Me making Chipa!
Christina, Paula (12), Lorena (8), me and Gloria (4) - On our street.
Final Chipa product!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Photos from Paraguay!
Me making Chipa! Christina, Paula (12), Lorena (8), me and Gloria (4) - On our street.Final Chipa product!
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Your stomach will explode if…
You eat an orange (or any other citrus fruit) before or after you drink Terere or Mate
You eat watermelon with anything else
You mix temperatures – this means no liquids with meals, no mate directly after eating and either all hot or all cold food entering your mouth at one time.
You eat a chocolate bar after eating an orange!
Beware!
Things are good in PA and my stomach has NOT exploded yet (for any reason-thank goodness!)
-rachel
You eat watermelon with anything else
You mix temperatures – this means no liquids with meals, no mate directly after eating and either all hot or all cold food entering your mouth at one time.
You eat a chocolate bar after eating an orange!
Beware!
Things are good in PA and my stomach has NOT exploded yet (for any reason-thank goodness!)
-rachel
Friday, June 8, 2007
This was 3 pages, single-spaced in Word. (and its not a three day donkey ride-fortunately...at least for now)
Hello ALL!
I live in community called J.A. Saldivar – it is a municipalidad about 45 minutes outside of Asuncion – and about 4k from our training site. All of the Municipal trainees live in this community. The Rural Economic Development (RED) volunteers all live together in a more rural community – some have latrines and all have animals wandering in and out of their houses. Most of us (muni) have animals but they are not allowed in the house. Well at least not at my house! So we have training in our communities 4/5 days a week and then the other day (usually Wednesday) we have at the training center in Guarambare. Our language profe (s) come to see us here
Today my family made homemade popcorn for a snack – only after I told them I had it at school and liked it! (OH Food! Ill get to that! It’s a section all its own!) Then we go home for lunch from 11:30-1. Then technical training from 1-5. Its pretty intense – but they are good about breaks! So that is good. Yesterday we had a talk from the Director and Deputy Director – they are great – I really like both of them, Michael and Jason.
Ok – so food. Whoa.
So for breakfast I get this thing called Cocido. It is like milky tea that tastes cinnamon and kind of woody. And then they have these funny bread/crackers/ball things that look like golden brown marshmallows – but they are hard bread balls. And then they put two in their hands and crunch them into the Cocido. (Oh they mix sugar in first) And then eat soggy bread chunks out of this mug of milky tea. It sounds grosser than it is – I am actually beginning to really like it. It’s hot. My tongue has been perpetually burned for the past week (almost week) with the combination of cocido and mate – my tongue might never heal. Pobrecita. Um – well not really.
Mate y terere (hot and cold mate) is the most popular and well known Paraguayan custom. It is a drink that is shared in groups, hot or cold. You have a pitcher/thermos of water and fill up your guampa a little at a time and then pass it around. The guampa is filled with tea like herbs. It is an amazing way to pass germs and local gossip! Guampa (cup used to drink mate y terere) bombilla – straw used. It is served hot when its cold outside – which has been always and cold when its hot (almost never so far) cause well – its fall-> going into winter and its cold and damp – pretty much all the time unless you are in the sun. They keep asking why im cold – cause its cold in the US too right? Yeah – but we have indoor heating. You would LOVE it! But I can’t complain. I have been pretty comfortable so far. I am SO glad I brought my sleeping bag (the warm one!) and my down vest! So back to Mate. It deserves a longer paragraph – because it is going to be a large part of my next 27 months. Its good. It kind of tastes like grass water – but good. Sometimes though it does taste a little much like cow food.. The person who is in charge serves San Tomas first (the first time you put water in is supposed to be for San Tomas (cause it absorbs into the herbs). Then you serve yourself and then pass it to the right. You can only say thanks when you receive it not when you give it back to the water poorer – cause if you say thanks at the end – it means that you are done and don’t want any more. I like Terere better. It usually is minty and always cold. It is used more for remedial uses – but not necessarily. They drink it all the time – and people of all ages participate. It is really good! I like it a lot!
Food – the big meal is lunch. It is not a meal unless you have LOTS of meat and mandioca – which are like potatoes but long and skinny, a little harder and with a slightly different consistency – but potato is the closest thing I can compare it to!
