So we didn´t end up going to Itaipu this weekend because I had an AFS camp here. I really would have liked to go but it was pretty cool to see all the people that I had came here with and listen to all their different stories here. It was also pretty sad because we all had to accept the fact that we have to leave in less then a week for the USA. I don´t think anyone wants to leave.
I especially don´t want to go back and have to readapt otra vez to university life just as I was getting comfortable with my life here. Thats life I guess. I am excited to see my friends back in the states... but its not going to be the same..
Needless to say I´ve been trying to enjoy all my time here this past week. Marcelo and I did a lot of stuff like going to peoples houses, bowling, movies or dancing like we did last night. We went to Malaga, not that anyone knows what that is. It was a lot of fun because it wasn´t really crowded and all our friends were there getting crazy.
Tomorrow at Amanacer they are having a going away party for myself and the other AFSer, Taylor that works there. Its going to be really hard to say goodbye to all those kids... even though they were hard at times. Then on Tuesday I´m going to the colegio where most of my friends go (San Francisco) to say goodbye to all of them.. Then on Wednesday I´m off on my rediculously long trip home. If I do add more to this blog it will probably be from the states.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
Caacupe, SanBer...
The dia de la Amistad went well, I got lots of chocolate and regalitos.
On Friday night all my friends and I went to a dicotecca, May B, for a school party (vicius). It was definately a great time since the music was way better then the last time I went to a club. More Reggaeton y menos electronic. We stayed out until about 3 so we didn´t dance a ton but it was sufficient.
Saturday at our church I got to help out with the misa (mass). A girl was having her quince there so alot of people were dressed really nice and were taking pictures.
Yesterday my family and I went to Caacupe which is a really important city for Paraguay. Every year in December thousands of people make a pilgrimage there for the feast of the Virgen de Caacupe. There is a amazing basilica there that we visited. Marcelo and I climbed to the top and looked out over the whole city. After that we went to Casa de Marienela and Casa de Monte which are really nice and beatiful places to stay. Marienela is a religious retreat house that a lot of people from Italy built. A lot of work was put into it and there is a lot of really cool craftmanship there. Monte is really cool because it was up on a mountain and looked out over the jungle. They had like a mini zoo with tucans and parrots and the like. Both places were really cool and I took tons of pictures so my camera almost ran out of batteries.
We also stopped at a leather stand where they had lots of stuff. I bought some leather work for presents and momentos de Paraguay. My family was really nice to me and bought me a terere thermos with my name on it. Im really excited about it... I already bought some yerba mate for the states and am looking for a bombilla (metal straw used to drink it).
Lastly we went to San Bernadino which is a summer resort town on lake Yparcarai. Since it is winter now it was pretty empty but it was nice all the same. There I saw my friend Kyle from Minnesota who lives in Luque and is on the soccer program. I haven´t seen him since we got here. Seems like he has been having a good time as well. He said we have an AFS camp on Saturday but I really hope we don´t because my family might take me to Itaipu this weekend. Itaipu is the region adjacent to the border with Brasil... really far from here but beautiful. Hopefully I can go.
On Friday night all my friends and I went to a dicotecca, May B, for a school party (vicius). It was definately a great time since the music was way better then the last time I went to a club. More Reggaeton y menos electronic. We stayed out until about 3 so we didn´t dance a ton but it was sufficient.
Saturday at our church I got to help out with the misa (mass). A girl was having her quince there so alot of people were dressed really nice and were taking pictures.
Yesterday my family and I went to Caacupe which is a really important city for Paraguay. Every year in December thousands of people make a pilgrimage there for the feast of the Virgen de Caacupe. There is a amazing basilica there that we visited. Marcelo and I climbed to the top and looked out over the whole city. After that we went to Casa de Marienela and Casa de Monte which are really nice and beatiful places to stay. Marienela is a religious retreat house that a lot of people from Italy built. A lot of work was put into it and there is a lot of really cool craftmanship there. Monte is really cool because it was up on a mountain and looked out over the jungle. They had like a mini zoo with tucans and parrots and the like. Both places were really cool and I took tons of pictures so my camera almost ran out of batteries.
We also stopped at a leather stand where they had lots of stuff. I bought some leather work for presents and momentos de Paraguay. My family was really nice to me and bought me a terere thermos with my name on it. Im really excited about it... I already bought some yerba mate for the states and am looking for a bombilla (metal straw used to drink it).
