So it’s been way too long since I’ve written in my blog. I usually only wanted to write in my blog when I had a special experience or profound insight to share… but I’ve realized that what I now consider “normal” or “everyday” experiences are actually still pretty interesting to readers back in the U.S. So I’ve decided to start writing about the daily/weekly “normal” experiences as well as the particularly special or profound ones. I wrote the following on Dec. 7th, 2011:
The past two weeks have been kind of a blur. The week of Thanksgiving I took a young nursing student (my neighbor’s younger sister) with me to the Peace Corp’s national HIV/AIDS capacitation workshop. We both got certificates saying that we are trained in the basics of HIV/AIDS and ready to teach charlas and classes about the topic.
The person that I brought to the workshop is a very bright 20-year-old, and recent nursing school graduate. Yes, she has a nursing degree and is now licensed to work as a nurse in any health post, health center, or regional hospital. However, let me give you an idea of just how thorough Paraguayan nursing school is. In our HIV/AIDS workshop, the first thing we did was take a multiple-choice “Pre-Test,” on the basics of HIV/AIDS. Some of the questions included “Are HIV and AIDS the same thing?”, “Does the birth control pill prevent HIV transmission?” and “Can women get HIV?” Basics.
As I was sneakily peering over the girl’s shoulder, I realized that she was answering almost all of the questions completely wrong. To the latter question, for example, she chose the answer: “No, women cannot contract HIV because female sexual secretions kill the virus.” By the end of the 2.5 day workshop, she was able to answer all of the questions, and some much more complex ones, with 100% accuracy. …Shouldn’t all nurses be able to do the same?
This past week (Dec. 1-3) I took the president of my Fogon Commission, Benita, to another workshop in Asuncion about fostering Volunteerism in our communities. It was not the best experience because apparently the people who planned it (a Paraguayan NGO) didn’t see anything wrong with asking an audience to sit on their butts for 9 hours a day for 3 days listening to horribly boring and irrelevant lectures with little to no opportunity for audience participation. To give you an idea of how bad it was, the workshop started out with some 80-90 participants on Day 1, but by Day 3 so many people had thrown in the towel that there were only about 25 of us left (mostly just the PCVs and our community contacts). Benita and I spent the 3 days elbowing each other when one of us fell asleep, and giggling as we looked around the room at all the people dozing off or in some cases completely passed out in their chairs. Next time, I will be sure to bring a Sudoku book to pass the hours.
Nevertheless, it was still a really good opportunity for Benita to get out and about (she had to ask her husband for “permission” before accepting my invitation). According to her, he only allowed her to go because I have a good reputation and standing in the community and he trusted me not to bring any dishonor on the family. A 50-year old mother of 4 (her eldest daughter is my age), Benita is a traditional, classical Paraguayan woman, very religious, and highly respected in the community. During our 3-day workshop, she adopted me as her daughter and proceeded to treat me as such, the whole time, asking other PCVs “no sabes adonde se fue mi hija?” (“do you know where my daughter went?”) when she couldn’t find me, and when she was ready for bed each night, came to look for me to remind me that it was getting late and I’d better think about getting to bed soon. She also “protected” me from Paraguayan men she suspected of making advances on me, telling one such muchacho that he had spent enough time discussing the seminar with me and that if he had any sense of respect he would leave me alone until tomorrow. Not to mention that the night I got a late text message, my “mom” had no verguenza to ask me suspiciously “dios mio, now who on earth is texting you at this hour, mi hija?”
Needless to say, 3 days of that was quite enough. It was flattering, but do you really think the girl who grew up with 3 moms (my biological mom, her life partner, plus my stepmom) and is now a 23-year-old adult really needs yet ANOTHER mom-figure? Dios mio.
In between these 2 workshops in Asuncion was the great “Despedida” at the school to close out the school year and start summer break. For the preschool graduation I was asked by the parents to serve as a madrina de honor (“honorary godmother”) for the little 4-year-old tykes (my favorites students), and in the ceremony got to assist the other teachers as we handed out their certificates.