They eat ALL the time. Breakfast at 7am, snack at about 10am, lunch at 12, snack when I come home from school at 5, dinner at 8pm. I have been full a lot! I don’t think we need to worry about me coming home skinny.
Water isn’t an issue. I have been drinking the tap water since about Friday and haven’t had any problems.
They eat pizza. Im going to make chocolate chip cookies on Sunday – they are calling them cooks from flour. They haven’t ever had guacamole. And pretty much everything I eat is starch – pure 100% carb!
The family that I am living with has a very cute little house. It has 4 rooms. Living room, kitchen + dining room, everyone’s room and my room. All of them sleep in one room. Mom, Dad, Paula (12), Lorena (8), Gloria (4). There are two beds a full and a twin. Not sure who sleeps where – but it must be tight. I kind of feel like I have kicked someone out of their room. But – I don’t quite know what to do about it.
My sisters are adorable. We have played a gazillion rounds or go-fish, memory and old maid (name brujos – and we use a joker). My sisters walk me everywhere – I am pretty much not allowed to leave the house without one of them. Gloria brought me herbs at school today for my upset stomach – by herself – everyone was pretty surprised to see her.
We have a washing machine, hot showers, a cd player, two tiny tvs, a lawn mower for a lawn that has no grass, and the most amazing soda water maker-bottles. They come from the soda-man. They are these glass bottles with this funny topper on the top and a straw. They just have regular water in the bottle but then you pull the trigger and soda-water comes out! It’s amazing! It is way way way cool! So I am living pretty high class comparatively.
So news travels very fast in this town. I know all of Adam’s eating habits because my mom talks to his mom and then tells me everything. I can only imagine what the rest of the town knows about me. I haven’t tried to start any great rumors. But we will see if anything surfaces. My dad told me tonight that he is going to talk to the professors at to school and tell them that he wants his daughter to be the best student in our class. Not sure that is necessary. But they are pretty cute. They were talking tonight/looking at the calendar (from the Catholic radio station with a picture of Mary on it that is stapled to the wall above the phone) that they don’t want me to leave after 11 weeks – so I think that is a good sign.
Paraguay vs. Guatemala
Less chaos – the busses are toned down a lot. Which is kind of a bummer but its ok with me. There chickens everywhere in my neighborhood – kind of like squirrels. There is an ultra adorable woman who lives across the street (if you can call it a street – dirt road) that walks her cow - kind of like you would walk a dog. Its wonderful – the cow is as tall as she is – and she is not a super short woman.
Paraguayans are taller than Guatemalans – lots of mixing of indigenous + Spaniards.
There is less trash everywhere – and appears to be slightly more organization – this could be an illusion – im not sure yet!
La Clima is different. There aren’t mountains or oceans. But ill deal with the climate as long as I can continue to drink freshly made grapefruit, orange or lemonade/juice! Tonight I had a small success – I got to help make the juice. It has been a struggle to have them let me help with any of the chores. I wish they would let me do the dishes or something. But so far nothing. But she did let me help with the grapefruit juice this afternoon! (oh and I learned how to make Paraguayan Flan yesterday – it was not quite what I was expecting – but good)
Im super sad that I am not at MDA camp. I have thought of many times of what I would be doing at camp if I were there. I hope that I cut that out – I think after Friday it will be fine – cause camp will be over. So no worries!
New favorite word: chuchi – something that is a little ritzy
I had to change my schedule and start showering at night. Which is fine – minus the fact that I have ultra greasy hair – in the morning and for the whole day. Bummer. But maybe if I start this morning running thing – my mom will understand that I want to shower after I run – which would be in the AM because it gets so dark so damn early. Imagine that its May in Milwaukee – cool but nice enough to be outside but it gets dark – like black dark by 5:30pm. Yeah – and you are like hm…where is my day?
So I haven’t really started to rock the guarani yet. It is wicked hard.
Mba’eichapa – Hello, how are you?
Ipora ha nde – Im good, and you?
I was able to go running this morning and it was great I could hear the roosters going off for miles! You can here them from far away – it is the most interesting combination of sounds. With lots of animals – mostly roosters all telling you to get out of bed and star the day already!
I hope you are all well! I would love some feedback – let me know if it bores you. Tell me how you are doing. What is happening in the US. I know NO current events. Except like 2 days ago there were tornado warnings in Milwaukee – thanks to Bonnies email! So please just a few great notes! rachelknewby@gmail.com (like you don’t know it!)
