Summer Highlights

Summer came and went just as fast as expected. Paraguay is said to have 2 seasons...9 months of pleasant weather and 3 months of hell...and that has been confirmed. Although those 3 months were summer and I love summer... it was still insanely hot! School started last week and by wednesday I was wearing pants and feeling a chill in the evening. Not to say the heat won't return, because it will but at least January and February are behind us!

A lot happened over the summer that I didn't get to blog about- their were lots of parties, graduations, cook outs, camps, trips, weddings and just the daily hanging out. It wasn't the best season for work so I enjoyed the time spent with Paraguayans and volunteers and the great outdoors! Instead of blogging about each event I thought I would do some photo blogging! So I hope you enjoy my highlights as it was a great first summer in Paraguay!

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All dressed up for my friend Lady's graduation party. All the girls have these really nice white dresses made and they have a huge party with all their classmates. It was really different but really special. Also fun fact my host mom made my shirt! 

Valentina and I one sunday afternoon before a game of volleyball. This past summer I spent every sunday with this family and mostly every night.. but sundays are the best! 

At a wedding reception with one of my families here. Rosa and Carol have been together for 10 years now and have 2 little girls together and this year they made it official! It was also the same day as their youngest daughters baptism.. she is looking away in this picture, but she is super cute!  

At my host cousin Jenny's graduation. Fun fact- my host mom made my shirt, Jenny's dress and my host sister Sandras dress!! She is so talented! 

 In the capitol city with some other volunteers going out for my friends Birthday! 

 

Remember this little guy? He's growing and is 6months old now! So precious, he smiles when ever he hears my voice! 

Cooling off with some mid morning ice cold terere 

Goofing off one evening with Valentina and Matias 

A little trip to the local Mickey D's with my Paraguayan bff- Carolina and Valentina! We stayed for a few hours because it had AC and WiFi... I mean what more can you ask for?

Before my soccer clubs anniversary party. We didn't leave the house till 12 midnight for the party and the first band didn't come on till 1am...and then we danced till about 5:30. Sounds crazy right? No completely typical and average!  

Sweating the night away with some fellow volunteers!

It gets so hot here you don't wanna turn your stove on to cook anything and you don't wanna eat anything too heavy soo you take advantage of mango season and make lots of mango salsa! 

After one of our summer camps.. in front on Meagan's house

Precious little Valentina, can you believe she is only 3?

At my towns patron saint party. this was my first time seeing real fireworks in Paraguay and they were literally right above my head.. I mean I was nervous about catching on fire.. but it was so magical and beautiful! 

Valentina and I at the local carnival, her eyes usual don't open when there is a camera flash! 

The manually powered carousal at the carnival, none the less the children enjoyed it! 

Carolina and I at the patron saint festival awaiting the fire works! 

A family trip the local river, and by local I mean we rented a bus, filled it with 30 of our closests family and friends, bought some steaks, sausages and beer, drove 3 hours, grilled, drank and wadded in the water all day and it was GLORIOUS ! 

Paraguayans rarely wear bathing suits. I had mine on but they didn't understand my I wouldn't just get in with my clothes... another new thing I learned! 

We sat around the rock for a good 4 hours and it was some of the most fun I've had with these people! I can't wait for next year! 

One afternoon my friend Alex went to gaze in her garden and found an abundance of baby carrots.. with nothing better to do we harvested them and cleaned them.. 

After summer camp at Alex's site.. our picture together in front of her house! 

In Paraguay it is a status symbol to have more then one cake at your birthday.. look here at the 2 cakes and those candles... oh heavens! 

The new health group of trainees arrived over the summer and I got to help with one of their trainings. I went with another volunteer to train them on dental health. This is them doing a dental health rely at their training center. 

Almost my whole group of volunteers together got together at a hostel one night to send off a fellow volunteer. This was one of the first times we've been together like this, each person made some contribution to the meal and it felt such like a family! 

At my health post speaking to a future mothers club about pre natal care and the importance of staying active during their pregnancy. 

Hanging out with my 2 mentees drinking terere after killing 2 chickens! 

Out at a bar in the city with one volunteers for another birthday! 

And the little girl who continues to steal my heart, Valentina! 

Your step by step guide of how to kill and prepare a chicken- Paraguayan style

A little history behind this post before I get into the good stuff- Since last March I had been asking my host mom to teach me how to kill a chicken. I don’t think they ever took me seriously because they would just laugh and say otra dia which literally means another day.. but here its said so loosely that it pretty much means never. So when I saw my other host mom doing it this past month I told me I wanted to learn and do it one day. Well she also said otra dia.. but I was persistent and we so we planned the big day. 

