Merry Christmas to you all!

Merry Christmas everyone!
Right now I am waiting for my sister to arrive. She is coming down here for Christmas and I am SUPER excited about her being here! She was supposed to come in last Saturday, but that plan changed. Then she was supposed to arrive yesterday, but her plane in Portland had mechanical problems. She was supposed to be arriving now, but I guess her flight from Buenos Aires left late, so now I have about 30mins before I have to leave for the airport, but she IS coming!! Whew! A late, but fabulous xmas present nonetheless!!!
School ended last Friday, so now I on vacation until February.
This past Monday I got to travel to a city on the border of Paraguay and Brazil called Ciudad del Este. I also got to travel into Brazil to see the AMAZING waterfalls called “Iguazu Falls”
Here are a couple of pics from the trip. The place is absolutely gorgeous! I will definitely be posting more pics and info when I get a chance!





It’s actually hard to think that it is Christmas since it is blazin’ hot and humid down here!
Christmas Eve here is called “Noche Buena” and it is the day that everyone really celebrates. We will eat dinner around 11pm. Then at midnight we will cheer, drink champagne, wish each other Merry Christmas and then it will be time to open presents. I think after that people start going to other people’s houses to visit and say hello. Yessi’s parents and brothers will be coming, so I think we will be staying here and people will probably come over here to say hello. Christmas day is then just a day to sleep and relax. Anne and and I will be hosting the traditional Armstrong cookie party on xmas day. I am excited to show my friends our fun xmas tradition!

Although I am excited to see how everyone celebrates Christmas down here, I am of course missing you all very much. Thank you all for your love, support and prayers! I wish you all a wonderful holiday season with your friends and family!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Love
Sarah

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to you all! I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday and were able to spend it family and friends. I was definitely missing everyone on Thanksgiving Day. It was hard to imagine everyone gathered around eating, chatting, watching football (of course!), while I was on a bus heading to Argentina to get my passport stamped so I could stay another 3 months in Paraguay.(that was a LONG day to say the least!)
It’s also hard to believe that 2009 is coming to a close and that I have managed to survive these last 2 years. I have MUCH to be grateful for during this holiday season. Here’s the short list - LOL
1) God – NO WAY I could have made it through without Him.

2) My family – You all have been a constant source of love, encouragement and support. I miss you all dearly, but am grateful that we have been able to skype and email so much!

3) My best friends – you are all spread out – FL, GA and CA, but I know that I can call on each one of you and you will always be there for me. I am grateful that I have always been able to cry, laugh and be angry around you all. You ALL took me in, fed me, loved me and gave me LOTS of ice cream and Kleenex. ;) Thank you.
(Yes, Nicky I am crying as I type this – did you even need to ask? LOL)

4) My new family down here in Paraguay - When I told them I was missing everyone in the U.S. for Thanksgiving, they were all quick to remind me that they were my family now and that I can’t forget that. God has been quick to bless me with many wonderful friends down here!

5) Everyone else – thanks for all of your love and your support as well!

Last Saturday (11/28) I decided to host my own Thanksgiving down here. My mom was nice enough to send me a tablecloth and some napkins (thx mom!). My friend Laura came over and cooked up three chickens and mashed potatoes for me (turkey is unfortunately way too expensive down here). While she was busy doing that, I made 2 apple pies for dessert – yum! Including kids, we had about 15 people there and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Frank explained Thanksgiving to them in Spanish. I had explained a bit of it to many of them earlier in the week, but his explanation, was of course more thorough/detailed! LOL!
Here are a few photos from the event! Notice the shorts and t-shirts, as it is getting HOT HOT HOT here!




A couple of weeks ago, I went to another soccer game. A second “Clasico” actually – Olimpia vs Cerro. We sat through the game in the pouring rain. The only other time I have sat through a sports game in the rain was (I think) a Georgia/ Florida game, which definitely could rival a Cerro/Olimpia game! Unfortunately, we lost again. We thought we had a chance when we scored the first goal, but they came back to win 2-1. What’s funny is that I put this photo of me up on Facebook and everyone thought I had dyed my hair blonde (nope, just me in a yellow poncho) – too funny!



I can’t say much has gone on in the last month or so. School is winding down. I think the kids will finish around Dec 10th or so. Teachers’ last day will be December 18th. I have actually been out of commission for the last 2 weeks. I caught a cold from my fellow students, which unfortunately turned into a sinus infection. But thanks to a nice teacher at my school, who is a former nurse, I was able to buy some antibiotics and get back on track!
On December 19th, my sister is flying down to spend Christmas with me. I am SUPER excited about that! I can’t wait to show her around and see some new places myself! Some Christmas décor has been up for awhile, but I noticed tonight that every place is now throwing out all the stops. It looks so pretty here! I will definitely try and get some photos soon! =) This is a photo of my friend Valeria and I.



