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. 

Highs and Lows

I'm sorry I didn't post anything last week, don't worry I am still alive! There has been many highs and lows these past few weeks. I've definitely had my lowest points and gotten through them okay, but I have also had some of my highest. I am not going to rant about the lows because there's no reason for negativity, but the highs, yes I will rant about!

This past week I spent in Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay. It is an amazing city and there is nothing else like it in Paraguay. I originally went there to pick up my passport and try to get a visa in order to travel with my friend to the Iguazu falls on the border of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. It is an amazing place and is one of the seven wonders of the world. I wanted to go so badly but unfortunately my visa didn't work out with a limited amount of time, however I will try to go again within the next year. My friend did end up going however and he said it was amazing!

My week turned out amazing too in the end though. I stayed with another girl from America on AFS, her name is Emily and she is one of my best friends here in Paraguay. Her family is so sweet and welcoming and we had a blast together. We visited the president's work place, walked around the city, partied a little bit, went out to eat, and shopped shopped shopped (my favorite). It was truly amazing and so different than my home here. It is so strange how different places can be in the same country. I was telling her about my experience with dirt roads and a lot of poverty and she couldn't believe it. I think she is coming to visit me though this month which I can't wait for!

The week before my journey to Asuncion was also fun with hanging out with some friends and I went away for the weekend.  I went with one of my friends from my home and we met our other friend in a town about 30 minutes away called Honueau. We went for a mini October Fest Festival. It was really the funniest thing in the world. We are in the middle of nowhere in Paraguay, in a small town, and there's an October Fest. They had dancing and drinking and traditional costumes. It was so fun and bizarre! We stayed at her house and hung out and then took the bus back home the next day. I have been making little trips and traveling a lot which I love!

Money, Plata, Dinero

Money money money! In Paraguay, the currency is Guarani. It's the same name as the local native language. Guarani is only for Paraguay, but in Argentina you can pay with it because they are so close together and vice versa. It is very cheap compared to the US dollar and it's interesting how the entire culture can adapt to having such a cheap currency, it lowers the whole countries wealth.

So if you go to school here, which isn't mandatory, then after you finish high school you can go to University if you want too. If you don't go, you can still make enough money with a job to live on. However, if you do choose to go, it's typically two or four years and it is a much lower educational level than in other countries but here it is considered high education. If you want to be a policeman you only have to go for two years and only have to be 19 years old. Guns and weapons aren't allowed in Paraguay except for the policeman. It was really funny actually, last weekend I went to a Halloween party with my friends and he was a soldier so he went to the costume shop to buy a fake gun. When we were walking to the party, a police stopped us and asked if it was real because they don't have orange caps or anything, it looked very real. He said no and the police man asked where he can buy it so when he is somewhere where his real gun isn't allowed, it looks like he still has one! haha

Most typical jobs here are working at a store, a teacher, or a house cleaner. If you work at a store for an example, your salary is enough to pay for a car, a house, and to support a small family. The average amount people get paid per week is 250000 guarani which is 58.07 dollars. If the dad and mom work in the family, you can live quite well with just this amount of money here. Here is some costs of popular items: 4.000 Guaranies is $1

Bus ticket- 3000 G = .75 $
Three loafs of bread- 2000 G = .50 $
To fill up a van with Gasoline- 80000 G = 20.00 $
A basket of groceries- 40000 G = 10.00 $
A sandwich at a restaurant- 15000 G = ~ 4.00 $
Shampoo- 9000 G = 2.25 $
T-shirt or tank top- 10000 G = 2.50 $

Also, almost everyone is paid in cash. Cards are used rarely and only a few people have bank accounts. Bills are paid in person and it is rare for families to save money. It's normally the money you get paid with that week is the money you use for the next week. It's so different than in other countries but it's what they're used too.

My walks to school/work

So last week was just a typical week but I joined a gym! It's very cheap here and I have my own personal trainer which is always a bonus. I've been  going quite often which is good to kill time. 

But I want to talk about my walks to school every morning and afternoon. Every morning it's nice and refreshing to walk because it's not too hot yet and there's sometimes a little breeze. On my way, I pass a little farm with the owner milking the cows every day at the same time and we say hi to each other. I know if I'm late or early depending on if she's already milking the cows or not haha. And then a little bit further is this other very small, poor house and there's a dad and kids who are always outside sitting and talking no matter what time of day it is. His kids wanted to learn English so now they know how to say 'hello' and 'bye-bye' so every morning and afternoon they talk to me and it's so cute. Then the dad comes up to me and talks to me and it doesn't matter if I just laugh or reply with bad spanish because he just keeps on talking as if I understand everything I say perfectly haha. It's really funny and he somehow knows what the weather will be every day so I ask him about the next day and he's 90% correct. In the afternoon, either I walk home with one of my students and their moms or I walk home with another one of my students and his older sister. Most of the time it's with the kid and the sister. They are so sweet and we walk and talk and sometimes the mom comes to pick them up on the motorbike, but the older girl always comes with me instead and the little boy goes with the mom by himself. They're really sweet. 

It's really cool though because since the school is for the neighborhood kids, everyone walks. So after and before school the streets are filled with kids and everyone has someone to walk with.  I truly think it would be such a good place to raise your kids and they have no electronics, barely any money, and they still have so much fun just playing with each other. All your friends live next to you or on the next street over which is so lucky! One time I was listening to my music on my IPhone and a kid came up to me and asked me what it was. I told him it was my cellphone and he replied back to me in spanish, "Oh, I've never seen a phone that you can just touch and it does what it wants, it's like magic! My parents have to press buttons". I was first in shock and then said back to him, "That's a good thing you don't know how to use this or know what it is, you're only seven and that's how it should be!" 

