Absolute Mayhem in April and May

Well after the family left it was back to work, being guapa! I started out April with a near death experience. I was doing my laundry and as I was finishing and putting everything up on the line I was about to step on and only 2 inches away from one of the most deadly snakes in the world- a coral snake. I have had it confirmed from many different sources that it was the real one, the poisonous one. The one where you die within less than 20 min! Awesome right. Well not really if you were there. I was freaked out and it kinda shook me up mostly because it was right outside my door… and I was so close to it! But it was an experience. I started my English class first week of April and had 22 kids show up, I didn’t have any more room in my house so they all sat out front of my house on my grass! I’ve actually really enjoyed taking on this project, I have a pretty consistent 15 kids that show up and I’ve add another class on Saturday for the more advanced kids! And I think these kids are really interested in learning. We have fun and play a lot of games while learning- its my style! I also started my parasite charlas in the school, I only got to do a week and a half of them before things got insane around the school. On Saturday Paraguay is celebrating their 200^th year of independence. So the whole school is preparing for it, we have dances, decorations, poems to recite, theaters to present, parade practice- which includes drums and baton girls. Its been a crazy month of all the preparations. So I am waiting to start up again on my charlas until this business is over! But I still continued to do fluoride with the kids every week. The last week of April I was in Asuncion for mid service IST, which basically means go to the doctor because it’s the midway point and make sure you don’t have worms or nasty things growing! I was clean as a whistle!! We also had to get our visas renewed, which turned out to be quite a mess. There are six of us who are going on an extreme Amazon Adventure and we were really worried our passports weren’t going to be back in time to use for the trip, because everything is really backed up from the independence madness. But we begged and pleaded and ended up getting everything taken care of no worries. And we all got pretty new Brazilian visas that will last 10 years! Now we’re all set for our trip! We also celebrated our COS (close of service) date while in Asuncion. It was really crazy that we’re on the downhill side now! Back home I was practicing full time working with the kids to teach them Paraguayan dance. Of course I didn’t know it, but the teacher showed me one time and I caught on. So I was the little dance assistant for the kids! It was fun, but also really tiring. We worked hard! May 4^th I celebrated my 1 year in site. And I threw myself a party! I cooked hot dogs, funfetti cupcakes, brownies and no bake cookies. Needless to say, the food was a huge hit! We had a lot of fun, there were about 45 people there including kids, we danced, ate, drank and had a really good time. Nothing crazy, but just right with my closest people! That very next day I was in Pilar for a VAC meeting that I lead. I announced that I got permission to do a 4^th of July event (I am activities coordinator for the Peace Corps!) and I am doing a dance-a-thon. Its going to be pretty spectacular. Competitions, matching outfits, choreographed dance. I got it all. So me and my VAC discussed what we will be doing and everyone seemed pretty excited! Then to continue the party the next night we celebrated my friend Brian’s birthday in Pilar. We drank, ate and danced up a storm. It felt like a disco in his house!! Ohhh and we taught the Paraguayan beer pong. They loved it!! Oh but wait I’m not done with the parties. I returned to my site on Saturday and had a 2 year old party to go to that night. The crazy thing was this was the first birthday party I went to when I got to Tacuaras a year ago. It was a very weird feeling to be attending a repeat event! But only this time I knew everyone that was at the party… instead of everyone just staring at me! Haha! This week I’ve been in the school every day doing lots of random preparation and of course hanging with my pre-schoolers! I am going to be part of the parade on Saturday and walk with the pre-schoolers! I’m pretty excited, it should be a lot of fun. And let me tell you, I’m excited for it to be over, I’m exhausted. I’m gone all day, then have to clean my house, do my laundry, clean my dishes, cook… and I just don’t have enough time for everything! To add on to that 2 days ago Tutti got spayed, so she cant leave the house, and I have to watch her carefully so she doesn’t bite of her bandage. But shes doing pretty good, still sore and I can tell in pain, but she just started to eat again this afternoon. And I tied a ridiculous old shirt and duct taped it to her so she cant reach the bandage to bite the stitches out. But it was kinda cool to see the operation, and I got to help!! Oooh and I got to be a part of something really spectacular today and yesterday. Thank you to my wonderful Aunt Cathy and her dentist in Oregon! Her dentist donated 144 toothbrushes in really fun color. I have now given one toothbrush to every student and currently 120 kids have toothbrushes in their classrooms that will stay there! The look on these kids faces were absolutely precious. And they all said, now we can brush our teeth all the time!! And this second statement I don’t know if it makes me sad or greatful for gving him one, but he said, “This is my first toothbrush”. I kinda wanted to cry or smile… I don’t know! But it was a fun moment to be a part of! With many many thanks to my beautiful Aunt for thinking of me and the kids! Things just never stop here though, I have GRE studying to do, applications to prepare for and another party to go to tonight! Its nurses day… and my favorite people and closest contacts are all nurses! If its not one things its another! But loving life- For real. I enjoy keeping busy and doing good work. Then after this weekend a little Brazilian Amazon jungle to experience! It will be a welcoming break!