The days go by slowly, but the months go by fast.

I can’t believe I’ve already been at site for about a month. I remember my first ten days here feeling like an eternity, and now I can’t believe that I’ve been here for 26 days. So, what have I done in my 26 days here? I’ve worn plenty of socks with flip-flops (super fashionable, I know), successfully made an idiot of myself in Santani numerous times (and more to come! Sweet!), gotten into the habit of flossing daily, worked on my house a bit, and have terere-ed with a bunch of people. So, aside from working on my house, it doesn’t really seem like I’m doing a whole lot of work. I can assure you, I did not join the Peace Corps or come to Paraguay to just hang out and wear socks with flip-flops for two years, as fun as that may be. As a health volunteer, we promote sustainable development – that is, we teach individuals in the community the skills and tools needed to lead healthier lifestyles. We do not arrive, do a project in 3 months, and then leave. We teach so that once we leave our sites after completing service, the community members can continue to use the skills we’ve taught them. It might not seem like real work, but in order to build trust and confidence in the community, I need to take advantage of the first few months here to get to know individuals in my community. Part of this involves completing the community census with at least 50 households. The census is used to help identify the most pressing issues in the community that need to be addressed. Some of the questions in the census are a bit personal pertaining to health and hygiene, so getting to know people is very important before I dive into the task of completing the census. I will hopefully have all of this done by the end of July/beginning of August and can then figure out what projects I can do in my community. I already know there is an interest in getting a modern bathroom commission started, as well as another commission for a garden project. I have also spoken with the director of the escuela about English classes and the World Map project, which I am super excited about.

Anyways… like I said above, I’ve been working on my house a bit. I need your help with something and would really appreciate your responses. I need to paint my house as well as the rooms inside. What color should I paint the house? There is a rose bush in front that I want to leave. Keep that in mind. Here are pics of my house!


Yay! My house!




Bedroom 1




Kitchen looking out toward the side window from the front door




Kitchen looking out toward the front yard/front door from the back door




Bedroom 2


Comment please with your vote for house/room colors!

Love,
Carden xoxo

New Address!

Hey everyone!

Just to let you all know, I have a new address at the post office in Santani (a town close to where I live). My address is:

Carden Ryder, PCV
Correo San Estanislao
Avenida Independencia Nacional, 727
Codigo Postal, 8210
Paraguay
Sud America

You can also use the old address, but this one I'll be able to check more frequently.

Love,
Carden xoxo

Home Sweet Home... sorta.

First off, Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful moms I know! It’s weird being in Paraguay today. I know that if I were back in the States, I’d probably be having brunch with my family and my grandma and grandpa. Actually, in Paraguay, today isn’t any special day. Mother’s Day in Paraguay is actually next Saturday. It’ll be interesting to see how they celebrate it here.

Friday, April 30 was our swearing-in ceremony. It was at the Embassy in Asuncion and was really nice. After we had the ceremony, there was a reception with some food, drinks, and cake. Lots of pictures were taken, so I’ll try to post those on facebook soon. After swearing in, we went back to the Peace Corps to get our bank cards and cell phones. Finally, after everything was completed, we got to go to our hotel in downtown Asuncion. That night the Health Sector went out to dinner at a churasqueria, which was absolutely delicious. After that, we all went to a bar called Brit Pub for the night. It was a really good time and a bunch of the other Peace Corps Paraguay volunteers joined us. Saturday night there was a concert called Ahendu, which means to hear in Guarani. I performed 2 songs with a friend of mine, and it went pretty well. I was super nervous though! On Sunday, I ran a lot of errands with Lauren. We were all over Asuncion and had a great time. Monday, Amanda and I headed back to Santo Domingo to visit with our families one last time before leaving to site.

I arrived in Tuyango on Tuesday after a long and somewhat stressful day of traveling. Bauer, myself, my duffel bag, backpack, and 2 canvas bags left Santo Domingo around 9:30 am to catch a bus down to the bus terminal in Asuncion. Thank God I had Amanda and Jake there too! I don’t know how I would have been sane and gotten everything on and off the buses without them! Once I arrived in Santani, I was disappointed to find out that there were no buses going to my site that day. It rained Sunday night into Monday, and since the road I live off of isn’t paved yet, it was too muddy for buses to pass through. I ended up taking a taxi part of the way to site before the taxi driver decided it was also too muddy for him, and I ended up in the back of a pickup truck with some Paraguayans and all of my stuff. I arrived in Tuyango around 5:30 and couldn’t have been more relieved. It’s been a pretty relaxing time so far. As a health volunteer, we aren’t really supposed to start any projects in the first three months of being at site. During the first three months we are supposed to meet people, get to know the community, drink lots of tereré and mate, and complete the census. The census is what we use to determine the biggest and most pressing issues in the community that need to be addressed. Basically, I will complete the census with at least 50 families, and from there figure out what the community needs. I’ve met a few people in the community, been to the health post with my contact, traveled to Santani, and done a LOT of reading. It was fun because yesterday I walked around the community and tereré-ed with a few families. It was really nice meeting different people in the community, and I’m finally getting some names and faces memorized. I know it’ll take a while in a community that has about 150 houses, but I know that in a few months, I’ll know a bunch of the people here.

Yesterday I also got to check out my future house again. I am absolutely in love with it and can’t wait to move in. I have a lot of work to do on it before I move in, though. The entire inside needs to be repainted, I have to fix part of the roof, put in electricity and running water, install lights, put new locks on the doors, lots of yardwork, make a new fence, and start building my bathroom. This is a big enough project that I think it can definitely keep me busy over the next few months. Hopefully, I’ll be ready to move in at the end of July or beginning of August. It was cute because I have this little posse of kids that follow me around, so naturally they came with me to explore my housing situation.

Tomorrow I should be going into Santani to meet up with Amanda. We wanted to explore and buy a few things to bring back to our houses. I’m so fortunate that my best friend here in Paraguay only lives about an hour away from me. It’s been weird not being with my training group anymore. I know it’ll get easier as time goes by, but it’s still kind of a shock to go from being with these people every day for 3 months to being scattered all over Paraguay. I’m really looking forward to 4th of July and the reconnect with my training group in August. It’ll be nice to all be together again. Part of me feels like 4th of July will be here in no time, but at the same time I feel like this past week has gone by so slowly. Granted when I first got here, I felt like the first few weeks of training went by really slowly and then all of a sudden, it seemed like everything blew by. It will probably be the same here too. It’s just a bit tough at the beginning -- adjusting to all of the changes and meeting people. I know in a few weeks I will feel like a part of the community, part of the family here. For now, I keep reminding myself to take it a day at a time. Relax. Enjoy. Tranquilo.

Missing you all back in the States. Hope you are all well, and again, my door is always open to visitors. Mi casa es tu casa.

Love,
Carden xoxo