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Sunday, 15 June 2008

Tuesday, 02 January 2007

  • Currently Reading
    War and Peace
    By Leo Tolstoy
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    Happy 2007!!!

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone….I hope it went well for you all. I spent them both in Buenos Aires…it goes without saying how mine were. Buenos Aires is an amazing city…one of my new favorite places on the planet for sure.  I don’t even know where to start in talking about the trip. We did so much in so little time…10 days is not so much in a place like Buenos Aires. But I can say I haven’t been to bed before the sun is coming up in 10 days now.

    I met people from all over the world at the youth hostel.  It was a very nice hostel with a bar and restaurant on the bottom floor.  But, the people were the best part. Now I have places to stay in Brasil and Ecuador. We did everything from dancing all night in clubs to taking a boat out to Tigre (an island). There were huge (huge!) outdoor markets with live mini orchestras and tango dancers (it’s where the tango started and I even took some lessons one day for a few hours), great food, great beer (neither of which are available in Paraguay), beautiful people (seriously, I’ve never seen so many attractive people concentrated in one spot…it’s kinda weird.), and just a lot of fun. It was also fun speaking practically only Spanish. My Spanish improved so much in just a week and a half because I didn’t have to speak Guarani at the same time.

     I spent new years eve (the counting part of it) on the top of a friend’s friend’s apartment…the fireworks were insane…it sounded like a war zone almost (but way happier).  They were all around us and coming from above and below and people were sending off those things that look like little hot air balloons (if you know what I’m talking about). It was pretty incredible.

     This always happens…I can never think of everything I did on a trip when I’m trying to tell others…especially when so much happens (and there’s so little sleep!). Another volunteer’s parents were down there with her so I got to go out couple of nights to really nice (really expensive) dinners, which is something I couldn’t have done on my own.  I was lucky to come back with any money, but I’ve always been pretty decent at budgeting.

    New places and new people: two of my favorite things in life. I also like the old ones…don’t worry. But, now I’m back in Paraguay. Tomorrow I’ll be back in my little 3 meter by 4 meter house in the middle of nowhere.  From one extreme to the other. I also like my life that way. Feels more like your living than just being stuck in the middle all the time. And, I’ve got some big plans and a lot of work to do this coming year and I’m ready to get started. I’m at a loss for words right now so I’ll leave you with this. My mind is lost in Buenos Aires and future vacations and work coming up and it’s impossible to capture it all right now and put in words. But, I miss everyone…next time I talk to you will be one year in country for me (one year away from all of you). Feb. 2, 2006 is when we arrived. Weird, isn’t it?

     

     

    Love you all,

     

    Brian

Monday, 27 November 2006

  • I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving because I definitely did! We had a huge event this weekend down in Encarnación.  It’s on the border of Argentina and Paraguay.  All the Peace Corps volunteers rented out an amazing beautiful hotel.  We spent the whole weekend doing stupid competitions, playing flag football, soccer, playing music (there was a huge talent show), sitting by the pool, and well…drinking.  Some volunteers went up a day in advance and made a huge amazing thanksgiving dinner.  So…I had turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and all the usuals. The food was really good.  Great times.  It was nice to get away and speak only English and not think about work for a short time.  So…there is no need to worry about how I spent my thanksgiving!  How was yours????  What else…I don’t know.  A month from now I’ll be off to Buenos Aires for Christmas and New Years!  Not a lot is going on at the moment.  We had a workshop for 3 days right before the thanksgiving weekend, so I haven’t been in site (in my community) for a week now.  I miss my house and my family, but the break was nice. I’m headed back tomorrow. I don’t really have much to report this month.  Work is a bit slow.  School is out, big projects are going well, but at a standstill.  I did start a women’s group.  No, I’m not a woman.  I’m just their main resource.  So far we’ve made recycled glasses and shampoo. Next Sunday we’re making detergent.  They’re really enjoying it.  And so am I. I get a lot of weird looks, because it’s just me and a bunch of old women sitting around every Sunday. But, it’s also a way to break down the gender barriers.  This is a very male dominated society, so when they see me cooking and doing my own laundry, and now working with a bunch of older women, they think that I’m very strange.  They all tell me I need to find a Paraguayan girlfriend to do all my work, but my response is always, “But, then I’ll just have double the laundry and cooking to do!” I don’t know if I really have any new pictures to put up…I’m not very good at taking picture…but if I do don’t forget to check out my xanga site.  www.xanga.com/brianhilburn

