Learning to work together

I think most of you have heard the tale of me leaving the paraguayan friend 3 hours away by now for bad behavior and not listening to ya boy when I said I was ready to go!!!! well, he got left because he wanted to spend time with some yiyi he had just met and called his girlfriend! how u have a girlfriend after just one day is beyond me. but hey some ppl move like that. so it was sunday and time to head back to our city and i call the fool. hey its time to go. no stephen, let`s stay another day. i can`t stay another day i got things to do. so i`m leavin at 4 30 with or without you. no stephen, leave me some money. i`m not going to do that, you best come on! and he hangs up on me. i call him at 4 20. ok, i`m tellin you i`m gone get on that bus without u. noooo, give me 2 hours. there won`t b buses in two hours. i`m gettin on a bus in 10 minutes without you. he hangs up on me again. i call him at 4 30. you ain`t here at the bus stop and i`m mad at you. noo stephen, don`t leave, we gone stay till tomorrow. and he hangs up on me again. so i hopped, skipped and jumped on a crowded ass bus and left his ass there. i was soooo mad at him! you do not hang up the phone on me, if you know one thing about americans, that`s just something u don`t do. also, respect someone else`s time especially when they are doin nice things for yo stank self!

so the next day, i went to the school and he was there. i had to go up to him. he was like, are you mad at me? and i was like let`s go over here so we can talk. no, stephen are you mad at me? no i`m not mad at you, i`m just disappointed. thus, commenced the convo. it was the realest moment i`ve had in paraguay. he was expressing himself. i was givin him my point of view. he lied a lil bit, but for the first time, i really felt heard and that he was takin into account what i was telling him. he told me i had too many rules. i was like you damn right i got rules on how i should act. im a foreigner and a representative of the US of A. i have to have rules. that`s how u get successful, you gotta keep yaself in check! and i was like how are you going to join the military if you don`t like rules? he said that when he joins the military then he will live with rules. i told him that`s not possible. i said if you aren`t practicing how to live with rules now you aren`t going to live with rules in the future. you gotta practice today what u wanna accomplish tomorrow. i was fa real schoolin his ass! the men down here really need to know that the world ain`t there playground and that there are consequences to their actions. what i`ve observed for the most part is that males get to do whatever they want without consequence. if they do something bad, someone might yell at them but they can chose to stop or keep going. he didn`t believe me that he was gone get left. he thought he could disrespect me and i was still going to stay there and wait on his ass. that weekend taught him about consequences and responsibility. parts of being a man.

i took my host brother and another youth of 17 years to a workshop 2 hours away. we learned about how to do community projects. it went so well! we stayed in a hotel, ate good food, met super active paraguayans and volunteers and learned how to work together. there was a moment when they were actin up and some paraguayan girls were telling them. stephen may not be telling you this but he is observing everything that you guys are doing, how u participate in the classes, your behavior, all that. he can change community contacts whenever he wants to! you guys better get it together or you won`t be invited back to things like this. it was wonderful especially because it came from their peers!!! i told them that they have to complete a community project with me in order to get invited to other peace corps events. we are starting a youth group in september and have a movie night planned at the school!!!! rewards definitely help.

things have been great lately! i`m really starting to feel more and more at home here in paraguay. i do miss the states, but it isn`t an overwhelming feeling. it helps when i don`t feel so lonely. i kinda got rid of my other contact for being a jerk to me. he`s trying to redeem himself and i don`t know if i should give him a second chance or not. he said something very offensive to me and my culture. he keeps telling me i`m young and don`t know anything and that i`m stupid. i just don`t like ppl who are abusive like that. cuz i know that none of that shit is true. that he`s just sayin that crap cuz he wants to control what it is i do. i`m american! i don`t stand for that shit. i believe in revolution and i believe that i can make a difference here.

holla back,
Stephen