Since I'm feeling productive today, I'm going to outline my activities so yall can all get a taste of what my day-to-day looks like.
5:30 - my little brother starts screaming in the next room, claiming to be stuck inside of his mosquito net and really has to pee. Not stuck. Not actually possible.
6 - my Mom cranks up the radio, TV and the blender.
*sidenote: doors do not exist between the three rooms of the house
6:30 - I stop pretending to be asleep and get up, eat and get dressed
7:30 - I leave for the health post
9:00 - We make a house call to the next community. For the next two hours, I watch incredible feats of modern medicine take place, including the following:
-- Peeing laying down, sans bed pan or catheter;
-- A saline drip hanging (with the rope from a cow's leash) from a thatch roof; and
-- An RX script written on a chunk of paper found blowing around on the ground outside. Don't worry- she put the stamp on it: It's officla.
11:30 - Return to the puesto (health post) to review the community's censuses and develop a plan to work with the doctor and nurses to teach sex ed in the schools (what what!)
12:30 - Eat lunch. Almuerzo consists of boiled potatoes, tomatoes, green peppers and onions and bread.
1:00 - Internet time
2:00 - Private English class with two young boys
* now I'm writing in the future
3:30 - Walk to the city to buy groceries (about 4 miles round trip)
5:30 - Visit Grandma's house where, surely, I will be fed something fatty and delicious
7:00 - Drink milk for dinner
7:30 - Visit the school to watch a class
9:00 - Bid my family goodnight while I go to speak on English on my cellular phone
That's a pretty normal day for me!! Throughout the day, plans might change dramatically when someone realizes there is a very important event that I must go to. Paraguayans don't really talk about the future much, so even though you might have specifically asked your neighbor if anything was going on tomorrow night and they said no, when tomorrow night actually rolls around they may realize at that moment that a huge ceremony is under way- and it's in your honor. They've been preparing food for three days. You better go.
Somehow, I think all of these things are funny. Frustrating in the moment but when I swap stories with my other volunteer friends at the end of the day, all I can do is laugh.
If you want to get a better feel for the problems I run into on a daily basis, please follow the twitter account: paraguayproblems My friend Taylor posts things that we text to her throughout the day. It's worth signing up for a twitter account.
Hey Carly! Just stopping by to say "hi!" Love your blog--and even though I don't always post a comment, I do stop by regularly for updates. All is good at CHOP. (And if it wasn't, would I post it on a public blog?) Keep up the great work and the great writing!
ReplyDelete-Rob
Thanks Rob! It's good hear from you CHOP people once in awhile- I'm so happy you're still remembering me- I feel a world away. All is good down here, despite the sometimes negative undertones in these blogs - it's a challenge but it's well worth it (And if it wasn't, would I post it on a public blog, monitored by the US government?). :)
ReplyDeleteWell Carly,if a team of Navy Seals invades Paraguay to seize your computer, we'll know you've gone too far in your blog. :) In the meantime, keep it coming. And yes, of course we remember you. I'm thinking of having a far away office deep in the A level of CHOP named in your honor. :)
ReplyDelete-Rob