Swearing In Ceremony

Mis Familias Paraguayas

Landscapes of the Guay

First Paraguayan Birthday

During the last week of pre-service training, my wonderful family surprised me with a spectacular Paraguayan style birthday party. At this point of PST, most of us were completely drained and stressed about living in an entirely new site. The last thing on my mind was a big fiesta with the works -- VEGETARIAN Paraguayan food, sangria, a piñata with quirky goodies, hysterical looking masks and hats, and of course cumbia, bachata, and cachata music. It was a major hit! Definitely one of the best birthdays I´ve ever had...

Meet My Muni Group

Here is my Municipal Services Development (Muni) group. We lived together and bonded immensely during training in Guarambare. We are a diverse mix of Vietnamese, Chinese, Nigerian, Puerto Rican, and Columbian, to name just a few. While our backgrounds differ greatly, we all get along amazingly well. Here is our music "album cover" picture, taken in a beautiful colonial town called Aregua during one of our field excursions.

Pre-Service Training Days

Photos of:

• The house I lived in during training. A hair salon is attached to the home. My host mom is stylish, talented hairdresser
  
• Guarani words and phrases we studied during training
  
• The entire G27 (27th group to arrive in Paraguay) during staging in Miami, Florida
  
• What most of Paraguay looks like -- very campo, but lindo!

To give you a glimpse into the life of a trainee, here is a brief summary of what we did:

• Lived with a host family in Guarambare, about an hour outside of the capital city of Asuncion.
  
• Language, cultural, technical, health and safety training Mon - Fri, 8 am - 5 pm and Sat mornings
• Sunday integration activities (attending cultural events with friends and families)
• Biweekly fieldtrips to various parts of Paraguay to check out the projects of other PCVs
• "Dia de Practicas" allowed us to put our knowledge and skills to practice in the community

Overall, training was a rapid and intense rollercoaster ride with various twists and turns. Our days were jam packed with activities, projects, and homework. Having to constantly think, speak, and respond in 2 languages was like doing a really difficult math problem in my head everyday.