I am writing this blog as I’m sitting next to my bestie Danielle, just dying laughing, telling funny stories on the bus ride to keep us entertained. Bus rides have become so much a part of my Paraguayan life the 5-6 hour bus rides just really don’t phase me anymore. I remember thinking that I would have to drive like 3 hours to get to Seattle and it was like soooo long. That air conditioned car ride has nothing on me! This ride has been somewhat of a somber one. One of my fellow Peace Corps volunteers, Emily Balog tragically died in a car accident on Sunday. Well all came together last night as a Peace Corps body to pay tribute to a beautiful friend that we lost. Most of us didn’t know her well, but then some of us were her best friends. You never really believe tragedies like that happen to people you know, it just hit really close to home and we all suffered her loss. However, we had a beautiful memorial service last night and gave justice to her short but beautiful life. To go back in time a bit… My interview. I think it went well. The only problem was everyone was pretty qualified and had something great to offer, and I only heard 9 people. They interviewed like 190 people. ugh. And there are only about 45 spots. So I think my answers were unique, but again unfortunately there was another applicant that just returned from Peace Corps Africa. So wasn't as unique as I thought I was going to be. But I did the best I can do and we'll just wait and see. They are meeting on the 9th of this month and will let us all know within a week from that. So by Nov 16th I will know their decision. SCARY!! But it was amazing to see Tishra, still in shock it all worked out! And I ate Ben & Jerrys for breakfast- it was amazing! Got a few treats to bring back with me. Except the mean man at airport security stole my frosting in a can. I was sad! Apparently frosting is a gel... stupid! ha!

After my terrible flight back to Paraguay (silly people at Continetal wouldnt let me get on the flight bc they said I needed a visa for my 2 hour layover in Brazil- idiots!). I finally met up with Bri and Monica in Asuncion. The next morning we traveled down to my site. We got there, unloaded our stuff and then met up with the boyfriend and went and hung out with his family! We had such a great time! We danced with the uncles, ate yummy bbq meat that were cooked on sticks around a fire. Ate delicious fish- that was huge! They liked the boyfriend, he was so cute with them and really making an effort to talk to Monica (bri doesnt do spanish!). even though he told me later he was so nervous talking to her! They thought he was super good looking- all though at first Bri told me she thought he was going to be ugly because I never posted a picture! haha. But then she said he was the best looking guy she saw her whole time in Paraguay! yes! After hangin with the family we went to a bull fight. It was a fun experience for the girls! Then we went to the fiesta and danced it up... well until the power went out! There was a power outage in the whole town! haha! Too big of a party! The next morning we headed to Iguazu Falls. It only took us 11 hours on a bus to get there, but we got there! We checked into our hostel and then ate some food and crashed. I was exhausted! The next day we went to the falls, it was beautiful and fun to be able to see it from the Argentina side too. When I did my amazon adventure I saw it from the Brazil side. We went in a boat and got soaked under the waterfall... and screamed a lot! Then we walked around the rest of the day with soaked jeans- awesome! The next day we got on a plane for Mendoza. We LOVED Mendoza. It was beautiful, hot and dry. We all had some kind of allergy going on! The first day we went horse back riding at the base of the Andes Mountains. So fun... I was one of the more experienced riders so I got to be in the front and actually run my horse not just walk it, so that was bomb! We stopped for a break and drank mate before returning back. It was really beautiful and fun to be outside! That night we went to a really sweet bar, really fun inside, except that the couple next to us prob smoked 15 cigarettes in about and hour. I was dying. My eyeballs hurt and it was just a lot of smoke in a small space. We left kinda early! In the morning we went out and rented bikes and went on a wine and choc tour. It turned out to be farther then we thought, the places were really far apart from each other, and some were closed, which sucks. But we had a good time, and it was really pretty. The wine was good, not fabulous. I would argue that some Columbia Valley (Tri-cities/yakima) wines are just as good! But then we got back to the bike rental place and it was free wine all we wanted. Yikes! We went back to the hostel and got ready for a Halloween party, I was a cat! I made ears out of paper and taped them to my headband- then dressed all black and painted a nose and whiskers on myself! ha. Free costume! We went to a nearby hostel where 4 diff hostels came together for the party, so it was just TONS of international travelers. I met people from all over the world that night. And strangely most of them all spoke English (but weren't from America). We danced, drank... and had a really fun evening! Next we headed to BA. Buenos Aires is such a beautiful city. I wanted to buy a downtown apartment so bad! The first night we ended up meeting up with my PC friend Danielle and her Paraguyan fiancee, who were in town for a 15 bday party for his cousin. We just went out to dinner and showed Joel some American-ness! We were all pretty tired, so it wasnt crazy! The next night we took a tango class at a Milongona. The class was fun, we learned a basic step. I did okay. But then after when people were just social dancing a dude asked me to dance, I told him I just learned that night, I sucked!!! He knew what he was doing and I felt like I was just tripping over my feet! haha. I think I almost fell too! But it was fun to watch the people that did know how! We spent the days in BA walking around EVERYWHERE! We walked soooo much, my knees hurt a lot. But we got to see a lot of things and do some shopping! The following two nights we went to diff clubs. One was an after office party, where it started early around 10pm and ended at 2pm. We definitely got our dance on all night! And the last night out we went to a transvestite show/club. It was called club 69, and there was a fun show with the lead person being a trany! And then other people dancing in tight revealing clothes. The men were hot with rockin bodies, pretty sure at least half of them were gay! And the girls wheeled themselves through the middle of the crowd on a moving stripper pole! It was fantastic! But the music sucked, house music, its fine for a bit, but then I get tired of it, I wanted some words in my music! AND... I felt embarrassed to be American. There was a large group of study abroad kids- jerks. And the stupid American Im better than you attitudes, it was ridiculous and really annoying. Because of that group we left early. But we ate well, had a great time being together. And all in all successful trip, great memories. All the photos are on facebook for your viewing pleasure! But it was really nice to come home. As I was driving back into site, I got kinda sad. Realizing I have such a short time here left and there are so many things/people I’m going to miss so much. But that is why I surround myself with beautiful people. Lately, I’ve been working hard and drinking lots of tereré. I have started an exercise class that has had and extreme amount of success. We work out Monday – Saturday for an hour. We do aerobic exercises, squats, arms and abs. Not only has it been good to promote healthy and active lifestyles, but its been great for me. Forcing me to work out and keep myself healthy and in shape! Today was officially the last day of school, so in these last months I’ve done a lot of school wrap-up, trying to squeeze some last minute charlas and activities in. but I still spend every day I can with my pre-school class. Who have 100% stolen my heart. I love those kids so much and their presence in my service has been irreplaceable. We just had an end of the year party for them with hot dogs and games. We invited their mothers and handed in their notebooks with the activities they’ve done all year and a class photo that we took! It was really special. Also special is my new boyfriend. His name is Euclides Galvez. He is 24 years old and treats me like the queen I am! He really is wonderful and I’ve had such an amazing time getting to know him and sharing with him and his family. We don’t spend too much time together, because I’ve been busy and he is a construction worker and spends a lot of time in other communities building houses or bridges and such! But when I’m not with Euclides, I am with Blanca. I rarely spend much time in my own house. Which I’ve decided has many advantages: 1- I don’t have to sweep as much because I’m not there and I don’t track in that much dirt 2- I don’t have as many dirty dishes to wash, because I never cook anymore 3- I spend less money- I do help out and by food for Blanca, but still spend way less on food per month 4- I had the amazing experience of really becoming part of a family. I am so comfortable with them and feel right at home! I cant believe that today is December. It sure doesn’t feel like it when it is 100 degrees plus humidity outside. But I’ve been trying to listen to some Christmas music to get me in the spirit! Without getting carried away on holidays, my Thanksgiving was really wonderful. I planned a Thanksgiving event for all interested Volunteers. It was at an absolutely beautiful hotel by Encarnacion- which is a city in the south east of Paraguay. I ended up going down a few days early with my friend Danielle to do some wedding shopping!! That’s right, she is marring her Paraguayan boyfriend. She is so brave and I’m so proud of her and Joel. So we went down to pick out fabric for the bridesmaid dresses, buy favors, find flowers and do a lot of random things. Then actual Thanksgiving Day, I met up with 9 other volunteers in the kitchen of the hotel to do the Thanksgiving dinner cooking. We cooked 8 delicious turkeys (that cost us 1,000,000 Guranies = 200 dollars!), mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, candied yams, mac n cheese, pumpkin and apple pie bars, and the Springer family tradition of Ice Cream Jello!! It was all so incredibly delicious (and everyone was raving about my ice cream jello! ha!) We had a wonderful weekend with friends, drinks in our floaties in the pool, water volleyball, pool flip cup… it was all amazing. If I couldn’t be at home, this was definitely my second best choice. Although, after looking at pictures of my family I guess I was at home. In the pictures anyway, with a cutout of my head on a popsicle stick- so silly mom!! I wish everyone a happy holiday season. I’ll sweat it up for all y’all that are in the snow right now!

I want to tell everyone about my favorite place…. To use the bathroom!! Now don’t judge me until you’ve read the story! First of all there are all types of bathroom’s that I’ve encountered here in Paraguay. They range from the really chuchi ones that are modern, like something you would find in the states. And there are always houses that don’t even have a bathroom… the bathroom is the great outdoors! But then you have all types in between from a real toilet to sit on but you have to flush it with a bucket full of water, to a very (I mean very) rustic wood latrine that I thought I was going to fall into. For reals, it was very unsteady and I was just imagining all the stories I could tell after I fell into a large hole of feces and larva. Awesome! But now on to my favorite place. It’s a latrine which means it is just a hole in the ground. It has three sides made out of wooden panels and one side is just completely open. There is a wooden stump with a hole in it that you sit on, which surprisingly is quite comfortable! But the best part is the view. I like to go to the bathroom just to sit on the stump and enjoy the view. You look out into the wide expansive landscape of the Paraguayan campo. There are lots of animals that just roam around right out in the field as you sit there. There is also a pig pen just in front of you with little pigs sticking there heads out and oinking at you! But this is the real campo, out where you have to walk a long ways to get to your nearest neighbor. Out where there is no electricity or running water. Out where I have spent some really wonderful moments and made memories with my best friend Blanca and her family. It is her parent’s house that we go out to celebrate all sorts of awesome occasions! It’s a really great treat to go out to the “real” campo!!

Well I have failed… it has been three months without a single blog update. June, July and August were all very good months. Lets take a look at what happened… JUNE: I was fresh off an amazing adventure trekking through the Amazon jungle, and I was right back to site and back to work. There were birthday parties, like usual. There was a Fiesta Patronal (patron saint day) in my neighboring town, where I hung out with a new volunteer that recently moved there. I danced till the break of dawn… always a good time. But usually when something is too fun, its too good to be true. June was a hard month for me with gossip. I don’t know why people starting making things up, but apparently dancing with someone means you are involved with them. It’s really fair. But unfortunately it is something that comes with living in a small town. Everyone just kept telling me don’t pay attention to them, but its hard, because everything you do is reflected not only on your work, but on Americans as a whole and Peace Corps. I guess I’m just an easy target because I’m the foreigner! But I just kept on trucking, kept working and really figured out who my true friends are. I spent basically every single day with Blanca, my best friend that lives right in front of me. I would wake up in the morning and cross the street, climb under two fences, one of which is barbed wire and always snags some part of my clothes or hair, and spend all morning with Blanca drinking mate, talking and eventually I would just hang around and eat lunch with her! June also started the really cold weather. There were a few days that I didn’t really want to leave my bed. But I bought a nice new fluffy blanket that kept me warm at nights! JULY: The first weekend of July I spent in Asuncion with my fellow volunteers celebrating our beloved independence! It was a really good event, good food, good friends and nice but chilly weather! And of course my hang picked champion volleyball team won the tournament again! It was a harder fight this time, but we stuck it out and pulled out a win in the end! Winter vacation for the school kids was the middle two weeks of the month and I really took advantage of the downtime and did a whole lot of… NOTHING! I spent basically all my time with Blanca and hanging out with her family! I did receive a visit from Freddy and that was fun, he really enjoyed getting to travel to other parts of Paraguay he had never been to. And he really liked my little town of Tacuaras :) The last weekend in July I headed back to Asuncion for a training session with the new health group. We held sessions and shared our wise wisdom with the new group! Ha! After training I got on a 6 hour bus and went to visit my girl Eliza! It was her birthday end of July and a few of us make the trip out to see her. And in real Paraguay fashion it was a few of the coldest days of the winter. And it rained, a lot. So instead of getting to enjoy her site and hang out with her community members we stayed in bed in sleeping bags and watched movies! But at least we were able to be together! AUGUST: I spent the first weekend of August again in Asuncion, there was a Peace Corps wide meeting that I had to attend as well as the 10k I was running on the first Sunday. I really didn’t train as well as I should of. Training in the campo is really hard. And it was really cold. And just as I was getting in a nice rhythm it rained and totally messed with my groove for a couple of days! But the race went really well considering my lack of training. I ran it in 1 hour 6 minutes! I got a sweet bright green shirt and nice Nike hat! It was worth it just for the gear! But I felt really good about myself. I really do enjoy races and the whole atmosphere! I headed home after the race to prepare myself for my birthday week! It came with celebrations and loses. As some of you know my bestie Blanca was pregnant, but ended up having a miscarriage. And that just happened to occur on my birthday. She was very sad, but she is very strong and is such a wonderful friend. We still celebrated with tallarine (their version of spaghetti) and cake at her house that night for my birthday! Then two days later the 12th was her birthday, so we all got together again and celebrated as a family! Because of the miscarriage I became the full time pre-school teacher. I taught for 2 weeks straight. But those little creatures do just fine with me (which is saying a lot, because they don’t behave well with just anyone!). August 16th is kids day in Paraguay. We celebrate when Paraguay was at war and there were no more soldiers left to fight so the women and children had to. And there was a specific battle that was won because of a 12 year old child! So we spent the whole morning playing games with the entire school of 100+ kids and then I started a crazy dance party with all the kids. It was great fun! After they were all good and tired, we had hot dogs and cake! It was a wonderful day and I know the kids really enjoyed themselves! And I was thankful it was over, it was stressful dealing with all the parents trying to collaborate who is making what, who’s bringing what ingredients, and all the while organizing all the games and activities. But totally worth it! That pretty much brings me to today. There is always something going on, or something to drink some tereré with! The weather is turning and its getting warmer and warmer every day. I keep myself busy with working, hanging with the pre-schoolers basically every day, and my quality time spent with Blanca! All my other time has been spent working and finishing up my PA applications, I very close to finishing them all up. Its been a lot of work and its very hard doing it in another country with a terrible internet connection. But thank god for the blessing of my parents. They have been rock stars and correcting every essay, printing out and mailing necessary paperwork. Absolutely amazing! So hopefully I will be receiving good news in the next few months. Lets keep our fingers crossed! I’ll try and be better about my blogging. Its not like I was so extremely busy and didn’t have time. I just got lazy. But I hope all of you are well and are enjoying life. Because it is really too short to not!

We arrived in Manaus Wednesday May 18th after a long night of chillin, playing cards and trying to sleep on the tile floor. We met up with Jake and Christine who had been at the airport for LOTS of hours already. Henry and Sean (Andy’s best friends from the United States of America!) arrived a few hours later and our group was complete. We left the airport and headed to our hotel room which was in downtown Manaus. Manaus was a much bigger city than I imagined; it has 2 million people living there. We dropped off our bags then went out exploring. We walked around awhile, enjoying all the music being played on the streets and the many street stands selling remote controls! Ha! We made our way to the water and sat at a cute little outside bar and drank a few beer towers and shared a variety of food! On the way back to the hotel we found a few more beers, that we drank on the roof of our hotel and some desserts that were super delicious to share! After an enjoyable evening on the roof 5 of us decided to go out and look for a place to dance. We ended up at a bar that no one was dancing at so we just danced ourselves. I made friends with the DJ and kept changing the music to the songs we wanted to dance to, it was a fun night!

The following morning we were up early and got in a van that took us to a super chuchi hotel. In the parking lot we met up with Edwardo, our tree climbing guide! Who is also a very attractive man :) We then got into a boat and drove about an hour up the Rio Negro where we winded our way into a small canal to find the tree we were climbing! Once at the tree we unloaded our stuff and Edwardo and his helper started setting up the tree. They shot fishing line up around one of the branches then tied a small rope to that then finally put on the large rope we would be climbing! The first group up was Carden, Christine, Jake and Sean. It was really fun to watch them climb. What you do is you have two assensors one of each hand that you use to move up the rope. Once you push it up, it locks into place, and then you lift your body up with the straps on your feet. And repeat. It was actually a lot harder than I thought it would be. And once I got close to the top I had so much weight from the rope that I could barely raise my accensors. But the work was totally worth the view. We sat up on the branch of the largest species of tree in the Amazon for a while and just took in the view. It was absolutely beautiful! AND our sexy guide Edwardo told us that just last month Bill Gates and his family climbed the same tree! Crazy stuff! After we all climbed we went to a little beach and did some swimming and some serious chicken fighting. Since we were 4 guys and 4 girls the fighting worked out perfectly. We all had a lot of fun messing around and had to keep reminding ourselves not to pee in the water because there is a type of snake that will swim up your urethra if you urinate in the water! Haha! Once we got back to Manaus we were driven to Edwardos favorite restaurant that he recommended to us. It was absolutely delicious food. We ordered two fish meals and two meat dishes. We devoured them all and we were all completely satisfied! It was a nice last meal before we hit the jungle!

In the morning we met our guide for the trip, Coney and packed up all our stuff to head to the jungle. We drove out to the docks and hopped on a speed boat to see the meetings of the water. The meeting of the water is where the Rio Negro meets the Rio Amazona. The Rio Negro is much warmer and has a lower pH, it is also much darker in color and has significantly less animals and vegetation. From there we traveled to a small little water side village where we took a bus to a different part of the river. We were all very curious about what kind of boats we would be on for the next 9 days. Carden thought there’d be a bathroom, Danielle wanted more of a houseboat with a place to put our hammocks while we traveled. Well we were all very wrong in our assumptions. They were canoes! Two wooden canoes, one to carry our stuff and the other to carry us. And of course as soon as we got to the boats it started down pouring. So we spent our first moments on the river with pelting rain. I guess that’s why they call it the RAIN forest! We also constantly had to be bailing out water so the canoes wouldn’t sink! After a couple of hours on the water we stopped at a lodge for lunch, we met and chatted up some other travelers then we were on our way again! We went a couple hours more, and luckily the rain had stopped by now. We stopped at a local house where we would spend the night. The people were really nice even though we couldn’t really communicate with them and we all slept in a little hut where we put up all our hammocks. We played some cards that night then crashed early!

Day two in the jungle we were woken up early by Coney telling us to get all our stuff packed up. We headed out on the boats looking for sloths. We eventually found one chillin up in the tree. Our boat driver, Branco climbed up and got him. Well we didn’t know at the time but it was a momma sloth and her baby. But when Branco grabbed the sloth the baby fell from the momma and splashed into the water. Coney quickly grabbed the little guy out of the water and we all proceeded to take pictures with the both the momma and the baby! Such interesting creatures, they move so slow! On the trip we also saw some spider monkeys playing around in the trees! Afterwards we boated down the river again to the next local house, it was pretty late by the time we actually got there, the boating and all our weight went really slow. But Coney told us we were going to a party! So at the house we changed into the clothes that were the least dirtiest and smelled the most clean! We showed up at a local neighborhood fundraiser party. There was food, drinks, trampoline and TONS of dancing! We were the only white people there, but we had a blast! We all danced up a storm, however not well, because none of us knew how to dance foho! But I picked it up decently well! I was dripping with sweat but it was an amazing night! Brazilian people dancing is so much fun to watch!

