Fiesta fiesta fiesta!

Hello all,

So last Sunday after I got back from the orientation in Asuncion, my brother and mama picked me up from the bus station and we went to my brother's school celebration. September is the month where all the school's (elementary to high school) select their school's queen and king and all the princesses; It's kind of like the Paraguayan homecoming.  So for my brother's high school and all the other one's in the area, they meet at this big rectangular arena and have a parade with all the classmates and families and friends. Each school has their own section of the arena, so there's no fights, and all the students have such good school spirit it's pretty incredible. During the month before, the school all helps build a giant float, one with the queen standing on a pedestal, like the one's in Disneyland but bigger! Then all the princesses and queens get on it, and they slowly make their way down the middle of the arena and all the classes cheer and it's pretty fun. After there's a concert and festival and all the kids and families go. Paraguayan's are very family oriented which I enjoy a lot.

The Paraguayan's care a lot about beauty and getting done up, so these queens were wearing dresses like one you wear at a quincenera and their make-up and hair was all done, everyone looked very pretty! Even the little middle schooler's at my school got all done up.

I had a normal week after that, a lot of rain so I only went to school/work three out of the five days. At school one of the days, it's primavera now, (aka spring time) so the school gets all decorated and we celebrate. To teach the kids about it, they each planted their own plants and to learn about the fruit of spring, we made a big fruit salad in class and all the kids helped out, it was delicious!

On Saturday night, I went to a party in Encarnacion with my friends. It was very fun and we danced and met new people and had a great time. The parties are either in clubs or they rent out empty houses and have them there. There's security at every one and you have to pay a little to get in, but it's good because you know it's safe and that there's someone in charge haha. That was my week here, and I will try to post next Sunday!

Mid-way Orientation

Sorry for not posting on Sunday, but this past weekend I was in Asuncion for our welcoming orientation. Asuncion is the capital of Paraguay, and on the bus it takes about six hours to get there. So the seven students living here in Encarnacion, all took a bus on Friday morning to arrive in Asuncion Friday midday. We went to the AFS office there, and extended our visas so we can stay the whole year.  After that, we all went back to the hotel we were staying in and did some bonding activities. It's so fun to hangout with and meet all the other students again from all over the world, and share all of our experiences.  I love it! The three days were mainly bonding activities and AFS checking in with us and seeing how everything's going. 

It was funny though because in orientation in Miami for an example, we had to be in bed by 10 and have lights out at 11 and it was very strict.. where as in Asuncion, we didn't have a curfew at all and we didn't finish our activities until midnight every night, and then we all hung out the whole night. There was very little sleep happening but it was so much fun. All the exchange students shared common thoughts on Paraguay, good and bad, and out of all the different countries that were there, none of our countries are like Paraguay. Everyone here is from a 1st world country, and so all of our experiences are so different than home, and we all compare the same things.  It's good though to talk to everyone and know that your problems and your feelings are shared throughout everyone and we all are going through the same things.

Oh and at the orientation, there was such GOOD FOOD! We all missed cereal and fruit and vegetables and such, and at the hotel, they had all of that so we all stocked up in our bags for the next couple of days haha. It was such a great weekend and so good seeing everyone again! 

Normal week

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, I wasn't feeling too well. By the way, traveler's digestion problems is in fact a real thing haha so don't forget and bring your Pepto Bismol while traveling!

This pas week was a typical week so far in Paraguay. Last Sunday, my family and I went to a sports gathering event.  It was in a public park in downtown Encarnacion, and there was a huge indoor stadium like place with cement bleachers. Everyone is on a team, from where their from, so we were supporting San Juan, and you all sit together. There were about thirty people from San Juan there. Then the kids that are on teams, play mini matches of whatever sport they play against each other and you cheer for your team.  The high school boys and little boys had two soccer teams and they were very good, and the high school girls had a hand ball team. It's kind of like pick-up sports, so when you want to play you scream out "San Juan, San Juan, San Juan" and then they choose an opposing team.  We ate lunch there and just hung out with all the families. It was really hot inside though, so when we weren't playing, we went outside to the park and played volleyball!

A really funny/strange thing you do here, is when you go out for the day (ex: last Sunday) and you know there will be lunch or a barbecue, you bring your own plate, cups, and cutlery from home and then you eat with that. They don't provide paper plates or cups or anything, so I thought it was funny and random.

I taught my English class on Saturday, and more people showed up than last time because it wasn't raining, yay! It was good and I think they all like me, we are all around the same ages so it's fun and we talk about the differences from America compared to here, there are many!! That's all for this week, and I hope you're enjoying these posts! Thanks :)

Rainy week

This week was a typical week with school and teaching, etc.  On Tuesday, after school, my brother and I went to Encarnacion for a meeting promoting AFS Paraguay to study abroad. It was interesting the prices and how expensive it is for someone here to go to another country.  It is the same price as America, but without the money converter, so in Paraguay with the money used to go abroad, you could buy a nice house instead. It doesn't really make any sense to me, but if you are extremely wealthy here, you can go abroad. After the meeting, my brother decided he wants to go abroad for sure. It has always been his dream to go to America, hence why he is taking two English classes (5 hours every Saturday), just to learn the language to go abroad. So at the meeting we asked about scholarships and he is starting to fill out the application and then we will work on the scholarship part of it. I am very happy and excited for him!

This past week was very interesting with the weather because it was so different from California. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday there were thunderstorms, because it's winter here.  The lighting is very visible because there's no tall buildings anywhere so you can see the whole sky, it's very cool. Anyways, when it rains in Paraguay, the whole city basically hibernates and shuts down. No kids go to school and no one leaves the house. It's not rare for it to rain, but since it's always so hot it's kinda a big deal haha. So I didn't know that people don't go to school, so on Wednesday I walked to school and I enter the room and there was only one student and the teacher, so I got to leave early :) In the local school, where I teach, it's for the residents of the neighborhood and the kids who can't afford to go to a better school outside of the town, so most kids walk to school. The roads are all red dirt roads or big cobble stones that are very bumpy, so when it rains, all the dirt turns to mud so you really can't walk to school unless you try, like me, and get completely covered in mud by the time you get there. So most people just stay at home for the day. Even in Encarnacion, the main city where all the roads are paved, at my teaching class on Saturday, only three students showed up because it was raining and taking the bus and everything is just too much of a hassle so people have stay at home days. It's very funny I think!

That's just a little bit of the week, and I'm sure more exciting things will happen next!