....I was told on Saturday that Apiculture on the Island is a back-up Goal.... BOOHISS! but I told my secondary contact that I have 2 years on the island to change that around and he said yes exactly...so eventually there will be BEES!
ON another positive note, my secondary contact's wife is a school teacher...for Guarani...SCORE. She said she would teach me Guarani! YES!! That will help me so much because trying to teach myself pronuncation is like...well SAD...so I hope this will happen. She is suppose to call me this week to set it up...I am giving her till Wednesday afternoon then I am making a phone call...lol
My advisor/bosses are coming to my site Feb 2nd for my site presentation and to bring all my other stuff (luggage, Batea etc) I think that will be good. I need to round up some people to come to that...
Tomorrow I am going into the office to talk to my technical adivsor about anaerobic biodigesters for my contact/host mom. This is like her dream project. To utlize all the poop from the pigs and cows to convert to gas. I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that I can help her do this...this would make her life and her families life much better..less smoke going through the whole house and less poop to deal with...healthier animals...All of the above...This is going to be my primary focus for now and trying to meet other people on the island which is much easier said than done. There are alot of people in this community who I think just don't care about anyone else but themselves...My host parents have told me that many people on the island have lost what this life is really all about being tranquilo and doing work and just trying to enjoy life. So I have a feeling that my "community" is more like my contacts and thier relatives...at least for now...which I am fine with to be honest because I like being around them...
So I pretty much spend everyday with my host family, I help clean and do laundry, drink a lot of terere and teach some english to my sister, study and do research. My family on the island has my mom (contact) and dad, My sister (18), My brother (16), My other sister (10) and my other brother who i believe is technically my cousin but he is my sibling (7). So helping them do laundry does help! When I had my first interview for placement I said that it did not matter to me in what way I help the community or the family as long as I was helping which is another reason of why I think I became a first time volunteer here on the island because until people know and trust you...they are not going to be willing to change their lives in different ways from the norm where they KNOW how things work and the rountine which I totally understand. so For now Im kinda just living in Paraguay and doing some other stuff on the side..
Christmas was kinda boring. It didnt feel like Christmas most of the time...My family was really nice and I enjoyed being with them but it was hard to not want to be with MY family in the States or at least with Jose and his family. We had great asado and waited until midnight and drank some champange and watched some fireworks from san antonio and then went to sleep. New Years was the same because it rained but I was able to spend time with Jose and meet the sister from Argentina so that was nice but I still missed my family of course. Both of my families here in Paraguay try to keep tabs on me to make sure that I am not sad or missing home because they knew it would be hard which is nice.
Speaking of Jose, My wonderful boyfriend..yes I said wonderful. We talk all day through texts and sometimes call (more expensive..) and I see him every so often. I am trying to be good and stay in my site but I miss him alot and is super close (30mins away...maybe to the town and a hour walking o 25mins taxi) which is like nothing...He doesn't speak english (for now). Although he learned from me already with out me teaching it, "really?" "now?" and "oh sh*t"...ugh terrible...apparently I say this when I am running late...who knew...haha Oh well.
He is a great guy and my best friend here (besides the girls in beekeeeping). I can always count on him for anything. He makes my life here better every day :)

AND We are going to see Shakira for her first performance in Paraguay in March! SO EXCITED!!

I guess that is it for now...I need to go help to laundry because well.. there is ALOT! I miss you all! MUCHO AMOR!

Nos Vemos, Chau,
<3 Victoria