The following morning we were allowed to sleep in because Coney thought we were all going to be hung over, but none of us were because we sweated it all out! After breakfast we went to a rubber factory which is run by the owner of the house we were staying at. We learned about how rubber is made and the importance it played in the history of Brazil. The rubber is from the milk of the rubber tree, you slice the tree and collect the liquid. From there you put it on a mold and place it over the smoke of the fire. It was really neat and we all got a chance to do a little. After lunch we went on a short 2 hour hike to get used to the jungle. On the way Coney painted our faces with a fruit that contained red dye! On the hike we saw monkeys, lots of bird species and some cool looking spiders. We also collected fishing rods for the afternoon activities. We got back form our hike and Coney told us we were going to get tattoos. He held up a fruit and proceeded to rub the pulp of the fruit on my arm. I thought he was crazy but after about 10 minutes it was getting dark. Well I got really excited about this tattoo fruit, we all painted A-Team tattoos. That was what we named ourselves, The A-Team! I think it also stood for Anaconda! Then I got a little crazy and painted a huge flower and tons of stars all up and down my right leg. Well its been 11 days and my tattoo is still there! Its faded but they’re all still there! After tattoo painting we went out piranha fishing. My team won, we caught 14 fish and the other team caught 7! I caught two and I was so excited by catching my first one that I flung it and it smacked me in the boob! Ha! And Sean broke his pole on a “river dolphin” aka branches! We got back to the house and ate the piranhas that we caught for dinner!

We woke up to down pouring rain. We boated for about an hour into the jungle and went on about a five hour hike with sloshy boots because there we were completely soaked! Well all of us except Danielle because she had her poncho on and later told us, “I love poncho”!! On the hike we saw a HUGE tarantula, the ones I’ve found in my house have nothing on this guy! We saw huge bullet ants, trees that smelled like vics vapor rub, squirrel monkeys and poisonous frogs! We met up with Branco and Unkie Jon (his name was tio juan- we changed it!) They had prepared lunch for us, and we got to relax a bit! From there we moved on to the next local house, where I discovered I had a rash all over my body! Sweet, it must have been a reaction to something in the jungle, or being damp all the time. But I put some powder on it and it made it feel a little better. That evening after dinner and quick naps in the hammock we went out caymen hunting. Caymens are a cross between an alligator and a crocodile. We boated around for bit, and found one! We all took turns holding it and taking pictures, it was super cool!

The next day we had a long boat ride to get really deep into the jungle where no people live and tourists don’t go. We were so deep we were boating through trees. Every 5 minutes we were telling each other, “branch” and we all had to duck! We pulled up at a spot that looked good for a camp. We built our own structure and started a fire for lunch. Andy went a little crazy on the macheting and clearing ground for our house! We all took naps in the afternoon but it was so hot I didn’t sleep! That night we went out looking for jaguars and snakes but Coney told us we smelled too clean so we didn’t see any!

The following morning we hiked for about 4 hours and were taught about survival. We learned how to make a fire without materials just the forest. We were taught how to make a house, get water and find food! It was a pretty chill afternoon, we rested up for our survival day the next day. And we drank a bit, and played some team bonding games. And we all decided we smelled REALLY bad, especially Sean! That night we were all snuggled up in the hammocks and our structure kinda broke and we all thought it was going to fall down on top of us. So we had to get out of our hammocks and try and fix the shelter a bit more and we all laughed about it.

Survival Day: We packed very very limited things, like water, some snacks and our hammocks. We boated for about 2 hours even deeper into the jungle! We only hiked for about 20 minutes then started to set up camp. Coney let us do everything, we had to make 2 different shelters, so the girls started making one and the boys the others! We got about an hour into it when it started raining. At this point Coney started assisting us. We quickly got the shelters put up and Henry and I tried to make fire. We kinda failed, but got close, then Coney gave us a tip. It was really difficult because everything was soooo wet. I got a few cuts from trying to grab a spiny branch, and Henry cut my thumb from the machete! We made some rice with salty meat and Henry carved us spoons out of palm stocks and used leaves as bowls! The boys were having guy time as the girls were preparing for Jungle Prom. Yes I said it, I organized a jungle prom! We found leaves and vines in the jungle and I made corsages for the boys and then we had jungle outfits. I made wings out of palm hearts and we wrapped vines all around us. It was pretty amazing!! Then the boys came and asked us to prom and gave us tokens made out of jungle materials! We had Sean the juggler performer at prom, we took cheesy prom photos, and then jukebox Carden sung songs that we danced too!! Fun survival day!

We woke up and went on a small hike to learn about trapping and tracking animals. We talked about wild pigs, tapiers and fish. We all ate larva (even Carden and Christine that needed much encouragement!) We drank from water vines and tried to climb trees! We then headed back to our other camp where we packed up everything and started heading back. We spent the entire day/some of the night on the boat. We did have a little alcohol to make the time pass faster! We boated for so long we got to a lodge late at night and just crashed.

Once back in Manaus we had a few hours before we had to leave to catch our flight. We went out to dinner and recapped the best moments on the trip. Heading back to our hotel we ran into some street dance troop. They were practicing for a dance completion the following weekend against the other neighborhood kids in the area. They were FANTASTIC dancers. We just sat there and watched in awe at how good they were, and how much fun they were having! The Brazilian spirit is so cool to me!

Then I just kept going. I went straight from the bus terminal in Paraguay to the airport to fly to Buenos Aires. I got to BA and then hooked up with my girlfriend who came to take the GRE’s as well. We did some studying together then went to bed early for a good nights rest. My test went successfully; I rocked the math section and did acceptable on the verbal. I just don’t talk English these days! Then I went shopping to celebrate because I felt so out of place in my smelly jeans and sweatshirt- Argentineans have such great style! Lauren and I met up later and walked around for a while then went to a bar for celebratory drinks where the two young bartenders hooked us up!

And those were my adventures, lots of traveling, plane rides and sleeping in airports. But absolutely worth it, definitely stories to tell the grandchildren :)

Well after the family left it was back to work, being guapa! I started out April with a near death experience. I was doing my laundry and as I was finishing and putting everything up on the line I was about to step on and only 2 inches away from one of the most deadly snakes in the world- a coral snake. I have had it confirmed from many different sources that it was the real one, the poisonous one. The one where you die within less than 20 min! Awesome right. Well not really if you were there. I was freaked out and it kinda shook me up mostly because it was right outside my door… and I was so close to it! But it was an experience. I started my English class first week of April and had 22 kids show up, I didn’t have any more room in my house so they all sat out front of my house on my grass! I’ve actually really enjoyed taking on this project, I have a pretty consistent 15 kids that show up and I’ve add another class on Saturday for the more advanced kids! And I think these kids are really interested in learning. We have fun and play a lot of games while learning- its my style! I also started my parasite charlas in the school, I only got to do a week and a half of them before things got insane around the school. On Saturday Paraguay is celebrating their 200th year of independence. So the whole school is preparing for it, we have dances, decorations, poems to recite, theaters to present, parade practice- which includes drums and baton girls. Its been a crazy month of all the preparations. So I am waiting to start up again on my charlas until this business is over! But I still continued to do fluoride with the kids every week. The last week of April I was in Asuncion for mid service IST, which basically means go to the doctor because it’s the midway point and make sure you don’t have worms or nasty things growing! I was clean as a whistle!! We also had to get our visas renewed, which turned out to be quite a mess. There are six of us who are going on an extreme Amazon Adventure and we were really worried our passports weren’t going to be back in time to use for the trip, because everything is really backed up from the independence madness. But we begged and pleaded and ended up getting everything taken care of no worries. And we all got pretty new Brazilian visas that will last 10 years! Now we’re all set for our trip! We also celebrated our COS (close of service) date while in Asuncion. It was really crazy that we’re on the downhill side now! Back home I was practicing full time working with the kids to teach them Paraguayan dance. Of course I didn’t know it, but the teacher showed me one time and I caught on. So I was the little dance assistant for the kids! It was fun, but also really tiring. We worked hard! May 4th I celebrated my 1 year in site. And I threw myself a party! I cooked hot dogs, funfetti cupcakes, brownies and no bake cookies. Needless to say, the food was a huge hit! We had a lot of fun, there were about 45 people there including kids, we danced, ate, drank and had a really good time. Nothing crazy, but just right with my closest people! That very next day I was in Pilar for a VAC meeting that I lead. I announced that I got permission to do a 4th of July event (I am activities coordinator for the Peace Corps!) and I am doing a dance-a-thon. Its going to be pretty spectacular. Competitions, matching outfits, choreographed dance. I got it all. So me and my VAC discussed what we will be doing and everyone seemed pretty excited! Then to continue the party the next night we celebrated my friend Brian’s birthday in Pilar. We drank, ate and danced up a storm. It felt like a disco in his house!! Ohhh and we taught the Paraguayan beer pong. They loved it!! Oh but wait I’m not done with the parties. I returned to my site on Saturday and had a 2 year old party to go to that night. The crazy thing was this was the first birthday party I went to when I got to Tacuaras a year ago. It was a very weird feeling to be attending a repeat event! But only this time I knew everyone that was at the party… instead of everyone just staring at me! Haha! This week I’ve been in the school every day doing lots of random preparation and of course hanging with my pre-schoolers! I am going to be part of the parade on Saturday and walk with the pre-schoolers! I’m pretty excited, it should be a lot of fun. And let me tell you, I’m excited for it to be over, I’m exhausted. I’m gone all day, then have to clean my house, do my laundry, clean my dishes, cook… and I just don’t have enough time for everything! To add on to that 2 days ago Tutti got spayed, so she cant leave the house, and I have to watch her carefully so she doesn’t bite of her bandage. But shes doing pretty good, still sore and I can tell in pain, but she just started to eat again this afternoon. And I tied a ridiculous old shirt and duct taped it to her so she cant reach the bandage to bite the stitches out. But it was kinda cool to see the operation, and I got to help!! Oooh and I got to be a part of something really spectacular today and yesterday. Thank you to my wonderful Aunt Cathy and her dentist in Oregon! Her dentist donated 144 toothbrushes in really fun color. I have now given one toothbrush to every student and currently 120 kids have toothbrushes in their classrooms that will stay there! The look on these kids faces were absolutely precious. And they all said, now we can brush our teeth all the time!! And this second statement I don’t know if it makes me sad or greatful for gving him one, but he said, “This is my first toothbrush”. I kinda wanted to cry or smile… I don’t know! But it was a fun moment to be a part of! With many many thanks to my beautiful Aunt for thinking of me and the kids! Things just never stop here though, I have GRE studying to do, applications to prepare for and another party to go to tonight! Its nurses day… and my favorite people and closest contacts are all nurses! If its not one things its another! But loving life- For real. I enjoy keeping busy and doing good work. Then after this weekend a little Brazilian Amazon jungle to experience! It will be a welcoming break!

Okay so I have failed at updating my blog. But here it goes. In my last update I was about to go on family vacation. Well lets just say it was fabulous. It was a very memorable vacation that I think all of us will never forget. The beaches were fabulous, Laura and I hit the tanning nicely. We did a lot of exploring: we saw a very uniquely designed house, went over a roller coaster bridge, visited the delicious tea and waffle house (and of course ate our very own yummy waffle!), and hung out with the fingers on the beach! We ate well, played a card game most nights and had our own dance parties! We explored Montevideo one day while waiting for Laura to arrive at the airport then after she got in we got to experience a tango show and some typical dances from Uruguay! Uruguay is beautiful with very nice people and definitely a trip that’s worth taking. Only I was very exhausted from translating everything- I really didn’t know it was going to be that draining, and I got confused a lot! But I guess that’s probably normal! The real fun began when we arrived in Paraguay. The countries are so close and both end with -guay… but they are really not very similar! Paraguay is such a less developed country and my family definitely got to catch a glimpse of that. We spent the first night with my training family in Guarambare. We played with Alexis, held my new baby sis Sofie, and ate tons of food and fresh grapefruit juice! Although they couldn’t communicate with my family we still had a really great time. Laura really enjoyed taking pictures and checkin out the family animals! The following morning after a delicious breakfast of cocido we started heading south. We drove over 300 kilometers to Tacuaras, since I’ve always traveled by bus it was also a really great experience for me. There is so much you don’t realize while you’re on a big bus! My dad did a great job of not hitting any animals and navigating the many potholes! And it was really beautiful… the way the landscape changes is really neat! And now my parents really believe me when I say I live in the swamps! We arrived early afternoon, and of course I didn’t have any food to eat! Ha! But we quickly got to finding beds for everyone, we were hauling around bed frames, mattresses and pillows from the neighbors! Then we headed over to Nancy’s house (the host family I lived with for the longest here!) we sat around drinking tereré, looking at Jimena’s birthday party pictures, and having every single person walk by us in a complete stare! My biggest comments from people were, WOW you’re parents look young, and your sister is really skinny and pretty! Then being the super hostess that Nancy is she made us hot dogs and sandwiches! We were having such a good time by the time we left it was basically dark and ready to get ready for the birthday party that night. So we didn’t get to visit many other families. The birthday party was for the 12 year old Mario who is the son of one of my best friends and neighbors, Blanca. Who is also the pre-school teacher and who I spend almost every afternoon from 2-4 in her class with her! At the party we ate 4 different kinds of meat: pork, beef, sheep and goat. It was pretty freakin good! People were very nice and used all the 2 words of English they knew. And I just sat around translating! The following morning I wanted to go visit more families and walk around, unfortunately in Paraguayan fashion it was raining- hard! And there was a power outage. So we left early. We drove back up to Asuncion, where we stopped at a artisan tent to buy some gifts then just rested and showered up in the hotel and went to dinner. My fellow PCV Stephanie ended up joining us for dinner which was very nice, she got to help translate too! And in the morning we got up way too early and returned the rental car and everyone headed to the airport and me to the bus terminal to head back to site! It was an absolutely wonderful vacation, and I feel so blessed that my family made the effort and spent the money to come down and see me. You can explain your life over and over, but until you’re there and see it in person, touch it, eat it, feel it. That’s when you understand. And I couldn’t not be more thankful to my family for taking the 24 hour journey and sharing in a part of my life that will be an extremely defining and life changing experience for me. So thank you Aunt Cathy and UK (Kentelton! Haha) for making the trip possible and to Mom, Dad and Laura for taking time out of your busy lives and for everyone’s continual support. This truly is the hardest job you’ll ever love!

Okay so I have failed at updating my blog. But here it goes. In my last update I was about to go on family vacation. Well lets just say it was fabulous. It was a very memorable vacation that I think all of us will never forget. The beaches were fabulous, Laura and I hit the tanning nicely. We did a lot of exploring: we saw a very uniquely designed house, went over a roller coaster bridge, visited the delicious tea and waffle house (and of course ate our very own yummy waffle!), and hung out with the fingers on the beach! We ate well, played a card game most nights and had our own dance parties! We explored Montevideo one day while waiting for Laura to arrive at the airport then after she got in we got to experience a tango show and some typical dances from Uruguay! Uruguay is beautiful with very nice people and definitely a trip that’s worth taking. Only I was very exhausted from translating everything- I really didn’t know it was going to be that draining, and I got confused a lot! But I guess that’s probably normal! The real fun began when we arrived in Paraguay. The countries are so close and both end with -guay… but they are really not very similar! Paraguay is such a less developed country and my family definitely got to catch a glimpse of that. We spent the first night with my training family in Guarambare. We played with Alexis, held my new baby sis Sofie, and ate tons of food and fresh grapefruit juice! Although they couldn’t communicate with my family we still had a really great time. Laura really enjoyed taking pictures and checkin out the family animals! The following morning after a delicious breakfast of cocido we started heading south. We drove over 300 kilometers to Tacuaras, since I’ve always traveled by bus it was also a really great experience for me. There is so much you don’t realize while you’re on a big bus! My dad did a great job of not hitting any animals and navigating the many potholes! And it was really beautiful… the way the landscape changes is really neat! And now my parents really believe me when I say I live in the swamps! We arrived early afternoon, and of course I didn’t have any food to eat! Ha! But we quickly got to finding beds for everyone, we were hauling around bed frames, mattresses and pillows from the neighbors! Then we headed over to Nancy’s house (the host family I lived with for the longest here!) we sat around drinking tereré, looking at Jimena’s birthday party pictures, and having every single person walk by us in a complete stare! My biggest comments from people were, WOW you’re parents look young, and your sister is really skinny and pretty! Then being the super hostess that Nancy is she made us hot dogs and sandwiches! We were having such a good time by the time we left it was basically dark and ready to get ready for the birthday party that night. So we didn’t get to visit many other families. The birthday party was for the 12 year old Mario who is the son of one of my best friends and neighbors, Blanca. Who is also the pre-school teacher and who I spend almost every afternoon from 2-4 in her class with her! At the party we ate 4 different kinds of meat: pork, beef, sheep and goat. It was pretty freakin good! People were very nice and used all the 2 words of English they knew. And I just sat around translating! The following morning I wanted to go visit more families and walk around, unfortunately in Paraguayan fashion it was raining- hard! And there was a power outage. So we left early. We drove back up to Asuncion, where we stopped at a artisan tent to buy some gifts then just rested and showered up in the hotel and went to dinner. My fellow PCV Stephanie ended up joining us for dinner which was very nice, she got to help translate too! And in the morning we got up way too early and returned the rental car and everyone headed to the airport and me to the bus terminal to head back to site! It was an absolutely wonderful vacation, and I feel so blessed that my family made the effort and spent the money to come down and see me. You can explain your life over and over, but until you’re there and see it in person, touch it, eat it, feel it. That’s when you understand. And I couldn’t not be more thankful to my family for taking the 24 hour journey and sharing in a part of my life that will be an extremely defining and life changing experience for me. So thank you Aunt Cathy and UK (Kentelton! Haha) for making the trip possible and to Mom, Dad and Laura for taking time out of your busy lives and for everyone’s continual support. This truly is the hardest job you’ll ever love!

March 1st we celebrated our 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps existence, and 45 years here in Paraguay. It’s a pretty great accomplishment, and I feel very privileged to be a part of this anniversary! I could not say enough great things about my Peace Corps experience and feel so lucky every day that I choose to do this. It is such a unique experience that no study abroad, Americorps, mission trip could ever compare to (not that’s those are bad or unworthy things!). The fact that you are living in a developing country for 27 months allows you the time to actually do something. Most volunteers state that they don’t feel like they’ve really done anything until the 2nd year. And now approaching my second year… I agree with that statement. Yeah I gave some dental charlas and sex ed charlas, but I think my work will be much more impactful this second year. I was talking to my close friend Kasey Vargo on the phone yesterday and we were discussing my experience thus-far. I told her about my trainee visit I had last week, and listening to a new trainee who has only been in Paraguay for 3 weeks, she really has no idea what is ahead of her. I realized I was just like that, that was me, I didn’t know anything… and while my Guarani is still horrible, I do understand a lot more than people think I do! And I finally do feel a part of my community. I have made great friends, friends that I can show up at their houses at any time of the day, for anything, or just to drink a little terere! The fact that I spent most all afternoons out of my house, when most people (outside of their jobs) never or barely leave their houses, is something very rare in the campo. But since I do live on my own, I enjoy getting out of the house, and I’m always pleasantly surprised by new things I get to experience, people I get to meet, parties I get invited to, food I get to eat- just by showing up! To Paraguayans it means so much more showing up and giving them your time than anything else! Which is mostly what I’ve been up to lately, hanging out with friends and families. However I have spent almost every day since school recently started in the pre-school class. One of my closest friends Blanca is the teacher… but mostly I just really love the kids in that class! They are a group of 11 and they are each so wonderful, playful, loving, and I know they enjoy having my around a lot! Every day when I come into the class they all scream, Sara!! They always put a big smile on my face :) In other news, I am preparing to leave site soon. On the 8th i’m headed to Asuncion for the SHAKIRA concert! So very excited, and there are going to be herds of Americans sharing in the awesome booty shakin music! Then I get to spend almost a whole week with my training family. My training mom just had a baby, March 2 she gave birth to Sofia Analia who weighed 4.5 kilos (that’s basically 10 pounds!!). I will get to spend lots of time with my new little (probably really chubby) Paraguayan sister. And some much needed quality time with the boyfriend!! After that its off to meet the family in Uruguay! Family vacation time, relaxing on the beach and hopefully some really yummy eatin! Then I have the wonderful opportunity of showing them Paraguay and where the real magic happens! So stayed tuned for an update on all my upcoming adventures!