Lastly we went to San Bernadino which is a summer resort town on lake Yparcarai. Since it is winter now it was pretty empty but it was nice all the same. There I saw my friend Kyle from Minnesota who lives in Luque and is on the soccer program. I haven´t seen him since we got here. Seems like he has been having a good time as well. He said we have an AFS camp on Saturday but I really hope we don´t because my family might take me to Itaipu this weekend. Itaipu is the region adjacent to the border with Brasil... really far from here but beautiful. Hopefully I can go.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Work and la dia de Amistad.
So Monday I started working again at the small colegio near by my house. It is good to be out and doing something in the mornings instead of just sleeping in and chilling. At work I got to meet up with my friend from California and we talked about some of our experiences so far which was fun.
Today at work we played some futbol and pelota muerta with the kids. We lost a ball over a roof.
In the afternoons I usually go to the Club Internacional de Tenis or CIT to workout with my hostbrother. Its far away and we take the buses there. At first I thought it was fun but now its kinda a drag.
Tomorrow is La Dia de Amistad or friendship day. Tonight I have to go buy lots of little presents for my friends and such. Let you guys know if anything special happens with that.
This weekend I think my family is taking me to San Bernadino, which is a sweet little town on a big lake. Hopefully that will be fun. I haven´t been outside of Asuncion much so its nice to see the other parts of the country.
Well write more later
Today at work we played some futbol and pelota muerta with the kids. We lost a ball over a roof.
In the afternoons I usually go to the Club Internacional de Tenis or CIT to workout with my hostbrother. Its far away and we take the buses there. At first I thought it was fun but now its kinda a drag.
Tomorrow is La Dia de Amistad or friendship day. Tonight I have to go buy lots of little presents for my friends and such. Let you guys know if anything special happens with that.
This weekend I think my family is taking me to San Bernadino, which is a sweet little town on a big lake. Hopefully that will be fun. I haven´t been outside of Asuncion much so its nice to see the other parts of the country.
Well write more later
Saturday, July 18, 2009
El Santo
Ok one of the things I forgot to talk about in the last post was the music here. We certainly like our Reggaeton(sp?) here. But anyways on Thursday night I went to a discoteca called El Santo with my host brother and a bunch of friends. We didn´t get in until like 1130 but we still had enought time. At first they played a lot of technoish English stuff that was alright for a warmup i guess. Then they went into a mix of salsa and reggaeton which was a lot of fun to dance too.
I have always heard, even from the locals, that dancing is really dirty down here but I didn´t get that vibe really. If anything it takes a lot more skill than the straight up grinding that goes on at highschool dances like mine back in the US. If you can´t tell I liked this better. The only thing was that a lot of people were smoking like crazy in there which kind of seemed like a hard thing to do while dancing. They didn´t need a fog machine at least. At least I didn´t get burned or anything but I did reak of smoke when I got home that morning.
The next day I went and saw Harry Potter in castellano which was cool. I don´t really mind tv and movies in spanish now. And the radio is a lot better because there isn´t as many commercials.
Anyways i better be off now I think im going to walk to the plaza close by.
I have always heard, even from the locals, that dancing is really dirty down here but I didn´t get that vibe really. If anything it takes a lot more skill than the straight up grinding that goes on at highschool dances like mine back in the US. If you can´t tell I liked this better. The only thing was that a lot of people were smoking like crazy in there which kind of seemed like a hard thing to do while dancing. They didn´t need a fog machine at least. At least I didn´t get burned or anything but I did reak of smoke when I got home that morning.
The next day I went and saw Harry Potter in castellano which was cool. I don´t really mind tv and movies in spanish now. And the radio is a lot better because there isn´t as many commercials.
Anyways i better be off now I think im going to walk to the plaza close by.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
In Paraguay
Ok sorry i haven´t posted since I got here in Paraguay. I kinda forgot lol. Anyways i live in Fernando de la Morro, basically a suburb outside of the capital city of Asuncion. So much has happened to me since i came to live with my new parents and brother that it would be pretty hard to hit everything. So I´m just going to go over the main stuff.
I work at a private elemetary and middle school for my community service where I usually help teach English but also just help around doing random things like playing with the little kids. I like it and Im pretty sure the kids like me since im nice to them and let them mess around when im in charge.
I have tried tons of new foods. For example every Sunday we have asada which is really dank bbq but better because the meat is super fresh. I have also had a lot of chicken served in different ways and various breads like sopa paraguay and chipa wazoo (sp?). Also their soda here is really good. There are different brands then in the states that are really good and they have different flavors like pineapple etc. One thing people drink a lot of here is something called yerba mate or terere. Its kinda like a tea but different haha. I really like the taste tho and you drink it with a metal straw, sometimes our of a cow horn.
