Hello friends and family!!
First of all, I would like to apologize for the sloppiness of the last post. I wrote it quickly on my laptop and on “notepad.”
Thank you all for commenting on the last post. I enjoy hearing from you and my family here always wants to know what my friends and family are writing to me. I haven´t figured out how to respond to the comments yet...so Lo Siento! Below is my address for those of you asking :o)
Emily Teachout (PCT)
Cuerpo de Paz
162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. Lopez
Asuncion 1580, Paraguay
South America
Okay, so now for the fun part: my weeks so far (well part of them.)
So, I found out the hard (fun) way that Sunday is not the day of rest here. Haha. So, I woke up on my first Monday here for school and could not move!! LOL! We had SO much fun!! SO we woke up Sunday and went to play some soccer (which is called futbol here.) After this we went swimming down the street in the hole in the ground (???) LOL it is kind of like a pond but just a big hole in the ground basically! It was SOOOO much fun!! The kids and I were having a great time. They thought it was the greatest thing that little minnows will nibble at your hands if you hold them really still.
After our swimming experience we took showers and went to the neighbor´s house. She has a rather large house with a lot of different fruit trees. My friend brought me what he called an Manzanita (small apple.) It really did look like an apple but it was the size of a nickel! Craziness… I didn´t believe him at first but it really is. It doesn´t taste like an apple…more like a nectarine and it is delicious!!
So let me give you a down low of my daily routine here in PY:
Wake up around 6am and have warm milk and break for breakfast with my sister here ( I have gotten slick though and bought some instant coffee to add to my warm mile and sugar)
Leave for school at 730 and begin Clase de Espanol. Spanish class lasts until 1130, when we all leave to have lunch with our families. Lunch is the most important meal of the day here!
After, we wither go to technical training in a bigger city or in our neighboring barrio (where the other health group lives. SN: We are split into 4 groups living in different places. There are two health groups and 2 education groups. Each group is about 12 people.
When we return, we do various things but usually, we start cooking dinner with the family and drink terere.
On Tuesday we had quite an adventure, as we were paired into groups of two and had to find our way to the Capital of Paraguay, Asuncion. We were given very little directions and were expected to find our own way there by means of buses and asking people (in Spanish, of course.) I was paired with a really great girl and we had no problems, just a lot of fun. It was similar to a scavenger hunt in which we had to find different places and ask certain people for things like school supplies and such. We also checked out their train Museum which is SUPER cool! The best part was definitely lunch, though. I had French fries… and they were delicious!!
We spend about 4 hours every day in language training and are learning about health problems in PY and things like gardening and nutrition. I learned how to make soy empanadas last week and soy milk. Tomorrow we are making our own soap in class! I am pretty excited. On Sunday, my sister´s friend is going to teach me how to stitch a special way that they do in Paraguay… so many cool things to learn!
On Monday I will be visiting another volunteer at their site in the Campo (the very rural outskirts.) I will be spending 3 days with her learning about what she does and what life is like in the Campo. I am pretty excited!!
Good News: my Spanish is definitely improving!!!
Funny things not to say in Spanish (learned all of these from saying them):
-Nos Comemos … I will not explain this one since my family is reading, but some of you can figure it out
-Concha (very similar to Cancha which is soccer field but concha means vagina…so if you can imagine you wouldn´t want to ask anyone if they want to go play in the concha)
- Do not try to literally translate hotdog… literally translated would be perro caliente …which basically means you want to have sex with the dog) The correct term here is Pancho.
… I have more because they happen every day but I will stop here haha! My professor is constantly giving me the same look of “wow, did you just say that?!” It is funny when she has to correct me… and it happens at least once a day!
All in all, I am very happy. My family here is wonderful! We all have such a good time with each other and they all have such a great sense of humor!
I miss you guys a lot!! Love you all!
-Em
First of all, I would like to apologize for the sloppiness of the last post. I wrote it quickly on my laptop and on “notepad.”
Thank you all for commenting on the last post. I enjoy hearing from you and my family here always wants to know what my friends and family are writing to me. I haven´t figured out how to respond to the comments yet...so Lo Siento! Below is my address for those of you asking :o)
Emily Teachout (PCT)
Cuerpo de Paz
162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. Lopez
Asuncion 1580, Paraguay
South America
(SN: if you are sending me anything, be advised that I may not get it for a couple of months... mail that comes to me has to be inspected by the US embassy, which can sometimes take a while. Also, I dont know why this would apply but please dont write the value of the package as more than 100 dollars. If you do, I have to pay A LOT of taxes on it and pay to have it inspected) Pero, gracias in advance!