Chicken can be bought in the grocery story here and it is actually really good chicken. The main chicken factory and producer is near my house and my neighbors actually work there. It is the only meat I have bought by myself and cooked in my house. So why feel the need to kill a backyard chicken? You might be wondering... well here in Paraguay the “home-made chicken/ backyard chicken / pollo casero” which is what they call it when you kill it yourself is considered to be tastier, better and plus you feel like a champion after the whole process. So yes I can buy my chicken and kill my chicken. And after this post you will be able to kill a chicken if you ever so desire!

Step 1- Catching the chicken. I arrived at the house and the 2 guys were already in a bag awaiting their doom... but apparently it is difficult to catch a chicken and get it in the bag. My suggestion have someone help you with that part.. those things are faster then they look. 

Taking the chicken out of the bag 

Step 2- The deed or the actual killing part. Grab its two legs with one hand and its neck with the other. Pull down towards your leg with the neck part with your thumb pressing into the neck bone. This was the hardest part for me because you are breaking the neck and I was shy and didn’t pull hard enough at first..and I mean its bone that you are breaking so thats not the easiest task! Once the neck is broken the little guy’s body will still move for about 20 seconds then it will die. See photos below, notice my facial expressions- there is a whole lot going on there. 

When you struggle the bird flaps and moves around..
this I was unaware of.. hence my facial expression

Taking direction from my host mom

The finished product in one arm and Pauli in the other! 

Step 3- De- feathering. Dip the whole chicken in boiling hot water. My host mom had a huge pot over an open fire so it was very easy and very hot. Once the chicken is dunked in the water you can pluck its feathers and they come out so easily. The large feathers at his bottom you will need to pluck one by one first, but then after he’s all yours. I was incredible shocked at how easy it was to take his feathers off. 

Step 4- Remove all remaining feathers. This involves lightly putting the recently de- feathered chicken over the open flame. This is to secure all feathers and little hairs burn off over the fire and there is nothing remaining. Its very quick and you don’t want to burn the chicken just the small left over hairs. 

Step 5- Cleaning the chicken. As basic as it sounds. Clean and scrub that chicken with fresh clean water. There shouldn’t be any blood unless you punctured his skin when breaking the neck which I did with one of them.. but hey you just killed a chicken with you hands, whats a little blood gonna do?

Cleaning the bird 

With the finished de-feathered and cleaned bird! 

Step 6- Cutting up the meat- I didn’t actually do this part because I would have had no clue what to cut, so I watched. But basically you cut off the legs and the wings and the breast and other parts. Then you take out the heart and the stomach and other lovely insides of the chicken. In some parts of Paraguay you eat every part including the head..but I asked for us to leave that out of our meal. So we saved it for my host sister. I helped cut the stomach out and take the lining out to prepare to eat it. Apparently its the best part but I wasn’t up for a taste testing. And then when it was all cut up it looked like you had just gone to the grocery store to get some chicken to cook. It was a pretty amazing site. 

Step 7- Cook the bird! We started with some oil, salt, oregano, cumin and some bay leaves. Then placed the chicken in with it, this was all done over an open fire. Then after about an hour of cooking we made home made gnoochi out of potatoes we also made a little red sauce from tomatoes, peppers and onions. Once the gnocchi were cooked in boiling water for 10 minutes we added it all the the pot with the chicken and let that cook together for another half hour. Then it was time to feast. 

My Paraguay bestie to the left, Vania in the middle and
 Tisa on the right working hard making the Gnocchi!

Step 8- Eat your heart out! And that we did. It was one of the best meals I’ve had in this country because I killed the chicken that morning and you could taste the freshness and the satisfaction in every bite.. really it was so good. It was only dead for a matter of 20 minutes before cooking it.. now what more can you saw about farm to table? Also this was all done in a matter of hours! Fun fact- home made chickens like this one have darker meat, it almost looks like beef but it taste like chicken. And why is this? Because its natural and this is what their meat naturally looks like without any preservatives, hormones or chemicals! 

My lovely mentees that came and spent a week with me and were
active in the chicken killing process and the eating process! 

And the cooks enjoying the feast! 

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I had a hard time at first when I arrived in Paraguay with all the meat they consume. I thought “wow there goes any attempted at being a vegetarian” but then I got to thinking... my reasonings in the states for eating less meat was because of the chemical process that our meat in the states goes through.. it is basically not even meat by the time everything is added or taken out of it. I’ve seen enough documentaries to know how corrupt the industry is. But then I move to Paraguay and yes its a whole lot of meat all the time, but its so fresh, so clean and I feel so much better about being a meat consumer. I mean that chicken we ate for lunch I know was all chicken.. not that crap you see these days on the self! Ok that was my rant, its over now!!! 

I hope you enjoyed the blog post, as strange as it seems this is how people prepare things down here and not just with chickens. I have seem my fair share of pig slaughters.. those are a bit more messy. It is also common for a cow, duck, goat and the occasional turkey slaughter. My host family killed a pig about a month ago and we are still eating off of it and it is deliciousssss! 

