Donor cycle

I have never been a fan of motor cycles. I just can’t imagine how someone could feel the least bit safe going 80 mph without any sort of real protection. Here in Paraguay the situation is even more dangerous. Relatively recently, several new factories/motorcycles stores opened up. Prices have plummeted so there are motos absolutely everywhere.

As far as cheap mobility goes, this is great because motos are far cheaper to purchase, power, and maintain than cars. But the death rate for motos is skyrocketing, so I’m not sure if the extra mobility is worth it. About a week ago my teacher, Pabla, had 2 neighbors who were killed in separate moto accidents the same weekend. This week 2 volunteers came to class today, each with their own story of someone else who had died this past weekend in accidents. Guys in their late teens, early 20’s have been the ones most often killed while riding the motos, but its not uncommon to hear of several people dying in the accident when the moto collides with another vehicle.

For example the accident involving 1 of Pabla’s neighbors had a total death toll of around 3-4: the guy on the moto, the guy he hit, a policeman who pulled over to help, and, I think, a truck driver who ran into the pile-up [though he may have only been injured]. I hear about these incidents regularly, not through the grapevine, but from people who directly knew the deceased. Its no wonder PC has prohibitions volunteers from using motos at anytime for any reason. If they find out a volunteer has been on a moto, they will ‘administratively separate’ them from the program and sent back to the US.

One reason is that motos are involved in so many accidents is that people don’t maintain them well. I often see motos at night, barely, without working headlights. Also, motos are extremely overloaded with people, sometimes 4-5 [including very small children and babies], or bulky, heavy items. This makes them really difficult to steer.

There are very few asphalt roads. Most are very rough cobblestone or extremely uneven dirt roads. This is really hard on the motos, which makes them wear down quickly. The only nice thing about the stone and dirt roads is that people generally can’t drive at high speeds, however on the asphalt they fly down the road, in between other vehicles, on the side of the road… Actually its very common for people to drive on the wrong side when they are passing slower cars. Obviously in the states we can do this as well, but they do it much more frequently here and when the oncoming traffic is much closer.

Another road hazard is that the lines dividing the lanes are a suggestion more than a rule. People drive where ever they can fit, stop and start suddenly, cut each other off, pull out in front of each other, run red lights, drive really really slow or really really fast, not with the flow of traffic, buses race each other to get the next fare, wooden bridges collapse because they aren’t taken care of, you get the idea…oh and there often aren’t working seatbelts in the vehicles.. These things are the norm, not the exception. Its frightening. Even if I was allowed to drive here, I would get in an accident within 10mins.

Ultimately, it is really inconvenient that I can’t ride a moto, but its better than getting into an accident and killing myself or someone else. Now I’m just worried about all of my little Paraguayan friends who seem to be oblivious to the danger of driving recklessly, even when the friend are the ones becoming statistics.

Holy frijoles its FRIO!!!

The temperature has been hovering around a low of 0-4 degrees Celsius and a high of 10-20 for the past few days. It was 0 today when I went to school around 8am and there was frost on the ground. That’s decently cold day for most people in the US [by which I mean I don’t want to get into a dual about who lives in a colder state my northern brethren]. The cold here isn’t terrible by itself, what makes living with it difficult is the fact that none of the homes or buildings have central heating. Its an extreme luxury to even have a window heating unit. Small space heaters are pretty affordable, but they won’t heat a large room. Also, many homes don’t have enough electricity to run one. If I’m using the iron at the house in J.A., we have to turn off all but one of the lights in the house, especially if the tv is on.

Another issue is that the houses are usually made of a single layer of bricks or some sort of adobe like material; there isn’t any insulation. During the day, the temperature inside the house is often lower than outside depending on the wind. At night the temperature may be a few degrees warmer. This makes showering extremely painful. I get fully dressed in the bathroom, coat, socks, and shoes included, at a record pace. At least on the weekend I can wait until lunch, my hair probably still will be damp by the time I go to bed, but it is better than hypothermia.

