Wow it is hard to believe that I have already been in Paraguay for a week now – time sure does fly by!
Weather update – it is FREEZING here, literally! I think last night it was in the high 30’s! If you have ever been camping overnight in the 30s, then you can definitely relate here! YIKES!I am very glad that I packed my long underwear at the last moment and am wishing that I had my electric blanket (yes I used one, even in Florida LOL)
This week I had an interview at a bilingual school and it looks like I will be able to teach there. They teach in English in the morning and in Spanish in the afternoon. So I will be teaching from 8am-12pm every day.The funny thing is that I will be teaching high school science, which I think is hilarious that I moved all the way to PY just to teach science to teenagers. But it is a job and will pay the bills plus it will leave me the rest of the day to hang out, or teach extra classes or…. Whatever!
Every Tuesday they have a farmer’s market where you can buy fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, cheese, snacks…there is even a Chinese couple who makes and sells Chinese things and I think a Japanese guy who sells sushi!It is a fun place to go visit!
I have been to the grocery store and it seems the same – here is a photo of Liz getting bread from bins of fresh bread! (they do have good bread down here!)
I have done some babysitting here as well, which has helped Frank and Liz a lot. Ximena (3) has enjoyed playing with my make-up. Here is photo of the two us, you should be able to see her eye shadow work! LOL (Ximena took the pic as well!)
This weekend I will be hanging out with singles. Last night we had a singles night at church and tonight will be like diner and..? no se’(IDK!)
But EVERYONE has just been so super sweet down here. One girl named Laura rode the bus with me out to the school where I will be teaching.She then sat and waited for me while I talked with the teachers for an house and then got me back on the bus to come home. I am very grateful for her and everyone else’s help! =)I can definitely feel God taking care of me every step of the way down here!
Well I am FINALLY here in Paraguay - It took a year and many prayers to get here, but here I am!Part of me can’t even believe that I am actually typing this from Asuncion!
So, I left on July 16 at 7pm and arrived in Buenos Aires at 5am.Apparently Argentina is having many issues with the H1N1 flu and so we had to wear masks to get off the plane and enter the airport (like the photo? LOL). I was afraid I would have to continue to wear the mask for my entire 6 hour layover. But fortunately everyone took it off once we got inside (don’t know how much sense that makes, but whatever! ;)I didn’t sleep much on the plane so I put my backpack under my head and slept in the airport for awhile.
The flight to Paraguay is only an hour and a half and was very easy. When I arrived I got through customs very quickly and was greeted by about a dozen people from our church. They made me a HUGE sign welcoming me – it was soo sweet! I don’t have those photos yet, but hopefully I will get them soon!FYI: The custom is to kiss twice, once on each cheek and say “que tal?” (how are you)
We drove back to Francisco and Liz’s house where we had a huge lunch with everyone.There was DELICIOUS sausage and chicken and beef kabobs, rice and a corn dish that is called “chipa guasu” – sort of a cream corn casserole thing (not my favorite part though, it was really salty).An interesting custom I have noticed is that everyone eats their food and THEN everyone gets a beverage to drink – Coca Cola is HUGE here by the way!
It is cold here – the houses don’t have insulation making it extra cold inside. I am so glad that I brought sweaters and jackets. The days have been like 60/70 degrees, but I think the nights are like 40/50 degrees! Cold to everyone here!I wish I had my electric blanket!
Saturday : We lounged around in the morning. But after lunch, Liz and her two kids (ages 5 and 3) went for a walk.We stopped first for a snack called a “Chipa” – it has a similar consistency to a soft pretzel but is made with bread and cheese.Then you drink it with something called a “Cocido” that is made with herbs but has a strong burned taste (not big on that personally). Then we walked to 2 different malls. One was very big with lots of American stores like Nike, Crocs, and Radio Shack. It even has a Kodak store where I think I should be able to print photos (gotta keep up the scrapbooking here!)We ate some delicious ice cream and then headed back.
(FYI: I decided that I can move anywhere as long as I can find delicious ice cream! LOL)
Saturday night the church threw me a welcome party! It was sooooo sweet of everyone.We ate yummy empanadas with chicken and cheese. We all danced for a long time – they played music from the United States (old music though like “twist and shout” and “pump up the jam”), Brazil, and Paraguay. I was tired by the end but it was a lot of fun being with everyone.They all speak Spanish so quickly, but they are being very patient with my lack of Spanish!
Sunday:I went to my first church service. I didn’t understand a lot, but I was able to get the idea just by reading the scriptures that they used in the sermon. After wards, I stayed and ate lunch with some other singles.We ate breaded beef (like chicken fried steak) and “ensalada aleman” (potatoes, onions and mayo).
Afterwards it was on to another couple’s house where we ate a huge lunch of beef and potatoes and salad and bread – quite the feast (no pics of that though)I ended the night with a girls’ night out of yummy ice cream for a woman’s birthday.
I am little overwhelmed with everything here, but I am also having a great time! God is definitely taking good care of me here down here and everyone has just been so sweet – I think it is going to be very easy to make some very good friends here!
WOW - I can't believe that this summer is almost over and I leave for Paraguay in about 24 hours - how crazy is that? I have been back in town for about a week and a half and it has been filled with fun visits with friends, visits to the beach, LOTS of errands, packing, storing..the list goes on and on!
But I am SOOO very grateful for everyone's advice and words of encouragement over the last few weeks. I need all the prayers/pep talks I can get before I head off on this crazy adventure!
Shout outs to my family in Montana, Portland and Texas Shout outs to all my friends in CA, GA and FL
I love you all dearly and will miss you a ton!!
Please keep in touch - email, this blog, Skype, Facebook and Flickr photos WILL all be done!
WOW - what a crazy, busy and fast-moving summer this has been so far!
The last day of school for kids was Thursday June 4th. Then Friday I had teacher planning and then Saturday I was on a plane to Portland to visit my family. My brother, his wife and my sister live there. My parents drove over from Montana to join the festivities. We had a great time. We got Neal, Laura and Anne moved into their new place. Then we got to spend a couple of days on the coast tide-pooling and visiting the local aquarium
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On Friday the 12, I flew down to LA to visit one of my best friends Kim and her family. My Aunt Sharon and my cousin also live near there, so I got to spend a day with them as well (photo on right). Kim and I got to hit the piers and just enjoy the fabulous CA weather!
I flew back to FL on the following Wed and hung out there through the rest of the week. then the following Wednesday I drove up to Atlanta to visit all my peeps! =)
One of the main reasons I drove up at that specific time was to see my friend Gwen have her beautiful baby daughter - yes I got to be in the delivery room and everything!
In between I got to visit Tim and Lacy, Dave and Melanie and Jeremy and Natalie - all wonderful friends who put me up for a night. We just chatted/caught up/had a blast seeing each other again. I miss them all very dearly! ;)
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I got back on July 4 - just in time for FL fireworks. It has been a great month of travling, but I was definitely exhausted when I got back!
Hope you all are having a wonderful summer!
PS there will always be more photos up to see on Facebook and on my flickr page (I'm a little behind on the flickr photos, but that's where the bulk of my Paraguy photos will be when I get down there!)