Thank god i've been with my closest friends these last few weeks. It makes the transition back to Paraguay, the extreme heat, and my never ending cough seam bearable! So I started my traveling adventures in Paraguari visiting my friend Andy's site. We were just there for a night because I couldn't make it all the way to Liza's site in one day! Andy's site was very interesting and completely different from mine! It is up in the "mountains"- there are no real mountains in Paraguay, just hills! But it was absolutely beautiful. And green trees everywhere, great views! His community is very spread out, not like mine all in one central area. So just getting to the neighbors house was a good walk! His site has no running water, and he doesn't have an artisan well (water coming up from the ground), his well gets filled up from rain water. Because of this the water is not clean at all and he has to treat all of his water before drinking. It is definitely a harder way of life, harder to just live and do everyday chores! It was fun to experience, but i'm getting used to my more chuchi life! However he did cook some fantastic lasagna on his fagone that night! But that was just for the night, the next morning really early we headed out on our way to Liza's site in Caazapa. We ended up in Villarica crashing a vac meeting and getting to meet the newest group thats come to Paraguay! We finally met up with Liza in San Juan, where we bought a couple groceries and then took her campo bus to her home! I really enjoyed her community. And I adored her house, cute little blue wooden house, very homey and welcoming! The next day we ventured out in the morning inviting community kids to the camp we were having the next day. Then we went to meet up with Danielle who was coming in later, on the way to meet up with Dan, we decided it was a good idea to take a short cut through a field. Well we ended up in a bog. Liza ventured out first, only to lose both her flip flops in the mud. But... do not fear, Sarah to the rescue, I flipped off my flippys and jumped right in that mud to save the shoes. I was digging around in the gooey mud for a while when I eventually got them both out. That's what best friends do! Afterward I really enjoyed my mud socks and elbow length gloves! haha. We washed up in the creek just as Danielle was arriving. Reunited, we headed to Liza's second host families house. We enjoyed a really nice afternoon with them, drinking terere, eating delicious asado and playing with the kids. We headed home to get ready for our upcoming camp the next day. Our first days theme was nutrition. Second day sports and arts. Third day environmental education. Fourth and last day, parasites. The camp was so incredibly successful, I was so happy! Not only did we spend four morning with some really great kids, but we had the most amazing time hanging out with each other. Laughing hysterically, cooking delicious yummy food, making tie-dye camp counselor shirts and talking about inappropriate womanly things in front of Andy!! After camp we had to go to Asuncion for meetings with the bosses. And immediately Saturday morning we headed back to Andy's site. Now there were four of us, no running water and probably about 110 degrees in a corrugated metal one-room house. Needless to say, it was HOT! We went through an incredible amount of water, us girls walked around in just our sport bra's all week. However, I was really guapa one afternoon when I offered to go chop fire wood for the fagone. I like to say I chopped down a tree with just a machete... but that tree could have just been a really big branch!! It was still pretty good. I was sweating everywhere and had small pieces of dirt, wood and leaves all over me when I returned! Also adventurous, Andy put us in charge of making hot sauce. He had three big bushes full of little red peppers. So Danielle and I were giving the task of cutting the stems off... well about 20 min into it, and about 200 peppers down my fingers started tingling a bit. That's when I decided to stop cutting peppers. Another 10 minutes later and my fingers felt as though I had put them in a boiling pot of water for a couple minutes. They were ON FIRE!! For the next 6 hours or so I had my fingers either in the freezer or in a bowl of ice water. It was incredible... had no idea those peppers were so hot! But we had a really successful second camp in Andy's site. Despite the hot weather and the distance those guapo kids had to walk to get there.

I am currently on our week break, relaxing and preparing for my camp when the troop will be arriving here for in two days! I've put up posters in all the little stores and told all my favorite kids. I'm expecting a pretty good turn out- but we'll see, this is Paraguay!

Well here we are in 2011, I know I keep saying that time is flying by. But it honestly really is, I have been in Paraguay for 11 months- with a short 2 week break celebrating Christmas and New Years in the United States of America! I had an absolutely wonderful vacation home, with only small mishaps of accidently missing my flight home and having to return 3 days later because there is just really no flight out of Asuncion! And then of course losing my luggage, but thankfully getting it in time to give all my Christmas gifts and teach all my family how to drink terere! That was a really special experience for me to show my family and friends the biggest and most important thing to Paraguayans. Terere is such a cultural identity for Paraguay, it was fun to teach and show my family just what is was all about. I got a couple of really great comments that made me smile- like UK (uncle Kent) and Uncle Ron thought there was tobacco in it, others thought it was grass, and Bri asked if we all had to share the same straw!! I really enjoyed my family time at home and just being all together. And of course the FOOD! I ate so ridiculously much, I gained a few pounds, but I don’t even care, it was totally worth it! I also really enjoyed a nice shower, throwing my toilet paper in the toilet, carpet, walking around without shoes on, cheese (thanks Nick Mattox!), good coffee, catching up on Glee, snow and beautiful days in Seattle with wonderful best friends!

But now that the States are out of site and I’m back in Paraguay it feels really good to be home! And I feel like I’m losing weight just sitting here… especially since I just sweat all day long. Its hot! Its definitely been over 100 degrees every day and I bet hotter than that in the afternoons. I’ve been drinking tons of water and trying to stay out of the sun. Its also taken me a little bit to adjust back to Paraguay time, I think my body still thinks it 5 hours earlier than it is. And so I cant get to bed at a normal time. But I also haven’t been sleeping because we’ve had lots of power outages, and that means no fan, which means I laying in bed awake and covered in sweat- its lovely! But its been fun catching up with friends and giving some gifts to people! And of course hangin with Tutti, who is a monster! Shes grown a ton and just loves to run around and play… she also loves to bring in dead birds with intestines hangin out and an incredibly horrible smell- yeah pets!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I have brought back a web camera with me and now have full skype abilities and I hope that everyone would add me, I would love to see your smiling faces. And I can give you a live feed of my life in Paraguay, my house, Tutti… whatever is happening! My skype name is scross21.

I wish everyone a full and prosperous 2011!

Well the month of November just ended… cant believe it! Work wise it was a pretty slow month. It’s the last month of school so all the kids are preparing and taking final exams, so it wasn’t a great time to be teaching. However I did become quite popular overnight from all the neighbor kids after I put up my hammock in my house. Its prefect spot where you can just sit and swing and watch the passerbyers on the street… and there is a great wall that you can push off to get a nice swing in! I also did some home improvements and made a shelf out of materials I found in my backyard- bricks and pieces of wood! I was pretty proud of myself! And now I feel so much more organized and its really nice to have things off the floor, because it really humid. (you can view all these new photos on my facebook!)

Other than that its been a pretty chill month. Hung out with people a lot, played with Tutti, who is getting soooo big! She really is growing really fast. She loves being in the hammock with me when I’m reading, its fun to snuggle with someone- since snuggling with boys is out of the question :) I did have more training in Asuncion which was kinda ridiculous, a waste of my time in my opinion. I wanted more HOW to do projects and ideas and we basically just got taught at- with stuff I already knew. But three days of boredom turned into three days of extreme fun. We spent Thanksgiving at a hotel close to the city of Encarnacion. It was absolutely beautiful, set up in the rolling green hills, beautiful trees everywhere. I felt a little bit like I was in the forest. And the rooms were really nice. I stayed with four of my closest girlfriends and had a wonderful room situation! There were three pools at the hotel which we utilized every day. It was beautiful weather and for a second I forgot I was in Paraguay! I was in charge of coordinating all of the activities, which turned out very very well, and I think everyone was very happy/impressed by my creativity and organization! They don’t call me party planner #1 for nothing! And then I was overwhelmingly nominated to run and organize the whole entire thing next year… its more work, but I didn’t have much choice! But I have really great ideas for next year, so it will be great! So on the return home I was kinda sad to be leaving my best friends… and the sweet awesome pool and floaty toys. But it was nice to be home in my house and reunited with Tutti again. In the next two weeks I have a lot of parties, graduations and events to attend so it should fly by, and then I will be in the United States of America!

My title means, “I live well” in Guarani. Life is good here in Paraguay. I had a very successful Sexual Education series in the middle school in October. It was really great because I ended up not doing too much of the talking. I was accompanied by at least one nurse every charla that knew more than me, especially in the vocabulary sense. But that is great on so many levels because that is our goal here in Peace Corps. To train sustainability, and I was more of just the motivation and organization part of the charlas. But we were able to barrow a projector from the local government and use the sweet technology of a powerpoint presentation! I’ve told some of my friends that I’ve been making powerpoints and they always ask me if I’m really living in Paraguay… its not very typical for people in the campo to have technology like that! So that has been a big success… and I know the kids are learning a lot. It is such an important subject for them, because it is a problem here. And so many times teenagers think they are invisible and that sexually transmitted disease wont happen to them, but the percentage of people that have HIV/AIDS in Paraguay is the same as in the United States. Other than that I’ve been working and already have permission to turn the lot next to my house into a volleyball court! Sweet! All I have to do is look for someone who has some wood we can use for poles, buy a net and make some lines! I’m very excited about it, its going to be my summer activities with the kids. My friends and I have also starting planning our travelling summer camps! We’ll have to save that until we all get back from our xmas vacations though!

Great news about my house… I now have ALL my doors! It is very exciting; my owner just finished installing all of them yesterday. Its really nice to have a door that locks to my bathroom. I just feel super safe now! And this afternoon I’m going to the store to buy a new light for the bathroom because it doesn’t work! Ha… there is always something right! But its progress, and the Safety and Security Coordinator for Peace Corps was at my house last week. Him and the director of all Paraguay dropped me off at home after a meeting we had in Pilar and at that point I didn’t have doors and he was very worried about it, but I just sent him and email and he is very happy that I now have them!

So I’ve been on vacation/traveling basically these last two weeks. First I had a birthday party for a fellow volunteer who is in my Vac group. We went to a town called Cerrito, its in the very south of my department right along the river. We spent one night in a hostel type place just hangin out drinking a few beers! Then in the morning we headed out on a boat to an island for a camping adventure. There were 8 of us and we sun tanned… which turned out to be a horrible idea. No matter how much sun tan lotion you put on the sun is so freakin hot here, I got super burned… especially on my back! Ha! Then it just got so hot we moved to the river, grabbed a drink and sat in the river just hanging out, it was a really really fun day! Then for dinner we made really delicious black bean burgers over a campfire and for dessert had smores! Real smores, like hersey’s chocolate, real marshmallows and state side graham crackers! It was heavenly! We all finally retired to bed either in tents of under mosquito nets… only to be woken up in the middle of the night with my friend Steven telling us its going to rain! And sure enough in about an hour it started down pouring. Well we only had two, two-person tents and only one had a rain flap! So we squeezed 6 people into a tiny tent… needless to say we didn’t sleep much that night! We all woke up tired and covered in sand, but thankfully our boat captain came and got us from the island that morning. My friend Brian (from Pilar) and I headed back to Pilar with a guy that offered us a ride in his truck. Four hours later we arrived just in time for me to hop on another bus towards Asuncion to hang with my friends. I finally made it to Asuncion 6 hours later, exhausted and all I wanted to do was go have dinner with my friends. As I was waiting for the bus it suddenly started down pouring… hard. So I ended up just having a bite to eat by myself across the street from my hotel. Well that down pour turned into extreme water ways flowing down the streets of Asuncion. There were cars stuck in the high water not able to drive, and the ones that could looked like boats the water was so high. So I sat it out in the restaurant by myself, sad, tired and lonely. Then we the weather let up a bit I ventured out and tried to get back home. Well I crossed half the street easily then looked to the other side and the water was at least high calf deep… so I walked up the street a bit to see if it would be less water… I just ended up walking more and getting more and more soaked. When I finally decided to cross the street my flip flop came off in the current and starting floating down the river in the street… so I chased after it all the while soaking my jeans thoroughly! I made it across the street/river and back home to my hotel room I crashed and hoped that the following day would be better. Well it was, I met up with the girls who were getting their hair done… then we went and hung out with Danielle at Don Clark’s house (the director of all Paraguay Peace Corps) until it was time for our Halloween Party! I was Father Time and looked pretty good, everyone knew exactly who I was! We hung out with our friends, drank some cheep red wine and danced all night!! The following day could have been one of the best days I’ve had in Paraguay. I was supposed to go to Guazu Cora to hang with my training family. But the later it got in the day the less we wanted to go. First Andy decided not to go, then Eliza and I thought about it more and decided it was pretty silly to go and come back to Asuncion when we could just wait another day and go tomorrow. It may have also been influenced by the movie Eat Pray Love that we wanted to see that night! So we hopped on the bus and headed to spend time with Danielle. While on the bus we were deciding what to write to our families to tell them we weren’t coming. Andy decided to read aloud what he wrote describing how hes sick and has really bad diarrhea… only he read it to us in Spanish, without realizing that everyone on the bus speaks that language. So he ended up telling the whole bus that he had really bad diarrhea! It was hilarious and we all starting laughing so hard we were crying. It was ridiculous and I’m sure the whole bus thought we were drunk or on some kind of drug! But later we all decided that was exactly what we needed, a really good hard laugh. It put us in such great spirits and made our souls smile  Once with Danielle we hung out with our feet in the pool drinking terere and sharing the stories of the night before. Then later that night we went and watched the movie which we all thought was really good- now I’ve heard different reviews. But when seeing a movie is such a rarity almost anything is good!

Monday Liza and I headed out to Guazu Cora and just hung out with our families. It was really great. We drank way too much terere and it was fabulous. My family had remodeled their house and it was absolutely gorgeous with beautiful railings all around the house and tile floor. And my ma was soooo fat and pregnant! Shes five months now and looking so great! And Alexis is big and walking around everywhere and kinda starting to want to talk! It was a wonderful couple of days catching up with all the families. Liza and I also found something to take home with us… we both got puppies!!! They are brother and sister, two month old. Liza’s mom did research and thinks they are a mix of something and Brazilian terrier. When we got them they were really skinny and covered in fleas! So we took them home and gave them a bath and I proceeded to pick out most all the fleas by hand while Liza sat next to me and freaked out. She thought it was a big mistake to get a puppie, she didn’t know how to care for one… she was so funny. But I calmed her down, took out all the fleas and made sure they had a nice comfy bed to sleep in that night. In the morning I took both puppies to the bus station in Asuncion where I met Liza (she had to run lots of errands that morning in Asuncion and couldn’t do it with a puppie!) well somewhere along the trip both puppies puked all over each other! It was great! So we cleaned them up a bit before we both got on our buses and headed towards home, although I went to Pilar because I had a meeting the next day with the director of PC. The next day I gave Tutti all her anti-parasite shots and got her some food, a collar and vitamins to grow big and strong. And just a week later she is much fatter and full of life and energy and loves sleeping. Shes really cute, I love her and its nice to have company! Although last night she stole my cougar squishy pillow… so now its hers! Shes a pretty good puppy, only problem is she likes to poop in the house in the early mornings… we’re still working on the potty training! But she got to go on vacation to Danielle’s home this last weekend. I met Danielle in her site on Saturday (6th) to help her get readjusted back home. I brought a bunch of groceries with me so she didn’t have to do any food shopping! Then I did dishes, cooked, cleaned, swept! I was really glad I was there, because Danielle was still pretty sick and weak from surgery, so it was great to help out! And we just had a great couple of days together, watching movies, Sex and the City… and just being together! I got back to site yesterday and was really exhausted. Traveling really takes it out of me… and I got home to find my doors on which made me happy but the owner had just stained them, so there was this terrible smell and that only compounded the horrible head ache I already had. But I went to bed extremely early and woke up naturally and cleaned my house and did some chores!

So that’s about what I’ve been doing this last month. Some work, some play and an overall good time. And I cant believe I’ll be home in the United States of America in just a month and a week!

Time is really flying by here. In one more month I will have been in my site for 6 months and completed ¼ of my service!! That is so extremely crazy to me. Good thing I’ve been working hard and feel as though I’ve accomplished some things! Ha! So I’ve officially moved into my house I have everything I need- for the most part! I have a refrigerator, electric oven, dresser, bed and shelves in my kitchen to put my food and dishes! The guy that owns the house is currently working on finishing up the bathroom. I’m hoping in just a couple of days they’ll finish. It’s getting annoying to have to use the neighbors all the time! But it’s worth it to be in my own house and cooking my own food and kids not touching all my stuff. However, I still have my share of kids visiting my house and just wanting to hang out. But it’s fun and just so different to have my own space. It’s very liberating and it makes me really happy! Also my lights aren’t connected from the company that installs all the lights in this country (like the PUD) so right now I’m stealing it from my neighbors… so it doesn’t work well. Yesterday all afternoon until now (sat afternoon) I don’t have lights. And I probably won’t have any tonight either. Darn! But I’m hangin out with my neighbors and one of my best friends, so its fine! I made bruchetta the other night and it was absolutely delicious, I was really hitting my limit with Paraguayan food, it’s been nice to have a break!

I have officially finished all my dental charlas and this month I will be busy working in the high school doing charlas on sexuality and HIV/AIDS… should be fun! I finally feel like the high schoolers have gotten to know me and I feel much more comfortable with them and okay to teach on this subject already! And I was asked specifically by one of the teachers, so guess I’ll help out! And I’m thinking about doing a couple of charlas in the elementary about garbage. But school ends for summer vacation middle of November, so I really only have one more month working in the schools!

I also have my garden project that I want to get started. It going to be a little harder (and more costly) to have my garden in the summer time, but you can do it and it will be worth it! It will be fun to get outside and do some work, and also a little sun time! But seriously the sun here is HOT! I’ve just been walking to the schools or running little errands outside and I get burned. I keep forgetting to put sunscreen on… but now that its starting to be hot hot hot, I’ve got to remember to put that on! Also we’re springing forward tomorrow so I’ll be one more hour ahead of everyone. So mom that means 4 hours ahead and once you guys change in November we'll be 5 hours difference :( Hopefully i'll be putting up photos soon... I currently cant find my cable. My stuff is everywhere! AHHH!