Sunday, 29 October 2006

Saturday, 02 September 2006

  • Currently Reading
    The Count of Monte Cristo (Enriched Classics)
    By Alexandre Dumas
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    another month

    so, another month has passed already.  i've been in paraguay, away from everything i've ever known for 7 months now.  7 months!  that's a long time, but it doesn't really seem like that much.  the last month has been good.  a lot more laid back and relaxed (in some ways) than the first few months in site.  a lot of my time is actually spent in doing household chores.  i've taken up cooking...it's my new hobby.  i love it.  i have a few cookbooks and i try new stuff pretty much every night, or every time i run out of left overs.  which can't be too long because i have now fridge.  i'm actually pretty proud of my cooking skills...i had no idea i could do it so well.  possibly it's because i'm so used to paraguayan food it just seems amazing, but i really think it is.  let's see...i'll give you a list of some stuff i've made:  meat loaf (really good!), some amazing beef stew, i made my own salad dressing (my favorite salad dressing ever) so i've been having huge salads with every meal with vegetables from my own garden (my new favorite salad is just cabbage, tomatoes, and carrots), i've made fajitas a couple times (with homemade flour tortillas), many great omelets, some tomato and basil soup that was one of the best things i've had in my life, pizza, spaghetti, my new favorite food is oatmeal (i use it for many different things, especially for breakfast with real natural honey and a little sugar), fried rice (it was ok), many different soups, chili!!! (it was great...and very american...i promised the paraguayans i would make a lot for them some day...i told them it was a real american food from cowboy times), and...some other stuff...can't remember now.  plus, doing laundry by hand, cleaning the house everyday to keep the bugs away, gardening...it seems to take up most of my time.  but, this is part of the reason i'm here too.  i'm here to LIVE amongst these people and share in their lifestyle, and that i am doing.  also, it's just a "selfish" goal i had.  to become completely self sufficient.  and, that i am doing.  (and all in a new language (2 new languages!)).
         i've finally got schedules worked out in 3 different schools.  i've done a lot of lessons on brushing teeth (my jacket has the toothpaste stains to prove it!), about to start anti-parasite things, and talks on drugs, alcoholism, and cigarettes. next month i start reproductive health and HIV/AIDS (another one of my main reasons for wanting to do peace corps and health specifically).  the running water thing is going amazing well.  the rumor is that we might start digging the community well in december (which is way faster than expected).  and we're still waiting to here about the brick oven project.  i'm going to build my first brick oven (on my own) next week in a school in my community.  they had a big party the other night to raise money for the school and are using some of the money to buy bricks for the oven.  it was a festival celebrating all the folk music/dancing/life/etc. of paraguay.  so, i shared a little and played some american folk music.  i sang a bob dylan song ("rainy day women" if you know bob dylan) and they loved it! 
         i've realized something else this last month.  2 years is a long time.  of course, you say, but some other things have come along with that realization.  not only am i going to be away from my home and the people i love for that long, but i'm forming some amazing bonds with people in my site and the thought of having to say goodbye to them (quite possibly for many years or decades or forever!) is already too hard to think about.  in a year and half i have no idea what it will be like.  my sort of host dad/landlord, who is a very "manly" man, works in the crops fields all day, is the local handyman (does everything for everybody) has already said (not to my face of course) that he would cry when i left.  that meant a lot me.  plus, all my little new brothers and sisters...who are amazing indivuduals.  anyway...i'm not going to dwell on all that just yet.
        i'm still loving my time here.  i forgot my camera so i can't post any pictures this trip.  that just means next time i'll have some amazing pictures to post.  oh, and i've been making recycled paper with my family in site.  and, i want to use it to write letters to you people at home...so while i'm here and thinking about it, if you want a letter (if you think you're special enough!!..only joking) than you should send me your address.  and, i'll send you a letter (time permitting!!!) on paper that i made myself!  what else...i don't know.  it looks like i'm going to Buenos Aires for christmas.  that will be amazing.  and than, next june/july -ish ....macchu picchu with Andrew and Ross!!!  my only other thing i would like to do would be the amazon right before coming home (or maybe patagonia).  and, of course, iguazu falls which are right here in paraguay (on the border of paraguay, brazil, and argentina).  they're huge and apparently amazingly beautiful.  You guys should watch the movie "The Mission" with Robert Deniro.  It's a movie set in paraguay around those falls.  it's an okay movie, but it's in paraguay which is more important!  And, after that "Volunteers" with Tom Hanks and tell me about it.  i've never seen it and i had no idea it was about peace corps volunteers.  okay, now i'm just being silly.  maybe i should go do something constructive.  not that writing the people i love isn't constructive, but...nevermind. 
         that's all from paraguay for this month.  a special "shout out" to allie and sam.  who called me on two consecutive nights.  i was very happy.  we have a dinner for all the health volunteers tonight at our coordinators house and than it's back to Presidente Franco and to my amazing house tomorrow!  i love you and i miss you a lot more than you are thinking right now (even if you're thinking i miss you a lot).  that is a promise. 
     
    Brian

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brianhilburn

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    • Name: Brian
    • Country: United States
    • State: Arkansas
    • Metro: Russellville
    • Birthday: 4/21/1979
    • Gender: Male
    • Member Since: 3/20/2005

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  • Welp, let me tell ya...i'm pretty cool and hot. i'm also pretty much very talented at everything i try, and if you hang around me too much you will probably get very jealous and might even try to end your life. but...i would rather you didn't because i'm also very compassionate...i'm what you might call a compassionate conservative..which basically means that i tell everyone i'm a christian and i bomb the shit out of innocent people all over the world.

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