Year in Review

January 2007

As of February 1, I’ll have lived in Paraguay for an entire year now, and here’s the requisite list of things I never thought I’d do, things I thought I’d always do that I don’t any more, ways I’ve changed, and other thoughts regarding Peace Corps life....

Things that don’t surprise me any more: pigs and chickens in the yard, dogs napping in the road, watering my house and sweeping my yard (to clean), kids showing up half hour early for things but adults showing up hours late, Paraguayan’s knowledge of the US being limited to the Twin Towers and Arnold Schwarzeneger, not remembering how to say or spell things in English, how no one does anything or goes anywhere in the rain, how I can spend whole afternoons sitting in the shade being tranquilo, toads in the living room and geckos on every wall

Things that still surprise me: that I cook (tasty things, and I enjoy doing it), that foods I thought I didn’t like I do now and vice versa (like olives and oatmeal and swiss cheese), how much I love watching tv when I’m in Asuncion but don’t miss it at all on a daily basis, that I can communicate so easily with friends here and folks back in the States, that my mom really came all the way here to visit, that people here are so accustomed to doing things the hard way that it’s so hard for them to see other possibilities, that I’m training for a half-marathon and may actually do it, that my sister and Pam and Sarah are getting married and other people are having babies and that life in the States is really going on without me

Things I’ve learned: you can’t change people, or their culture, and you shouldn’t try, or even want to try, that it’s possible for me to not having something to do 24 hours a day, that I am happy at home and am not interested in traveling more, that even though I have great friends here the people who know me best are far away, that a little thing like a phone call or a letter or a good conversation can make everything seem better, that development is a difficult and precise process of helping people learn how to change their lives and that it’s something I want to learn more about and do for a living, that I’m so lucky to be able to have an experience that allows me to learn so much about myself, my culture and other cultures as well

Things I haven’t quite learned yet: how to not be annoyed when people/kids come to my door/window while I’m in the middle of doing something, how to subtlely suggest ideas and projects to people so that they think it’s theirs and then have it actually happen, how to tell for sure when it’s going to rain and not hang clothes out to dry on that day, how to be friendly to people on long hot bus rides, how to like kids (somehow I’ve become a little opposed to children here, I’m not sure why), whether I want to have stuff sent to me from the States or whether I like getting by on only what’s available here, how to best work with the teachers here, whether it’s one on one or through learning circles or workshops, what will actually produce the result of them improving their teaching skills, and how to have a conversation in Guarani, not just give a few impressive sentences and then switch back to Spanish

So has Peace Corps changed me? I’m different now than I was a year ago, that’s for sure, but I think it’s something about developing aspects of my personality that were there already. In the book I read about the astronauts who’ve walked on the moon, they say that going there doesn’t really change a person, it just makes him more of who he already was. Maybe being in Paraguay has made me more me, in ways that I hadn’t had an opportunity to be before.