Just finished playing 2 sets of soccer game with the folks here in site. "Never get discouraged" is what I've been reminding myself. Football is not my game. I grew up with basketball, but my love for this game and my passion is growing each and everyday I play. These guys who I'm playing with are relentless, they will hussle you, makes you feel bad, but you can't do anything about it, but play. Eventhough I'm not on par with them, I feel like I am improving. I might not feel good when I'm around them in terms of my skills, but I feel good over all to be integrating and getting along well with the folks and the dudes in town.

Almost on my first month in site and as much as it is weird to think that I have been in country for about 8 months now, I get easily confused or get easily feel comfortable when I'm around people. I have to check myself and remind myself that I am new to them, to my community, even though I have been in country in awhile. I have to be extra conservative in a way. But it goes what it goes and people, I think, are getting accustomed to me as much as I am getting accustomed to them.

Things are going sllllooooooowwwwww with work, but with facebook and this internet, I can keep myself occupied. Work right now is getting to know people, being seen, and being out. Also, being that school is on vacation and the heat almost 99% shuts down the town doesn't help. All the activities happens in the morning and in the late afternoon and I try to be on par with the people and community with how they move. Say though, I still have to be on par in the mornings, still not rolling along with the town with its sleeping pattern. I guess there's the personal part of me.

Right after my last update, I have learned that, who I considered a friend of mine, was involved in one of the latest kidnapping scheme in the country. It was pretty surreal to see her in national news on television. The house where I've been and the family who I've grown to like. We weren't best friends or anything, I am more close to her sister; we worked in several lectures with farmers and a project plan. I didn't know that she was involved, never really know what she's up to. All I know is that in a few encounters we've had, she was pretty quality with me. Very educated people and very good hearted people, then ending up in messy situations. Everybody's got their own philosophy and visions of their life, their country, and you have to respect that. But with the movement, the kidnapping, that right there, is questionable. I don't know much of the details. For now, it's sad and disappointing to see and hear someone you know having several of their years taken away and be put in a box. Good decisions, bad decision? To each their own.

I'm quite happy with my house situation. It also helps that my landlord is probably one of the best people in town. Also am glad to have enriched my relationship with them. His name is Hugo Santa Cruz. From how things are going, I can say that this is a guy who you can have a life long friendship with. You see, I've been here and known him for a month, but something about this guy that is just good pure air. He's strict, but he's got a good heart. He's naive, but he's got his point of views. He's just a pure good person who knows where he stands and who knows where he is, who knows what he's capable of and not capable of doing. I have great confidence and pure respect for the guy and it is very calm when we don't see eye to eye on rare occasions. I love being his neighbor and I love being his friend. I might not have as much friends as I have here compared to my first community, but I'm quite happy with the pure friendships I have at the moment. With Hugo and his family, I love sharing with them the little we have and in a way, starting to become a part of them. Most Paraguayans are somewhat similar, you just have to know how to relate, and if not, you just have to know how to be open. It's all about emptying your soul and accepting exactly what they have to offer. With no malice nor second thoughts, without the feeling that you get with comrades that you're familiar with, you just have to embrace it without any doubt whatsoever. Considering that they don't have much to offer as much as we, the privileged ones, it is worth every exchange or change you make within yourself and others. This is how you learn or how you go back to your old ways. This is then how you live, or should I say, I live.

I've learned a lot being here. Having more solid confidence on who I am and what I do, how I relate and how I am with other people. I must say, that as much as I plan on even making a dent on peoples lives here, they, in a very big way have humbled and showed me the way.

That would be it for now. I hope I have enlightened you as much I have myself. Until next.

Some strong winds followed by a storm came in today. The power went off for a bit, but came back on after a few moment. The beauty of this is that all day it was hot and sunny that the sun could fry eggs on the roof. Then the moment it got around afternoon, you see dark clouds coming in. It's beautiful seeing lightning in a mix of grey, white, and dark clouds dancing. It was a light show happening in front of my porch. It's been like this since I got here. Literally, almost everyday. I've been here for almost two weeks now, settling in and getting comfortable in my new house, my new community. It's totally different from where I used to be and I'm now glad to be experiencing another angle of this country.

