July 30th = Friendship Day

July 30th here is Friendship Day. It's a cool holiday because it is similar to V-day in the US (which they do celebrate here as well) but it is a holiday just to show your appreciation/love to all of you friends. As with any holiday, gifts are to be had and cards to be given, so of course all the stores are full with little trinkets and such to buy. At church, we had a box at the front where everyone could drop off cards/notes and then they got delivered to everybody. It was fun getting everyone's encouraging notes!

So in the spirit of Friendship Day, I thought I would introduce you all to my best girl friends down here - they are a FAB group of girls and I am super lucky that they have taken me in and given me lots of love!



So this is my friend Vale. She is actually from Argentina, but moved here with her son like 7-8 years ago because her sister used to live here (her sister recently moved back to Argentina). She is a single mom with a 13 year-old son named Mar, who is just the sweetest kid. She quickly became one of my very best friends down here because from the start, she made it a point to talk slowly and to make sure I always understood what was going on. She was patient and always willing to listen/give me a shoulder to cry on when things got tough/stressful! She still helps me with my Spanish, really one of the few people who will still correct me, which I do appreciate! =)






This is my friend Eli. She and Vale are the two friends I have had since the beginning. Eli is from a town like 8 hours away from Asunción. Where she used to live (a town in NE Paraguay, bordering Brazil) they really only speak Portuguese and Guarani, which I think is kinda crazy and kinda cool! haha - In fact, she only speaks in Guarani to her family. She too is a single mom with a 15-year old son. His name is Walter and he too is a great kid - he calls me his second mom! =) So, day three of being in Paraguay and I started crying - just frustrated with the language and there was Eli to give me a big hug and encourage me along! She is great at that! I don't get to hang out with her right now as much I used to. She used to clean houses, but has recently been working at a day care during the day and taking classes at night to be able to work at financial institutions doing financial stuff (specific I know, not quite sure of all the details to be honest - finance vocab is hard! LOL). I am super proud of her though for trying to get some education so that she can get a better salary/job/security for her and her son.





The next friend I made was Anita - you probably remember her from the wedding photos/wedding blog post. I went over to her house just about every week last year where she would feed me a delicious lunch before having to head out to my tortuous third graders! She is an amazing cook, always willing to serve, help out, listen, be a shoulder to cry on as well! (yea I have cried a lot here, hence why I need lots of encouraging friends! LOL). With her having gotten married and also going back to school to finish her degree in nutrition, I probably only get over there a couple of times a month now. But always still grateful when we get a chance to hang out/catch up!

The next two are more recent friendships....



The first one is Laura. She has actually been here the whole time I have been here, but for whatever reason it just took us awhile to build a good friendship. She is single and currently taking classes at a cooking school to become a chef. She is an amazing cook as well! She just started working in a restaurant as well and is probably one of the most hard-working people I know! This picture is funny because I painted her nails. As a chef, she can't paint her nails, so I did it one weekend and she was happy to show them off, even if it was for a day! We can always have a good vent fest when we get together!





Nathi is my newest friend - less than a year actually. But it has been fun building a friendship with her. She is always super joyful, always wanting to encourage everyone around her. She is a child psychologist and works in 2 different places with kids. She speaks some English too, which makes it fun when we want to say something but don't want the other people to know what we are saying! haha




So there you go, a short introduction of some of my friends here in Paraguay. There are of course many other names I could mention (teens, singles, guys/girls) But these really are my go-to girls and decided they just needed their own post!

To all my friends who are in the US reading this - I still love and miss you a ton and am always grateful for your friendship as well!
hugs!