I´m officially halfway done with training now! Only 5 weeks left to go!
Last week I went to visit Iturbe with my guarani language class. Iturbe is a very clean small city with about 10,000 people. The sugar business is the main industry, much of which is exported to Florida. We had a nice tour of the sugar factory to see how everything works, and drank some sugar cane water at the end.
My favorite part of our trip was working with a women´s group that is about to open a bakery. There were about 10 women who have already purchased the land and constructed the building for the bakery. Our group of North Americans came to teach them how to make banana bread and carrot cake. While those were baking in the oven, we made a list of all of the ingredients for each recipe on giant white paper to hang on the wall. Together with the women, we listed out the prices for each ingredient, and determined the total cost of each recipe. Then, we helped them figure out how much they needed to sell the bread for to make a profit. I know it sounds pretty simple, but it was so much fun! The women had never thought about making bread with fruits and vegetables before, but they really enjoyed it as much as we did!
Also in Iturbe, I did my first presentation all in Spanish to a group of high schoolers. One other person from my language class and I organized games and activities to teach them about the importance of communiation. We taught 3 groups, and the presentations were about 30 minutes each.
Next Friday, Peace Corps asked if I could give a presentation to my group on how to start a small business, and how to do a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. I´m really excited that they asked me to do that, and am going to work on my presentation later today. I find out on July 25th where I will be living for the next 2 years, and am feeling pretty anxios about that right now.
Hope all is well in the USA!
Yours Truly, Julie G
YoursTrulyJulieG 
Wow, u r news letter was fantastic! How very interesting & important what u r doing! That u help them to figure the cost of there bread was so important . Do u know where u want to live for the next 2 years? I hope that u get what u want!! Will u be still live with a family r on u r own? Will u b in a group of other Pease Corp people? All well here, trying to get over jet lag! Stay well & I love & miss u! Honey
It sounds like you are getting a chance to make a difference in people’s lives. Once you figure the cost of the product, how do you determine the mark up? What about product that does not sale or goes bad? Do you think they citizens would like poppy seed cake? If Honey shared the recipe, there could be a new sensation throughout Paraguay. Have fun, be safe. Love, DAD
Hey Dad, we showed the women’s group the breakeven price, then they calculated what price they wanted to sell the individual pieces for. I’m not sure if they would like poppyseed cake. They mostly like really really sugary food here. In fact, dentists would probably do pretty well here with all the cavities people must have!
Hi Honey! I will find out where I will be living on the 25th of this month, but I don’t get to choose. I will live with another family for the first 3 months, then i can decide if I want to keep living with a family or live on my own. How was your trip?