The Stinky Girl Travels

After my first week here, I have come to realize that th e academics are far more challenging than anything I've ever experienced in the U.S. So far, I've had to learn 100+ new characters, memorize two texts (one of them about evaluating political figures such as Deng Xiao Ping), and be able to orally summarize those texts by memory. The amount of effort needed to do all of this is beyond anything I've experienced so far in college. Although it has been stressful - overwhelming, at many times - I am already noticing myself becoming more fluent with each passing day, able to follow about 50-60% of most fast-paced conversations and capable of cracking jokes and telling stories in a foreign language. I am also really grateful that everyone in our program, from the other American students to our Chinese roommates, are such supportive and friendly folks. We always make plans to eat lunch and dinner together via our WeChat group, and they are infinitely pat...

Going on route always feels like a strange mixture of uncertainty and familiarity. We never know what to expect from our visit to the communities, and yet even just after meeting someone once or twice, returning to their home and seeing them again is much like embracing an old friend. There's a strong sense of connection and comfort to our host families, a much appreciated element of stability that helps us get through all the changes and rapid growth. Okay, generalities aside. People want to hear about the moments. I want to write about the little things that really punctuate this whole experience. For starters, I made a peace-core volunteer friend in Ñumi! It happened in the funniest, most unexpected way. Craving some cookies, I stopped by a little tienda on the side of the road while waiting for the bus. Before I could order anything, the man at the counter told me, "Ah, tu amiga está acá! Espera un momento." The next thing I know, he brings out a girl with curly bla...

Here's a running list of the words and phrases I've encountered so far in Paraguay! The Guaraní is spelled phonetically, in terms of Spanish pronunciation. Che - yo Nde - tu/vos Ha'e - el/ella Saludos Mba'e chapa :  Como estás Mba'e chapa nde coe : Como estás? (Mañana) Mba'e tekoiko : Like qué tal, used between friends Mba'e la porte: Same, casual greeting Nya-mongarú: Not sure exactly, it's like awesome! Cool! And you do it with a special hand gesture where you make a scooping gesture with your fingers all pinched together like you're making a talking hand, and you brush your fingers against someone else's. He: delicious, also means yes. Sometimes Paraguayans will say a drawn out "he" in agreement instead of using "si". It can be confusing at first if you don't know "he" means yes, because it almost sounds like they are surprised. Eterei: very, muy Hetereí: very delicious! Muy rico! Iporã eterei: v...

Cerro Cora Got a lift in the back of a motocaro, a hybrid camioneta-motorcycle, and rode sitting on the ledge along with a lady from the community and her two elderly tias. As we bumped around together, we talked about mandi'o chiriri and how she just came back from villarica to take care of some papeles. They dropped me off where the road parts into two, and I walked the rest of the way into Cerro Cora. It was the first time I had seen my host family dressed in shorts. Everyone was outside, trying to cool off on this warm day. "Hola Pinche!" "Hola Laura, dice!" Pinche is the nickname of my host family's one year old baby. I think it's a variation on principe. "Mi tesoro! Tesoro del mundo entero!" Showering at their house was fantastic. I was super sweaty, hot, and since our water at staffhouse cut out again, I hadn't really showered in a few days. The boys had a funny idea for the campanentos to teach about caveties. They stuck pieces ...

When they said we would be busy this summer, they definitely weren't kidding! These past few weeks have been filled with planning for the arrival of our volunteers, surveying communities, doing a three-day long training with all 37 volunteers, then finally dropping them off at their respective communities. When we finally brought them to their host families, everything became real. Strangely, it felt a lot like how I would imagine dropping off your kids at their first day of school would feel. We were excited for them, eager for them to learn and grow and tell us all about their stories. We also felt a little nervous, hoping they would be okay even though we know they would be. The way we decide who goes to which community is a fun but crazy process where we not only consider which pairs of volunteers will be compatible as partners for the summer, but also consider which families can take boys and/or girls, and whether the community as a whole will take two boys, two girls, or ...