Not dead! Not dead!

About a month ago my internet decided to go belly-up, and I haven't gotten it to work since. I live out in the campo campo, so I am [was] likely the only person with internet access in the whole village.

I usually like to post longer, more well-written entries, but I'm cruched for time so here's the bare bones:

My host family: Still amazing. I've been unofficially adopted. My host brothers are my age and really fun to hang out with. A few of my friends, both Paraguayans and other PCVs, have come to visit, and they all agree that I have pretty much the most awesome living situation in all existence. So what if I don't have running water, a shower or a bathroom? Those are all secondary luxuries anyway.

My school: Even worse than before. The teachers told me flat out that they don't want to work with me. Their reasoning: "We're too busy." (Heh, doing what?) Only if I pay them for my time and services. I could go on for hours about the rediculous disaster that is my school, but I spare you. Despite the terrible leadership and staff, the kids in the school love me, and the other volunteers (from another Pguayan org, not PC) are great people and have been great support.

My community: It's still a bit difficult to meet people, since almost everyone is a farmer, and they're out in the fields all day. I'm getting to know people little by little, however, by attending community meetings, going places with my host brothers, and stopping for random tereré sessions with old men on my way home from work.

My Guaraní: My Guaraní is so-so. It's difficult, but I'm learning a little big more every day. My family speaks pretty much only Guaraní, so I hear it A LOT when we're chatting together. I even bought this cool bi-lingual (Esp-Gni) book about Guaraní mythology that I've been using to study. [Che guaraní ma o meno... avañe'ë hasy, pero aprende hína michimi cada ára. Che família oñe'ë guarani nte, upéicharö ahendu heta ñañemongeta jave che família ndive. Ajogua avei peteï kuatia moköi-ñe'ëha ñe'ëgua'u rehe astudia hagua.]

Other news: It is winter vacation in the schools right now. For the winter break, I've been organizing a 3-day long "Health Camp" for the kids. I'm working with 2 other PCV's (Michelle from Urban Youth and Kristen from Health), 2 Paraguayan volunteers from the BETEL organization, and a Paraguayan friend from Asunción. My Paraguayan friend is a music teacher from Asunción, and he has re-written the boring PC health songs to make them "more Paraguayan". I just heard them yesterday, and they're really awesome! We're going to spend one day on tooth-brushing, one day on hand-washing, and the last day on sevo'i, or intestinal parasites, which are a big problem here. We're using activities, games, songs and sports to teach the subject material, rather than the typical "silent copying off the board" method.

I've also been teaching English classes at the school two days a week. I don't think that learning English is actually very important for the kids, but it is at LEAST a way for me to get them to open up a little bit and start taking an active role in their education. It is also gives me an indirect way to show the teachers how much better the kids learn when they participate rather than just copy. Thirdly it's a way for me to help the kids try and catch up a little bit to what their grade level should be. That's hard. I tried to teach counting in English to a bunch of 5th graders... then realized that they didn't know how to count at all. That was sad, but in 2 hours they could count to ten in both English AND Spanish! This is more than they learned in 6 years of class in this school. THAT'S how bad it is.


Those are the headlines from this myserious "radio silence" period of June-July. I'll try to get my moden fixed this coming weekend, but I can't promise anything. I will post whenever I can, in greater detail, and in a more interesting fashion. I promise. :) Love you all, jajotopáta!