Happy Days and an Exciting Week!

I used to only not like the post system here, but now I officially hate it. Since the post office is only open certain hours, I didn't go to work so I could get my package from my parents (it was sent a month ago), so I go into town to pick up my package and at the post office the lady was trying to explain to me that it's not there, so I had her write down the address of where it was. I took that paper to my mom's business and had the secretary take me to the address on the back of his moto. We finally arrived at 12:05 and they said the international office closes at 12:00.  I was frustrated so I went back home and missed work again the next day to pick up my package before 12:00. I went again with the secretary and after signing five different papers, waiting for 45 minutes, and them opening and going through the entire package, I got it! Yay!!! Thank you Mom and Dad! After we went back to the business and my brother met me there after his school and we were going to go home for lunch. So, we were going to take the bus, which didn't end up coming, so instead my brother took us on the back of his motorcycle. Just picture this, three normal teenagers on a small moto seat with my brother only staying on because he's holding on to me, and I'm only holding on with one hand because in the other I'm carrying my heavy package in one arm. But, we made it home safely :)

In the package, I also had my mom send me pencils and pencil sharpeners for my students because there is always problems to make sure each kid has a pencil, most times they have to share. So the next day at work, I brought them a lot of pencils, sharpeners, stickers, and erasers and just to see their faces and how happy they were made the whole post office thing worth every minute. It was as if they each got a present they've always asked for, I almost cried. Then, to thank me they all came up to me and gave me kisses and said thank you, thank you, thank you. I love my kids, if you can't tell haha! 

This week was so hot, luckily though where I live it's not as hot as the capital where most people live. It was 51 degrees celsius which is 124 degrees fahrenheit and it's only SPRING! But it was about 100-110 degrees every day which was not pleasant. 

A surprise did happen though this week too! One of our dogs, a boxer, had babies!! She had four babies and they are so cute :) I'm in love with all of them and can't wait to play with them as they get older. This did however cause some problems with the other dogs in the house because if one goes near the mom and the babies then they start fighting and bad fighting with blood and everything. So the new job in the house is to keep the dogs separated for a while! 

I also started Zumba this week! I go with another girl on AFS from Germany. I didn't think it would be that hard but I really enjoy it and it's a good yet fun workout! This week one day before we went my friend and I decided to walk into town to get something to eat. I don't know what we were thinking but we didn't think it would be that hard to walk in the heat, yet we were wrong. We showed up to the restaurant with so much sweat dripping down our bodies everywhere the waiter thought we literally just went swimming. I won't be doing that again haha. 

Sorry my post was so long, just a lot happened this week and I want to tell everyone! 

Feliz Cumpleaños

Happy Birthday to me!!! Last Monday was my birthday, I am now 19 years old, wow time flies by so fast, it's crazy. Birthday celebrations aren't a huge deal here, unless you're a girl and you're turning fifteen so you can have your quincenera. That is a big deal! So my family and I just had empanadas for dinner, my favorite, and they bought me a cake which we ate after. It was quite nice and a quite day. On Friday though, a couple of my friends and I went out to diner for my birthday which was fun, so at least I got a little bit of a celebration in :)

The past week was just a typical working week, however, my hours did get changed a little bit so now I am working only from 2-5 in the afternoon everyday, but I am on the search for another job so I can keep occupied in the morning. I might work at the other local neighborhood school in the morning and then switch to my school in the afternoon, we will see!

At the school, one of my jobs is to write in the kids books for their parents. Since, there's no mail here and hardly anyone has internet in their houses, the only way to inform parents of stuff or events happening at school is word of mouth and their books. So in their backpacks every day, the kids bring little journals and we write in them so the parents can be informed. Another difference is when a kid is sick or not feeling well, last week a kid had an ear ache, the teacher or one of the assistants just walks him/her to their house since it's in the neighborhood and there's no phones to call the parents or anything. It's quite strange but I guess it works out okay in the end!

Oh a couple of weeks ago, all the AFS'ers in the Encarnacion area met up with some local teenagers living here and they gave us a walking tour of the city. It was very interesting and it ended up at our favorite spot to hang out, the beach!

Next week hopefully I have a new job.. Bye for now!

Guerra del chaco!

This week I didn't have school for three days (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) because we were celebrating the win of the war with Bolivia many years ago.  On these days a lot of relaxing, eating, and watching TV was done haha. I went to town with one of my friends and got our nails done and went to get something to eat which was fun. I also went to the post office for the first time last week to see if a package arrived from my family, and to sum it up, I hate the post system here. First of all, there's no address for my house in my neighborhood because there's no street names, so I wrote the address of my Mama's business in town which has a street name.  I wrote the name of the business, the city, the zip code, and the telephone number of the store. Also, all mail goes to Asuncion first, the capital of Paraguay, and then from there it goes by car to every other part of the country since there's no trains or airplanes. Anyways, sorry for my little rant, but hopefully my package will arrive to me one day :)

Another highlight of my week was one night all the AFS students living in Encarnacion area, met up and had a little AFS party. We listened to music and just hung out. It's really interesting to see how all of our experiences are so different from one another yet were living not even 20 miles away from each other.  Thankfully I got a Paraguyan phone now, so I can keep in contact with them and meet up with my new friends.

It's been raining a lot here recently and apparently October is the month of rain! Yay for me, since I love the rain and am dreading summer time considering it's about 110-115 degrees everyday with humidity on top of that. The land here is so green and nice; everywhere I look it's green and smells so good. I'm praying for you California though to get some rain too. If I could I would send you some! That's all that happened last week, and I'm sure more exciting things will happen next week, Adios!