Change can be a good thing!

I am so sorry for not writing in a long time, a lot has been going on here and now I’m finally settled and have some time to write. All the schools are on holidays at the moment until mid February or early August, so I haven’t been working and instead relaxing and enjoying summer as much as I can with it being between 100 and 120 degrees everyday. I almost die when I have to go outside.

So as of right now, I am sitting on my new bed in my new house writing to you. I had to change houses, families, and work due to some personal reasons, but I am very happy with my new situation. It’s like I am starting all over again from the beginning, which is nice in a way.  Sometimes change can be good, for many reasons. I moved out of my house about three weeks ago and moved in with my friend, who is also on AFS from Belgaim, and lived with her and her family for about three weeks. It was a lovely time and we did a lot of girl things since the whole house was girls!

This past week however I travelled to the north of Paraguay to a region called San Pedro. I first took the bus to the capital, Ascunion, met my friend there and after we travelled to San Pedro with her mom. We stayed on a farm for three nights and four days and it was amazing and a memory/trip I will never forget! We woke up every morning quite early, ate a delicious homemade breakfast as we watched the sunrise, then got on horses and went horse back riding around the property for about 2-3 hours. The property is 1,000 hectares which is about 2,470 acres. It was all farm land and consisted of cows, animals, and fruit trees they keep to keep the farm running. We got to help herd the cows in every day on our horses and the land was beautiful. There were wild horses, monkeys, cows, owls, bats, fireflies, lizards, sheep, goats, chickens, peacocks, and dogs.  It was so much fun and my friend and I had a blast playing with all the animals and eating real fruit and good food after not having any for a while in Paraguay. There was also a pond which we could swim in and it was so fun to do when the sun was setting. It was all in all a wonderful trip and I will definitely go back if I have the chance too.

I got home from the trip on Thursday night, and Friday I moved into my new home.  It is in downtown Encarnacion, about two streets away from the beach. I have a 17 year old sister, a 19 year old brother, a mama, a papa, and three big dogs.  I share a room with my sister and we get along great! The family is so nice and welcoming and they really make me feel at home.  They are very family oriented and we do many things together; shopping, eating, drinking terere, relaxing. The first night I got here they took me out to a nice restaurant for my arrival and then we went to the square to listen to live music. Yesterday, on Sunday, was also a great day for me as my whole family cooked a huge nice lunch and they taught me how to make a lot of typical Paraguyan foods. It was lovely and I am having a blast so far!

I will try to write again every Sunday since I am settled now.