Croppie Girls' Weekend

Last weekend, my friends and fellow Crop PCVs Amelia and Rachel (Raquel) came to visit. It was SO much fun. We mostly just hung out, chatted, made really good food, did some stargazing, met some neighbors, hoed some for the garden, watched some soccer, and chatted some more. Thanks to our Moms for making the pumpkin pie possible! (Cream of tartar for the meringue from my mom, canned pumpkin from Rachel's.) Happy Mother's Day!

It was wonderful to be able to share my daily life and my site with some of my good friends. "Rustic," "beautiful," "tranquilo," and "cool arquitecture" were key phrases mentioned in describing my house/site. I hope to return the visits in the near future.

In the Cold, Cold Night

I have officially broken out the long underwear to sleep in. ...Cheers!

I will write more soon, but the internet is super slow tonight and it's late. 9:35pm. Dear me. Too cold to stay out of the sleeping bag any longer. Tomorrow I've got shucking a huge bag of beans that I helped harvest so that I can store them for the winter. I'm feeling a little Little Home on the Prairie. If only I had some sassafrass and salted pork. (f.y.i. That is not a real wish list.)

Buenas noches. Hi'ante nde eketa pora. G'night!

To eat well or to work...sometimes that is the question.

Sautéed Veggie Sandwich on Garlic Herb Bread

Garlic Herb Bread

½ cup warm water

3 T yeast

1 cup milk

dash of salt

2 T Italian spices

3 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup oil

¼ cup flax seed (optional)

3-4 cups flour

Add yeast to warm water, mix well, and set aside for 10 minutes. In a large bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients except for the flour. Add yeast mixture to large bowl mixture and stir. Slowly add the flour until you get a good dough consistency. Then, knead the dough for 10 minutes. Cover the bowl with a towel, and set in a warm place for 1 hour (pre-heated oven works well for cooler days). After 1 hour, knead the dough again for 1 minute. Form into loaf shape and place, well-floured, into bread pan. Cover and set in a warm place for 1 more hour. Then bake in moderately hot oven for 30 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

Sautéed Veggie Sandwich

2 thick slices of Garlic Herb Bread

Mayonnaise

Carrot

Onion

Green Pepper

Tomato

Olive Oil

Garlic Powder (or 1 clove, minced)

Parmesean cheese

Chop onion, carrot, and green pepper and sauté lightly in olive oil, with a dash of garlic powder. Slice the tomato and place in pan with sautéed veggies. Sauté for 20 seconds, just enough to warm the tomato slices. Spread mayonnaise lightly on both pieces of bread. Place tomato slices and veggies on the bread. Top with a generous amount of parmesean cheese. Enjoy!

Extremely Overcast

Fall has come finally to Paraguay. Or has it? On Tuesday, I was sweating through shirts in 95 degree heat, and today, Saturday, I am wearing a sweatshirt, hiking boots, and a scarf thinking that truck ride home is going to be pretty chilly.

I am happy for the fall weather, yet it makes me quite homesick. I miss all yáll, A LOT.

Yesterday was a dark cloudy day, and upon rising late out of bed at 7am, I resolved to give myself a day to be a bum around my house. And it was a great day. I made chili and hot chocolate. I took a nap. I did some reading. But upon reflection you may see that to be happy here in Paraguay, I generally need to be working on something. For yesterday I also made myself a front gate out of bamboo, wire, and rope, sewed 2 curtains for my shower and baño (no more street shows for me! J/K), and went to a birthday party for my little friend Jorgito.

Ok, so the birthday party wasn´t actually work, but on the way there talking with my neighbor, I managed to make plans to go make sopa on Monday, go to a memorial service across the road on Tuesday, and work for her garden on Thursday. This is in addition to my next school visit on Monday, my VAC group (all the PCVs who live close to my same town) coming out to hang on Tuesday, comite meeting on Tuesday, and leaving for a meeting with my Peace Corps boss on Friday. Whew! I am exhausted just thinking about it.

You all know me. I just function better when I´m busy. And clearly, that has not changed. I love how here I can walk out of my door with absolutely no idea of what lies ahead of me for the day, but knowing that I will probably be amazed that evening, with all that has happened within just one day. Such is life.

All my love.

6 months in Paraguay

I have now been living in Paraguay for six full months. In some ways, September seems so long ago, especially in terms of missing friends and family back home and making new relationships with Paraguayans and other Peace Corps Volunteers here. In other ways it seems like not long at all since I received that phone call from the Peace Corps in D.C. (while road tripping in South Dakota with Maria and Davis) offering me a chance to serve in South America starting in 5 weeks. Ahh!!

In honor of this mark, I would like to review how my life has or has not changed through a reflection of my “life skills” at this point.

New Skills:
-peeling mandioca
-baking homemade bread
-making yoghurt (favorite flavor – banana)
-hoeing a line of crops
-washing clothes by hand
-drinking scalding hot mate through a metal straw

Improved Skills
-flossing regularly
-writing letters
-spitting without getting drool all over myself
-snot rocketing without getting snot all over myself
-squatting to pee without getting pee all over myself.. getting the theme here?
-walking long distances in flip flops without getting blisters

Skills that Still Need Work
-using a machete (to cut my grass, cut bamboo, etc.)
-climbing through barbed wire fences in a skirt, or without puncturing my shirts
-cleaning pig skin with boiling water and a spoon
-text messaging in Guarani
-avoiding parasites and uncomfortable medical situations (if you really want to know…I’ll tell you.)

Overall, it really has been an incredible six months. I feel remarkably blessed.
Happy Easter, Semana Santa, and Passover from me to you. Enjoy the time with people you enjoy. Much love.

Happy Belated Birthday Uncle Chuck!

Also, my saludos to Mrs. Curran´s 8th grade class! Thanks for reading along.

The Pictures

Quinciñera Hape for RominaCooking with Soy during TrainingMe and some of my Girls in SiteCroppies (Op!) relaxing at Papu´s during Training

Me and the Family, on the day I left for the Peace Corps
My neighbor, Ña Rubia, and her pig during Semana Santa
My friend Carmen putting the finishing touches on my shower
Isa, Ña Rubia´s granddaughter, exploring the road in front of my house after a big rain
My patio with the homemade flower vases we made and the flowers the neighbors girls brought
My neighbor Blasito teaching me how to make ´rora´, which is delicious and very difficult to pronounce, and he doesn´t let me live it down...hahaha

Flip This HOGA!

Hoga means House in Guarani. Here´s mine, start to recent finish! Go to the bottom of the post to see the progress as it happened.

Some interesting points:

Flip flops are work shoes for everything.
I designed, bought for, and ran my own running water for 1 spigot and 1 shower.
My neighbors gave me their 'old' puppy. His new name is Rufio! (like from Hook)
My house is a part-time kids club, check out the card game.
I am very happy to finally be living on my own.
Thank you all for the goodies you sent to stock my kitchen!!