To help combat the saturating cold, I wear pants every day *gasp…Yes I know. This is the most consecutive days that I haven’t worn a skirt, probably since I was about 7. Actually, because I’m always wearing at least 2 jackets at all times, I wear the same 2-4 shirts all of the time because no one ever sees them. Heck some days, I can hardly remember what shirt I used the day before. Teresa Moment: Teresa pointed to some woman on tv playing a school administrator of some sort in ridiculously low cut shirt with matching tie to cover her cleavage/sexy secretaryesque outfit and asked me if I ever wear anything feminine like her. Feminine, yes…if she only knew about my skirt addition… However feminine ‘like her’…No, not even on a warm Halloween night on 6th street in Austin. Nahaniri. I will admit that with my large pea coat over a slightly smaller coat over a light sweater over a shirt, that I look like I’m taking fashion tips from the female lead in the move Once. I’m not sporting a particularly flattering look, but heck, who am I trying to impress, I’m only here for 3 more weeks. I’d rather be warm and be appreciated for my great personality than be little miss sexy pants and freeze my nalgas off.

At night I’ve adopted the habit of sitting on top of my bed to work at night on my computer. With the help of the adaptor box on the power cable of my laptop [a poor man’s space heater]and my own body heat, I’m able to create a pocket of warmth in the blankets and sleeping bag before I have to climb in. Otherwise the inside of my bag feels like its lined with razor blades. I go to bed between 8:30-9:30pm because fighting the cold takes too much effort and my sleeping bag, 3 layers of blankets, and 2 thickest jackets on top of the blankets are just so much more inviting.

Actually I’ve found that many of the techniques I learned while camping during the winter months and that one very special spring break in the snow in Utah are really useful here. Paraguay is like car-camping, but indoors. Who knew I was actually training to be an urban camper.

PS: Paraguayans do not go out in the cold. If there is an activity planned and its cold, chances are most people won’t show. Same thing goes for rain.

Dia De Practica

Dia de Practica- July 24th

In order to prepare volunteer for work post-training, we have 5 Practice Days [1 per week] to plan and execute some sort of activity. Shavonda, who is still working on her Spanish, and I decide to do a Civic Participation/Leadership charla [presentation] together at one of the local schools that we had visited. This would give Shavonda good practice with her Spanish and I could start thinking about Civic Participation charlas I might to in site. We were able to find a teacher to work with and set the date on the first Dia de Practica. Not to brag…but we cruised through the next 3 practice days, developed our presentation. Zero problems. Some groups didn’t know what they were going to do until the 3rd or 4th day because they had to reform their plans a few times. We were good from day 1…until day 5 came around.

After Practice Day 4 we went to Villa Florida for a week to visit a volunteer there and see his work in the community. While in VF the national government announce that they were extending winter vacation for an extra week. That extra week included our 5th Dia de Practica on which we had decided to give our presentation to the class. Oh bugger.

In the few days before our presentation date, Shavonda and I tweaked the material more towards Leadership and Ethics, added a few more activities, and asked the other people in our group to please bring their siblings and any neighborhood kids they knew to our presentation. There would be snacks.

The day of the presentation, Shavonda and I cooked lemon bars and bought some candy. In the end we gave the presentation to 3 Paraguayans (my host sister [Silvana], my host mom, and one of Carrie’s sisters), our 2 language teachers [Aurelio, Pabla], our Tech Trainer [Ricardo], and the rest of the muni group [6 people]. The presentation went well. We made them do some team building activities that were hilarious to watch from the outside. Shavonda’s Spanish was a little rocky and I’m never happy with mine, but I think we kept them entertained.

After our presentation another group that was also planning on working with the schools piggy backed off of our presentation and gave their immediately after ours to the same group. I think it would have been polite for them to bring a few Paraguayans to add to the group Shavonda and I had collected, but oh well. The best part of the second groups presentation was a group photo they took of us. Ricardo wins the silliest face contest. I’m hoping Dina remembers to send me a copy. Isatta had an absolute laughing fit because of it and had to physically turn away from the screen to finish presenting her material.

Guarani Myths July 2, 2009: ´Nope, that’s not a belt or a rope ladies´

Once there were two tribes that did not get along. In one tribe there was a beautiful woman, in the other tribe there was a wicked man. The man kidnapping the woman from her tribe, took her to live in the forest and they had many children together in the woods. Her family, upset over the kidnapping of their daughter, put a curse on the children.

These are the children:

Pombero:
One of the most popular/famous of the children is generally a protector assuming you give him an offering of honey, a small glass of beer, and a cigarette in your window at night. If you don’t give him his offering then he becomes a more malevolent spirit. People do not say his name at night for fear that he will visit.