Wow I did not realize its been so long since I’ve last updated my blog. I guess I really have been busy! Work has been going really really well. The kids absolutely love my charlas and having me in the class. They see me on the street and always ask when I’m going to come teach in their class again! Its been a lot of fun and I know the kids are learning things, they all like to tell me how much they’re bushing their teeth! And they always enjoy playing games. It’s been a fun experience to teach in the schools- very rewarding! And it has helped me further integrate into the community! Other work activities: I’ve been giving charlas in Pilar to “The school of tomorrow”, I do charlas with my neighbor Josh and its super fun and a little different! I like it because I get to collaborate with other volunteers and make more connections and do a little bit of networking. Because there is not a health volunteer in Pilar, so they aren’t getting any health stuff! I’ve also been rockin with my walking group. I now walk at 5:15 AM with my girlfriends and then again at 5 PM with a different group. My sleep has been lacking but I’ve liked the exercise and company! I’ve also started a group of women that are interested in learning how to sew and make clothes. Then I’m going to bring in a specialist from an NGO to teach capacitation classes. Next week is my last week of dental charlas then I’ll be starting in the high school only. I want to teach on values, self-esteem, career planning, healthy relationships, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. I’m very excited because its definitely a theme lacking in my community, but I’m also scared at the same time. Seniors in high school are very intimidating. But I have high hopes that it will be successful… Teaching how to put on condoms correctly is always a good laugh!

On the social side I’ve really made some good friends. I have two girlfriends that I trust completely- which is hard here because everyone gossips so much and you really have to be careful who you tell things to. Then I have a lot more good friends, who I don’t tell secrets to, but I really enjoying hangin out with, dancing, drinking terere. But with my girlfriends, comes lots of invitations to parties. Not saying I don’t like me a good party. But I feel like I am always at a party! Eliza has gotten so tired of me calling and saying I’m at a party, she now tells me to tell her when I’m NOT at a party! Ha! But I definitely feel more a part of the community and I’ve really enjoyed myself and getting to know people better and on a deeper level.

House news is good news. I have a house. I will be moving in probably next week. And I am thrilled! It is such a relief to have a house and know I have to place to myself. It’s a cute little brick house. It has two rooms- one for the bedroom and the other for the kitchen. Then it has a semi-outside part with a roof on it and the wall closest to the road is a half brick wall and half chain link fence. Then my bathroom connects to that part- complete with flushing toilet and hot water shower. Chuchi ville! It has a big back yard for my fantastic garden I’m going to have… and my puppy?! I’m looking forward to buying all my things on Thursday, but not really looking forward to spending all my money. I’m going to have to barrow a little from my American bank account until I get more to reimburse myself!

Lets see other than that, October is going to be a very busy month for me. Full of parties, our fiesta patronal- which is our patron saint day that we celebrate for like three days full of fun activities. Like a horse show, bull fight (just the toro part, not the killing), and a ridiculous amount of dancing! Hopefully Eliza and Danielle can come down and visit to help me celebrate! Ohhh and I also have a boyfriend… well not a real boyfriend. I’m really tired of creepy men and people that keep texting me. So I’ve decided to have a boyfriend. I asked a fellow volunteer, Jake to be my pretend boyfriend! So now I have a great excuse when avoiding men!

Everyday I’m learning, every day I make better and stronger relationship and every day I’m enjoying where I live more and more. Hope you all are well. And I’ll try and be a better blogger! Besos!

So last week was my first full week of my dental charla series. I gave 13 dental talks to every class in the grade school (pre-school to 6th grade) and 7-9th grade in the high school. It was very successful, and I know the kids really enjoyed it. However, I was very tired. I never knew teaching was so draining. And I only worked for about an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon! However, I was teaching in my second language, so that was a little bit harder. So I started with the little kids, we sang songs, read stories and played simple games. Then I transitioned into the high school and for a moment I forgot what it was like to be in high school/middle school… but it quickly came flooding back to me. I don’t think I was sufficiently prepared for what I entered into. I came from little kids in classes no more than 10 to an 8th grade class of 30 students! Not only did they laugh at me when I said words wrong, but it was tough. I felt very intimidated and also slightly embarrassed after they laughed at me. It is really different than teaching to the little kids. They don’t care or even notice when you say something wrong. But the big kids- they notice. So it was definitely a transition, but the 9th and 7th grade went tons better. I was more prepared and I knew more kids well in those other two grades. And I’m going to tell you a little secret to the success of my lessons. TAG! They loved tag. I didn’t know the word for it in Spanish so I just called it tag! They did not want to stop playing, such a simple game that I grew up playing at recess, but it was totally knew to these kids and they really had a great time playing- success! It feels good to be doing things though. And now all the kids call me Profesora Sara- I like it! Other than that I worked out mon-fri last week. I went running/walking. Right when I get lots of motivation to get out there and start working out, getting back into shape of course something happens… I have mean shin splints. And they hurt, really bad. Boo! So not only is it weird that I’m running in the first place (because that is not a normal thing) but not I run even funnier because my shins hurt so bad! But you know, I’m pushing through it and doing as much as I can! But because of all the running I’ve been doing, I’ve had lots of women tell me they want to start exercising too and that we can start walking together in the later afternoon! So that’s pretty cool and I lost 1 kilo (2.2 pounds)! Today I hung out and I think I was officially accepted into the cool girl circle! I have a group of young girls my age in my site. Ages 21-24 and there are about 5 of them. They all work in our local municipality and they invited me to play basketball and hang out with them today. We played for a few minutes and then sat around drinking terere and chatting all afternoon! It was really fun and had a great time hanging out with girls my own age! They said they would help me move in and arrange all my things when I finally get my own house. And we can have a move in party!! More than ever I’m really looking forward to getting my own place! Probably wont be till October, because the guy that owns the house is going to build the bathroom and he is currently working on a job in another town so he doesn’t have time right now. But I talked to his brother the other day who is like the liaison between him and I and I told him how I was really excited to have my own house and I was really ready to move and hopefully his brother will finish his job soon! We’ll see!

So my leadership camp was a huge success! It was very fun and also very tiring. I'm not used to doing so much in my day! ha! I took two girls with me. Paty and Auralia, they are sisters and some of my closest friends! We talked about team work, communication, values, sexuality and HIV/AIDS! Most of the presentations were lead by students, so it was really neat to see how peers can influence each other. My girls really enjoyed themselves and we all had a really great time! So here comes a cool story: the week after I got back Paty and I were talking and I asked her how her boyfriend was. But she told me she didnt want to be with him any longer. I asked her why and she told me it was because he was pressuring her to have sex. But she said she wasn't physically or emotionally ready to have sex, just like we heard about at camp. And she was worth more than that and she wanted to wait until she was in love and ready. It was such a great feeling to know that what I did was directly influenced in someones life. It gave me a lot of motivation to continue what i'm doing and that I can make a difference!

Last week i've was playing a lot of basketball. I didnt even know we had hoops, but I found out a lot of kids really enjoy playing. So I showed up and showed all those kids my hoop skills! So now i'm going to start my own little team, and teach them how to play the way I learned! It should be awesome, and I get a little exercise in there too!

So i've spent the last week in Asuncion for more training. It was not really what I expected, I wanted to more sharing of projects, ideas, where to go with what we're doing. But it was mostly just more language training. Which was okay, I learned a lot more Guarani, but it was just too much. But i did get to hang out with my friends, which was awesome! Tuesday night in Guazu Cora (my training community) we had a festival. So we all went and danced, had a great time! Wednesday Eliza and Andy threw a surprise party for me. It was really fun, we didnt get to do it as fantastically as they wanted because it was late. but it meant a lot to me! Thursday I had planned a surprise party for Eliza (which is so funny that we were both planning the exact same surprise parties for each other!). Unfortunetly Eliza got sick and we couldn't do it to the extent I wanted, but we just did a little something, ate some cake, it was fun! I really enjoyed seeing my Paraguayan mom and Alexis! My mom is pregnant again two months along and already fat!! I'm excited to have a new little Paraguayan brother or sister. My parents really want a girl! Then this weekend we headed to Asuncion to hang out more and relax with friends. I got some stuff done in the office, fixed my computer a little (its slow and really sucks) then we went out on the town partied it up, danced it up! Saturday morning I was moving slow but we went to the Mercardo 4 which is this huge flea market type area! I bought some really cute cheap clothes and a fantastic little mermaid bag (thought of you Tishra!) Then we watched Inception which was fantastic! And fun to watch a movie in english. Sunday day we watched movies and just hung out and chilled! Look forward to getting back to site, getting into the schools doing some more work. Having some birthday parties... should be fun!

So this whole south american winter thing. WAY colder than I was expecting! Its actually cold. So i've spent these last few weeks just trying to keep warm. I usually sleep with my sleeping bag and three blankets on top. And I like to read before I go to bed, but I haven't lately because my hands get to cold to be out of the blankets! haha! So I hang out with my family. We cook chipa inside where we light the coal and have embers which warms the house a bit, but the chipa is delicious! Ohh I made detergent one day with a bunch of ladies. That was fun! And it turned out really well. And that was part of my work plan, so I can cross that off the list of something i've accomplished! And I think it put me in good standards with the women- they'll want to do more projects with me! Hopefully!

I had a really fabulous day last week where I went out to inspect some guys chimney on his wood burning stove- because I know sooo much about chimneys! haha. And I looked at it, and surprised myself by how smart I sounded- in Spanish! And we came up with a plan on how to improve it. Then he showed me around his house, I drank milk right out of the cow. It was a mug full of delicious milk that was luke warm and foamy. Yeah I know you need to pasturize and all the fun stuff, but I have such a hard time saying no to things being offered to me. So I drank it. And it was delicious! And I haven't died yet, so I think i'll be okay! The rest of the morning I watched them make bamboo juice by sending the bamboo through a crank type thing. Which by the way my town Tacuara means bamboo in Guarani! Small fact there! And later I used this bamboo juice to drink as mate (hot tea with yerba!) it was pretty good!

I've had three weeks of my Guarani tutor now, and its going really really well! I actually had a conversation today with my teacher! And i've been understanding a whole lot more of what my family and the people here are saying. My biggest problem is that they talk so damn fast! If they would talk slower and give me a little time to process I could understand a whole lot more! But I have a quiz tomorrow in my class, so i'm going to be studying up this evening!

Last weekend I went to visit my friend Danielle who lives the department over, but is only an hour and a half away by bus! I wasnt going to stay as long as I did but it started raining and I couldnt get back into my site. But we had such a fabulous time together. Doing absolutely nothing, but doing it together. We watched TONS of movies, in english! and the whole 7th season of Friends, which was amazing! And we made tacos from real taco seasoning her mom sent her from the States- they were bomb! And ate Jiff peanut butter- which made my life!! So overall a great weekend, and it was really fun to see another persons site and get to know their people! They were all very nice and invited me back as often as I wanted, and said next time we have to dance... I showed off a few moves of mine!!

But life is tranquilo, chill. Working on some small projects, waiting for school to start up again. And i'm doing a leadership camp this weekend in Pilar which should be fun! Chau Chau!

Well I’m in Asuncion this weekend to celebrate the 4th of July with Americans! We’re having a big bbq at the Embassy on Friday and a volleyball tournament after, which I’m super pumped about and have stacked my team with good players! Its going to be nice to see a bunch of my friends and meet some new folks! I haven’t seen my bestie, Eliza for 2 months now… so it will be nice to see her! And we’re going to go to watch the movie Sex in the City 2 which I’m way excited about!! And on Saturday Paraguay plays Spain in the world cup. We are one of the best 8 teams in the world! And it is exciting because I’ll be in Asuncion and I get to watch the game with all my friends, so I’m really looking forward to that! GO PARAGUAY!

So I haven’t been doing too much in the way of working. However, its been really hard because my teachers are on strike, so there hasn’t been class for over two weeks now and we have official winter vacation starting the 12th so… its been really hard to plan my upcoming charlas, because I have no idea when I’ll be able to start and how long the teachers will be on strike! But so goes the life here, until then I guess I’ll just have to watch a little more world cup!

So I wanted to share with everyone that I have a pet. His name is Charlie. And he is the biggest toad I have ever seen!! His body is the size of an extremely large grapefruit and he always finds a way to sneak back in our house. He really likes the bathroom, but hes been known to visit my room a couple of times! Speaking of pets, our family dog, Lassie is in love with me. She’s my best friend! For some reason she is always at my side, jumping all over me and getting my clothes dirty. When I go out running, she is there waiting, wiggling her tail at the door for me to come home! Its cute but sometimes its nice when she doesn’t get my clothes dirty!

A new little project I’m working on is learning how to knit and do something called ao’poi. Ao’poi is a traditional craft that people make shirts, table cloths, sheets out of. It’s a specific material that you hand decorate a design on! I have a shirt that Eliza’s training mom made and she is currently making me a dress! Its really beautiful stuff, so I’m really excited to learn! Plus one of my favorite ladies in my community is going to teach me, so it will be a good opportunity to get to know her better!

Other than that I’m working on a volleyball camp that I can hopefully do this vacation. I just want to get some girls together and play a little bit! And I’m also going to participate in a leadership camp that’s being put on by other volunteers in Pilar. I’m in charge of team building games! So that should be fun, and something to look forward to! I’m also trying to decide about my housing options. I have a house that is possible for me to rent but my current family said I can stay for as long as I want- even for the whole 2 years! But house negotiating is a very complicated process here, the first house they said I can rent for my two years magically had some guy living in it. And the second house that the brother of my current dad said I could rent, as of yesterday is going to rent it to someone who is going to pay much more than I ever could. So we’ll see what happens, but until then I’m very happy here with my family. My mom told me the other night that she loves having me in the house, she has loved my company and she just feels so much happier when I’m here! So that was really sweet and I really do enjoy it here, so I’m going to weight out the pros and cons of both options!

this first picture is of my family on fathers day. i made that delicious looking cake! second is my nutrician game i did in a class. me and jimena riding bikes, my family and i making chipa over a fire- kinda like marshmellows! and last is my bros first birthday party!

The weekend of June 4th I traveled back up to Guazu Cora (my training community) for Alexis 1st birthday. An hour after I got on the bus my friend Danielle got on. Its so nice to have a traveling buddy, so every time we go to Asuncion we can ride together too! We made it to town and had to stop by some of the other families too to say hello and chat a little bit! Then I got home and everyone in my house was preparing for Alexis’s bday. We were making and decorating a cake, I blew up tons of balloons. That night it was just a small family party compared to the normal gargantuan first birthday parties that people throw for their kids in this country! But I think my mom had it right, she said Alexis wasn’t going to remember anyway so why spend a bunch of money having a huge party when we can just celebrate with family and close friends! So we had a great time eating tons of meat, drinking cana and wine (not together of course!) The next morning we all just hung out, drank lots of terere, because pa was hung over! After lunch I went over to Danielle’s house and we ate very delicious and juicy mandarins right off the tree. Then we went to Liza’s families house to visit, and I asked her mom to make me a pretty dress just like Liza wore for our swearing in- only red, because red’s my color! Then we made our rounds and hung out with Wes’s fam and drank mate dulce, which is sweet tea-ish. Only it was sweetened milk that you put in a cup of shredded coconut mixed with anis (which is some herb that I don’t know what it translates to!) and it is absolutely delicious! I almost wanted to cry when the milk ran out! Ha! My ma cooked me my favorite dinner that night but it was cold so we went to bed early! The next morning we just said goodbye to everyone and had to leave early to get home in the light!

