5 weeks and counting

Well I've been here for almost 5 weeks, and have almost 5 weeks before I'll be leaving. I definitely feel like I am in the middle of my time: there has been a lull in my project which I foresee picking up soon, I can get around the city with some ease (at least, I know what to ask to get good directions), and I am getting a little sick of the food but at the same time trying to eat all the good stuff because I know soon enough I won't be able to eat it anymore!

My project, per usual, is not going exactly as planned. It's hard to get people to come to the workshops that I am currently doing because it's the schools' winter vacation, and it's frequently cold and rainy. However I have done two full workshops now (I was planning on doing 3 but will probably do 4 because of low turnout), and the parents who came to them have been very receptive and participated a lot.

I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't have enough data to analyze for my thesis because of the smaller amounts of participants than anticipated, but my advisor assured me that all of my field notes about the workshops will also serve as good data, and once I got to thinking about it, I realized I had heard and documented a lot during the workshops! So that's promising. These next weeks will involve finishing (hopefully) two more workshops and doing focus groups and interviews with the parents who participated, and separately with their kids. I'm excited to interact a little bit more with the youth, because until now most of my work has been directly with the parents. It's also exciting to see how these workshops are working out and the potential for their use in the future. Honestly, it seems like a lot would need to be adapted to use them and attract a larger group of parents, but it's exciting to think of the possibilities.

I am also planning on doing interviews with experts in the fields of adolescent health and youth development. I met with the research team at an organization here which is supported by International Planned Parenthood yesterday and they gave me some great contacts. It was really nice for both Vanessa and I to sit with them, discuss doing research in Paraguay and see some of their publications. They do some really important research on reproductive health here, however a ten year USAID grant that had supported their division and the clinic ended in 2009, and since then it has been a struggle for them to find funding. Our conversation just reminded me how ignored Paraguay is!

In other news, we went out dancing for Vanessa's birthday, which was fun. We danced to reggaeton, a little merengue, cumbia, some Brazilian music and ended the night with some "rock," but I sure missed my bachatica! It's also been incredibly cold here (one night I slept with gloves on), but this weekend cleared up and we went to a cute little town that's on the edge of the lake and sells some nice and some tacky ceramics. It was nice to get out and enjoy the weather and fresh air!