So, I found out the hard (fun) way that Sunday is not the day of rest here. Haha. So, I woke up on my first Monday here for school and could not move!! LOL! We had SO much fun!! SO we woke up Sunday and went to play some soccer (which is called futbol here.) After this we went swimming down the street in the hole in the ground (???) LOL it is kind of like a pond but just a big hole in the ground basically! It was SOOOO much fun!! The kids and I were having a great time. They thought it was the greatest thing that little minnows will nibble at your hands if you hold them really still.
After our swimming experience we took showers and went to the neighbor´s house. She has a rather large house with a lot of different fruit trees. My friend brought me what he called an Manzanita (small apple.) It really did look like an apple but it was the size of a nickel! Craziness… I didn´t believe him at first but it really is. It doesn´t taste like an apple…more like a nectarine and it is delicious!!
So let me give you a down low of my daily routine here in PY:
Wake up around 6am and have warm milk and break for breakfast with my sister here ( I have gotten slick though and bought some instant coffee to add to my warm mile and sugar)
Leave for school at 730 and begin Clase de Espanol. Spanish class lasts until 1130, when we all leave to have lunch with our families. Lunch is the most important meal of the day here!
After, we wither go to technical training in a bigger city or in our neighboring barrio (where the other health group lives. SN: We are split into 4 groups living in different places. There are two health groups and 2 education groups. Each group is about 12 people.
When we return, we do various things but usually, we start cooking dinner with the family and drink terere.
On Tuesday we had quite an adventure, as we were paired into groups of two and had to find our way to the Capital of Paraguay, Asuncion. We were given very little directions and were expected to find our own way there by means of buses and asking people (in Spanish, of course.) I was paired with a really great girl and we had no problems, just a lot of fun. It was similar to a scavenger hunt in which we had to find different places and ask certain people for things like school supplies and such. We also checked out their train Museum which is SUPER cool! The best part was definitely lunch, though. I had French fries… and they were delicious!!
We spend about 4 hours every day in language training and are learning about health problems in PY and things like gardening and nutrition. I learned how to make soy empanadas last week and soy milk. Tomorrow we are making our own soap in class! I am pretty excited. On Sunday, my sister´s friend is going to teach me how to stitch a special way that they do in Paraguay… so many cool things to learn!
On Monday I will be visiting another volunteer at their site in the Campo (the very rural outskirts.) I will be spending 3 days with her learning about what she does and what life is like in the Campo. I am pretty excited!!
Good News: my Spanish is definitely improving!!!
Funny things not to say in Spanish (learned all of these from saying them):
-Nos Comemos … I will not explain this one since my family is reading, but some of you can figure it out
-Concha (very similar to Cancha which is soccer field but concha means vagina…so if you can imagine you wouldn´t want to ask anyone if they want to go play in the concha)
- Do not try to literally translate hotdog… literally translated would be perro caliente …which basically means you want to have sex with the dog) The correct term here is Pancho.
… I have more because they happen every day but I will stop here haha! My professor is constantly giving me the same look of “wow, did you just say that?!” It is funny when she has to correct me… and it happens at least once a day!
All in all, I am very happy. My family here is wonderful! We all have such a good time with each other and they all have such a great sense of humor!
I miss you guys a lot!! Love you all!
-Em
4 comments:
Glad to hear you're feeling better :) How do you make soy milk? That's awesome, I wanna make some...I mean I won't drink it, but it would be fun to make.
So glad you are having fun and feeling better! Mary Elena sent me a sweet message about you. I had my friend from Costa Rica translate it for me. And, I answered her in Spanish!! Looking forward to seeing your smiling face, again, this weekend! Have an adventurous day! Love you!!
--MomDear
Hi Em - sounds like you are having a fabulous experience! I am so happy for you. I want to learn how to make soap, too. Maybe you can teach me.
Love,
Aunt Jodi
this sounds awesome!
im super jealous!!
glad ur having a blast... we miss you like crazy though!
love you,
val
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