Mala Vision:
A group of spirits that appear as a light. They are the restless souls of people who are trapped on earth and can’t get to heaven. To help them get to heaven you cross yourself (head, crotch, pocket, watch) to help release some of the spirits; if you don’t help them, then they get upset.

Kurupi:
Protector of fertility. On land, you shouldn’t walk alone at night in the woods or he will lasso you and take you away. IN the water, if you stay in the shallower parts his presence gives you fertility, but if you venture into the deeper waters, again, he lassos you and takes you away.



(Nope, that’s not a belt or a rope, ladies.)

Teju Jagua (lizard dog)
Protector of yellow/orange fruit. Its okay to take a few mandarin oranges off the tree, but if you take too many…beware of Teju Jagua.



Lusion
He lives in the cemeteries and eats the dead bodies. If you are in the cemetery at night on Friday he’ll eat you too.




Plata Yvyguy
If you see a tree on fire with a dog without a head it means this spirit is there. Underneath the tree you’ll find buried treasure.

Jasy Jatere
Is shaped liked a human with blue eyes and red hair. (Irish?). He lives in the forest and steals small children that are restless at mid-day and won’t take a siesta.



Ao-Ao
A bear, sheep mix. He is the protector of forest animals who attacks hunters. To get away, the hunter must climb to the top of a coco tree.



Other Random beliefs of the Paraguayans/Fun things to do to freak them out
• If you drink cocido and eat an orange together you’ll get really sick/die.
• If you eat watermelon and then drink water you’ll also get very sick/die.
• Walk around without your shoes on anywhere, inside or out. They think you’ll get sick from the cold, which isn’t really true. However there are some kinds of worms here that can enter your body through your feet, so it’s a good idea to keep the shoes on anyway, at least outside.
• If a knife falls on the floor, you’ll have a drunk person in the house soon.
• You can’t take salt directly from someone, you have to put it on the table first. If two people are holding the salt at the same time, in the future they are going to have an argument/not get along.
• When a visitor arrives and you are very busy or don’t want to talk with them, you can put a broom, bristles up, near the door and they will leave soon. I don’t know if they believe the cosmos will somehow give the visitor the impetus to leave, or if its just one of the subtle non-verbal clues that the visit should be wrapping up.
• White bread is good/normal bread; whole wheat bread is for sick or old people.
• If it doesn’t have meat, its not food.

The adventures of Medical Mary

We get really good health care in the PC. I mean really really good. We have a doctor and nurse on call 24/7. The doctor’s name is Luis. We found out recently that he was also Mr. Paraguay in 2004. He is also the only person I’ve ever met, other than little children, who I can genuinely say is bashful. He blushes or gets uncomfortable very frequently, usually because of the comments of his counterpart, Medical Mary. However he even gets a little uneasy when some of the female volunteers have to remove a few layers of clothing from their arm to get a shot. You’d think they were actually disrobing in front of him. Personally I just make sure that I wear short sleeves and an easy to remove jacket on shot days to help the man out.

Medical Mary is our nurse who is quickly gaining a reputation for her Maryisms. She served as a PC volunteer when she was 40 but has served as a nurse for the PC all over the world since then. She has this awesome, dead pan manner of delivering lines that you just wouldn’t expect from a professional woman of her age. Most of these are ‘you had to be there’ moments, but I’ll post them anyway and try to keep a running list.

During our safe sex lecture…
Mary: ‘Does everyone know how to use a dental dam?’
*silence
*Carrie coughs
Mary: ‘Oh well then *puts her face into the dental dam and demonstrates its usage with her tongue
(She was totally just looking for an excuse to do it)

Mary, commenting mostly towards our four volunteers who are retired from their professions in the states, informed us that she too had lots of sex during her volunteer time even though she was 40 and didn’t expect anyone to be interested in her.


During our sexual/physical assault lecture-July 1, 2009
Mary: But if its hot outside and you’re wearing your ‘come fuck me shorts’…
(Ironically a girl was definitely wearing her special shorts at a birthday party so we all had a frame of reference for her comment)

Mary: And there was the guy who wanted to have hot sex with me…
*side conversation breaks out in the class about whether she really did say ‘hot sex’
Mary “Yes, I said hot sex..”

