Sunday, December 16, 2007

Your tax dollars hard at work...

Ladies and gentlemen and cellulites (as one Paraguayan I know says it). I will be in touch again in a few weeks. For now, I'm about to head off to site, Kaundygue, and the campo for summer fun and winter holiday parties (Christmas and New Year's). This season's activities will include hoeing fields, managing the garden, meeting the community, and learning Guarani. I've got a machete for each hand (currently that count is two) and can't wait to go.

I officially swore in on Friday, met the group swearing out and many of those who are in the middle. This included my nearest neighbor near my site and some other generally close neighbors (within a couple hours). One noteworthy point is that I have a cell phone. I won't be putting the number up here, but Facebook is always a good potential place to check. I could sit here and write a description of my site but really I've seen so little and know so few that it wouldn't do a service to anyone. I will go as so far to say that I'm excited, as ready as I'll ever be, and am ready to the urban setting of Asuncion. That said, I'll be happy to return in three months for a hot shower and some climate controlled environment. Well so technically my environment will be extremely controlled by the environment, where weather predictions are hot with continued hotness spreading into the hotter regions of the hot zones. 40+ centigrade with patches of shade and breaks with ice water are gaurenteed to pass through at least twice daily.

I'll be checking e-mail once every couple of weeks as I go into the nearer pueblo for food if you are hoping to reach me. True, I did say I'll have a cell phone, but I have to walk 15 min to get to a reception area, so I'll be checking voicemails there every few days. We'll see how this goes, given that the options menu is in Spanish. I hope you all have happy and safe holidays, and may you to get the opportunity to slaughter animal for Christmas.

Two bloody thumbs up,
Michael