That next day I prepared for my site presentation on Tuesday. I tried to be really guapa (hard working) and go around to peoples houses and invite them all to come to my presentation. I got to quite a few houses, mostly the people I knew well and who knew me. I was pretty excited because everyone said they would come. However, one thing I’ve learned about this country is that people say they’ll show up and they seem very convincing, but they don’t come. It’s at times frustrating, but its just something you have to realize. So if you invite some number of people, you really have to divide that by 3 and that’s maybe how many people will show up! But I was just proud of myself for trying and getting out there and inviting my people! I went to the school and entered every class in the morning and afternoon to tell all the kids to tell their parents to come! And in the afternoon I went with Nancy bike riding around town inviting even more people. So I got exercise and work out of it! By the end of the day I was tired. Monday I woke up and went to the school to prepare all the chairs in the schools big hall where my site presentation was going to be. But the sweet cleaning lady that works at the school had already done it for me- so great! So I went home and showered, you know the typical get ready for the day things! Then my boss Don Pedro showed up right on time and I showed him to my house where we did paperwork and chatted about how things were going! Then we ate lunch and chatted for a long time. It was really nice that I live with the doctor. My boss was able to talk to the doctor a lot and figure out how the medical system worked here in my town! Then we had my official presentation to my community. It went well, there weren’t as many people there as I was hoping, but I knew not to get my hopes up! I said a few words about how I was excited to be in Tacuara and live there for two years. Overall it was a good presentation my boss got to talk to all the important people I will work with and he seemed very impressed with how well I’m adapting and all the people I know already! Good day! My new home is going really well. I really like this family, I feel so much more part of a family. Like a mom, dad and sister! They’re a pretty united family and they always like to have meals together which I really enjoy. We cook chipa asador together for dinner, which was where we put chipa dough on a stick then cooked it rotisserie style over a fire pit that we had in the kitchen! It was a really fun night bonding! My new ma, Nancy and I like to ride bikes, so we’ve gone on a couple of bike rides together. One morning we went pretty far outside of town to a house where they were branding and marking cows. We got to watch and help out a bit, it was a fun day! I just feel so much more a part of this family, we play cards together, watch and talk about the newest happenings on the telenovela! Its nice because they have a car and a couple times a week they go to Pilar, so its really convenient to go and I don’t have to pay the bus fair! This last Saturday we went to Pilar to go shopping, we ran a bunch of errands and I got to know Pilar a lot better! Sunday we went to San Juan, Missiones which is the neighboring department (which would be an equivalent to our state) to visit Nancy’s sisters that live there. We spent all day eating, chatting and doing a little bit more eating! It was a good day just hangin out and we almost died on the way home with a near miss of a cow. (not really momma, we didn’t almost die, there was just a cow in the middle of the road! Ha!) My little sis Jimena, is really cute, but sometimes she wines a lot and its annoying. I understand a little bit more about why they say terrible twos! I think its just taking her a little bit to warm up to me. However, she does really like it when I put on Super Pato for her- which is Loney Tunes Superior Duck, and we watch it together! I can basically recite all the lines now! It is nice to have the doctor and a nurse in your house though. My big toe starting hurting really bad the other day then got really red and poofy, so my ma looked at it and decided to take a chunk out of my toe nail and it happened that my toe nail was growing sideways into my skin at the bottom towards the cuticle… ouch! So she was able to take that out very nicely for me (it only hurt for a bit) and give me antibiotics to make sure I didn’t get an infection! Ohhh the benefits of my new family! Other than that we’ve been watching a lot of soccer, the world cup has replaced the March Madness I missed! I have a little fold-up schedule that I can fill in the scores of everyone who won, so I’ve been watching a lot of games lately. And its something I like to do with my new pa, like when Paraguay played the first time, we had our set up in the house for prime game watching. Then this last Sunday Paraguay WON, we all got up early on Sunday morning to watch. Sunday is the only day possible to sleep in, because we’ve been doing house reconstruction. We’re putting revoke (a sand/cement mix) on the walls and tile on the floors. So the men working on the house come every morning between 6-6:30am except Sunday. So of course the day I could possibly sleep in there is a game on at 7:30am, that I HAVE to watch! But it was worth getting up because we won!! My family was so excited! Plus it was fathers day, so we had a really delicious lunch and hung out as a family all day, and I made a chocolate cake and decorated it with words saying Happy Fathers Day! My pa was pretty excited about it and we all took a lot of pictures! On Thursday (June 10th) I played some more volleyball with the high school kids. I was picked first to be on a team! I didn’t even play well, but I threw in a couple of spikes here and there that impressed the crowd! Little by little I’m getting ready to form my volleyball team. I have a new reason to form my volleyball team. Not just because I love coaching and playing but there is a serious self-esteem/motivation/self-control issue with the girls here. I just found out this week that a young girl is pregnant from a man that already has (at least) three children with three different women and many other girlfriends. So this girl makes number 4. It breaks my heart to see these women repeat the same thing over and over again, thinking that he likes you and wants to be with you but really he’s just using you. So my secondary mission is to try and empower these young girls and hopefully get them at an early enough age that I can make a strong positive influence on them. Another project I’ve started is a walking club. I’ve only gone a couple of times and so far its only my friend Blanca, but we’ve been walking for a good hour in the mornings. Not only is it good exercise but I’m talking, practicing, learning! And I really like hanging out with Blanca because I can say things really wrong and she helps me understand why it was wrong and how to say it correctly! She’s going to be my official Guarani tutor. Starting next week I’m going to work with her at least 2 or 3 times a week on my Guarani, because Peace Corps is paying for it, so why not! But I’m looking for more women to join my walking club and hopefully get a big group out and exercising and showing the importance of getting exercise and how good it is for you body! On Monday and Tuesday (14-15th) of last week I was at the school helping a teacher with a nutrition project she was doing for her studies. On Monday I was in the class with kindergartners and pre-schoolers. I lead a game about what food is good to eat and what we should eat less of. I had made a bunch of food cards that were laminated and put on cardboard so they could withstand the wear and tear of little kids! Then I made two big mouths one with pretty teeth and one with ugly rooting teeth. The kids were each given a card and they were in two groups and each kid had to decide if their card was a good food or bad and put it in the corresponding mouth! It was fun and they kids seemed to really like it! On Tuesday it was a meeting for the parents, they demonstrated how to make an alfredo-esk sauce that was healthier. After the presentation I got to stand up and say a little something to the parents about how I would like to start a garden project if anyone is interested for better alimentation of the family, and I’m also going to be bringing a detergent kit from Asuncion the next time I go, because I had a lady tell me she wanted to do it and she will help me get a group of ladies together to make it with me! Yeah! Friday (18th) was a holiday. It was dia de San Juan and there was a festival that night at the high school, which luckily is right across the way from my house. Both Freddy and Nancy were gone for the night so it was Eusavia, Jimena and I. We ate really typical Paraguayan food, there was little carnival type games for the kids. The little girls danced which was adorable. Some of the boys played piqui, which is a mix between volleyball and soccer, you can only use your feet and have to pass it between your partner and get it to the other side of the net! Then there were the Kamby which were kids that dressed up crazy so you didn’t know who they were and ran around trying to capture people and all the kids were lovin it, and some of them wanted to be chased! Then they lit a scarecrow looking thing on fire and there were fire crackers inside! It was interesting, but super fun! But most of my time was spent chasing Jimena around everywhere! This last Saturday I went with my contact Avelina to another little barrio (town) where we celebrated abuelas 87th birthday! It was super fun at first, we were eating delicious grapefruit, we walked around in the fields and took lots of pictures, just hangin out and having a good time. Then we sat down for lunch and there were two of Avelinas uncles that starting talking to me, which was fine until they started talking about wanting to marry me… its so normal in the country for people to ask you if you’re single and they always ask about the possibility that you could stay here if you found someone special… blah blah! So I’m totally used to people talking to me about that. But these two men wouldn’t quit. And I eventually didn’t know how to respond, plus age in the country means absolutely nothing. The one guy was 47 and the other 45. and for them to be asking this of a 23 year old was perfectly normal… the 47 year old man has a 16 year old pregnant girlfriend if that proves anything. So by the end of lunch I was really tired of saying I wasn’t going to bring either of them back to the United States and we would never be together. I don’t think it helped that either of them had been drinking. To make my day even more pasado (literally means heavy, but in this sense means tiring) Later that night I went to hang out with some friends at Avelina’s house and I was actively hit on by a man with a wife and son, who’s mom was sitting in the same room. Moral of this story. It is very hard to be a woman in this country, foreign or citizen. Just because you’re married, have a girlfriend… means absolutely nothing in this country. It is just something I will constantly have to be aware of and always try to keep myself away from situations I don’t want to be in! Not to end on a bad note. Life really is good here. I find little things in my life every day that remind me why I’m here and that I really have the opportunity to make a difference and I know I will. And I do have a lot of support from my other volunteer friends- thank god. I always have someone to talk to that’s relating to what I’m dealing with. And I have made a lot of really good Paraguayan friends in my site already and I cant even imagine what those relationships will transpire into in the coming two years!

So the first picture is outside my front door at sunset. Thats me and Carlito pealing corn off the cob and the rest of the pictures are of my new house- the kitchen, my room and the front of the house!

So I’ve officially been in my site a whole month now! And I’ve also moved houses. I now live with the doctor Fredy, his wife Nancy, their daughter Jimena who is 2 years old and a really nice girl about my age that is a live in nanny/house cleaner/doer of everything! I just moved on Sunday so I haven’t been here long but I really like it. I knew the family really well before so its been an easy adjustment and I definitely have more space in this house. I have my own room, a dresser to put my clothes and still a hot shower! This house is what we call, “chuchi” here in Paraguay. It means like snobby- kinda! Since the husband is a doctor and the wife is a nurse they are pretty well off. But they are a super sweet and welcoming family and that’s why I’m living here, not because its chuchi! We had so much fun last night, we were laughing and joking and they were telling me all about their super awesome holidays! I am really going to enjoy my time here with this family!

Lets see in the last week, I’ve been playing lots of cards with Yohanna and Mari. I went to a really fun birthday party. Social settings are so important for me, especially here at the beginning because its such a great way to meet people and talk more with people you already know, and all in one place! I ate a lot of cake and treats and drank hot cocoa- one of the better birthday parties I’ve been to! I’ve been sick this week with the “gripe” also known as a cold. So sleeping has been slightly more difficult, and I haven’t done too much because of it. However, now I’m feeling better, I still have a little runny nose but the congestion is gone! One afternoon I did go out with Avelina and Nancy (nurses) and walked around town giving vaccines to people. We were giving an array of shots but mostly H1N1 to babies and old people! But I got to meet a lot more people this day and it was fun to walk around with my two closest women friends!

So I finally got to break out my volley skills. Since I moved to a new house, I now look out to the kitchen and see the high school. I had just gotten home from hangin out with my friend Blanca, when I saw a bunch of kids playing volley. I got real excited and went over there. I got to play, and immediately everyone knew I knew what I was doing. I threw in a couple of sweet spikes and some nice digs. A few of the girls commented that I need to teach them to play like we do in the States! Perfect, I’ve started my reputation and now I’m going to form my volleyball team and its going to be awesome! But it was fun to get out and play!

My boss comes next Tuesday for my official site presentation so I’m getting my people ready for that, and hopefully I can get a good turn out. But most everyone I’ve talked to of my close friends and work contacts know about it and are prepared. Which is good because I want to make a good impression on my boss that I’m doing a good job already and I’m integrating well into my community! Don’t know when I’ll be able to write next but happy June everyone, while I’m sure you’re all starting to enjoy the nice warm weather, I am settling into the cold. Its not too extremely cold here (its no Pullman winters) but they don’t have heaters, so its like college all over again when Tishra and I didn’t want to turn on the heat in our apartment because we were cheap and we had to bundle up inside the house! Thank god for Kasey and Mary who always had their heat on- ohh the memories in I-104! Until next time… don’t know when that’ll be, but hope everyone is doing splendidly!

Oh rainy days. The country of Paraguay shuts down when its raining. Its on these days that you put on some warm clothes, grab a good book and set yourself up with your mate equipo! So I had sat down at the computer to help my family and sneakily update my blog at the same time… however they were out of saldo (money to keep it running) for the modem so I couldn’t. So here in lies why my blog is really long because its been a while!

Two weeks ago was quite eventful. On Wednesday (the 12th) I spent the whole day at the school. I got to talk to a student named Alex, he is two grades behind and I will be giving him some extra attention with his studies. We had a real nice and awkward conversation where I just got to know him a little bit better and asked if he would like some extra help with classes and he said yes! Then the rest of the day I helped the teachers set up and decorate for the weekend festivities. I was glad to help because it showed that I can work hard and they all seemed impressed that I stayed all day to help out! Its all about getting that good first impression! Later that evening we had a big asado (they cooked a huge amount of meat) and party at our house because it was nurses day. There are actually many nurses in my town as well as many nursing students. Its one career that you can actually find a job in- so its becoming very popular. We sat around drinking wine and talking- I made a new friend, Laura. She is super nice, has an adorable blonde haired little boy and we bonded. I feel like everyday I find someone new that I know will be a really good friend in the next two years and that’s really encouraging. Even though most of the time I sit around just staring at people as they talk super fast in Guarani, most people do talk to me in Spanish which is very nice because I know they would rather talk in Guarani.

Thursday I didn’t do too much during the day, I went for a run in the morning then worked on my computer most of the day. I was cleaning it up to help it run faster, it was being really slow and stupid, but now it works better! Later that evening I ventured out of my house though… which was a great thing! I went to visit a friend and she wasn’t there, but another friend of mine was, Blanca. There was a girl there that was painting nails- she was going to school for that. So I got my nails painted and they are really pretty and sparkly!! Normally I don’t like to paint my nails because they always chip, but 4 days later they are still fully intact! Plus it is very Paraguayan to paint your nails, all the ladies have their nails painted, so I was trying to blend in!

Friday I was up really early, before 6am to help my family get ready for the festivities. It was Independence day, 199 years of Independence. I straightened two of the girls hair in my house then had to get ready myself and straighten my own hair and look good because I was going to a community wide outing- big deal! But don’t you worry I was looking pretty churra (a word they use for when someone is looking good!) I got to the school at 8am to start the program with the kids. Since Saturday was mothers day we combined the two holidays in one and celebrated together. So the kids memorized little sayings about their mothers, country and families. It was really cute and some of the real little kids danced and it was adorable. The boys had painted on mustaches… way too cute! The program went on for about an hour and half and then we all moved to the streets to watch the parade. There were two drum lines- one with the smaller kids from the elementary school and the other from the high school. My little “niece” was a baton girl and they all had their little costumes, it was really fun! I got to take lots of pictures to share with the family! Then we just hung out the rest of the day, we ate some asado (lots of meat) and some rice salad which had a mayo dressing on it. They LOVE mayo here, so I eat it and try not to think that its mayo, they mix it with some lemon juice, so it has a slightly different flavor! After lunch we went back to the school where there was music playing and we all danced. And when I say we, I mean- me and the drunk old guys danced. It was a slightly weird situation because I wanted to dance- y’all know me. But I didn’t want to give off the wrong impression, I’ve just met most of these people, so I eventually removed myself from the dancing area because I didn’t know what to do. Men here in this country are slightly different- it is not uncommon for a man to have many girlfriends or babies with different women. So I decided until I know some of these people better to just not dance, I even tried to dance with just my little girls, but that didn’t work for very long! After that I just went back to the house and Avelina (my contact) and I just laughed at all the crazy old men that were drinking and doing stupid stuff! Later that evening we went to a soccer/handball tournament. I bundled up warm this time because last time I got super cold… well I didn’t last long, I was so tired from waking up so early I left early to go home and relax. I ended up downloading a bunch of the photos from the day and showing my fam. Then Yohanna and I snuggled in my bed watching Glee, she doesn’t know what they are saying but she likes to watch them dance and sing! THEN I found the video that Laura and I made for Kyle when he changed jobs, it was where we did our safety Samantha/Sammy skits and it was so freakin hilarious I laughed so hard and Yohanna thought it was really funny, we’ve watched it about 7 times! Haha!

Saturday and Sunday I did a lot of nothing, but sometimes you need those days to relax. On Saturday I mostly just hung out and talked with Avelina about all the town happenings and who is with who. Which man has multiple women and babies… its kinda a problem here. The worst part is that the women know this is happening and they let it happen. But this is one thing I want to educate the high school students on is healthy relationships and self esteem! Looks like I have a lot of work to do! This week I’m going to be really guapa (hard working) and get out there and go visit people in their houses and meet more families. I also want to talk to the high school principal, I met her this weekend but I want to go in there officially. I also want to talk to the guy that I’m going to rent my house from to get that process moving, since I have to build a bathroom in the house (and when I mean “I” have to build, I mean I’m paying someone to do it!) I’m not trained to do that kinda work! So lots of work this week, hopefully I’ll be very productive!

So much for my really productive week… it rained… all… week… so turns out I didn’t do too much in the way of working. I mostly just hung out around my house, I wanted to go out and do things, but people were mostly inside their houses and the streets were a terrible mess of mud and really hard to walk anywhere. On Monday however, I did go talk to the high school principal we decided that I will start working there after the winter break doing the same subject (dental health) as the elementary school. That way I can prepare the same lessons at the same time! So I should be working most every day once winter break is over! Yeah work! Other than that I had a random idea on how to decorate my house, once I finally have my own house. I just finished a book called, Jesus for President and there is a chapter on the Fruits of the Spirit- so I got the idea to creatively write out all the words in both English and Spanish (I found the Spanish translation in my Spanish bible that my bestie Eliza gave me before I left for site!) on a piece of paper and leave room to put a photo, then I will find some sticks or something fantastic from the earth and make a frame out of it! You know just trying to be creative… but I do have to say they’ve turned out pretty good! I used the color pencils my mom sent me and really took my time, since I had nothing else to do, and made them look really pretty, turns out I’m a pretty good colorer! Now I have to pick out a picture that I put in each one. I haven’t decided if I want to put pictures of people or of nature/non-people things! Its going to be awesome and look great in my house!

I don’t have very many warm clothes so I ended up wearing the same thing most every day all week. I would take a shower at night- thank god my house has a hot water shower, which worked most of the time! Then I would change in between my red fuzzy pants and my blue fuzzy pants, and my WSU sweatshirt! Good times! I think my family thinks I’m gross but I don’t care because I don’t have any other clothes to wear! I’m going to try and buy something in Pilar- maybe a turtle neck, everyone wears turtle necks! Ha!

On Friday the weather did clear a bit, so I got really ambitious and ventured out after lunch! I started walking to an older ladies house who I really like and tells me to come over whenever I like, when I walked past a couple ladies playing some cards. So I decided to stop first at their house. Good decision, not only did I learn a new card game, that is very much like rummy and very fun I’ll teach everyone when I come home. But I met a bunch of new people and found my way into the card playing circle. I watched for about an hour how to play, but I picked it up really fast. Then I joined. We played for money and I didn’t have very much but I ended up winning the first hand I played and I think everyone was pretty impressed, they asked for my number so they could call me when they were playing- however they always are playing so I don’t think I’ll have a problem with that! However, I don’t have much money and I cant always be losing it playing cards. So I think I’ll just have to treat myself to a little card playing once a week or something! Then I went over to my friend Blanca’s house- she has rapidly become my best friend. Shes 29 and pretty fantastic, she is the preschool teacher and I’ve hung out with her basically every day last week! The great thing about it is, I don’t feel like I’m intruding, because she texts me to hang out with her, so I know she genuinely likes me and wants to hang out. Shes also very easy to understand and she corrects me when I say things wrong and she offered to help me with my Guarani! And in turn I’m going to help her with English because she really likes learning English and has taken one year in university already. Also she wants to start exercising so we’re going to walk together once the weather gets nicer and the roads dry up a bit! But its always good to have good friends, her husband offered to go to Pilar when I buy all my big things for my house and bring them back for me in his big truck! How lucky! And Blanca and her husband are really good friends with the person I’m going to rent my house from, so they are going to invite me over when he is over the next time, so I can develop a good relationship with him!

Saturday (22nd) I was walking around with my kids, and filming a video that I took of the town when my friend, Rilsi invited me to drink terere with her. So I stopped in the middle of my video and went to hang out with her and then I mention that I played cards the day before so we started playing cards and I ended up going back to her house later after lunch to play some more! This time was more fun, and I didn’t lose all my money! My little girls came a little later and we were all playing- but went back to the house when it got dark… and played some more cards! They love it! And whoever wins gets 100 G coin which is about 2 cents! We played all night and they loved it!

Sunday I went to church- Catholic church is so similar to Episcopal, so I felt right at home! But I figure not only is a good way to meet some more people, let them know I’m a good person, but it’s a great way to learn more and since the priests are from Italy they are easier to understand and I like that! I was preparing my computer and my blog for going to Pilar in the morning… then it started pouring… man this country and its weather. However, it is the rainy season. But I really wanted to see my new baby cousin, because she’s freakin adorable! And I was able to connect at my house, using my families modem for a short bit! Hopefully later this week I’ll be able to make it to Pilar, if it stops raining! I would really like to upload some photos but this connection is way way too slow to do that! Love you all!

Oh rainy days. The country of Paraguay shuts down when its raining. Its on these days that you put on some warm clothes, grab a good book and set yourself up with your mate equipo! So I had sat down at the computer to help my family and sneakily update my blog at the same time… however they were out of saldo (money to keep it running) for the modem so I couldn’t. So here in lies why my blog is really long because its been a while!

Two weeks ago was quite eventful. On Wednesday (the 12th) I spent the whole day at the school. I got to talk to a student named Alex, he is two grades behind and I will be giving him some extra attention with his studies. We had a real nice and awkward conversation where I just got to know him a little bit better and asked if he would like some extra help with classes and he said yes! Then the rest of the day I helped the teachers set up and decorate for the weekend festivities. I was glad to help because it showed that I can work hard and they all seemed impressed that I stayed all day to help out! Its all about getting that good first impression! Later that evening we had a big asado (they cooked a huge amount of meat) and party at our house because it was nurses day. There are actually many nurses in my town as well as many nursing students. Its one career that you can actually find a job in- so its becoming very popular. We sat around drinking wine and talking- I made a new friend, Laura. She is super nice, has an adorable blonde haired little boy and we bonded. I feel like everyday I find someone new that I know will be a really good friend in the next two years and that’s really encouraging. Even though most of the time I sit around just staring at people as they talk super fast in Guarani, most people do talk to me in Spanish which is very nice because I know they would rather talk in Guarani.

Thursday I didn’t do too much during the day, I went for a run in the morning then worked on my computer most of the day. I was cleaning it up to help it run faster, it was being really slow and stupid, but now it works better! Later that evening I ventured out of my house though… which was a great thing! I went to visit a friend and she wasn’t there, but another friend of mine was, Blanca. There was a girl there that was painting nails- she was going to school for that. So I got my nails painted and they are really pretty and sparkly!! Normally I don’t like to paint my nails because they always chip, but 4 days later they are still fully intact! Plus it is very Paraguayan to paint your nails, all the ladies have their nails painted, so I was trying to blend in!

