I'm starting to see a pattern with no format here. Once in a while, for no apparent reason I'll get into a funk that will last a few days. I become reclusive, not wanting to talk to anyone (tough) or see anyone (impossible). I just get tired. So, I'll bike to the arroyo and go for a swim and read by myself, which clears my head. And then, the feeling will pass, and I'll go uninvited to visit the neighbors I had been trying to avoid. It always feels so good to get back to my old (new) social self. Peace Corps has forced me to become outgoing.
One thing that probably contributed to my antisocial attitude was a horendous itching all over my body. Apparantly my adorable little puppy gave me a wicked case of scabies. For those who don´t know, scabies is parasitic skin infection caused by tiny mite that burrows into the skin, lays eggs, poops, and itches like no other. I remember having scabies in India when I was seven years old, but I think this was worse because it covered my entire body. To treat it, I was supposed to take a hot bath and wash my sheets and clothes in hot water everyday. Hmmm...bath?...hot water? Twice a day, I heated up water and bathed out of a bucket in my house, which also worked to clean my floors. And because I wash everything by hand, much of my day was spent leaning over a tub of bleach water.
Before I left for Asunción, I visited the high school because I´m working on an Earth Day festival with them. I had wanted to do something to celebrate Earth Day (which was over a month ago...Paraguayan time), and so I brought my idea to the high school because I had heard that they were already planning a Mother´s Day festival. And who´s the greatest mother of us all? To my delight, they decided to take on the project, and each grade would take a different environmental theme (i.e. garbage and recycling, water contamination, deforestation) and create a project to present on May 16th. Tuesday the plan was to go back to the high school, so that I could answer any questions they had, and generally make sure everything was coming along.
So, I walk into the high school yard, and it´s a complete circus--as usual. There are no teachers in any of the classrooms, a few kids are copying things into notebooks, while others are chasing each other, buying soda, and sucking on candy. There is one 17-year-old kid who pretty much runs the school. I don´t know what they´re going to do without him next year. He´s the one that organizes everything and basically teaches class. He accompanied me to every class and helped me herd students into their seats. When I asked how the projects were coming along, I got blank stares. I soon realized that nothing had been done--not even research. So, I started from ground zero: What is garbage? Is garbage a problem? Why? What are the effects, solutions? I did the same for every class according to their topic. I feel like I gave a quick briefing of the entire environmental movement. At first, I was really frustrated and almost walked out, but I started having fun with it, dancing around the room, so they wouldn´t just stare at me blankly.
By way of motivation, we´ve turned the environment into a contest, and whichever class comes up with the best project gets a prize. So, this morning, I lobbied the governor for financial assitance to take the students on a fieldtrip. We walked into his air-conditioned office, explained our case, turned in the pedido , and with a flick of his pen, he gave us 500,000Guaranies. So, now we´re going to get a sweet trip out of the deal. I hope this thing works out.
I´m now on my way back to site after going to a fiesta at my friend´s site. His youth group hosted the party for a fundraiser, so, of course, I had to go dance. After sleeping in my hammock, and then going out for Japanese food (there´s a large Japanese population in one part of the country), we found a random ferris wheel! And now it´s back to see my puppy. Until next time.
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