Hello All

Reporting here from a very rainy but less freakin hot Guarambare. I’m finding my niche a bit more. Language classes are in full swing and every afternoon this week we have lectures about different adjustments and policies and things. My language teacher is really awesome and sweet and we found out today she is studying English because she wants to come to the US on a Fulbright to do her masters. We are meeting all of our higher ups who seem really nice and enthusiastic about the Peace Corps which is really encouraging. Our schedule for the next ten weeks is super super packed, pretty much down to the minute during the week so the long days are taking some getting used to. I haven’t woken up at seven am consecutive days since high school I don’t think so needless to say, I’m back to my sleep at 930 self. Yesterday five current volunteers came to talk to us about cultural integration and other things like that which was interesting. All the girls told us about how much weight they gained during training which is really terrifying and so I’m making a huge effort to see that that doesn’t happen to me. They all have this really great air of confidence about them, which is intimidating/great and I can’t wait to meet more of them. We got rabies shots and mosquito nets today so that was sweet.

My host family continues to be adorable and great. My little brother, Arielito, painted a picture of me yesterday that I hung up in my room here. My sister and I made empanadas last night and pizza the night before, and she painted my nails this weekend as well. This weekend coming up is the carnival and I’m sure she is going to make sure I’m done up Paraguayan style. My little brother also has a soccer game on Sunday at the community field which is allegedly a sight to be seen-a parent fight broke out last weekend, and there were also a fair amount of tears from the losers. Apparently my brothers team doesn’t win very much but, as my mother likes to put it they “win a lot of experience”. I watched a Paraguayan futbol game last night with my older brother and father, who are Cerro fans. There are three main clubs here-Cerro, Olimpia and one other one but according to my brother Cerro is the only way to go.

This weekend I went with my family to the “country club” which was a huge piece of land with a soccer field (naturally) and three swimming pools and a bar. I met a couple more family members and went for a swing and passed the afternoon very tranquilo. I am getting the feeling my family is very fancy and “chuchi” which is making me a little nervous for the transition to site. I’m going to practice taking only cold showers the last couple weeks so the transition isn’t such a shock.