Friday I was up really early, before 6am to help my family get ready for the festivities. It was Independence day, 199 years of Independence. I straightened two of the girls hair in my house then had to get ready myself and straighten my own hair and look good because I was going to a community wide outing- big deal! But don’t you worry I was looking pretty churra (a word they use for when someone is looking good!) I got to the school at 8am to start the program with the kids. Since Saturday was mothers day we combined the two holidays in one and celebrated together. So the kids memorized little sayings about their mothers, country and families. It was really cute and some of the real little kids danced and it was adorable. The boys had painted on mustaches… way too cute! The program went on for about an hour and half and then we all moved to the streets to watch the parade. There were two drum lines- one with the smaller kids from the elementary school and the other from the high school. My little “niece” was a baton girl and they all had their little costumes, it was really fun! I got to take lots of pictures to share with the family! Then we just hung out the rest of the day, we ate some asado (lots of meat) and some rice salad which had a mayo dressing on it. They LOVE mayo here, so I eat it and try not to think that its mayo, they mix it with some lemon juice, so it has a slightly different flavor! After lunch we went back to the school where there was music playing and we all danced. And when I say we, I mean- me and the drunk old guys danced. It was a slightly weird situation because I wanted to dance- y’all know me. But I didn’t want to give off the wrong impression, I’ve just met most of these people, so I eventually removed myself from the dancing area because I didn’t know what to do. Men here in this country are slightly different- it is not uncommon for a man to have many girlfriends or babies with different women. So I decided until I know some of these people better to just not dance, I even tried to dance with just my little girls, but that didn’t work for very long! After that I just went back to the house and Avelina (my contact) and I just laughed at all the crazy old men that were drinking and doing stupid stuff! Later that evening we went to a soccer/handball tournament. I bundled up warm this time because last time I got super cold… well I didn’t last long, I was so tired from waking up so early I left early to go home and relax. I ended up downloading a bunch of the photos from the day and showing my fam. Then Yohanna and I snuggled in my bed watching Glee, she doesn’t know what they are saying but she likes to watch them dance and sing! THEN I found the video that Laura and I made for Kyle when he changed jobs, it was where we did our safety Samantha/Sammy skits and it was so freakin hilarious I laughed so hard and Yohanna thought it was really funny, we’ve watched it about 7 times! Haha!

Saturday and Sunday I did a lot of nothing, but sometimes you need those days to relax. On Saturday I mostly just hung out and talked with Avelina about all the town happenings and who is with who. Which man has multiple women and babies… its kinda a problem here. The worst part is that the women know this is happening and they let it happen. But this is one thing I want to educate the high school students on is healthy relationships and self esteem! Looks like I have a lot of work to do! This week I’m going to be really guapa (hard working) and get out there and go visit people in their houses and meet more families. I also want to talk to the high school principal, I met her this weekend but I want to go in there officially. I also want to talk to the guy that I’m going to rent my house from to get that process moving, since I have to build a bathroom in the house (and when I mean “I” have to build, I mean I’m paying someone to do it!) I’m not trained to do that kinda work! So lots of work this week, hopefully I’ll be very productive!

So much for my really productive week… it rained… all… week… so turns out I didn’t do too much in the way of working. I mostly just hung out around my house, I wanted to go out and do things, but people were mostly inside their houses and the streets were a terrible mess of mud and really hard to walk anywhere. On Monday however, I did go talk to the high school principal we decided that I will start working there after the winter break doing the same subject (dental health) as the elementary school. That way I can prepare the same lessons at the same time! So I should be working most every day once winter break is over! Yeah work! Other than that I had a random idea on how to decorate my house, once I finally have my own house. I just finished a book called, Jesus for President and there is a chapter on the Fruits of the Spirit- so I got the idea to creatively write out all the words in both English and Spanish (I found the Spanish translation in my Spanish bible that my bestie Eliza gave me before I left for site!) on a piece of paper and leave room to put a photo, then I will find some sticks or something fantastic from the earth and make a frame out of it! You know just trying to be creative… but I do have to say they’ve turned out pretty good! I used the color pencils my mom sent me and really took my time, since I had nothing else to do, and made them look really pretty, turns out I’m a pretty good colorer! Now I have to pick out a picture that I put in each one. I haven’t decided if I want to put pictures of people or of nature/non-people things! Its going to be awesome and look great in my house!

I don’t have very many warm clothes so I ended up wearing the same thing most every day all week. I would take a shower at night- thank god my house has a hot water shower, which worked most of the time! Then I would change in between my red fuzzy pants and my blue fuzzy pants, and my WSU sweatshirt! Good times! I think my family thinks I’m gross but I don’t care because I don’t have any other clothes to wear! I’m going to try and buy something in Pilar- maybe a turtle neck, everyone wears turtle necks! Ha!

On Friday the weather did clear a bit, so I got really ambitious and ventured out after lunch! I started walking to an older ladies house who I really like and tells me to come over whenever I like, when I walked past a couple ladies playing some cards. So I decided to stop first at their house. Good decision, not only did I learn a new card game, that is very much like rummy and very fun I’ll teach everyone when I come home. But I met a bunch of new people and found my way into the card playing circle. I watched for about an hour how to play, but I picked it up really fast. Then I joined. We played for money and I didn’t have very much but I ended up winning the first hand I played and I think everyone was pretty impressed, they asked for my number so they could call me when they were playing- however they always are playing so I don’t think I’ll have a problem with that! However, I don’t have much money and I cant always be losing it playing cards. So I think I’ll just have to treat myself to a little card playing once a week or something! Then I went over to my friend Blanca’s house- she has rapidly become my best friend. Shes 29 and pretty fantastic, she is the preschool teacher and I’ve hung out with her basically every day last week! The great thing about it is, I don’t feel like I’m intruding, because she texts me to hang out with her, so I know she genuinely likes me and wants to hang out. Shes also very easy to understand and she corrects me when I say things wrong and she offered to help me with my Guarani! And in turn I’m going to help her with English because she really likes learning English and has taken one year in university already. Also she wants to start exercising so we’re going to walk together once the weather gets nicer and the roads dry up a bit! But its always good to have good friends, her husband offered to go to Pilar when I buy all my big things for my house and bring them back for me in his big truck! How lucky! And Blanca and her husband are really good friends with the person I’m going to rent my house from, so they are going to invite me over when he is over the next time, so I can develop a good relationship with him!

Saturday (22nd) I was walking around with my kids, and filming a video that I took of the town when my friend, Rilsi invited me to drink terere with her. So I stopped in the middle of my video and went to hang out with her and then I mention that I played cards the day before so we started playing cards and I ended up going back to her house later after lunch to play some more! This time was more fun, and I didn’t lose all my money! My little girls came a little later and we were all playing- but went back to the house when it got dark… and played some more cards! They love it! And whoever wins gets 100 G coin which is about 2 cents! We played all night and they loved it!

Sunday I went to church- Catholic church is so similar to Episcopal, so I felt right at home! But I figure not only is a good way to meet some more people, let them know I’m a good person, but it’s a great way to learn more and since the priests are from Italy they are easier to understand and I like that! I was preparing my computer and my blog for going to Pilar in the morning… then it started pouring… man this country and its weather. However, it is the rainy season. But I really wanted to see my new baby cousin, because she’s freakin adorable! And I was able to connect at my house, using my families modem for a short bit! Hopefully later this week I’ll be able to make it to Pilar, if it stops raining! I would really like to upload some photos but this connection is way way too slow to do that! Love you all!

Well I’ve been in my site for almost a week now. And it feels like a month! Ha! No not that long, its just right now there’s not tons to do so I sit around a lot and my days feel like they’re really long! And I feel like all I’m doing is just staring at people, because they all speak in Guarani and they speak so freakin fast I can only pick up a couple of words. But I really like it here, the people are all very nice, they stare at me a lot but that’s to be expected! I mostly hang out at my house because there is always something going on. There are four kids in the house with the youngest being 3 years old and he is a little hellion. Hes really cute and has pretty blue eyes, but I don’t think he knows the meaning of no! he spills things on my bed, he ripped apart the calendar I made myself, he cries all the time! But sometimes he’s super cute and really fun to play with! But its really nice in this house, I don’t have a lot of privacy or space but it’s a good way to meet people because there is always people at the house and new families to meet! Other than my house I spend lots of time at the doctors house hangin with his wife. She’s super nice and she seems to really like spending time with me! So I helped her in her garden one afternoon. We had lunch yesterday and drank some wine with pomelo (grapefruit) juice! Its crazy all the things they add to their wine- and its crazy that I drink it! Ha!

But I went to the school one day to talk to some of the teachers and just introduce myself. Then the director of the school came up and I started talking to her. She wants me to help with a kid who is in 6th grade but is 15 years old and needs some extra help. So I offered to come back to the school this morning (Monday) so I went and the kids wasn’t at school today, so we just talked about what I wanted to do in the school. We talked for a while and came up with a plan to start in the middle of July after they have their two week winter break at the beginning. I’m going to start giving charlas on the topic of teeth brushing and a clean mouth! She seems really excited for me to do work in the school and that will keep me busy for at least a couple of months! And its one of the easier topics to teach and there are lots of games, activities and songs that I can do with the kids! I think my first project in the high school will be a class garden. I haven’t talked to anyone there yet, but hopefully they’re cool with that! I think it will be a easy way to get to know some of the kids! Other than that in the first couple of months I’m going to be working on my community census, which lucky me has just been done by one of the nurses, so I’m going to be collaborating with her about the information she has already collected and what other information I need to have! Plus shes a really nice lady and one of my closest friends here so far!

On Friday I went into our town of Pilar which is close and where I am now! It’s a really cute little town and has everything you need! I walked around with another volunteer named Brian who lives in Pilar- we were suppose to have our VAC meeting. The VAC meeting is a time where all the local volunteers in the area get together to talk about PC happenings and the potential of working together on projects! Or just to see other Americans and talk in English! But it rained the night before and into the morning so no buses were passing and our other people in the group couldn’t get out of their sites so it was cancelled. Brian showed me around, we looked out over the river and saw Argentina, which was really cool! He showed me where to buy groceries and where the post office and bank were! And I found a really great wireless cafe!

I have started running to get into shape and loose a couple of pounds I’ve gained in the last three months. Everyone looks at me funny and asks me what I’m doing and why! Its just something they don’t do here, but everyone sees me and asks me about it! Its just really hard to say no to food here, they love giving you more and more food and its TONS of carbs. We eat break for every meal and mandioca which is a potato like thing and tons of rice and pasta. Ohhh and sugar in everything and a lot of it! So here in lies why Sarah gained some weight! Its okay though, because once I start living on my own I can make what I like and eat more veggies! Especially since I’m going to have a super sweet garden! But until then the family I live with now doesn’t feed me too much. We rarely eat dinner and if we do its just something little. I usually just have a cup of coffee and little pieces of bread! P.s. I love the coffee here, maybe its because we put a lot of sugar in it, but you put the coffee grounds and sugar in the bottom of your cup add a small amount of water then stir until it becomes a lite tan color then you add water to the top! It has a nice amount of foam and tastes delicious- I drink it every night before I go to bed!

But I think I’m really going to enjoy my two years here, I’ve met some really great people and I know I’m just going to continue to meet more. I need to be a little more adventurous and start just showing up at peoples house to talk to them! But I came at a really good time, because this weekend is Independence Day, mother’s day and nurses day. On nurses day we’re supposedly playing volleyball and drinking wine! Woot- my favorite things! And for Independence Day there’s going to be a parade through town and I’m sure lots of fun things to do and hopefully plenty of people to meet and talk too! So next time I write hopefully I’ll have plenty of photos and stories to talk to you about. Love you all and hope you are having a wonderful day and please update me on your lives, I feel slightly disconnected! Chau Chau- Sarita.

The first picture is our group and the second one is the jello shots us girls made for our going away party! It was fabulous, our Paraguayan families did not know how to eat them, it was great!

Okay guys its official, i am a real volunteer! My swearing in ceremony was yesterday, we raised our right hands and repeated almost exactaly the same words that the president says when he swears into office! It was pretty cool, and the United States ambassador was there to give a speech! and we were all looking very pretty, i wish my computer wasnt being so retarded right now and I could download my pictures for you to see... ohhh well, thats just life in Paraguay! Everythings good here, just hangin out in Asuncion we celebrated last night at a bar and we danced up a storm, it was really fun! Now i'm just getting ready to head to my site, i'm kinda nervous but really excited! It is soooo nice that i have a phone now cause I can stay in contact with all my friends and people from home can call me for free (its only free for me though- not you!) I dont know my internet availability in my site, so it will be really sparatic when i'm on, but i'll probably get an internet chip later in a couple of months when i'm living on my own and will possibly have some more plata! Other than that life is good, we're headed to a talent show night tonight to hang out with our people and meet other volunteers that came in for the weekend!

so i forgot my camera and or jump drive again today, so i have no new pictures... but we´ve been back in guasu cora for about a week now after visiting our sites. training has really flown by and now i´m feeling the brunt of it. and i´m getting a little stressed. i took on a really big project of making going away presents for all my friends and its definitely taking me a lot longer than i planned on. ohhh well these are the things i like to do! and i´m trying to teach the end of our coreographed dance we´re performing for the talent show in less than a week and i haven´t even taught the end of the last dance yet. but i know it will be awesome, i´m really excited about it! other than that i´m just getting really sad to leave my family here, i feel so comfortable in my community and with my family. i can sit down and have like two hour conversations with my mom about anything, its amazing! and my brother- i just love him more and more every day! he gives me big hugs and cow kisses all the time (just like aiden!) but i told my mom yesterday i´m going to come back for his 1st birthday in a month!

last night we had a cultural exchange with the local kids. it was a lot of fun, however we were a little cramped for space because it started raining and we were forced to sit under this little overhang area. our group did the cha cha slide, my friend steph sang two songs, and my friends: andy, nicole, liza and i did a country line dance that i taught them! we all wore jeans and bandanas... it was pretty fantastic! ha! especially considering we threw it together in a day! i´m pretty good at what i do!

this week should be a lot of fun though... we have a party tomorrow at liza´s house with all our families. we have a party on tuesday afternoon with our language teachers and our families. we have our dance talent show presentation on thursday morning and that night we have another going away party at nicoles house! then we go to asuncion the next day for swearing in and we´re staying for two nights to hang out and celebrate, then we´re all off to our sites!

so all in all, i´m sad to leave but really excited to feel this comfortable in my new site and all the friendships i have to look forward to building over the next two years! ohhh and really excited to get my cell phone, i feel so lost without one! should be fantastic and i will keep you all updated. hopefully i´ll have time to put some pictures up next weekend! love and miss you all!

So I have some good news and bad news. Good news, I love my future home, bad news I forgot my camera on my trip so I have no new pictures. But its okay cause I’ll have two years to take photos! So I just spent a week in my future home of Tacuaras. I had an absolutely awesome time. My site is amazing! It is about 4.5 hours from Asuncion by bus, but it goes really fast! Then its another 5km from the main paved road on a really sandy road to my town. The town itself is small and everything is really close together, which is awesome, you can walk everywhere really easy! It is really marshy down there in the south and the sand is white not red which is kinda nice my clothes hopefully won’t get as dirty! However since there is lots of water there are also lots, and lots, and lots of mosquitoes!! I know, my favorite blood sucking animal… and unfortunately on my trip I forgot my hydrocortisone cream to stop the itching, so now I have nasty scabs on my feet and legs from the extreme amount of bites I got. I swear if anything kills me here, its going to be the mosquitoes! Oh well so goes life!! But I really enjoy my community. It has an elementary school, high school, the mayor lives right in town, there is a police station, its own post office, a really nice church with priests that came from Italy, a sweet plaza, a soccer field and plenty of volley courts! And it also has its own puesto de salud with a doctor and three plus nurses, there seemed like there was tons of nurses and people always there, but there was a lot of nursing students that have to spend a certain number of hours in the puesto. I didnt do too much this week, except hang out with the family I was staying with, which is my contact, Avelina, shes super awesome and I feel really lucky to have such a great contact, she is one of the nurses at the Puesto de Salud. She has two cute kids Carlito, 3 and Joana, 11. I bonded with both of them and made good friends. Yesterday morning Joana didn’t want me to leave! And last night Carlito and I were snuggling in my bed and playing with my ipod, I was showing him my pictures while we were listening to music! In the house was also Avelinas mom and dad, sister and nephew. The sister Ale was really cool, shes 14, almost 15, she’ll turn 15 two days after I get there! She was my professora this week, she helped me study Guarani and she quizzed me all week! Avelina and I walked around the community and meet people a bunch this week. Everyone seemed sooo nice, I was a little worried at the beginning because one of the other nurses came over to the house the first night I got there (hes Avelinas cousin) and hes like: You need to learn Guarani, everyone speaks it they hate speaking Spanish, and I got a little freaked out. But the more I went and visited people and their families the more I realized that yeah people may not like to speak Spanish but they did to me. So I still will be able to communicate when I first get there, but I really do need to learn Guarani so I can be that much better integrated into the community and I’ll be that much more respected in the community. I hung out in the afternoons in the puesto de salud with the doctor and nurses. That was always a good time, they definitely have a much more laid back style of working… we just sat around all afternoon drinking terere, it was fantastic! I connected a lot with the wife of the doctor who is also a nurse, shes really nice and we hit it off right away! They are one of the people I’m going to live with in my first three months that I have to stay with families! And we’re going to start a diet together when I get back and we’re going to help each other to not be cheaters! And I saw my future house that I’ll be able to live in by myself after three months that I’m obligated by Peace Corps to stay with a family! And it is sooooo cute! I love it! It has two rooms and a kitchen, no bathroom right now; I’m going to have to build one. And I just saw the outside, but its kinda perfect! And I will live next to Avelinas grandma, who is about 90 years old, lives alone and so cute! She said she was really excited to have such a pretty neighbor! Overall I’m so excited to be where I am, I think I’ll be really happy for my two years and have plenty of things to keep me real busy! Plus I have a really really close neighbor, Josh who lives in Guasu Cora with me now. So I’ll be able to work closely with him, do summer camps and such! Plus he has an amazing way of getting sweet hookups! I don’t know how he does it, but he’s definitely a good person to have around! Now I only have two more weeks in Guasu Cora (tear, sad!) then I swear in, spend a weekend in Asuncion and head back to my site on May 4th. And by then I’ll have a phone and life will be easier!! I have been feeling withdrawals from a phone, I know its sad! But I also feel more safe with one- or at least that’s my excuse I’m going to give! So next Wednesday we’re in Asuncion and I don’t know if I’ll have time to get on the internet, but the week after that the 29th were in Guarambare soooo… I guess I don’t know when I’ll update next, you’ll have to bear with me, and once I go to site I wont have a planned schedule of when I’m using the internet, it’ll be whenever I go to the bigger town of Pilar, but as we say here in Paraguay… Tranquillo! Besos a todos!

