Month 1: Tereré-rific

Hi! I'm back, and welcome to the next installment of my adventures.

    On September 22nd, 2024, I left home to embark on the next chapter of my life as a Peace Corps volunteer. After a very hectic 2 days in Philadelphia, I met the 44 other people who have since become my close-knit family - shoutout PC Paraguay C.8 - we all started our 4,000-mile trek across the equator together. Fourteen hours, two planes, one bus ride, many card games, and not much sleep later, we arrived at our hotel in Arregua, Paraguay. The following 3 days passed us in a blur of orientation sessions, medical check-ins, and introductions to the Paraguayan culture. We even got a lesson on drinking tereré- a delicious traditional Paraguayan drink containing Yerba mate, various roots and herbs (depending on your preferences, of course, I'm a sucker for mint in mine), and cold water. Upon arriving in the country, spring was beginning. As the days got hotter and hotter, the 45 Americans quickly adapted to the Paraguayan tradition of sitting in the shade and sipping tereré for hours. We spent our free time exploring the hotel, trying to get acclimated to our brand-new surroundings.

  

  On Saturday (day 3 of being in the country), our facilitators dropped us at our host family's houses. I currently live with my mama Clara and my papa Pablo, a lovely couple with two grown sons who live nearby with their own children. I have a host, “sobrina” Martina, and a “sobrino” Martin. Mama Clara is a pastry chef, so I've been spoiled rotten for the past 3 weeks with endless amounts of delicious food and sweets. My parents are so sweet, and it's been the highlight of my week to sit with them on our front patio and chat about absolutely everything. It was rather tricky at first due to them not speaking English, but you'd be amazed how quickly you pick up a language when completely immersed in it.

Here are some fun facts you might not have known about Paraguay that we all learned in the first few weeks of living here:

- The word "Adios" is used as a greeting here

- It is the largest beef and soybean producer in its region

- Instead of knocking on doors or using doorbells, it is customary to clap outside someone's house to alert people they have visitors

- There are around 700 tree species and about 20,000 plant species in the country (more than in the US)

- A national myth involves the dreaded "El Pombero" - a short, ugly man creature who will come and wreak havoc on everyone (especially young girls). If you whistle at night, you will summon him, and to befriend him, you need to leave cigars and rum out on your doorstep.

- Paraguayans are very warm and welcoming, always quick to share food, drinks, even just some chatter

- It's taboo to drink water after eating watermelon

    All this and more was revealed to us rather quickly as we attempted to explore and make friends with the people around us. We spent so much time exploring the local attractions and wildlife, such as the monkeys pictured below at the park near my house.

   

     During the weekdays from 8 am-5 pm, we have the training - or as most of us refer to it when talking to our host families, school. There's a combination of Spanish lessons, development training (such as who to call in an emergency or how to implement our plans for our future sites), and technical training.

I'm part of the Environmental Conservation Sector of the Peace Corps, which has four core pillars:

- Environmental education - Teaching youth and community members about the importance of preserving the environment 

- Waste management - Helping communities reduce their trash output and coming up with creative solutions for the trash they do produce

- Trees - Explaining the importance of trees and leading tree planting and reforestation initiatives

- Organic Gardening - Utilizing techniques such as double digging, companion planting, composting, lombricultura(working with worms), and other such tactics to make gardening more accessible and sustainable rather than relying on pesticides and similar things that are harmful to individuals' health and the environment

    Our technical training focuses on teaching us about these pillars and giving us hands-on experience. Below are some pictures of vegetable gardens we've planted, a compost pile we made, and me planting some trees. As I write this, I'm sitting next to my Palo Borracho sapling (literally translated as "drunk stick"), which I brought home from training today to plant at my host family's house. 

    We've also done some cool outside-of-training things, such as visiting a current volunteer's site in the south of the country to see how she lives in one of the more mid-sized cities. A couple of the volunteers I live near - shoutout to Jessie, Emmy, and Leila - took some time one morning to all volunteer in a local vegetable garden to get to know one of the farmers in our community.

   

 However, it's not all work. We make time on weekends to do fun activities as a group, such as 2 weeks ago when we all cooked Indian food and had a big family dinner together, and the several nights we've spent bonding and exploring new restaurants in our various neighborhoods. I've attended birthday parties, cookouts, and many tereré sessions. I've decided I'm investing in a "termo" and a "guampa" to make it when I return home. Last Sunday, Mama Clara organized a karaoke night for all the neighborhood girls.

 

    

Another thing I simply adore about this country is the copious amount of animals everywhere. If you know me, you know I'm a sucker for animals, especially dogs. Below are a few of my favorite furry friends I've made, most notably Canela (the brown girl with the fox-esque ears), who lives with me, and Zeus (the tiny puppy with the orange collar), who the host family of the volunteer who lives next door to me just brought home the other day.

   

 

Month 1 has been filled with so much fun, laughter, learning, and growing. Every day that passes reinforces my faith and excitement in the choices I've made. I'm so excited to get my actual site assignment (we find out where we'll be living in Mid-November and we move in the first week of December). I'm enthralled by this country and the people I've met so far, and I can't wait to make more memories in the coming months.

Bye for now, see you in November 💕

PS: I've just spent this post recapping my adventures from the past few weeks but if there's anything you want to hear more about or questions you have, feel free to leave a comment or email me at:

anitapcpy@gmail.com