Host Family In JA Saldivar Training Community

My host family,
Ciriaco-Dad
Working in security. Goes to work at 4:50am and usually gets back to the house around 8pm. He prefers to speak Guarani, so theoretically he would be a good resource to help me learn the language. However I can barely understand him when he speaks Spanish because he mumbles and I don’t think he always uses correct grammar, so he probably isn’t the best person to ask for help. He has a great sense of humor and likes to tease the lady next door by running over to the fence and holding up the radio so that it plays loudly into her yard when a certain song that irritates her comes on. Evidently he has also been known to ride his bike into her house. Worked in Spain for 3 years as a landscaper to help bring in money for the family. Used to be the president for the local neighborhood commission. Evidently he is a far departure from much less hardworking male figures that most of the trainees are living with

Teresa-Mom
She is a catholic version of the stereotypical Jewish mother. She is very sweet, worked in an office before she had surgery 3 months ago, worked in Spain for a year, cooks well, keeps a clean house, and has raised three amazing, studious, independent daughters, and always has the best intentions. Unfortunately she worries all of the time about everything and always has an opinion about the ‘right’ way to do everything. She constantly nitpicks everything in the girls life, corrects them, gives them unasked for advices…She tried to tell me how to cook the periogies even though she has never seen a periogie in her life. When I hung my raincoat outside to dry, first she didn’t like which clothes line I hung it on. She was worried that it would get wet on the one from rain during the night on the I had initially selected, so I moved it to one closer to the house; it still got wet. Then she didn’t think I put the coat high enough on the clothes line, so she slide it up about 6 inches. Then she didn’t like how I’d hung the coat, so that had to be adjusted. Then she didn’t like the clothes pins I was using, so I had to change those. All that to hang a rain coat. She is like that with everything, cooking, cleaning, how the girls dress…everything. Because she really does just want to be helpful, it generally doesn’t bother me; its only for 11 weeks. But if she was someone I had to live with for an extended period of time, I’d have to put some limits to her ‘helpfulness’, but for now, I just accept that she genuinely is a nice person, take her advice when applicable, and excuse her when she gets excessive.

Patricia ‘Patti’
22, is a student in Asuncion in the mornings studying how to make prosthetic dental work, in the afternoon she works in a dentist’s office. She once dated a Peace Corps volunteer while he was in training, but the relationship fell apart when he moved to his site, several hours away. Patti is very hardworking and very fashionable, and talks alllllllll of the time. On the weekends usually I tag along with her to go shopping or whatever errands she is running.

Silviana ‘Silvi’
20 years also a student. Currently she does accounting work balancing the books, of at least one of Teresa’s friends. Silvi isn’t much of a talker so we get along really well. I can sit at the table and study with her while she is working and actually get some studying done. She is also studying English, so I get to help her some of the time with her pronuciaiton.

Natalia ‘Nata’
12, is in the 7th grade. Takes after her mom and older sister in that she talks a lot as well. Nata is very sweet and was a great helper when I made the perodiges.

I am the family’s 4th volunteer so they are well broken in. They know how to talk to me in a clear, slow manner, what words I’m most likely to know, and what concepts are likely to be new to me(like hand-washing clothes). They have put a high priority on education for the daughters, which is very progressive. The parents lived in Spain for a time, which is the exact opposite of many Paraguayns who may have never left their state, let alone lived and worked in a different country. Everyone is hardworking and chips in to keep the household running. They also have really good manners, wash their hands frequently, including before they eat (this is actually pretty usual), use individual napkins (instead of a communal napkin that everyone shares). The kitchen is very clean and Teresa is very picky about making sure the food from the day before is reheated before its eaten again so I don’t worry about the food getting contaminated. They are uber patient, extremely nice, extremely helpful, extremely trustworthy, and overall just a great group of people to live with during training. I really lucked out this time.

Medical Care

Each week we see our PCMOs [PC Medical Officers]Nurse Mary aka Medical Mary, and Dr Luis at the Guarambare Training Center.



