Winter is way colder than I was expecting!

So this whole south american winter thing. WAY colder than I was expecting! Its actually cold. So i've spent these last few weeks just trying to keep warm. I usually sleep with my sleeping bag and three blankets on top. And I like to read before I go to bed, but I haven't lately because my hands get to cold to be out of the blankets! haha! So I hang out with my family. We cook chipa inside where we light the coal and have embers which warms the house a bit, but the chipa is delicious! Ohh I made detergent one day with a bunch of ladies. That was fun! And it turned out really well. And that was part of my work plan, so I can cross that off the list of something i've accomplished! And I think it put me in good standards with the women- they'll want to do more projects with me! Hopefully!

I had a really fabulous day last week where I went out to inspect some guys chimney on his wood burning stove- because I know sooo much about chimneys! haha. And I looked at it, and surprised myself by how smart I sounded- in Spanish! And we came up with a plan on how to improve it. Then he showed me around his house, I drank milk right out of the cow. It was a mug full of delicious milk that was luke warm and foamy. Yeah I know you need to pasturize and all the fun stuff, but I have such a hard time saying no to things being offered to me. So I drank it. And it was delicious! And I haven't died yet, so I think i'll be okay! The rest of the morning I watched them make bamboo juice by sending the bamboo through a crank type thing. Which by the way my town Tacuara means bamboo in Guarani! Small fact there! And later I used this bamboo juice to drink as mate (hot tea with yerba!) it was pretty good!

I've had three weeks of my Guarani tutor now, and its going really really well! I actually had a conversation today with my teacher! And i've been understanding a whole lot more of what my family and the people here are saying. My biggest problem is that they talk so damn fast! If they would talk slower and give me a little time to process I could understand a whole lot more! But I have a quiz tomorrow in my class, so i'm going to be studying up this evening!

Last weekend I went to visit my friend Danielle who lives the department over, but is only an hour and a half away by bus! I wasnt going to stay as long as I did but it started raining and I couldnt get back into my site. But we had such a fabulous time together. Doing absolutely nothing, but doing it together. We watched TONS of movies, in english! and the whole 7th season of Friends, which was amazing! And we made tacos from real taco seasoning her mom sent her from the States- they were bomb! And ate Jiff peanut butter- which made my life!! So overall a great weekend, and it was really fun to see another persons site and get to know their people! They were all very nice and invited me back as often as I wanted, and said next time we have to dance... I showed off a few moves of mine!!

But life is tranquilo, chill. Working on some small projects, waiting for school to start up again. And i'm doing a leadership camp this weekend in Pilar which should be fun! Chau Chau!

Fuerza Paraguay!

Well I’m in Asuncion this weekend to celebrate the 4th of July with Americans! We’re having a big bbq at the Embassy on Friday and a volleyball tournament after, which I’m super pumped about and have stacked my team with good players! Its going to be nice to see a bunch of my friends and meet some new folks! I haven’t seen my bestie, Eliza for 2 months now… so it will be nice to see her! And we’re going to go to watch the movie Sex in the City 2 which I’m way excited about!! And on Saturday Paraguay plays Spain in the world cup. We are one of the best 8 teams in the world! And it is exciting because I’ll be in Asuncion and I get to watch the game with all my friends, so I’m really looking forward to that! GO PARAGUAY!

So I haven’t been doing too much in the way of working. However, its been really hard because my teachers are on strike, so there hasn’t been class for over two weeks now and we have official winter vacation starting the 12th so… its been really hard to plan my upcoming charlas, because I have no idea when I’ll be able to start and how long the teachers will be on strike! But so goes the life here, until then I guess I’ll just have to watch a little more world cup!

So I wanted to share with everyone that I have a pet. His name is Charlie. And he is the biggest toad I have ever seen!! His body is the size of an extremely large grapefruit and he always finds a way to sneak back in our house. He really likes the bathroom, but hes been known to visit my room a couple of times! Speaking of pets, our family dog, Lassie is in love with me. She’s my best friend! For some reason she is always at my side, jumping all over me and getting my clothes dirty. When I go out running, she is there waiting, wiggling her tail at the door for me to come home! Its cute but sometimes its nice when she doesn’t get my clothes dirty!

A new little project I’m working on is learning how to knit and do something called ao’poi. Ao’poi is a traditional craft that people make shirts, table cloths, sheets out of. It’s a specific material that you hand decorate a design on! I have a shirt that Eliza’s training mom made and she is currently making me a dress! Its really beautiful stuff, so I’m really excited to learn! Plus one of my favorite ladies in my community is going to teach me, so it will be a good opportunity to get to know her better!

Other than that I’m working on a volleyball camp that I can hopefully do this vacation. I just want to get some girls together and play a little bit! And I’m also going to participate in a leadership camp that’s being put on by other volunteers in Pilar. I’m in charge of team building games! So that should be fun, and something to look forward to! I’m also trying to decide about my housing options. I have a house that is possible for me to rent but my current family said I can stay for as long as I want- even for the whole 2 years! But house negotiating is a very complicated process here, the first house they said I can rent for my two years magically had some guy living in it. And the second house that the brother of my current dad said I could rent, as of yesterday is going to rent it to someone who is going to pay much more than I ever could. So we’ll see what happens, but until then I’m very happy here with my family. My mom told me the other night that she loves having me in the house, she has loved my company and she just feels so much happier when I’m here! So that was really sweet and I really do enjoy it here, so I’m going to weight out the pros and cons of both options!