A batch of brownies

I have about 3 blog post that I was working on and had full intentions of getting them up.. until my computer died and lost the files- fail... I could only laugh at this realization, because thats how this past week has felt...full of intentions... but a tiny little fail trailing behind.

The daily emotions that a peace corps volunteer goes through ( myself included) are inexplicable...sometimes I go to call a friend and I am even speechless. Like I know whats going on but I can't explain how or why I am actually feeling they way I am or what series of events got me to that place. Usually it starts with a plan that is interrupted by some paraguayan plan that I was unaware of and so on.. the little failures begin. Now I know my successes and I normal just blog about them to save you from my rants...but drum roll... lets be real and even people in america are not happy and successful all the time and they have washing machines, chick- fil-a, reality TV and heated homes... so the struggle is real down here and I just wanna share a bit of it with you, how lucky are you!

Some days I have no problem with paraguayans and want to voluntarily spend all my time and energy with them. But then there are days like today where I almost scream or hysterically cry because I just can't do it and don't want to try any more. Yes, these are great, loving and inviting people but there are times where I in my own skin need a break. I need my bed, I need a hot shower and I need a batch of brownies...and I need to be reminded of where I came from.

It is really easy to get caught up in paraguayan culture, forget your own and jump on the paraguayan train.. abandon all regards to sanity, order and basic needs..this only goes on for a bit till it catches up to you and you least expect it. Like today when I was at a little girls birthday party and something inside of me was calling me to run, abandon ship and flee. Now this makes me instantly feel like a horrible person, hate myself  and overflow with guilt of the horrible social crime I have just committed on an innocent 8 year old. But then I remember truth.

And the truth here is that I am different, I do not come from the same place they do, I do not speak there language like they do, I look different and I act differently and I feel differently. And as much as I try and adopt and adjust myself to be more culturally friendly and Paraguayan- I'm not. So the truth is I don't have to also be where they are, speak like them, behave like them and do life with them all the time. I can feel differently, say no and take a break. We all need breaks from the day to day and down here the day to day wears on me unlike any other.

And so as much as I love these people, this country and the life I am living --today was a break day. Today was my check for reality, my step away, head home and make some brownies day. Because a batch of brownies saved me today and it calmed my soul, gave me a break and reminded me of the truth we as peace corps volunteers are reminded everyday as we strive to be more like our host country natives.

Disclaimer: I am only human. These days happen and sometimes more then you'd like. And I have a lot of intentions but I fail a lot and I try a lot and in the mix of it all each day feels a little more like home and I make it work. 1 year in and still loving this country and this people to the best of my good days abilities. As for the bad days.. I have Gilmore Girls, my american friends and brownies to ease the pain...and the world spins madly on...

Me and the innocent 8 year old before I fled the party! 

Wedding number 1 of 2014

In the beginning on February my host sister from my training community got married. This is a little bit crazy because my real sister will be getting married later this year and I have some good friends getting married throughout the year as well... so 2014 has been labeled the year of the wedding!

I had been to a Paraguayan wedding before, but you would have thought you were in america with my host sisters wedding. It was beautiful and was so well put together. I was so impressed and taken back with how much time, money and planning was put into it. It was really so perfect for her and just proved even more that Paraguayans know how to party!

There are lots of traditions that happen at a Paraguayan wedding. Some similar to ours in america but some different.. some were not traditions but a different way of doing things. I had such an amazing time and really felt like a sister to the bride, I can only imagine how I will feel once my real sister gets married in a few shorts months!!! So to begin the breakdown of the weekend-

I arrived friday and we started making the cakes. My host mom baked and decorated the cakes. We finished making the props for the dancing part of the party.. basically everything you would find in a photo booth but we just used to dance and take our own pictures, complete with giant bow ties, real ties flower head bands, hots, glasses and other fun things! Then friday night we went and picked up Sandra's wedding dress. This was dress number 2, hand made in 1 week. ( she didn't like the first one..haha) After we drank some celebratory beers and I had them practice walking down the isle since there was no rehearsal.

Saturday morning we were up by 6:30 with the house full of helpers. We peeled and cooked mandioca, potatoes..chopped carrots and cooked them, finished the cakes and made other deserts. We also made lots of pans or sopa paraguaya ( a cornbread ) All this was done over a fire and we were finished by noon. Then my younger host sister, my host mom and I went to the salon. We were there for 4 hours. We got our hair, makeup, nails and fake eyelashes done. It was so exciting and fun also very cheap only 60 mil GS which is not even $20 USD. I didn't recognize myself after it was all done. I felt like barbie... but it was so fun and I felt like I was in a movie.