Big Paraguayan hugs!
rachel.
I live in community called J.A. Saldivar – it is a municipalidad about 45 minutes outside of Asuncion – and about 4k from our training site. All of the Municipal trainees live in this community. The Rural Economic Development (RED) volunteers all live together in a more rural community – some have latrines and all have animals wandering in and out of their houses. Most of us (muni) have animals but they are not allowed in the house. Well at least not at my house! So we have training in our communities 4/5 days a week and then the other day (usually Wednesday) we have at the training center in Guarambare. Our language profe (s) come to see us here
Today my family made homemade popcorn for a snack – only after I told them I had it at school and liked it! (OH Food! Ill get to that! It’s a section all its own!) Then we go home for lunch from 11:30-1. Then technical training from 1-5. Its pretty intense – but they are good about breaks! So that is good. Yesterday we had a talk from the Director and Deputy Director – they are great – I really like both of them, Michael and Jason.
Ok – so food. Whoa.
So for breakfast I get this thing called Cocido. It is like milky tea that tastes cinnamon and kind of woody. And then they have these funny bread/crackers/ball things that look like golden brown marshmallows – but they are hard bread balls. And then they put two in their hands and crunch them into the Cocido. (Oh they mix sugar in first) And then eat soggy bread chunks out of this mug of milky tea. It sounds grosser than it is – I am actually beginning to really like it. It’s hot. My tongue has been perpetually burned for the past week (almost week) with the combination of cocido and mate – my tongue might never heal. Pobrecita. Um – well not really.
Mate y terere (hot and cold mate) is the most popular and well known Paraguayan custom. It is a drink that is shared in groups, hot or cold. You have a pitcher/thermos of water and fill up your guampa a little at a time and then pass it around. The guampa is filled with tea like herbs. It is an amazing way to pass germs and local gossip! Guampa (cup used to drink mate y terere) bombilla – straw used. It is served hot when its cold outside – which has been always and cold when its hot (almost never so far) cause well – its fall-> going into winter and its cold and damp – pretty much all the time unless you are in the sun. They keep asking why im cold – cause its cold in the US too right? Yeah – but we have indoor heating. You would LOVE it! But I can’t complain. I have been pretty comfortable so far. I am SO glad I brought my sleeping bag (the warm one!) and my down vest! So back to Mate. It deserves a longer paragraph – because it is going to be a large part of my next 27 months. Its good. It kind of tastes like grass water – but good. Sometimes though it does taste a little much like cow food.. The person who is in charge serves San Tomas first (the first time you put water in is supposed to be for San Tomas (cause it absorbs into the herbs). Then you serve yourself and then pass it to the right. You can only say thanks when you receive it not when you give it back to the water poorer – cause if you say thanks at the end – it means that you are done and don’t want any more. I like Terere better. It usually is minty and always cold. It is used more for remedial uses – but not necessarily. They drink it all the time – and people of all ages participate. It is really good! I like it a lot!
Food – the big meal is lunch. It is not a meal unless you have LOTS of meat and mandioca – which are like potatoes but long and skinny, a little harder and with a slightly different consistency – but potato is the closest thing I can compare it to!
They eat ALL the time. Breakfast at 7am, snack at about 10am, lunch at 12, snack when I come home from school at 5, dinner at 8pm. I have been full a lot! I don’t think we need to worry about me coming home skinny.
Water isn’t an issue. I have been drinking the tap water since about Friday and haven’t had any problems.
They eat pizza. Im going to make chocolate chip cookies on Sunday – they are calling them cooks from flour. They haven’t ever had guacamole. And pretty much everything I eat is starch – pure 100% carb!
The family that I am living with has a very cute little house. It has 4 rooms. Living room, kitchen + dining room, everyone’s room and my room. All of them sleep in one room. Mom, Dad, Paula (12), Lorena (8), Gloria (4). There are two beds a full and a twin. Not sure who sleeps where – but it must be tight. I kind of feel like I have kicked someone out of their room. But – I don’t quite know what to do about it.
My sisters are adorable. We have played a gazillion rounds or go-fish, memory and old maid (name brujos – and we use a joker). My sisters walk me everywhere – I am pretty much not allowed to leave the house without one of them. Gloria brought me herbs at school today for my upset stomach – by herself – everyone was pretty surprised to see her.
