Febtober

The schools have started. I’ve been in my house for a month. I still am figuring out what my role will be here. Being a third time follow up volunteer has its advantages and disadvantages. Pretty much we come in three’s, if the first volunteer thinks there is more to do in the site then a follow up is requested, if the second volunteer still has projects going on and thinks more work can be done then a third time volunteer can be requested. Usually it’s only up to three that they will send to one site in one sector, so I’m the 3rd EE volunteer in Carapegua in a row. Unfortunately, I never got to meet the volunteer before me since he left a couple months earlier than normal, but he did leave me a bunch of projects I can continue. This is a perk of being a third time volunteer, having projects right off the bat, also inheriting lots of stuff (i.e. my house and everything in it!) It’s pretty difficult for some people to find houses so I’m lucky. Plus the community already knows what Peace Corps is. What I’m finding as more difficult at the moment jumping into these projects the other volunteer left. People lack motivation or someone has moved jobs and no longer wants to have anything to do with a project they headed before. So, for now, I’m going to start in the schools and branch off from there. Being a third time volunteer, my job technically is to assist the people in continuing EE practices we’ve been showing them but taking a step back to make sure they can do it themselves and it will be sustainable after I go, since I’ll (supposedly) be the last EE volunteer here in the centro for who knows how long.
Last week I went to two schools and handed out little survey papers to find out who wanted to learn from me and work with me in their classrooms. I told them to bring them back to the director’s office when they were finished and I would collect them at the end of the week. When I got there Thursday only one person had handed it in and the directora told me to go around to each classroom and ask for them. People said they lost it or would have it later but I was able to collect 2 more. The directora said this was typical; it’s just the way people are here. Well three is better than nothing. Tomorrow I’ll go to the other school to see what they’ve got for me.
New house news though… I got myself a kitty. Actually 3 but 2 will be moving out soon. The Peace Corps Office in Asuncion had a cat living there and apparently PC offices can’t have pets. She was technically not a pet since she decided to move in there on her own terms and comes and goes as she pleases, but someone found out and said she had to go… so I took her. She’s adjusting now pretty well except for the two 1 month old kittens I brought home yesterday. She hates them and hisses and growls at them, not very motherly of her since she just had her own kitten a month ago (don’t know what happened to it, yes I will be getting her spayed). My friend Emily is staying at my site with me for the moment because her site is being moved and so she’s waiting for it to be ready (idk maybe it has to bake longer). We were walking in the market and came across the two kittens abandoned and hungry so I took them home betting that I could find someone to take them. Eve (what I named the PC cat, short for All Hallows Eve because she looks like Halloween) has made it clear she does not want them here but I have found a taker for the 2 cuties with the leopard print bellies.
So in a matter of 3 days I went from no responsibility volunteer to crazy cat lady collecting sand off the street with a yogurt container. I have always wanted a cat though and now I’ve got the opportunity, many of them. The other day on our walk the cutest little white puppy with silly big pointy ears and very cute eyes bounded over to Emm and I. She was so friendly and happy to see us, then the woman across the street said the dreaded phrase “ella no tiene dueña, puedes lluevarle” meaning “she’s got no one and lives on the street, take her”. OOOooooo. I don’t want to deal with a dog here and Emm doesn’t have a site yet so we had to walk away, but she did think about it (and still does). If I had a 5,000 Guarani every time I’ve been told to take a puppy or kitten ….

Watched the movie 2012 the other night…It was so awful but we still finished it, those long PY nights..