Copy of my Facebook Message: "Everyone always kids that they're joining the Peace Corps, but no one ever does it!"

In case you weren't able to see my Facebook note:

Yes it's true. Despite my coworkers above reaction when I told her my upcoming plans to relocate for twenty seven months to a remote part of an obscure South American country, I remain unwavering in my desire to follow through with this upcoming adventure. Call it one of those opportunities where if I don't try to see it through I'm afraid I'll be plagued by the 'what ifs?'.

After a uncertain six months of moving from applicant, to nominee, to invitee, to now trainee, the whole invitation and acceptance to the trainee program has been so sudden that I'm afraid a lot of friends and family aren't even aware that I'm leaving the country for two years in about three weeks. I only found out late in December that I was invited and then accepted about a week ago. I will be attending orientation February 2nd-4th in Miami, also departing on the 4th. From there I will be attending training in a city called Guarambaré, about an hour by bus from the capital city of Asunción. I will be there through April 23rd, living with a host family and attending intensive daily classes in language, both in Spanish and the indigenous language of Guaraní, technical training, Peace Corps fundamentals, how to function and manage in a rural setting, and of course Paraguayan history and culture.Depending on my ability to pass exams in all five areas and be sworn in as a volunteer, I'll then relocate to my community where according to the information in the packet I'll most likely have electricity, but not running water. I'm not sure how far away access to the internet will be, but a friend has volunteered to update a blog on a monthly basis via the letters I'll mail him. I've already set up the blog, which you can find here:

http://steffeinparaguay.blogspot.com/

Be sure to book mark that as it will serve as my main form of communication with friends back in the States. Also you can mail me letters or care packages at the following address, but be advised the information states that only about 80% of mail arrives to volunteers and that expensive items can be subject to being stolen (American junk food, necessities, and magazines are what will matter to me most anyways to keep in touch with what's going on back home.) If you are interested in sending me a package, I'll post a list of what would be most useful on my blog once I get there and see what I need and miss the most from home. Here is my mailing address:

Stephanie Stinson PCT ( which stands for Peace Corps trainee, then following April 23rd it switches to PCV for volunteer)
Cuerpo de Paz
162 Chaco Boreal c/Mcal. López
Asunción 1580, Paraguay
South America

If you send anything, it says to keep in mind airmail can take up to 2-3 weeks, surface mail several months. And thank you in advance, being alone and out of touch, a letter will guaranteed be a bright spot in my day.

With regard to confusion about what exactly I'll be doing, I thought it best to just include the description they provided me of my assignment:

"The purpose of the RHS project in Paraguay is designed to augment national efforts to improve health, sanitation, and nutrition practices throughout rural Paraguay by heightening awareness of the relationship between environment and health through educational activities and the promotion of improved environmental sanitation practices. The areas on which the project focuses are: dental health education, parasite prevention, nutrition, improved cooking practices, STI's and HIV/AIDS awareness prevention education, improving waste disposal methods, and cleaning/protecting water sources. ... We would like to emphasize 70% of your time should be devoted to education and 30% to construction. This is because we believe that construction should be the result of the people understanding the education and wanting to make changes in their environment." The description goes on to talk about possibilities for taking on a secondary project that in the past have ranged from focuses such as creating public libraries, teaching English, organizing sports clinics, teaching computer skills, etc.

Also if you are a teacher interested in receiving correspondence for your classroom via the World Wise Schools programs, contact me and we can discuss options further, though I think only one teacher can be chosen, so act fast for this awesome offer, haha. If more than one teacher is interested I could probably send you correspondence myself.

That's about all the information I can think of to share right now. If you have a specific question, please feel free to respond with it and I'll address it here. Also please forward me your number and address if you are interested in hearing from me when I go into town and have use of a calling card or if you want a postcard. (I know I also said this in Spain and then was very lax with mailing things, but that was because I ended up having access to internet on a daily basis from my dorm, while here mail will serve as my main, if only form of communication. I'll do a better job this time, cross my heart.) If you don't want to post your contact information publicly, please go ahead and forward me a facebook message.

TTFN, ta ta for now.