Santa Rosa del Mbutuy is the name of my new town, with around 1,500 people living in it, now around 1,501. It's a bit smaller than Belén and a bit closer to the capital (only, 4 hours away). Starting up in my few days in site went well until it got a bit awkward. I think it's one of the challenges of being a male volunteer in Paraguay; finding a host family. Since I've been in my first site for 4 months, I wasn't required to live with a family for another 3 months or so upon my arrival in my second community. Although I'm suppose to live with a host family for a month, I was instead hosted by the mayor's family for about 5 days until I found my own house. It took me 2 days to move in after I went to Asunción to gather up my stuff and bring it in with the help of Edu, one of the staff in the office.

I'm glad to be now settling in independently. As much as I enjoyed it, it was tough living with a hosts family again for many different reasons. So I've been staying at home and setting up my living situation. I have a feeling that I'm really going to enjoy this. There are some little configurations that needs to be done with the house, but for the most part, I am very lucky, content and happy to have this. It also helps that Hugo, my dueño, is quite an amazing dude. Along with his wife, I'm pretty comfortable and pleased to be his neighbor. We already started a great relationship and I can only hope that it gets better.

I've finally decided to get an internet connection. It's brand new, around a week old, and I'm pretty pumped about it. Although, I must admit that I have been abusing the use of it. Hopefully it will wear out, but for now, I'm definitely taking advantage of it. I'm pretty fortunate to have this amenity being here. In the long run, not only that it makes it more accessible to get in touch with friends and family, it will also be useful in finding informations for anything I might need to do my service.

Leaving Belén wasn't easy. I haven't really broadcast it for the masses. So here it is in a quick run down. Due to a local kidnapping incident in the zone where I was working, I, along with 5 other volunteers were pulled-out from our sites. I have been in site for 4 months and was just getting fully comfortable and winning the community when the decision was made. I had projects going, just had found my place, and best of all, just developed friends in the community, from adults to the kids -the most important part of it. Without it, you can't really do anything. I had a hard and frustrating time during the process of moving. Letting my friends and community know that I was leaving and not finishing most of my projects, I felt like letting the whole place down. They did understand why, but it didn't change the disappointment of my friends. It also didn't help that the last volunteer went home early. There I was, doing my best, eager to be a part of the community only to leave them hanging. The organization and the embassy had a point though. For our safety, it was best that we get out of the situation. But I wouldn't say it was easy. In the end, my community and I still won the situation. I might not be there, but I'm glad to have left having made great friends. It also brings me light to get phone calls and messages once in awhile from the same people I have left behind. I'm planning on visiting once I get a good hold of my ground here. I can only imagine what that would be like.

After the whole 2 weeks of emotional, mental, and physical challenge in getting out of Belén, I was relocated in Asunción while waiting for another site. After finding out and visiting my second future site, I ended up spending my Christmas with my host family in my training site. Since we, the people who were pulled out, didn't have to be at work until the 7th of January, I took advantage of the time to travel a little bit in the middle part of the country. I ended up visiting 5 other volunteer friends to see what their site and life is like. I am very glad and fortunate to have done that trip, considering that I also got into trouble and had been restrained from traveling before the whole pulling out of Concepción had happened.

Now I'm in my new site, almost two weeks in, I can only imagine the calm and storms of this whole new experience. I'm back in the beginning. My advantage is that I have a little of the language down and familiar of doing the process. The first part might be national, but the second definitely isn't and I already think that this town demands a different kind of drive from me. Overall, and at the end, I really have little control of it. The things which I can, I will, and that only thing is me. The other, the big other part, I'm just going to have to roll with it, listen, observe, and learn. That of which is the people and the community.

Until next.