(Dr. Luis who is currently in South Africa because they were short doctors)

They give us shots, check in about our health, and distribute medication, and give us lectures on all of the fun health issues we might encounter during our service. Fortunately PC medical care is ridiculously awesome. They pay for %100 of our medications and medical treatment. Either Mary or Dr. Luis are on call 24/7. If I get sick, call them, and they tell me to come into the office, the PC will reimburse me for my bus fare to and from Asuncion. If I can’t return to my site that same day, PC will pay for me to stay in a preapproved hotel, and give me a daily allowance if needed. If a volunteer is raped or suffers a major assault but don’t need emergency medical assistance, Mary or Luis will come out to the site, retrieve the volunteer, and bring them back to Asuncion for treatment. If a volunteer does need emergency assistance, we’ve been told that people who help us get us to help can be reimbursed. A story has circulated about people [the general public, not volunteers], who have bled to death because people won’t let them into their personal vehicles for fear of staining the seats. PC has assured us that they will pay to clean car upholstery, gas, medication or emergency procedure… whatever is necessary to get a volunteer the proper medical attention in a life threatening emergency will be reimbursed. We are told to visit the local clinics and nearest hospitals to introduce ourselves, makes friends with the doctors and nurses, give them a list of emergency contact information, and assure them that if a volunteer ever comes in for emergency treatment payment is not an issue, PC will take care of all of everything, they just need to focus on getting us the proper medical care.
The only notable exception is for non-emergencies where volunteers get treatment or purchase medications without previous authorization from the PCMO. If the PCMO doesn’t authorize the purchase or treatment beforehand, the volunteer doesn’t get compensated. For example, a volunteers starts having stomach problems, they go to a local clinic and get some medications without talking to a PCMO. These expenses would not be reimbursed.

We are covered if we travel as well unless we go to the US, then we aren’t covered for anything. As government employees we are also covered by FECA [Federal Employee’s Compensation Act] aka workers comp. As long as we are not injured while engaging in high risk activities like bungee jumping, volunteers have long-term coverage for injuries and illness sustained during service.

If something major does happen. A volunteer has 45 days to recover. Depending on the injury, that recovery period may be spent in a facility in Paraguay or at the PC’s medical facilities in Washington D.C. If the volunteer cannot return to work in 45 days, they are medically separated. They still receive medical treatment, but they are not considered a PC volunteer anymore. However if the volunteer recovers within about 3 months of the incident, and would still like to return, they may be readmitted as a volunteer in the same site. For example, there is a volunteer who fell into a ditch and shattered her heel bone. She was MedEvaced, Medically Evacuated [sent back to the US for treatment], was not able to recover in 45 days, and was ‘Medically Separated.’ However she has made enough progress in rehab since she was injured a couple of months ago, and is expected to return to her site in a few weeks and continue her volunteer work.

Dental Care:
Yup, the teeth are covered too. We get one cleaning per year. Also any damage that our teeth sustain ie cracking a tooth on a stone hidden in rice, getting hit in the mouth and losing a tooth, root canals, etc are also covered as long as the procedure is not for a pre-existing condition.

Pregnancy:
Pregnancy is the one area where the PC isn’t very supportive of its female volunteers.

Male volunteer:
• The in-country pre-natal, delivery, postpartum, and pediatric care of the mother/child are covered by the PC as long as the male volunteer claims the child as his own and lives with the child.
• There is no limit on the number of children a male volunteer can have. So go forth and be fruitful.

Female volunteer:
• Pre-Pregnancy: PC pays for contraception (the pill) and emergency contraception (Plan B).
• If the female becomes pregnant and decides to keep the baby she can stay at her site for 3 months. After that time she will be ‘Medically Separated’ and not be permitted to return to her site. Her pre-natal, delivery, postpartum, and pediatric care will be covered.
• If a female volunteer gets pregnant and wants to terminate, she will be MedEvaced to the US for the procedure [abortions are illegal in Paraguay]. However, once the volunteer is back in the US, she has to make the arrangements herself and cover the costs herself. After she has recovered, she can return to her site.
• If a female volunteer has 2 unwanted pregnancies she ‘separated’ [aka kicked out]of the PC. Two unwanted pregnancies by a female volunteer is ‘considered evidence of irresponsible behavior incompatible with Volunteer service.’

To summarize:
• Male and Female volunteers can get as many STDs as they want, the more the merrier, and all of the medical expenses will be covered.
• Jim Jo Bob Be-Fruitful can start his own human breeding colony and all of his children are covered as long as he claims them and can find a roof big enough to house everyone.
• Fertile Mertil has 2 unwanted pregnancies so she gets fired from her job and has to foot the bill for her medical expenses.
• An notable blemish on an otherwise absolutely stellar health care policy

Other:
After I swear in as a volunteer, PC gives me a cell phone and recharges it with a fixed amount each month. I can add to that amount if needed.


The basic jist is that there are some really icky bugs and illnesses I might be faced with, but for the most part, the PC will take good care of me.