The Quarter-Service Crisis

Another delayed post, oops, but I once again (hopefully) have a good reason. I have now officially spent 6 months at site, which is both scary and wonderful. 25% through this incredible, insane journey! This month contained lots of travel and socialization, so grab a cup of coffee (or juice or water or whatever your drink of choice is) and buckle up.

At the beginning of my very busy May, Ziggy and I took 3 buses to visit our friend Sam at her site in the department of Missiones. She is the only volunteer in our cohort in this department, but her town was gorgeous and lively, and we spent 2 nights eating good food, meeting community members, and seeing where Sam worked. She lives in a beautiful 2-story house (which is very rare for Paraguay), so we also painted a mural to commemorate the trip. The next day, we took an early bus to visit another friend's site in the department of Itapua. It was once again very fun to see how he made his site his, and then we were all off to a volunteer from C-8's site on the River Paraná. This volunteer, Sofie, had planned a huge community tree-planting event, so we got to help the kids and families in her barrio (neighborhood) dig holes, play games, and plant 100 trees. It was an amazing success, and very inspiring to see a large project like this be carried out so effectively.

Next, our friend Nico turned 24, so to celebrate his birthday, he organized a camping trip with our whole group of friends. Sofia came to spend a night at my house (while Sam was at Ziggy's), and it was so fun showing a friend around my town! We camped at the same place Ziggy and I had back in April. Since it's finally getting actually cold in Paraguay (the opposite seasons are still confusing, even 8 months into this journey), we were the only group at the campsite, and it was a fun and silly night complete with dogs that ate all of our sausages for dinner. :( The next night, we booked hotel rooms in Villarrica to have a nice dinner and go "out on the town." Since Villa is home to many universities, they have a few nightclubs that cater to college students (yes, Mom, it's still crazy that clubbing is part of my Peace Corps experience).

May 14th and 15th in Paraguay is the country's 2-day independence celebration, since the events of the revolution that earned Paraguay its freedom back in 1811 happened overnight. The 14th is celebrated as Independence Day, and the 15th as Mother's Day! In my town (and in most towns and cities across PY), we celebrated the event with a huge desfile (parade). Each school and their profes in my district dressed up and marched for the intendente (mayor), members of the municipality, and the district's supervisoras (superintendents). I had the opportunity to march with the teachers of my host mom's school, and it was so fun to see all my students in their fancy outfits, marching, playing instruments, or as chiroleras (basically a majorette/drum major with a twirling baton).

Then, my fellow volunteers and I were reunited again (we barely had time to miss each other from Reconnect) for another training. This time, it was an IST (in-service training), and this time we had the ability to bring a community counterpart. Any person in our community (although usually someone from the school or institution the volunteer is working with) was invited to participate in a series of lectures and workshops by the Peace Corps, with the hope of fostering ideas and helping make plans for future community projects. The training was held in Ypacarai—a suburb of Asunción overlooking the nearby cerros—at Tupã Renda, an old sanctuary for religious practitioners that had been turned into a stunning hotel.

My host mom attended for only half of the second day of the training, but I really appreciated the effort she took to talk through projects and make concrete plans for our shared home. Because she has experience with Peace Corps and volunteers, it was not a lot of new information for her, but I was glad to have her there <3.

After the training, I had a free day in the capital, which I took advantage of by getting a manicure and pedicure, as well as sushi for lunch and tacos for dinner. And the next morning I was off to the airport to fly back home to Colorado! After a bit of a complicated day, I arrived in Denver at midnight and had to be up 8 hours later to be a bridesmaid in Madeline's wedding, my best friend since age 4. It was an amazing day (tears were shed), and it was so very lovely to see friends and family after so much time apart (👋 Todd and Crosby). While home, I also got to see and explore my parents' new house/neighborhood, see both sets of grandparents, and spend a magical few nights in the mountains with my boyfriend Dastan. We rented a condo in Crested Butte, hiked (and got veryyyyy sunburnt), explored cute mountain towns, and camped for a night outside of Leadville for his first camping experience in 10+ years. When we got back to Denver, Mom and Dad's new 'hood was putting on a "putt-putt bar crawl" in which breweries, bars, and restaurants each made their own mini golf hole, and the goal was to fill out your hole golf card (while drinking, of course)—such a blast.

At the end of the week, however, I did have to say goodbye to Dastan, and we were reminded (for the nth time since deciding to do long distance) that this journey is really challenging. Due to both of our work schedules and available vacation days, it's looking like the next time we see each other will be in 2027, which really super mega sucks. But I am so very thankful for the time we do get together, however few and far between it is. It's wonderful to be able to talk and call and have this relationship while living wildly different lives, 5000+ miles apart.

It was so incredible to be home and back with my "creature comforts" (including Friday!), which made it very hard to leave and come back to the country I now call home. I was once again reminded that this adventure I willingly signed myself up for is difficult, tests me every day, and constantly involves making a fool out of myself for the sake of community integration. But upon arriving back in Paraguay, my first day back at work (which also happened to be my birthday), I was warmly welcomed by my neighbors, host family, and students, who all enthusiastically sang "feliz cumpleaños" and gave me the biggest, tackling hugs. I was reminded why this job is so rewarding, and so one of my "Year 23 Birthday Resolutions" is to "embrace the embarrassment," to be more okay with feeling silly, and to remember that I am not a burden to others as long as an effort is made. Because life is inherently embarrassing, why not just lean into it! And also because Year 23 will be the only year of my life I spent completely in the Peace Corps, so why not make it as unique as my current circumstances?

Updates: complete. Thank you all for continuing to follow along and find what I'm doing out here somewhat interesting. Sending heaps and loads and tons of love, Maya 💚💚💚.