We have a washing machine, hot showers, a cd player, two tiny tvs, a lawn mower for a lawn that has no grass, and the most amazing soda water maker-bottles. They come from the soda-man. They are these glass bottles with this funny topper on the top and a straw. They just have regular water in the bottle but then you pull the trigger and soda-water comes out! It’s amazing! It is way way way cool! So I am living pretty high class comparatively.
So news travels very fast in this town. I know all of Adam’s eating habits because my mom talks to his mom and then tells me everything. I can only imagine what the rest of the town knows about me. I haven’t tried to start any great rumors. But we will see if anything surfaces. My dad told me tonight that he is going to talk to the professors at to school and tell them that he wants his daughter to be the best student in our class. Not sure that is necessary. But they are pretty cute. They were talking tonight/looking at the calendar (from the Catholic radio station with a picture of Mary on it that is stapled to the wall above the phone) that they don’t want me to leave after 11 weeks – so I think that is a good sign.
Paraguay vs. Guatemala
Less chaos – the busses are toned down a lot. Which is kind of a bummer but its ok with me. There chickens everywhere in my neighborhood – kind of like squirrels. There is an ultra adorable woman who lives across the street (if you can call it a street – dirt road) that walks her cow - kind of like you would walk a dog. Its wonderful – the cow is as tall as she is – and she is not a super short woman.
Paraguayans are taller than Guatemalans – lots of mixing of indigenous + Spaniards.
There is less trash everywhere – and appears to be slightly more organization – this could be an illusion – im not sure yet!
La Clima is different. There aren’t mountains or oceans. But ill deal with the climate as long as I can continue to drink freshly made grapefruit, orange or lemonade/juice! Tonight I had a small success – I got to help make the juice. It has been a struggle to have them let me help with any of the chores. I wish they would let me do the dishes or something. But so far nothing. But she did let me help with the grapefruit juice this afternoon! (oh and I learned how to make Paraguayan Flan yesterday – it was not quite what I was expecting – but good)
Im super sad that I am not at MDA camp. I have thought of many times of what I would be doing at camp if I were there. I hope that I cut that out – I think after Friday it will be fine – cause camp will be over. So no worries!
New favorite word: chuchi – something that is a little ritzy
I had to change my schedule and start showering at night. Which is fine – minus the fact that I have ultra greasy hair – in the morning and for the whole day. Bummer. But maybe if I start this morning running thing – my mom will understand that I want to shower after I run – which would be in the AM because it gets so dark so damn early. Imagine that its May in Milwaukee – cool but nice enough to be outside but it gets dark – like black dark by 5:30pm. Yeah – and you are like hm…where is my day?
So I haven’t really started to rock the guarani yet. It is wicked hard.
Mba’eichapa – Hello, how are you?
Ipora ha nde – Im good, and you?
I was able to go running this morning and it was great I could hear the roosters going off for miles! You can here them from far away – it is the most interesting combination of sounds. With lots of animals – mostly roosters all telling you to get out of bed and star the day already!
I hope you are all well! I would love some feedback – let me know if it bores you. Tell me how you are doing. What is happening in the US. I know NO current events. Except like 2 days ago there were tornado warnings in Milwaukee – thanks to Bonnies email! So please just a few great notes! rachelknewby@gmail.com (like you don’t know it!)
Big Paraguayan hugs!
rachel.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Home-made grapefruit juice and a duck!
Im here! Arrived-safe and sound! I am staying with a wonderful host family who has grapefruit, orange, mandarine and avocado trees in our backyard! (and a duck!) Actually we have 2 dogs, 11 chickens, 1 rooster, 1 duck and a pig all living in our back yard!
I have wonderful hot showers and great food! (including fresh squeezed grapefruit juice!) Its a bit chilly here now. Which I have heard will change all too quickly - but for now I am very happy I brought my down sleeping bag!
I love speaking spanish! The Guarani will take time (lots of time!) but is going well!
So far - so good! I dont have much time today! I will write more soon!
-r.
I have wonderful hot showers and great food! (including fresh squeezed grapefruit juice!) Its a bit chilly here now. Which I have heard will change all too quickly - but for now I am very happy I brought my down sleeping bag!
I love speaking spanish! The Guarani will take time (lots of time!) but is going well!
So far - so good! I dont have much time today! I will write more soon!
-r.
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