Quick, unedited update

A few days ago, both my electricty and my water went out in my house. It wasn't until nearly 2 hours later that it even occured to me to think of this as "abnormal". It was during that part of the evening where it's not dark out yet, but no longer light enough to throw a shadow. I sat on the porch with my host family and watched the sky fade from blue to pink to purply grey, while the cicadas whined and the chickens climbed into the trees for the night. I was even following along with the Guaraní conversation somewhat, for once without that almost itchy feeling in my legs compelling me to move to somewhere more comfortable. We passed around the cool tereré as we felt the heat seep out of the muggy day like water out of our broken shower.

Despite all the stresses and bizzare occurances that we face every day as Peace Corps Volunteers (for example, the enormous bagged toad I found in my yard this morning, or helping my host mother ship a box of dried grass (apparently a yuyo) to Argentina...), it all becomes just part of the rhythm of life after a while, and becomes normalized. That is not to say that I don't still bouts of wonder, confusion, exasperation, novelty or hilarious irony on a day-to-day basis, but now I have a kind of framework to fit it all into: This is Paraguay, or at least my little part of it.

Summer is winding to a close and we're preparing for school to start up again... sometime. The "first day of school" is kind of a loosely defined concept around here, and I think it is just generally understood that kids will start drifting in when there's "probably class, si no llueve." (If it doesn't rain, that is.) The plans for the new school year are all still tenative until I can meet with the teachers, but this year the Education sector is REALLY pushing literacy and volunteerism as their main foci. Literacy especially for my sector, Early Elementary Ed.

Sidenote (or rather, belownote): Our group's "Sister-G" has finally arrived! No, it's not a hot new all-female hiphop group, but rather the new crop of Education and Health Volunteers for Paraguay: BIENVENIDOS, G-35!! My training group, G-32, is the last group that will contain EEE and Urban Youth Development as two distinct sectors; these have recently been combined to form EYD, or Education & Youth Development. So have fun G-35ers, you're the guinnea pigs for a shiney new Action Plan! Don't worry though, just survive training and you'll be just fine. :)

So, a little news about what I've been up to in Ka'itá. My Comité de Mujeres Vecinales is going great! In our most recent meeting we finalized the total number of fogóns we're going to build: twenty-two! An excellent number, in my opinion. So this week we're going to the Gobernación and the Municipalidad to get everything legalized, and turn in our pedido. Hopefully the Municipality will agree to donate all the materials we need (bricks, cement, rebar, etc) and not make us re-do any of the paperwork. They're VERY picky about their paperwork. (I find this totally ironic considering how disorganized everything else is.) If all goes well, we might be up and building brick ovens as soon as June!

World Map project is still on standby, while I search for someone - anyone - with a key to the schoolroom! The Directora won't open it for me, and everyone else claims that so-and-so-not-me has the key. I knew I should have made a copy for myself while I had the chance! The teachers should all be in school, though not necessarily in class, by next week, so perhaps I can figure out a painting schedule then. It's been very touch-and-go thus far, but hey! we've got the paint, so we're ready to go at the first opportunity! Pictures forthcoming!

That's really all the news from Paraguay for now. My portable modem is broken (again), so posting enteries can be tricky, but I'll do my best. Miss you all, and happy Valentine's day! (PS. If someone gets a more awesome gift than toad-in-a-bag, please leave a comment and let me know! Hehe!)