Then we went home put of dresses on and headed to the church. I had my dress made by my host mom, she also made her dress and some others. I had never felt so fancy and dressed up in the past year then I did in that one night! The bride arrived to the church by herself in a car all decorated with a bow and flowers. There were very few people at the church, mainly because it started at 8:30 and that was considered early.. people showed up to the party around 10ish... totally ok and culturally accepted here ( remember that). Sandra didn't have bridesmaids but myself, her real sister and her sister-in-law all had on the same color so we called ourselves the bridesmaids. She walked in with her father, had a quick ceremony, signed some papers, said their vows and were married in the church. The vows were the same but in spanish and the priest never said you may kiss the bride... I'm not sure why, but that was different.

Then we headed to the reception. The bride and groom greeted everything that walked in and took a picture with them... this went on for 2 hours while people arrived. Then the judge came and did a civil marriage and they were married by the court. We had appetizers of sopa paraguaya and sausage served by waiters in bow ties. Drinks were served by the liter including coke a cola, fanta and Budweiser and they just kept coming. Then we were served dinner. A plate of really delicious steak, potato salad, bread and mandioca, this was served around 11pm which is actually early then I was expecting. Then they had their first dance and every couple came and joined and had their dance with the bride and groom. After that the mariache band showed up and played for a half hour. Then before the cake was cut all the single girls pick out a string in a bowl and on 3 everyone pulls it out and whoever has a string with the ring on the end is the next to get married. Then Sandra threw the bouquet and I caught it.. mainly because I was the tallest there and just put my hand up.. but now they are planning my wedding for later this year... but I promise that will never happen!

Around 12:30 the band showed up and we were dancing by 1am...which is the normal time for the dancing to begin. This is a Paraguayan thing that I still do not understand a year in... and so we danced 1am - 5am. Yes I was tired and so so hot but it was so much fun. We had silly string, hats and glow sticks! We danced, drank and laughed and it was a blast! Oh and all the little kids, yeah they were up as well..I mean who doesn't love to dance!!!

My family and I got back to the house around 5:30, showered and went to bed till 11:30  Then went over to the newly married couples house.. ate the rest of the food, drank some more, opened all the gifts and relaxed. We were all in bed by 8pm that Sunday night... and I was still tired for the 3 days after.

It sounds like a lot and it was. It was everything I expected and even more! I will never forget that night and the craziness it was...now for the wedding by numbers.. because they were high!

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175 kilos of meat or about 15 cows 

8 cakes 

4 dozen + eggs 

10 kilos of caramel or dulce de leche for the cakes

30 kilos of madioca or 2 huge sacks 

3 trash bags filled of bread rolls

15 kilos of potatoes 

15 pans of corn bread 

XXX amount of beer I couldn't count ( cooled in a swimming pool) 

2 bands 

2 wedding dresses

415 people 

and now for some photos! 

cakes all around! 

After my barbie make over! 

Married!

Inside the reception 

pulling the strings out 

After I caught the bouquet 

The party!

The " Bridesmaids" 

1 Year in Paraguay!

This Saturday February, 8 I will celebrate my one year in Paraguay, 1 whole year!! Wow. Still in awe. Its amazing, exciting and completely incredible. This little victory is something I could talk all day about. The feelings of doubt, discomfort and over all fear that were swelling up inside of me a year ago, I can now laugh at... and that feels so good!

You see a year ago I felt like a little child stepping out into the darkest most unknown place ever. I felt alone, scared and confused. I had so many questions and concerns and doubts, lots of doubts. For  a while once I was in Paraguay I still wanted to be home doing american things. I wanted to give up and turn around. The last thing I wanted was to stick it out, give it a try and watch as my life would be forever impacted. Well I don't know what got into me..maybe a little Paraguayan water, some sun and whole lot of patience but I stuck it out, gave it a try and now am forever changed. Also grateful my mother made me get on that plane, because we all know if she had given me the chance I would have stayed... you go Mom!

So here I am a year in. Its been crazy, wild and at times sad, lonely and frustrating. All the negativity is quickly casted out and I am forever reminded each day of the beauty this country is, the people, the land and the culture. I am happy and I am following what was once just a dream I journaled about. I've learned so much about my self...others and the person I want to be around others. I've learned a new language and can confidently tell stories, teach and converse in that language. I've made a family a few actually that I love dearly. I've learned the value of patience and the beauty of simplicity. I've failed at lots of things but now understand the importance of giving everything a shot.

This last year I have seen more growth in my personal life then all other years in my life. I am excited to keep growing and learning in Paraguay. I am thankful for this year, this celebration and that it is mine and that I did it, I really did it!! So thank you for all your support, love, letters and packages. It has carried me to this little anniversary and I hope you are as thrilled as I am. It's been special and I am cheersing to another year...hey maybe 3, because thats how great this 1 year feels!

Now for a little now and then... 

Then.. when I was crying my eyes out saying good bye to my momma!

Now... Alive and well and really happy!