I hope you all are doing well. For those of you who are not on Facebook, feel free to hop on over and join the fun. I definitely have more day-to-day updates there!
Love you to you all!

My first trip to see the countryside of Paraguay

So Wednesday October 16 was my friend Guillermo’s birthday. His family lives about 2 hours away and he invited a bunch of people to spend the day at this parent’s house in a city called La Colmena. My trip to Colmena started at 5am, can’t say I was super excited about that. LOL But we had to round up 2 other cars of people and stop for breakfast, so we had to get started early.

Cultural note – people really don’t eat much for breakfast here. If they do, it is usually just coffee and then maybe some bread, or a roll. They don’t even have restaurants for breakfast here. (oh how I miss Waffle House! LOL) . You can buy cereal in the stores. But I am not sure when people eat it here. You cannot buy syrup though. The place we stopped at had snacky things for people to eat. A bunch of us ate a “mixto” (toasted ham and cheese sandwich) with coffee or juice.

The first photo is of Guille, Liz and Tere – the bday boy is very excited, as you can tell! ;)

Once we got out of Asuncion, the land really flattened out. I do miss seeing the wide open sky like Arizona has, so it was nice to see it again here in Paraguay! Every once in awhile though, a hill would pop up or a bunch of lush vegetation, or even a grove of palm trees.

Once we got to his parent’s house, we just hung out and had a very nice day. His parents have a ton of land. They have a huge garden, and tons of chickens and ducks all with babies! I had to include a photo of the baby ducks, because they were just too adorable!



Out back was this huge oven thing cooking a dish for us called “Sopa Paraguaya.” To get the oven hot, they first put wood in. Then once it is hot, they pull the wood out and put the food in. Sopa Paraguaya is basically corn bread but with cheese. I am not a huge fan of it, but fresh out of the oven like this it was actually quite tasty! (vs. the store bought stuff people usually buy here!)




This is a picture of the stove inside the house. The house did have electricity and plumbing, but I am guessing this is cheaper and/or easier to use for them.


While we waited for the meat to cook for lunch, a bunch of us took a walk. There were beautiful flowers everywhere and some were just so tiny and delicate! I loved them! This is a group photo of all the girls.




For lunch we had grilled ribs, beef and sausage. It is is called asado here and is usally cooked with A LOT of salt. It can be pretty yummy though! We also had rice and salad, more sopa paraguaya, and mandiaoca (yucca). After lunch and the birthday cake was eaten. Everyone just snoozed or sat and chatted and enjoyed the afternoon.
Guille’s aunt started making a drink called “cocido” for everyone and gave me a quick lesson in it. You brew herbs and sugar in water. Then to get the “burned” taste that cocido has, they add pieces of charcoal to it. Strain it and there you go! Again, not a big fan, but people love it here!



We got back into town early in the evening - just in time to watch Paraguay play Colombia in soccer. Unfortunately, we lost, but since Paraguay is already qualified to go to the World Cup, no one was really upset. (Yes, the US did qualify as well, just in case your were wondering! haha)
After that it was b-day party #2 for Guille! We ate more asado, danced, and just had a very fun evening with a ton of people from church. It was a long day, but definitely a super fun one!

I am hoping I can get out and see more of Paraguay soon!
Love and miss you all!
S

chicken hearts or marshmallows - which would you rather try for the first time? ;)

HOLA a todos! (hey ya'll) LOL

Well it has been a busy few weeks here in Paraguay. At the end of September we celebrated Liz’s birthday. A few women met at restaurant to help her celebrate the big day. Then the next day we had a big party for her with everyone else.

September 29 is a national holiday here and no one had to work (yay!). So all the singles at the church decided to hang out and spend the day together. The original plan was to go out of town. But then cold weather showed up and so we hung out at the church building all day. We hung out, sang, had a bible class, ate lunch... Then the day ended with the guys singing a few songs to all the girls. They even sang one in English for me! It was a great way to spend the day. =)

Last Friday night we had a few people over to grill out. We cooked beef ribs, pork and sausages for everyone to eat. However, for an appetizer, they made kabobs out of chicken hearts. I did try one, can’t say I am interested in eating one again though. They all thought they were fabulous though! ;)

After dinner, my contribution was to let people try roasted marshmallows for the first time. We turned on the natural gas stove and roasted away. They all loved them! Personally I think they got the better end of the deal in the “new foods to try” category! LOL

I will be heading out of town this Wednesday to a town in Paraguay that is about 2 hours away. I am very excited to finally be able to get out and see more of Paraguay.

I have officially been here for 3 months now!

Miss you all and hope you all are doing well!

Hugs

S