Bienvenidos G-35 PC Paraguay.

Written Feb. 7, 2011

After some group ice breakers, a discussion on aspirations and fears and a brief introduction to the Peace Corps, we were off to the Miami airport in two big buses with our busting bags.  Travelling overnight to Paraguay wasn’t exactly ideal seeing as it was impossible to sleep unless you are one of those people that can sleep with their neck in a broken- like position. Our group of 47 (we actually have 48, but one of us didn’t make it to Miami because of snow storms in the Mid-West) arrived in Uruguay at about 11 am (Uruguayan time). Before we knew it we were jumping on another plane and off to our future home, Paraguay.

The first night was a blur. We basically just spilt up into our two sectors (education and health), ate dinner and went to sleep at the “retreat center” that the Peace Corps had rented for the night. I say “retreat center” with quotes because that seems like a luxurious term, but in reality, it was your basic, rustic, hostel-style place. I was very thankful to get a good night’s rest and I know that everyone else was too.

So, from then until now we meet the Peace Corps staff here in the country, received A LOT of information, been split up into groups to study Spanish and Guarani, met our host families (for the next 3 months) and been told a bazillion rules. So, here is my typical day right now:

7:45 am – 11: 30 am Language training (I am going to be in Spanish classes for the next two weeks and then my group is switching over to Guarani.)

11:30 am – 1:30 pm Lunch (seems like a long to eat lunch right? Yea, I guess that it may be a little hard to get used to, but people actually sit down eat, ENJOY their food and converse. I think about how I like to eat lunch. Generally, I like to take about 15 minutes to eat and then back to WORK, WORK, WORK. This is not a part of the Paraguayan culture. Although I was already faintly aware of this difference in culture, I hadn’t actually ever practiced the art of slowly eating and enjoying your meal. I guess I have to next two years to taste my food.

1:30 – 5:30 pm Information sessions with Peace Corps staff. Here we are handed more handbooks to read, informed about cultural differences and told more about our future jobs.

Now about my Paraguayan family:

I live in a nice house with a Paraguayan woman and her two daughters. In order to protect their identities, I will refer to them as Mami Paraguay, Hermana 1 and Hermana 2. Their home is really nice and I feel like I have more than enough. Sure we don’t have internet or clear TV, but I have a great fan and a place to put my stuff.  My new hermanas are soooo sweet. Hermana 1 is 19 and Hermana 2 is 14 years old. They are both very affectionate, but Hermana 2 is especially affectionate. She likes to hug me and walk arm-in-arm down the street. Today at lunch she informed me that she took a picture of me to her first day back at school to show her teachers. I contribute a lot of their excitement to the fact that they haven’t had a Peace Corps person in their house before, but I would like to think that they would be this excited to have me even if I was the 7^th person. Mami Paraguay runs a mini Auto Zone out of the front of the house and I think she’s probably pretty hard core.

SO, about the languages…here in Paraguay the people use “vos” instead of “tu” (both the informal way of saying “you”. Now I have to completely switch the way I say verbs in order to fit in language wise. Thankfully, it is only the present tense that changes and not the past and future tenses. Now Guarani is another story. We have been informed that formal Guarani is too difficult, so we will be learning a mix of Spanish and Guarani called Jopara. Take a little looksey for yourself to see what Guarani/Jopara looks like.

Che Cheréra Ellie.  (Pronounced Sha (long a) Sha-ray-ra) à My name is Ellie.

Che aspirante Cuerpo de Pazpegua. (Sha ass-peer-on-tay Cuerpo de Pas-pay-gwah) à I am a trainee of the Peace Corps.

Che Estado Unidogua. (Sha Est-ado oo-ee-dough-gwah) à I am from the United States.

Oĩ porã. (hoy-ee pore-ah) à It’s ok.

Ndaipori problema (die-pore-ee problema) à There isn’t a problem.

Mba’eíchapa (bah-A-sha-pa) à How are you?

Ok that is enough of that for a while. I am not currently studying Jopara everyday yet, but I will be shortly. Apparently there is a small chance that I will be put in an urban-like area (4,000 – 5,000 people), so there will be people that speak Spanish; however, current volunteers here have expressed the importance of learning Guarani/Jopara because it can better help your integration into the community. Speaking Spanish can be considered as chuchi, which in Spanish is like wealthy. The people of the campo (country) typically do not speak Spanish and those that do are considered to be more educated and perhaps better off than the others. Needlesstosay, I want to fit into my community, so I’ll be putting a lot of my efforts of the next couple of weeks into Jopara.

Last comment of the day, if you thought you understood the true meaning of humidity, take a trip to Paraguay.

Nos hablamos pronto.