No words. Just lots of feelings. (But I’ll do my best to put some of these feelings into words, and preferably in English, just for you!)
It finally hit me during swear in that this is for real. The United States Ambassador of Paraguay had us all lift our right hands and say the official oath that all government workers must take (pretty sure Obama took the same oath as me, just sayin). And boom, just like that, we were volunteers and no longer trainees. Ten weeks of training, and it was all over in the blink of an eye. (You can actually see it in 83 seconds in my video in my previous post!!!)
Speeches were made, certificates were handed out, photos (LOTS of photos) were taken, cake was cut, and then out of nowhere, the goodbyes were said. Right after the swear-in ceremony ended, our Paraguayan families slowly trickled out of the Taberna after some tearful goodbyes. Then it was just us, the volunteers. The first thing we did, obviously, was change out of our fancy clothes, rub off the unnecessary makeup, and remove any/all of jewelry. We are now Peace Corps Volunteers, we got to look the part. Before we knew it, we were saying out goodbyes before being whisked into vans to drop us off at the bus stops and local terminals so we could head out to our future homes all across the country.
Saying goodbye to the volunteers was probably one of the hardest goodbyes. These people are pretty much the only other people in the world who understand my life here. We’ve shared this crazy experience that we call Peace Corps Training, but it is so much more than just a job training. We didn’t just learn a new language and some technical shit, but we learned how to survive here in Paraguay. We all uprooted our old lives, left our families and friends, and were given the opportunity to jump into a new life, little did we know this new life would be with each other and not just Paraguayans. We all know how to feels to wake up Sunday morning with dreams of going out to your favorite brunch spot (Portage Bay, I’ll be back for you) but instead we eat a piece of bread and go to mass at 7am with our families. We all know how to feels to be sitting with Paraguayans when somebody drops a joke in Guarani that you don’t understand, and you have to debate whether you should join in the laughter, not knowing what was said, or sit there awkwardly being the only person in the room not laughing. We all know how it feels to receive our living stipends, and then you can ball out at the supermarket and buy that chocolate bar that you’ve been craving since you ran out of money last week. We all know that look your Paraguayan mother gives you when you come home after dark. We all know that smell that suffocates you when its the hour that everybody decides to burn their garbage. We all have experienced running out of saldo and not being able to contact anyone or use your phone until its refilled. This list could go on and on…but I think you get the picture.
We’ve been used to a training schedule where we see each other from 7:45-5:30 every single day. And now? BYEEEEEEEEE see you guys never!!!!! Jk, we have a reconnect training after 3 months where we will all be reunited. But in the mean time, we are instructed that we should not leave our sites (except for in an emergency) and we are all scattered throughout the campo of Paraguay, kilometers and kilometers away from another person who speaks English or knows what the Bachelor is.
So there I was, sitting on a public bus with all of my belongings for the next two years. It was dark and of course the lights on the bus didn’t work, the other volunteers had already gotten off in the town before mine, and I’m surrounded by a completely full bus of Paraguayans. As I’m sitting there, alone, in the dark, with everything I own sprawled out around me, taking up two seats, I couldn’t help but laugh (I actually LOLed and all the Paraguayans probably thought I was crazy) at myself. 10 weeks ago I would have been terrified at what was happening, but here I was, a Peace Corps Volunteer, as tranquilopa as could be. (I ended up making a friend who helped me get all my stuff off at the right spot, and was greeted by my new Uncle Rey, so we all good!) That was that.
And now here I am. At my site, settling in with my new family, chopping down trees with ropes and machetes, ready to see what the next two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer has in store for me.
Continued list of things I’ve learned:
30. Sometimes the roosters decide to crow at midnight. That does not mean its time to wake up
31. When it rains, the humidity is enough to make your glasses fog up, and its very awkward to walk around with fogged up glasses
32. You can buy just about anything on the public buses here. Chipa, fruit, candy, clothes, corn, soda, beer (leche), you name it, somebody will walk on the bus selling it
33. There is construction on Ruta 3, which happens to be the ruta on which I live off of, therefore adding a minimum an hour to all my travel time
34. I learned how to make mbeju (a pancakey type fritter made with mandioca flower, milk and cheese)
35. I learned how to make cocido (a type of tea with yerba mate and burnt sugar)
36. I learned how to make chipa (okay I did that awhile ago, but I never listed it and I’m realizing that I’m quite a bit behind on my list of things I learned, plus I’ve made it again since the first time and perfected the recipe….aka the more cheese the better!)