It was super nice to have a long weekend free of any schedule. However we had company the entire weekend, which wasn’t bad it just messed with my sweet routine with my family. They were a great family though and after the long weekend I really got to know them better. They have two boys: 9 and 7 then a 3 week old baby girl. The baby cried a lot and it made me appreciate my brother who is so fantastic and hardly ever cries! But the young boys were fun to talk and play with. On Thursday morning I made chipa with my mom, that was super fun, I got my hand dirty and got to do some cooking! Later that day I hung out with Eliza then we went to the soccer field to hang out, our normal routine. That night we hung out with some of my closer peeps. We’ve started this backrub party routine, we get together, play cards, hang out… and take turns giving each other back rubs! Its silly but we all love it! Friday morning I slept in hung out with my family, then even more people came over to the house, at one point I think there were 25 people at my house. I didn’t really know what to do, so I kinda escaped to my room to work on a project! But I always had my door open so I chatted with the passerbyers! Later that evening it was just my fam and I was playing with the kids, chatting and having a great time just chillin! After dinner at Jacobs house we were just hangin out and some of our friends came over to invite us to play kings… since that’s my game I decided to go. We had a blast, good times just being silly, and I learned some new kings rules- which was super interesting! Saturday morning Stephanie and I went around the neighborhood inviting ladies to come to our charla on Tuesday about the importance of vegetables. Then we all got together and practiced our dance, which is coming along just awesomely!! However, we split up today boys and girls to practice our individual dances and I was teaching the boys their song, and they didn’t like any of my moves, so amazingly enough they all came up with their own moves, which were way funnier than mine! I was dying laughing at the moves they came up with, most, if not all of them involved hip thrusting! So good! I went home for lunch and hung out with my mom, took a sweet nap then watched my baby bro for a couple of hours while mom did some things around the house, it was fun just playing with my bro! That afternoon we went to the soccer field and I played with the little kids again, there was no way of getting around it, as soon as I showed up they were like, Sarah, put your shoes on and get out here! So I played for a while, good day! Once I got back home I just kinda hung out, worked on my super awesome project I’m doing for my friends when we leave Guasu Cora and Jacob came over just to chill for a bit. Sunday is our day at the big cancha. It was both our local teams that we’re playing each other, so it was a big game and tons of people from the community went. It was cold though, our first real cold day… I wore my north face and I was kinda cold at points. The weather is changing, its been cold all week. But it’s a nice change! Monday I had class again and I learned so much Guarani that day, we don’t have many classes left so my teacher was just shoving info down my throat, it was slightly hard and frustrating, but she said we just need to know the rules and then later we can actually learn them! Which is true, I need to know the tenses and the construction of the sentences and later I can memorize them to actually form sentences! Monday night my friend Stephanie and I made chocolate cucumber cake for our presentation on Tuesday morning. We talked about the importance of vegetables and what they contain and how they affect the body. We invited a lot more people than actually came but it went really really well and all the ladies really enjoyed it and wanted more info and a copy of what we presented and our recipe for the cake, it was a big hit! So it felt real cool that everyone enjoyed it and it was a success! The weather on Tuesday was absolutely gorgeous, slightly cold but the sun was out and it was perfect! I just hung out with my friend Liza all day in the sun chatting, reading some books, mostly talking about our sites that we would find out tomorrow… we were both freaking out a little bit, but mostly hoping that we would be semi-close to each other so we could visit each other!!

And here is the verdict, after an excruciating day of anticipation I am going to a town called Tacuaras in the department of Neembucú, its very close to a bigger town of Pilar. Its in the far south and east corner of Paraguay on the border of Argentina! I am soooo excited about it, its going to be a perfect site for me, I get to work in a health post with a doctor (which is extremely rare for a rural community, normally there is just a nurse if that) and 3 nurses!!!! They said to get ready to be a part of their team! I couldn’t be happier! Then I get to work in the elementary school doing charlas on parasites and dental health and the high school on drug and alcohol abuse, reproductive health and HIV and AIDS! And my last main project is working with womens groups! It’s a smaller town but very concentrated right on a main road, which is awesome I wont have to walk far! There is 126 houses and its suppose to be really beautiful. Tomorrow i´m going to meet my contact person from the community and then Friday i´ll go to my site for a couple of days to meet it!!!!! So I wont be on till next tursday to tell you how my site is! Love you all!

The first picture is of my adorable brother who should be on a commercial for the niko bottle! The second picture is of us at the soccer game, me liza danielle and liza´s two sisters sitting in the stands, third is a beautiful sunset the other night... it was just so perfect! and then me and liza at the soccer game and finally a couple of us at natalies birthday party, way too much fun!!!

Well Guarani is extremely difficult. It’s a slow process of learning a new language, and last week I was feeling really frustrated. I just want to know it, and its hard. Really really hard. I mean its taken me 7 years to learn Spanish, now I’m suppose to learn a completely new language in a couple of weeks- ugh! But I’m trying to keep a positive attitude about it, especially because I know how much better I’ve gotten in Spanish already so hopefully I can learn it pretty quick! On the 21st we had a birthday party for Natalie, it was super fun… we invited all our families again and shared food. We danced, chatted, drank and listened to super sweet eighties music! They love eighties American music here, its funny! I made a Paraguay version of my Cheers game- it was really fun, everyone really liked it! And I made homemade dice. It was awesome! The next day most of our group went to watch the local club teams play soccer, its an all day event and most of the people from the community go to watch it! It was super duper fun! We sat around, drank terere, ate candy and chatted with people. I always had about 4 or 5 kids around me, I had a lot of fun hangin out with the ninos! Then I started chatting with this lady next to me and she invited me to go talk on her radio show the next Saturday! So hopefully if it works out I can go meet up with her, its in the bigger town so I’ll have to take the bus! Life is good though! My bug bites have mostly gone away and my legs don’t look sickly gross anymore: I love the tranquillo life here, and I’m starting to get really comfortable. All the little kids know my name, when I walk by their houses they call out my name and they love hangin out with me! One day coming home from school they ran out calling my name and they had wrote me a note saying, “Sara- te quiero mucho, como una mariposa!” Translation: “I love you a lot, like a butterfly!” it was really cute! The girls that I’ve been teaching English numbers to have 1-10 down pat! And I played soccer with the kids the other week, which was crazy fun, I cant believe how good these little kids are already at soccer and they range between 8 and 12 years old and they’re already amazing little players! I’m definitely going to be sad to leave Guazu Cora. In one week from today I will know my future site, and that’s absolutely crazy and exhilarating! I cant believe we’ve been here for 7 weeks already!!! Only 109 weeks left till I come home! Ha!

So last week I was gone all week for what they call long field. I went to a southern most department called Missiones. It was absolutely beautiful! I went with my friend Natalie from my community and then three others from our neighboring community, Santo Domingo. That was really cool because I got to know some of them a lot better, because we don’t have much time to hang out with them outside of our training sessions. I stayed with this family who was hilarious. It was just an older couple whos kids were all grown and left the house, they didn’t speak a ton of castellano, so it was mostly Guarani, and I’m not good at Guarani yet, so I used more gestures… it was fun! They were really sweet and generous though, and the mom cooked some really good food! This week, I gave two charlas (little presentations) to the schools, one on nutrition and the other about developing and identifying your personal identity. The nutrition one went really well, it was to smaller kids and we played games and talked about what foods were good for you to eat. The second charla on identity was definitely a lot harder, it was to older kids and just the vocab that was necessary for this talk was more advanced and I definitely lacked some words I wanted to use. It is really hard for kids in Paraguay to have personal thought and creative thinking. Most of them just wanted to copy what their neighbor has; they are just so used to copying something from the board and not thinking for themselves. So it was a little hard to get our messages across at points! But it was a good time, and great practice! Then I also built 1.5 wood burning stoves for two different families! By the end of the week I was pretty exhausted, all this intense manual labor stuff… ha! I was really glad to go back home to my room and my family! The day we got home I walked to my friend Liza’s house, which is pretty much the farthest house from mine! The way there I had a little skip in my step and I was so happy to be where I was! I was walking past people who knew me and smiling, chatting, saying hello… then I hung out with Liza and her family for a while, laughed, joked and caught up from our weeks! We talked about how I ate pig head meat this week… its not as bad as it sounds, it tasted like turkey! But there were some rolled us sushi-esk things made out of pig skin and meat… I didn’t eat that, that’s where I drew the line!!

This last weekend I didn’t do too much and it was really nice. I was suppose to go talk on the radio show and Liza was going to come with me, but she wasn’t feeling well, so we’re going to try and go next Saturday! All weekend I just kinda hung out, slept in… worked on a crazy project I’m creating! There is lots of down time to do things, and this week is Semana Santa, so we only had a half day today and no school or anything to do the rest of the week!! Woohoo! Tonight I’m going to make chipa with my mom and grandma and probably Jacob! On Friday that’s all we eat, chipa is a harder bread type thing- its an interesting food, I didn’t like it too much at the beginning but now I do! And some is definitely better than others! But literally everyone in Paraguay will be making chipa tonight, its what you do! But I’m really excited for this week, because we’re just going to get to spend some quality time with our families and not have to worry about going to class and missing some good hang out time! Plus I could hang with my brother all day long, he is so adorable, I took a bunch of pictures of him on Monday night and I think I should sell the pictures to the Niko company (which is a brand name company that makes soda) they would be perfect advertisements! Yesterday morning I got up way way early and went up to Jacob’s house. It’s a very traditional thing to eat pig during Samana Santa, so we killed a pig that morning. And when I mean we I mean Jacob killed the pig and I took pictures! It was intense, you just stab that guys throat and you have to save the blood for some food you make, but it was really interesting to watch! I got some sweet photos! And it was a fun family bonding activity, my Pa is the main man when it comes to killing pigs! He roped that sucker on the first try :) Then we ate the pig that night, we had the meat from the head... ohhh man was it delicious! And pig tongue, que rico!!

Well the next time I write to you I will know where I’m going to be for the next two years. Real scary and super exciting, all at the same time… but if its anything like the place I’m at now, which I can sit outside at 7 o’clock at night on my porch listening to the sounds of children playing soccer, waving as people strole by on the road, and watching the sky turn magnificently beautiful colors… I will be completely happy! Pretty sweet life I live- and I’m getting paid to do this! Love you and miss you all at home, wish you too could experience the tranquillo life in Paraguay!

Last Thursday we had another day of practice and my friend Stephanie and I went walking around the community again and ended up talking to the same people as the week before. Only this time, the guys that were asking us tons of questions weren’t there… unfortunately those cool guys live in Buenos Aires and are doctors, that explains a lot why they were asking us lots of questions and seemed like very astute guys! But we ended up talking to other people at this house, who were very nice- not as fun as the last time, but we had a good time! Later that day we had class and talked about our mornings, but we got out of class way early so some of my friends and I decided to walk to an ice cream store (which ended up being a lot farther away than we had originally thought) so we stayed there and ate our ice cream in the shade of this persons house for a good hour or so! Lots of people have despensas (small stores) in their houses, so we bought some ice cream and sat in the shade, ate it and just hung out! Later that night we went to the soccer field like we normally do, but Liza and I ended up just hangin out with Wes’s mom, she is an awesome lady and we always like to talk to her, and I think she really enjoys our company! Friday morning we had more language class and we practiced interviewing each other because we were having oral exams 3 days later. Later that day we went on a technical excursion. We went to a really small site to visit two volunteers and build something. The volunteer we visited happened to be from Seattle, and went to UW (boo, gross! Ha!) so we had a lot in common to talk about and its always fun to talk to someone who knows where you’re from! We started working building a fagone (brick oven) but we didn’t get very far the first night. My friend Natalie and I stayed the night with a local Senora, she was very nice but the house was slightly older, made of wood (which always indicated more bugs) and the bed was a little sketchy. But these are just some of the things you have to deal with here! But Natalie and I had an awesome night talking and laughing in bed before we went to sleep. Turns out we are very similar people and have had very similar lifestyles! So it was really fun to learn a lot more about her! Well turns out my thoughts about the sketchy bed were right, I woke up in the morning with my legs COVERED in bug bites, I had put insect repellant on right before I went to bed and I still got eaten alive. I’m not exaggerating when I say I probably have about 75 bites just from my toes to my knees, on both legs… its disgusting! I was a little upset about it, and its highly probable that they aren’t even mosquito bites, but maybe bed bugs or fleas from the probably dirty bed we slept on. Because Natalie had tons of bites on her legs too, not as many as mine, but plenty! But the next morning we went and finished the project, it took us a while to finish it, but I was very proud of us for building it! I was definitely tired by the end of it, and I decided that manual labor is not one of my strengths I have to give to the Peace Corps! Ha! Fagone building goes right along with mowing the lawn- I can do it, I just choose not to! (that was for you dad!) So we got home kinda late Saturday night and I went to the soccer field to watch Jacob and Andy play and hang out with my peeps, but quickly left, just cause I was tired, cranky, had bug bites everywhere and definitely did something to my back, it hurts! I went home to find that my mom had a friend over and there were three more children in my house all under the age of 3… needless to say I did not come home to a quite house. I was going a little bit crazy. The three children visitors were crazy, running around screaming, hitting each other. My brain hurt so I went up to Jacobs house only to find a small party going on and everyone was drinking, so I hung out for a while. But then went back home to eat and shower! Later I went back to the house to hang out more and have a few drinks to relax! Then called it an early night because I was tired! I slept like crap that night, I was up scratching the heck out of my bugs bites all over my legs and I tried so hard not too. I even put on socks to try and help, didn’t work. So I didn’t sleep very well and woke up in the morning with even bigger bug bites! If the damn mosquitos weren’t here I would be completely happy. But I was woken up at 11… which was pretty late, but I didn’t sleep during the night. My friends walked in the door at 11 inviting me to lunch at this guys house. He lives in the states and his brother lives here in Guazu Cora like two seconds from my house. So I woke up got ready and went to that guys house with the rest of my people to have lunch, which was amazing! The best part was they had KETCHUP there! And it was delicious! We talked with them for a while in English and Spanish! Then I went home, hung out with Jacob and some of my uncles for a while, then home and had bonding time with my mom! We sat outside and talked for hours, we watched the two huge storms come and go. (Mom, Cindy- you would love these storms, they are awesome!! I think of you every time there is one and how much you like them!) I finally showed Ana my scrap book and talked about my friends and family, which was great practice for my oral exam tomorrow! I like the rain, its cool and really fun to watch- but only when I’m in my house and not going anywhere, cause this rain soaks you very very quickly. Its like that one time that we were at Coco beach in Florida and just like that it started down pouring and we got all wet! Great day of just hangin out, trying to recuperate, I really did mess up my back a little bit, I’m walking like an old grandma! And trying not to itch my bug bites that cover my body :) Monday morning I went to class early with Jacob because he gets extra practice with our language teachers, but since I was there early I went ahead and did my exam first thing! But when I went in there the tester said, its not an exam its just a conversation! I think I did pretty darn good, so much better than our first interviews! He said I just needed to work on my concordances, like the feminine pronoun with the noun and such, but he thinks I should start in only Guarani now! So that’s pretty cool! I was happy I did well! Later that day I lead another session on cultural challenges, this was something I was asked to do by my technical trainer who recommended me! So it was kinda a privilege to be asked to do another session, so that was cool. It was a more boring subject than nutrition and I didn’t do a sweet dance, but my peeps enjoyed it! That night two of my girlfriends and I made carrot cake, and it was pretty delicious! I brought some home to my ma and pa and they loved it! Tuesday we went to a larger city about 20 min away and made a bunch of different food with other trainees in the urban youth group and with their families! It was fun to do something with the other group that we don’t know very well and don’t see often! We made soy empanadas, soy tortillas (which is a fried dough, kinda like a pancake but way oilier!) and soy apple juice! It was pretty delicious, I ate A LOT at lunch! In the afternoon we were back with our health group and we had current volunteers talk to us about how to teach in schools, it was pretty interesting. And Chaco Fred was there, which was really fun to talk to him. They call him Chaco Fred because he lives in the Chaco- which is no mans land and hardly anyone lives in the west side of the country… except for Chaco Fred! I was expecting him to be hairy and caveman like, not at all, he was actually very good looking! Ha! And he had been a teacher for 4 years in San Francisco and vise principal for 2 years, he gave us tons of really great info on how to teach in schools, it was cool! Very smart guy! If only he knew a secret cure to keeping away mosquitos… later that night I went to the soccer field to hang out. I have been teaching these two adorable girls how to count to ten in English! They are doing really well, only they always forget how to say six and eight! But they love me, and we always have a lot of fun, they teach me words in both castellano (Spanish) and Guarani. It’s a nice little arrangement we have! And I think those girls are so great, we’re going to start learning food and animals names in English when I get back from my long field trip that is all week next week. So I wont be updating for two weeks! I would love to hear from everyone, and I hope y’all are doing amazing! Besitos!

so these pictures are all from a fiesta we went to, lots of dancing (with my gpa in the green shirt) my grandma is the lady in the pink. and my host family is the one with the baby in it. our group is one of them and the other is my friend eliza holding a cake for my friend andy´s birthday! it was super fun!

This last week we got to go observe the local school. We were only there for about an hour, but it was really interesting. I was in a 9th grade class, basically in Paraguay you have a lot of rote memorization, its all about finding the answer in the limited number of books they have and writing it word for word. There is not a lot of creative thinking involved in the school systems. On Friday we had our first Dia de Practice (Practice day) where we were just sent off into the community to talk to people. My partner, Stephanie and I wanted to go to the Puesto de Salud (health post) but it wasn’t open because it was a holiday. So we just kept walking, we decided to be adventurous and just go up to a house and talk to someone, it turned out to be a very old lady that we visited, she was really nice though. We talked to her for about ½ hour it was fun! Then we kept walking, we finally found a house where there were a bunch of people outside that waved to us, so we went in to talk to them. We ended up staying at that house for over 2 hours! They were really cool. We sat and talked to them, drank terere and discussed the meaning of life. I’m not joking, this guy was asking us question after question, rapid fire! We talked about anything from the difference of a private and public university in the states, the reason of Peace Corps, our future dreams and goals to the most important aspects of our life! It was absolutely crazy, but it was really nice to talk about things I don’t normally talk about and use vocab with… so it was great practice! It was some good integrating time! That night we had a party at my friend Liza’s house. All our group and our families were invited to it. We all dressed up nice and hung out! We spent time with our families, we all brought a dish to share, it was really fun. Liza’s sisters boyfriend brought big speakers so we had sweet music to dance to, I danced with my grandpa… we’re always dancing partners! We drank some wine mixed with coke (don’t judge me Bri, I’m trying to integrate!!! Haha!) I don’t know why they drink wine with coke, its not terrible, but I would rather drink it plain. But mom you would like it cause they always keep their wine really cold and/or put ice in it! But its decent wine, it all comes from Argentina! We had a blast that night though, we danced a ton, spent time with all our families and ate great food! All the families left and us PC people kept dancing and hangin out… it was a fun bonding night! However, the next morning we all had to get up and go to language class at 7:45 AM! I wasn’t hung over cause I didn’t drink that much but I was just tired. However some of us were a little hung over- it was and interesting day of class. It was our friend Andy’s bday on sat also, so I had prepared a game for that day. During one of the breaks of class we played the game and it was super fun! I know Andy really appreciated it… and I have to maintain my reputation as party planner #1!! Saturday night we played another soccer game against the same girls as before. I did okay… I was tired and I didn’t work that hard! I was really close to making two goals, just a little off! But it was super fun! We all went home to have dinner with our families then we went to a one year old birthday party, the dad is a good friend of Jacob and mine that we see often and talk to when we walk past his house! So we hung out there for a while, integrated with the community then went to my friend Wes’s house to play some cards. We finally know how to play Escobo de quince… which is super fun! We played a couple games of that and drank some beer and wine. This time I had straight wine, much better! It was fun hangin out as a group but Jacob and I went home semi early cause we were all tired, but Sunday was our free day so I didn’t have to wake up early, I slept in till 10:30! It was fabulous! I used Sunday to catch up on my journaling and do some studying; I have a lot to learn with Guranai! Monday we switched language teachers and my new teacher is pretty darn cool! She really takes the time on the pronunciation of the words- which is really nice especially when we’re studying Guarani! That afternoon 3 of the 4 groups in our whole G32 (G32 is our entire class: health group (2), elementary education and urban youth development) G stands for Guarambare which is the city we train in and 32 is the class number we are. There are three times a year groups come to Paraguay, so the next health group to come to Paraguay in Feb 2011 will be G35… just some PC lingo! So almost our whole G was together for the afternoon activities where we talked about HIV/AIDS and reproductive health. Basically we talked about sex and condoms all day! It was very interesting, because it is a very touchy subject in Paraguay, we aren’t even allowed to talk about it until we’ve been in site for 6 months… serious stuff! We’re supposed to be integrated well before we broach sensitive issues like that! But we put condoms on mandioca, played HIV run around games and did interpretive dancing to female and male reproductive body parts! It was fun! Ha! Later that night we had our first dance practice, I told everyone I am in charge of choreographing a group dance, we have already got approval and a time slot to do it in front of everyone so now we just have to practice!! We all met at my house and I showed everyone the four songs and how I had spliced them together and organized them! Then that night I made up the moves to the first song, Michael Jackson’s “Closer”! And we practiced on Tuesday during our break between language sessions! The dance was slightly too hard for everyone in certain parts so I’m modifying it slightly, then after class on Tuesday Liza and I made up the moves to our second song, the girls are dancing to “Lets get Loud” by JLo! Pretty awesome, I’m very excited to see it all come together!

