Almost three weeks in...

Hello to everyone!

Well I finally have a free moment to try and write a quick note to you all! Friday I will have been here for 3 weeks – the time just goes by so quickly!

I am officially living in my new place and it is so nice! The house is owned by a young married couple, without kids – their names are Guillermo and Jessica. What’s great about the house is that my room/bathroom are actually separate from the rest of the house.

Here is a photo of the gate to leave the house.

Here is a photo of the front of the house. The side door on the right is where I go for my room.

So when you walk through the side door, if you take a left then you see this door, which goes to the kitchen inside the house.

If you take a right, then you can see my space. The door on the left is my bathroom and straight ahead is my bedroom. You can also see where I hang my clothes after I wash them - most people have washing machines here, but most don't have dryers. I will have to take a photo of my room after I have cleaned it up a bit - LOL

So 3 big events from past couple of weeks:

1) I started teaching at a bilingual school. I am teaching high school science and English. Right now I am working M, T, W, and F from 8-12. The job definitely has its ups and downs (but what job doesn’t, right!). I do like that it is part-time right now though.

2) Dia de Amistad is a big holiday here. On the day you give your friends cards and little presents to show how much you appreciate the friendship. They love to do a “secret santa” sort of thing though. Guillermo, Jessica and another girl, Karina and I all put our names in a hat for Thursday. That night night, Guillermo cooked these really intense hamburgers (see photo) with a hamburger patty, a slice of ham, a slice of cheese, a fried egg and some sort of dressing on it- HUGE!

After dinner we exchanged our presents. It was a VERY fun evening! This photo is of Jessica, Guillermo and Karina.

3) I went to my first soccer game. It seems like the two biggest rival teams here are Cerro and Olimpia (both based here in Asuncion). I went to see Olimpia play in the Olimpia stadium and it was a blast! Of course the people at church who are for Cerro are so not happy that I went to cheer for OIimpia! LOL. We sat on the side, but the end zone was FILLED with these intense Olimpia fans who jump, sing, and chant for the ENTIRE game. It was awesome!

Let’s see – weather update: up until today it has been pretty cold. I am grateful that Jessica had a space heater for me that they weren’t using. Even with the space heater, there were a couple of nights where I slept with multiple layers on! Today is hot, sunny and I have the ceiling fan on – a sign of the weather to come from what EVERYONE tells me!

I have also successfully taken a public bus from my school to my house. I have also successfully walked to and from my house to the supermarket and the mall – YAY!

Col 1:10-12 “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. “

I share this scripture because God is definitely trying to work on my patience here. It has definitely been frustrating at times not being to understand what is going on around me. But God is helping me to work on being “tranquilo.” (calm and patient). I do give him thanks for taking care of me and really helping me to feel successful down here! I thank you all for your prayers and good wishes – I have felt all of your love down here.

Hope you all are well!

Ciao

Sarah

WOW - one week already!

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!

Hope you all are well!

Besos y abrazos

Ciao

S

My first official blog from Asuncion,Paraguay!

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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!

I hope that you are all doing well.

When you say goodbye here you say “Ciao”

So Ciao to you all until next time!

Abrazos y besos (xxxooo)

Sarah

ALREADY....????

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!

hugs to you all!
love ya
S

A busy summer...

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!)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22742400@N07/

OMG OMG!!!

Psalm 37:3-4 "Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. "


ok peeps - I JUST bought my ticket to Asuncion, Paraguay -dang, this is a little scary because it means this is actually becoming a reality there!

So details - I am flying out of Miami on Thursday, July 16, 2009 (Yes Kim, a good # day I believe! LOL). I fly out at 7pm on Thu and will arrive at 11:30am on Friday.

I can't believe I just did this!!!

For those of you who don't know: living in a Spanish-speaking country has been a dream of mine since my senior year in college (1995/1996) and this trip itself has been about a year in the making. I can't believe that I will actually get to live this life-long dream of mine! Thank you God!

Hugs to you all! =)

Meet the Bedoyas!

Last week the Bedoyas flew down to Paraguay. Who are they you ask? Well they are Francisco and Liz and they are moving their family down there to lead our sister church in Asuncion. My pictures of them are limited at the moment, so I got what I could. They have a 5-year old son and a 3-year old daughter. Their wedding photo is therefore a little old, but I figured you all could at least get a look at the family who will be taking me in once I move down there! They are just the sweetest couple and I am very grateful that they are willing to take me in!

Last week at church we had a lovely going away party for them...food, slideshow, the works! What was also cool though was that they announced that I was heading down there as well! Not everyone had heard the news, so I had quite a few people come up to me, excited about my upcoming adventure. Everyone has been so sweet and encouraging - it has helped me to get more excited about going down there! It is hard to believe that I should be there in about 2 months! CRAZY!