Speeches were made, certificates were handed out, photos (LOTS of photos) were taken, cake was cut, and then out of nowhere, the goodbyes were said. Right after the swear-in ceremony ended, our Paraguayan families slowly trickled out of the Taberna after some tearful goodbyes. Then it was just us, the volunteers. The first thing we did, obviously, was change out of our fancy clothes, rub off the unnecessary makeup, and remove any/all of jewelry. We are now Peace Corps Volunteers, we got to look the part. Before we knew it, we were saying out goodbyes before being whisked into vans to drop us off at the bus stops and local terminals so we could head out to our future homes all across the country.
Saying goodbye to the volunteers was probably one of the hardest goodbyes. These people are pretty much the only other people in the world who understand my life here. We’ve shared this crazy experience that we call Peace Corps Training, but it is so much more than just a job training. We didn’t just learn a new language and some technical shit, but we learned how to survive here in Paraguay. We all uprooted our old lives, left our families and friends, and were given the opportunity to jump into a new life, little did we know this new life would be with each other and not just Paraguayans. We all know how to feels to wake up Sunday morning with dreams of going out to your favorite brunch spot (Portage Bay, I’ll be back for you) but instead we eat a piece of bread and go to mass at 7am with our families. We all know how to feels to be sitting with Paraguayans when somebody drops a joke in Guarani that you don’t understand, and you have to debate whether you should join in the laughter, not knowing what was said, or sit there awkwardly being the only person in the room not laughing. We all know how it feels to receive our living stipends, and then you can ball out at the supermarket and buy that chocolate bar that you’ve been craving since you ran out of money last week. We all know that look your Paraguayan mother gives you when you come home after dark. We all know that smell that suffocates you when its the hour that everybody decides to burn their garbage. We all have experienced running out of saldo and not being able to contact anyone or use your phone until its refilled. This list could go on and on…but I think you get the picture.
We’ve been used to a training schedule where we see each other from 7:45-5:30 every single day. And now? BYEEEEEEEEE see you guys never!!!!! Jk, we have a reconnect training after 3 months where we will all be reunited. But in the mean time, we are instructed that we should not leave our sites (except for in an emergency) and we are all scattered throughout the campo of Paraguay, kilometers and kilometers away from another person who speaks English or knows what the Bachelor is.
So there I was, sitting on a public bus with all of my belongings for the next two years. It was dark and of course the lights on the bus didn’t work, the other volunteers had already gotten off in the town before mine, and I’m surrounded by a completely full bus of Paraguayans. As I’m sitting there, alone, in the dark, with everything I own sprawled out around me, taking up two seats, I couldn’t help but laugh (I actually LOLed and all the Paraguayans probably thought I was crazy) at myself. 10 weeks ago I would have been terrified at what was happening, but here I was, a Peace Corps Volunteer, as tranquilopa as could be. (I ended up making a friend who helped me get all my stuff off at the right spot, and was greeted by my new Uncle Rey, so we all good!) That was that.
And now here I am. At my site, settling in with my new family, chopping down trees with ropes and machetes, ready to see what the next two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer has in store for me.
Continued list of things I’ve learned:
30. Sometimes the roosters decide to crow at midnight. That does not mean its time to wake up
31. When it rains, the humidity is enough to make your glasses fog up, and its very awkward to walk around with fogged up glasses
32. You can buy just about anything on the public buses here. Chipa, fruit, candy, clothes, corn, soda, beer (leche), you name it, somebody will walk on the bus selling it
33. There is construction on Ruta 3, which happens to be the ruta on which I live off of, therefore adding a minimum an hour to all my travel time
34. I learned how to make mbeju (a pancakey type fritter made with mandioca flower, milk and cheese)
35. I learned how to make cocido (a type of tea with yerba mate and burnt sugar)
36. I learned how to make chipa (okay I did that awhile ago, but I never listed it and I’m realizing that I’m quite a bit behind on my list of things I learned, plus I’ve made it again since the first time and perfected the recipe….aka the more cheese the better!)