And for the fun part!

And here's my close-of-service questionaire for our Volunteer publication "The Kuat" (Kuatia Nee or the Paper that Speaks).

Name/Name in site: Amanda, Mamánda, “A-ma-nda-ba-ra-no-ki!”

Site/Pueblo/Dept.: San José Boquerón, Ybycuí, Paraguarí

What your site is know for: the cerro (big hill) behind my house

What you’re know for in site: baking cakes, jogging, playing with the kids, the big backpack

What you’re gonna use your Readjustment Allowance on: travel to Eastern Europe with my sister then a deposit on a sweet apartment in Chi-town

First thing you’ll eat when you get “home”: Mom’s pork chops with applesauce. Or Taco Bell.

Cool skill learned in the ‘Guay: climb through barbed wire fences in a skirt

Fav PY’an phrase: Piko, Haikuepete, Suerte.

How you beat the heat: Open everything in the morning, close everything in the afternoon, lots of tereré and watermelon (but not together!)

What you’ll miss the most: the kids, chipa-making hapes, wise advice from señora friends, everyone knowing/yelling my name

Never thought you’d: come to crave Paraguayan food, love chicarron(like bacon but with more fat and less meat), or buy sopa/chipa (homemade only) almost every chance I get

Strangest thing you’ve eaten: Nothing seems too strange anymore, but then again I stopped trying to force down churra(organ meat) a while ago

Most awkward moment: Just back from the states, 10am at neighbor’s house, her stumbling caña-drunk brother-in-law comes over to literally cry to me in incomprehensibly Guaraní about losing his onion crop to rot. And then the señora gets up and leaves me alone with him.

Describe your language situation: Añe’ekuaa guaraníme porque heta la gente oñeecheve guaranime che comunidadpe. Che suertekatu.

Best G-31 memory: Rockin’ kids camps with Teresa, and the “vanilla in the pasta salad” weekend

4^th goal: read 100 books

Your legacy in PY: neighbor girls knowing how to do cartwheels, play checkers, and read a book for fun. Also, 14 good-looking chicken coops with any luck. Oh and “Pato, pato,… lobo!” (Duck, duck, wolf!)

Best & worst lunch crash: Best - chicarron and mandi’o family-style, worst - cow stomach soup

Best purchase on a bus: all the ingredients for a killer fruit salad

If you could change the Peace Corps motto: Redefining “work” since 1961.

Advice for G-37: Say “yes” to every opportunity you get, at least the first time. Give people second chances because they will give them to you. Learn Guaraní. Speak Guaraní, no matter how terrible it is - many more doors will be opened to you. When frustrations get you down, plan something that you want to do, and it will be a success because of your enthusiasm for it. If you reach one person, you’ve made a difference. Most importantly - be yourself!