So this first picture is of a girl at the site i went to this weekend holding the pet monkey... it was awesome! second picture is of our volleyball court we played on... the boys in the pic are playing a game of pici and the rightmost picture is my volunteer i visited, Saydia, her neighbor boy in the town and her bro on the right, we´re sitting and drinking tereré!

Visiting a Volunteers Site: This was a very cool experience. First of all I was suppose to go on Saturday but it was raining all day and the road was washed out and I had gone all the way to Asuncion and found out the buses weren’t going so I went back home and just hung out with my mom! So the next morning on Sunday I woke up and it was nice and shinny so I thought no problem. So I walked another 45 min to the main road where I caught the bus and headed to Asuncion once I got there I went to the bus company and they said they weren’t going to Tuyango today either… so I called Ricardo, who is our technical trainer and he told me to try another bus company, luckily they were going today, so I bought a ticket and got on their bus that was packed. I sat right next to a very nice guy that talked to me the whole way, he was very interested in my story and just like to talk! He helped me practice my Guarani and was a huge help to tell me when I needed to get off the bus, so we waded through the crowds of people to the front and then I saw my volunteer running towards the bus, so it stopped, I thanked the bus driver and I finally made it. Not until late Sunday night, but I made it! The last part of the bus ride to the actual site was 20 km on dirt road… I felt like I was on a rollercoaster, and we got stuck three times, it was very scary! But I made it and I was introduced to some people then we just went back to Saydia’s house and hung out and watched a movie! In the morning she made a banana smoothie and we sat outside and enjoyed the cool of the morning! Next we took a tour of her site, but not all of it cause we got tired of walking! Then she made me some really spicy Indian stir fry, but it was delicious! I scarfed it down! Next we went over to a neighbors house to play volleyball. Well this court was very little and the next was a piece of wood that came up to my wrists when I put my arms up… we started playing and the people that were playing/hangin out with us knew very quickly that I knew how to play volleyball. I was a little timid when I was first playing then Saydia told me to hit the ball… so I started swinging hard! It was ridiculously fun! We ended up playing 12 games, yes 12 games! They were only to 10, but it was an entire afternoon of volleyball, it was great! Oh and we played with the neighbors pet monkey, it was pretty freakin cool, he was like wrapped around my arm and climbing on my head! He was soooo cute! Then we went home and made brownies and watched the older boys play soccer in Saydias front yard! Then as if we weren’t tired enough, we played a game of soccer with the kids! I couldn’t move after this game, I was so exhausted! We took showers, ate the delicious brownies (which were made from scratch, none of this premade box stuff!) and went to the neighbors house again to watch a scary movie with the boys! I was so tired at this point I couldn’t even focus on the movie and try to translate, so I just watched, but I got the jist of the movie anyway! We were both tired so we went home early and just talked in our beds and passed out! In the morning she showed me where she works at her health post. It was really cool, and definitely something I would love to work in! and the nurse is the contact person for the community and basically the coolest lady ever! Everyone that I met this weekend wanted me to be their next volunteer and the nurse was actually going to call our director and request that I be the next volunteer in their site! So it was pretty cool to get such a warm reception! It definitely made things seem a lot more real and discover what site is really going to be like. And if I’m in a site anywhere like Tuyango I’m going to be very happy! However I need to learn my Guarani, everyone was talking in it! Good thing we start Guarani classes tomorrow! Overall wonderful weekend, great experience and hopefully I’ll end up in a site as cool as Tuyango! p.s. I’ve started a very nice tan! I wear sunscreen every day, but because of all the walking I do I’m out in the sun a lot most every day! Cool with me- lovin the sun kissed look!

WARNING: this is a very long blog post! the first picture on the right is of us cuerpo de paz girls in our soccer game, the second picture is of all of us and the girls we played against, and the last one is of jacob killing a chicken... and yes he is pulling the head right off! it was crazy to watch, but jacob was lovin it! then he helped pluck off all the feathers and cut it into pieces! my grandma asked if i was next to kill one, i said i´ll just watch jacob do it! ha!

I was suppose to go visit a current volunteer today but i got all the way to asuncion and there was no buses because the road had been washed out from the rain, so i get to try again tomorrow... oh well so i just went back home and decided to do a little emailing instead! I finally got smart and I’m writing this before hand on my computer, saving a copy to my jump drive and copying it to my blog! I’m saving so much time by writing it before hand but I get to write so much more because I’m doing it in several different days! Yeah! So now that I have time I can go into a little more detail about things. Since its been almost two weeks since I last updated! First of all my family is pretty darn great! Ana (ma) is quickly becoming a good friend. I feel like I’ve been here for a really long time, but its only been three weeks! Ana and I talk every day, she tells me about what it was like when she was pregnant, about her friends, the crazy things she did when she was young, gossip around town and just whatever we feel like talking about. At the beginning I mentioned that I have a really hard time understanding her, now I get about 93% of it! Ha! She likes to talk a lot, but also likes to listen to me talk and explain things I do in the states and when I talk about my family! Ever (dad) is a little more quite, we mostly talk about soccer or who I drank and played cards with the other night! Or we’ll just sit in silence and play with Alexis, which is always fun and entertaining and gives me a short break from Spanish! I really couldn’t be happier with the host family that I got… its perfect for me! My friend Andy on the other hand, is in a family with 4 host brothers… he is always playing some sport whether volleyball, soccer or American football! I wouldn’t fit in well in that situation, I need some downtime!

Speaking of soccer, Saturday the 20th was our first all girls soccer match! We played against some girls that came from Villeta… which is a bigger town about 20 min away! I was a little nervous because the entire community came to watch us play them! And you know me, I’m not that good at soccer! There were only two of us, of seven that even had played soccer before! But surprisingly we did pretty good, we lost both of our games (0-1, and 1-3) but like the boys told us, we were really fun to watch and we did so much better than they were anticipating! Ha! I did kick and totally miss the ball a couple of times though! I was SOOO close to making three goals, one of them was so close it hit the side of the arch… damn! I did okay, not fantastic, but I tried hard! And of course afterwards the men bought and shared beer with us! That’s what I love about this community, everyone is so nice and we share and hang out, I get to practice even more Spanish, and they teach us some words in Guarani! And there are soccer games that happen every tues, thurs and sat. Jacob (my neighbor that I do everything with and walk everywhere with) is really really good at soccer and I always go and watch him play with the ridiculously good Paraguay men! The night of our girls soccer game some of our group went to Villeta to party cause its Carnival… but some of us didn’t want to go, so we just got together at my grandparents house (which is 20 yards from mine) and drank some beer and played some cards. We were taught a game called escoge quince, which means choose 15. Basically you just use the cards in your hand and the cards on the table to add up to 15… I’ll teach y’all when I get home! So I was talking to my tech trainer the other day and she said that all of our sites will have electricity and most all of our sites will have running water! Which I’m sure I’ll be happy either way, I just wanted to have electricity, and I will!! But I had an interview with our head health guy, Don Pedro, he is who decides what site you go to. So I told him that I would love to be able to work with a doctor/nurse to see what medicine was like in this country. I will for sure be doing other projects as well, but if I could work a little bit with them it would be awesome! So he said he would see what he can do, but not to count on it! However, on Friday we had two other volunteers come in and give a small presentation on how to be a health extensionist… and one of the girls said she was premed and she just made friends and started to volunteer at her bigger hospital and she got to do lots of crazy things like IV’s, shots, blood pressure and she even got to help with surgery! I got really excited and want to be somewhere where I could do this too, the reason she got to is because she was close to a regional hospital, they are much bigger hospitals and actually do procedures. Most sites just have a puesto de salud which is just a very small building with a nurse and basic remedies.

So a little more about terere, I don’t think I really explained how important this is to their culture! We literally drink it all day long! We go to class at 7:45 – 9:00 and then take a break, at that break we prepare our terere. What it is, is yerba mate which is a bunch of herbs/dried plants that you put in a guampa (cup), then you prepare the yuyos (pronounced jujos) which are the medicinal herbs that can be for specific parts of your health. Like if you’re suffering from kidney stones, for example, you can take burrito- no not a Mexican burrito, it’s a plant that helps with kidney pain! Or my favorite is mentai, which is mint- its just a refreshing yuyo! So you put your yuyos in a bowl thing and pound them up them up and those go into your jarra (pitcher) and you put water in your cup and let the water get absorbed, which they call “Saint Tomas drinking the first one”. Then you starting drink it. There is one person designated as the pourer, and they start to their right and continue around the circle passing the cup, filling it up and passing it to the next person. If you don’t want anymore you give the cup back and say gracias! It really is a cool tradition. I love it, I do it at school, at home with my parents, and randomly when we’re visiting our friends or neighbors! I’m going to bring some back with me, so don’t you worry, you will all get a chance to experience it with me! So we have lots of current volunteers come and show us how to do a charla (small presentation on a topic) or how to do a summer camp! Two of them came and gave a charla on parasites, it was very interesting… they basically told us that parasites are everywhere and you’re probably going to get one at some point in your service! Yeah! The one girl had round worm once and girardia on and off for the two years… she also didn’t have running water so that made it so much easier to get girardia! So I’ve basically accepted that fact that I will probably get some kind of worm, but the Peace Corps has good medicine to cure us! How exciting right!

Besides soccer, I play lots of volleyball, on Sunday I played at my friend Andy’s house. I showed up and I got in the second game, and you play with the same partner as long as you win, well I won the first game… and the second… and the third… by this time I am extremely tired, because I’m super out of shape plus its ridiculously hot! We end up playing four games in a row, we go to 12 and its old school rules like you can only score a point when you serve… and when I mean rules, there really aren’t any, you can carry the ball, hit it however you please! So needless to say I am super extremely exhausted by the end of our four games, I am sweating all over my body and am covered head to toe in dirt! I show up at my house and my friend Liza (my PC bestie) had stopped by to hang out, and her and my mom where like: what happened to you! I was pretty sweaty and dirty! Ha! But it was super fun, but two days in a row of rough physical activity in the heat… my body is tired! Good thing that night my dad and I shared a bottle of Argentine wine so I could pass out early and happy! But our family typically goes to bed really early because of Alexis, which is just fine for me, I’m all about getting my sleep! I usually go to bed around 10 and wake up at 6:30… look at me getting up early and everything! But morning is my favorite time, because its not too hot and its so refreshing!

Last week I was working on my charla, which is a small presentation. I’m doing mine on nutrition. But instead of doing a boring stand up and talk to everyone, I made a super sweet Jeopardy game… its one of my best, and oh so interesting! But I was working pretty hard on that, basically three nights in a row when I get home from school. And of course its not too many hours because I have to get my evening shower in to clean off from the day, I have to eat dinner with the family, and a lot of times I play with my baby bro before dinner while mom is finishing up cooking… hes a bit needy, so I wheel his little stroller into my room and we have dance parties while he plays with popples! He loves having things in his hands, but he doesn’t quite have the fine motor skills perfect yet, so he always drops whatever is in his hands a lot, and will whine until someone picks it up and gives it back to him! But I love playing with him, and I know it helps mom out so she can actually work! My charla last week went really well though… I started out my presentation with my sweet trucker hat on backwards, bright pink sunglasses and the music blaring to “Lets get the Party Started” by Pink! So I come out of our school dressed like this, music on and dancing my crazy dances!! Everyone was lovin it! Then I did my presentation on nutrition and everyone liked my Jeopardy game! It was pretty good, I was the second person to give a charla and I think I set the bar pretty high! However there was a current volunteer there to help with the charla and she was the girl that I was going to go visit at her site this weekend… so I got to meet her ahead of time which was cool! She was really neat and after meeting her I knew I was going to have a good time! And she was helpful to tell me what things to bring for the weekend and exactly what buses to take!

We got “Mission Possible” assignments last Wednesday to go with a partner into the capital, Asuncion. My partner and I met up at the bus stop at 6:30am (she was from the other town that’s the other direction (2k) from the main route, and we’re 3k from the route to our community. But we met up and had specific locations to go to in the city to get used to the buses and the city of Asuncion. There wasn’t too much there and the city was super spread out, you really have to know what part of town to need to be in to get specific things! We went first to the botanical gardens walked around an… interesting… museum! And then walked around the park, there were soccer fields, and pretty plants! Our next stop was the location where we pick up any big packages people send us, so that was a good place to know how to get to, it was kinda hard to find, it just looked like a warehouse… but now we know! My partner was a little shyer, so I did all the talking this day. We had to ask people what buses we needed to take and every bus driver to drop us off at the right place, because we had no idea! But everyone was very helpful and we didn’t get lost once! After our two places we had to find, we went to the Peace Corps main office where we did lots of random activities and got to know the place! And that’s where we got our assignments for what site we were going to that weekend!

p.s. I’m really glad I brought my computer, it has come in handy many of times! And there are options if your site can support it, there are internet flash drive things that you just put in your computer and can have internet. I don’t want it for like the first year, but it could be helpful later, so I might be getting internet full time at my site, depending on where I am and how things work out. But definitely not for a while. But once I get my cell phone when I’m a for real volunteer it is free to receive incoming calls… so you guys can all call me!! Im not quite sure how expensive it is for you, but maybe mom and I will try it out and let everyone else know!!

So here i am one week in. feels way longer! but i am still loving it. there are little things i´m getting used to like bugs in my food. its cool extra protein! HUGE tranantula size spiders in the bathroom, I ran out and had my dad kill it. while my mom was telling me to be careful because a lot of spiders here are venomous! And bugs crawling all over me at night and the massive amounts of mosquito bites i have on my body, its rediculous!! but i´m working through it! or the extremely long walk i have from the bus stop to my house... but its good, i´m getting lots of exercies! and hopefully losing weight! i feel pretty good anyway! ohhhh and its been raining the last two days... and man that saying is so true cause when it rains here, it POURS!! crazy crazy downpours, but they usually dont last very long! And i told my mom i like ketchup the other day when i was at a birthday party for a one year old... so cute! and so that night she brought me ketchup with my egg and lettus so i put it on... its not ketchup! which i figured, but its like a super runny weird salsa type sauce... haha! I know Tishra, you wouldnt do very great with that, you´d have to get it shipped in! ha! But i´m doing pretty good with the food. mostly rice and meet which is tasty, some good soups, and lots and lots of juice which i love. and when i talk about juice, ím talking about right off the tree in the back yard and into the blender.... so amazing! My family is really great, my mom really likes to talk to me, and my baby brother is so adorable its so great! i drink a lot of terere which is the tradition that ppl drink every single day we drink all day during class, at home and whenever its my fav thing! i went and watched our peace corps boys play soccer the other day and afterwards everyone drinks beer and hang out and they had music, and of course i got up and started dancing with my gpa... and everyone was clapping. i´ve tended to get lots of attention here, but not in a creepy way! my grandpa says im the prettiest girl in the whole group, he loves me! my good friend jacob lives with my gpa and we do most everything together, bc i´m not suppose to be walking by myself, so it works out nicely! im in the middle spanish level so i´m starting in spanish this week and will move to guarani next week for at least some of the time!! my class has three pcv to one teacher, so we get lots and lots of study time!! oh and i´ve been assigned the task to coreograph a dance for our training group (just the 12 of us who are in the same community) hahaha! so that should be fun, i´m going to do a mix of songs... he! The great thing is i get to play a lot of volleyball which there is a court at my friends house like a min away, and i´ve proven myself to be good and i´m like the good girl that plays volleyball. my friends dad was talking about me the other night saying how good i was! ha! and he just lives across the street and watches me play! yesterday we did a training afternoon where we practiced to make things like a form for the latrines and how to make soap, it was definitely more hands on and super fun! we did that with the other health group in their community like 10 min away! so now i´m going to try some more photos... they went to the top and thats weird but oh well, i dont know how to do it! but the one is of my mom and baby bro at a birthday party and the other is my best friend here, Eliza, shes from bend or so she knows where i live! and we´re drinking terere! the one above that is right outside my house, the walk down the road to my school! and the one above that one is a picture of most of my community people and the background is our training school. we go here every morning at 745 for language and sometimes in the afternoon for training, or we´ll go to the other site! with the exception of wednesday when we go to the city to the main training site and we have to be there at 8 and it takes us 45 min to walk, so i got up this morning at 5:30... way too early! But i´m enjoying the exercise! k well thats it for now. more to come later!

Well first of all I made it safe! Traveling was long and tiring, i didnt sleep much! But the country is beautiful, and all the people are extremely nice!! But its HOT! I sweat permanently all day long! My host mom is slightly shy, she is very young, 28 and never had a PCV (peace corps volunteer) before! and she has a son who is 7 months old, he is adorable but all he does is stare at me, no smiling... yet! My dad is nice, but i´ve only met him for about 30 seconds, he works night shifts, so i dont think i´ll be seeing him much! Our house is nice, really nice from the outside. We have running water and electricity, which not all volunteers do! The showers all have cold water, but its so freakin hot, so cold showers are awesome! You start sweating just as soon as your done anyway! The neighbor is my "grandma" who has another volunteer, Jacob. and i anticipate doing lots of things with him and their family. we live in the campo, which is the country, and everyone in our community is realated in somehow! I guess we will be doing lots of community activities together- carnival, birthday parties, soccer tournaments!! I really like the community feel and we´re all friends and hang out! The fruit juice I drank was AMAZING!! And I had coffee this morning... weird right! But I loved it!!! My group of volunteers is really great, I have made a couple of really great friends, but everyone is really nice and I talk to everyone! We start doing language training tomorrow and I took a language interview today to see where i place, if i test out of spanish i will go straight into learning Guarani- which is super interesting, you dont pronounce it like it is spelled, you drop lots of letters! But i´m really excited to learn it! We will be doing most of our training in our satellite communities which all have 12 people in them, and then we´ll be in three groups for language, so we´ll only have four people and one teacher for language learning which is awesome!! But I will update again soon, probably at least a week, I wont have email too often, and no phone till I am an actual volunteer not just a trainee!!

So I got an email from the Peace Corps and it gave me a link to a youTube video interviewing some people from Paraguay on their Peace Corps experience. It is filmed in country, on site, so it will give you an idea of what kind of environment i'll be in! It is very interesting and I encourage you all to watch it! Time is getting so much closer to my departure, I leave in 12 days!! But i'm really looking forward to some good Tishra time this weekend, as well as seeing my bestest college girlies!! Hope you enjoy the video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZA78xUzwTA

Cheers!

So now I wait. I have my assignment in Paraguay doing a rural health and sanitation extension. I dont know where I will be living for the two years yet, but I will find out during my three month training in Guarambare, which is a town south of the capital, Asuncion. I have my pre-departure orientation in Miami on February 8th and will be leaving for Paraguay on the 9th! So until then I am trying to talk to and get together with as many friends and family possible before I leave! More to come... hope everyone will follow my blog while i'm gone!