Congratulations me! I got voted in as the NVAC Treasurer. I also ran unopposed so as Dr. Tony Martin might say, that a six pack bet in my favor. So what does this new appointment mean? Well..every two months I will need to come into Asuncion to for a meeting, sort of the student council of Peace Corps. The perks are that I have two nights paid for in the city and I can do other work while I'm here, so I can save some money and I get to know the big cheese of Peace Corps Py a little better all with fairly minimal responsibility.
The down side of course is this weekend for example...I left site Thursday, intending to take the dawn bus Sunday night and be back in time to teach English on Monday. Well, here we are Monday night and I'm staying another night in the city...but tomorrow I WILL LEAVE (and walk into site if the bus is a no go).
On the bright side I had plenty of time to get to the big market in Asuncion (Mercado 4) and buy an electric tea kettle, electric range, a non-stick pan, and most importantly a garlic press. The items are a bit 'çhuchi' (make me look rich in site), but keep in mind that when my gas runs out in the house I have to take it 3km on horse to the bus and later pick it up with a horse and take it back to the house. I don't own a horse and sometimes my neighbors need theirs so I'm hoping the electric will save me time and money. We will see. At the very least I was able to make tomato soup and grilled cheese with Phillipe his g/f and serve and sell to other folks, not for profit just to cover costs.
Anyways, talks of leaving the office for dinner...and I can go for some food.
I'll be back in town next week, this whole trip was a surpise that I only learned about last Wed.
Later gang.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Neice chuu mit ju chuu
So it´s been a couple of months...funny how it sneaks up on you. Febuary included my first trip back to Asuncion to treat an infected spider bite. The scab only just came off this week. I´m continuing to stay with different families even though I can legitimately stay in my own house now. After all, it´d be rude to turn down the invitation, and these are families I really do want to get to know better. The title by the way is what it sounds like when you try and teach high schoolers in Paraguay to say nice to meet you too and their Paraguayan professora keeps insisting on the wrong pronunciation. Lucky for them I´ve decided to come in once every couple of weeks to help out and spice up the class a little bit. Although I think I was initially invited there because the English teacher is from the community and single. I think I may pass though, the class and on the offer.
I also may or may not have eaten endangered giant river otter this past week. If that is what it was (I may reasons to suspect so are good), it was mighty tasty! A dark meat, good fried, if you have wine that´s fine. I didn´t and it still was good to eat meat for the first time in a few days.
I also had my first experience with africanized bees this past week. The paraguayans were stung, I was not. I also never swung a machete or used an axe during the wild hive capture...go figure. It didn´t work though because the people I was working with weren´t actually interested in the work, they just wanted honey. I don´t think I´ll trust to work that particular town drunk again (Cayo).
In the garden, the bugs are eating the spicy peppers, but I´ll be putting a stop to that and hopefully they can recover. And I´m about to build my seed beds to kick start the winter green fest. Luckily I have good advice from the community and the volunteer before me on some general planning ideas.
Also, it´s Easter in the hugely Roman Catholic country, so starting Thursday it´s like a four day holiday where there is lots of Paraguayan food and meat many days. Should be fun, I already have an invitation to go visit a family.
Skipping over a lot of fluff that covers most of it and I need to once again go buy groceries.
Interesting side note, I went dumpster diving today in a wood pile for scraps to use back at the house...just goes to show that even in Paragauy I can find things being trashed and put them to use.
As for April, I´ll be in the capital for a week for business conference, a good time to call if you are someone who has my number, or I´m hellbent73 on Skype. I have no ones skype info but sometimes I´m there...like now. Other April events include more cotton picking fun, literally, and started to develop a demonstration plot, basically my own little placew where I can do agroforestry.
All for now, for later from Asuncion in April.
Michael
I also may or may not have eaten endangered giant river otter this past week. If that is what it was (I may reasons to suspect so are good), it was mighty tasty! A dark meat, good fried, if you have wine that´s fine. I didn´t and it still was good to eat meat for the first time in a few days.
I also had my first experience with africanized bees this past week. The paraguayans were stung, I was not. I also never swung a machete or used an axe during the wild hive capture...go figure. It didn´t work though because the people I was working with weren´t actually interested in the work, they just wanted honey. I don´t think I´ll trust to work that particular town drunk again (Cayo).
In the garden, the bugs are eating the spicy peppers, but I´ll be putting a stop to that and hopefully they can recover. And I´m about to build my seed beds to kick start the winter green fest. Luckily I have good advice from the community and the volunteer before me on some general planning ideas.
Also, it´s Easter in the hugely Roman Catholic country, so starting Thursday it´s like a four day holiday where there is lots of Paraguayan food and meat many days. Should be fun, I already have an invitation to go visit a family.
Skipping over a lot of fluff that covers most of it and I need to once again go buy groceries.
Interesting side note, I went dumpster diving today in a wood pile for scraps to use back at the house...just goes to show that even in Paragauy I can find things being trashed and put them to use.
As for April, I´ll be in the capital for a week for business conference, a good time to call if you are someone who has my number, or I´m hellbent73 on Skype. I have no ones skype info but sometimes I´m there...like now. Other April events include more cotton picking fun, literally, and started to develop a demonstration plot, basically my own little placew where I can do agroforestry.
All for now, for later from Asuncion in April.
Michael
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