Everything is pretty cheap here. The exchange rate is $1 equals 5,000 guaranis. Its pretty sweet because it makes gift shopping way easier.
Since i live really close to Asuncion I have gotten to see some of the important historical and governmental places and buildings downtown. I got to see the Panteon de los Heroes where they have guards that can´t move and the bodies of Paraguays early leaders. I also got to see the Cabilde and the Palacio de Lopez where the presidente works. Also saw the cathedral where the president used to work haha. Our president Fernando Lugo used to be the Archbishop here but then he ran for president, won, and now they are finding out he has like a ton of kids. It makes for some good jokes.
Most of the places we go here we take the bus which is usually an adventure in physics if you get on in the evening. people really get packed in there. The driving here, at least in the city, is pretty crazy. there basically aren´t any rules.... nough said.
Also, i have learned a lot of sweet card games with my brother and our friends. Like Petei, which is the guarani word for one. Its just like uno but a little crazier. Then there is cancho, Magaei(sp?), and Truco which are hard to explain but really easy to play. I have also played a lot of pictionary down here which is hard but helps with my castellano. Aside, the castellano here is alot different then what i learned and took some getting used too. also people use guarani words with the castellano... its fun.
Ok well thats enough for now. I will write more later
I work at a private elemetary and middle school for my community service where I usually help teach English but also just help around doing random things like playing with the little kids. I like it and Im pretty sure the kids like me since im nice to them and let them mess around when im in charge.
I have tried tons of new foods. For example every Sunday we have asada which is really dank bbq but better because the meat is super fresh. I have also had a lot of chicken served in different ways and various breads like sopa paraguay and chipa wazoo (sp?). Also their soda here is really good. There are different brands then in the states that are really good and they have different flavors like pineapple etc. One thing people drink a lot of here is something called yerba mate or terere. Its kinda like a tea but different haha. I really like the taste tho and you drink it with a metal straw, sometimes our of a cow horn.
Everything is pretty cheap here. The exchange rate is $1 equals 5,000 guaranis. Its pretty sweet because it makes gift shopping way easier.
Since i live really close to Asuncion I have gotten to see some of the important historical and governmental places and buildings downtown. I got to see the Panteon de los Heroes where they have guards that can´t move and the bodies of Paraguays early leaders. I also got to see the Cabilde and the Palacio de Lopez where the presidente works. Also saw the cathedral where the president used to work haha. Our president Fernando Lugo used to be the Archbishop here but then he ran for president, won, and now they are finding out he has like a ton of kids. It makes for some good jokes.
Most of the places we go here we take the bus which is usually an adventure in physics if you get on in the evening. people really get packed in there. The driving here, at least in the city, is pretty crazy. there basically aren´t any rules.... nough said.
Also, i have learned a lot of sweet card games with my brother and our friends. Like Petei, which is the guarani word for one. Its just like uno but a little crazier. Then there is cancho, Magaei(sp?), and Truco which are hard to explain but really easy to play. I have also played a lot of pictionary down here which is hard but helps with my castellano. Aside, the castellano here is alot different then what i learned and took some getting used too. also people use guarani words with the castellano... its fun.
Ok well thats enough for now. I will write more later
Friday, June 12, 2009
host family and community service project
Since the last time I posted I have found out a lot of stuff about my program. I got an email from an Austrian girl named Ana in Paraguay who im going to be working with at a guaderia in the capital city of Asuncion. I will be working with poor but happy kids abut 3-6 years old. She is also helping me out with practicing my castillian and learning some of the guarani they use down there. I also got an email from AFS about my first host family. I say first because I apparently will only be staying with them for two weeks before I move to another undisclosed family. Im not really sure why but I don't really mind. They are the Zaputovich-Valiente family and apart from mother and father they have a boy a couple months older then me and a girl that is about 21. I just sent them an email yesterday and am looking forward to talking in castillian with them. Also today I got my yellow fever and typhoid shots and on monday I get my hepatitis a shot and malaria pills. All this stuff is really starting to hit me know, and with chisato gone its crazy how close I am to leaving. Getting pretty excited
Friday, June 5, 2009
Closer....
Alright so i basically have 2 weeks until i leave for DC. Im going to stay there for a couple of days for my gradpas 75th birthday and then fly to Miami then to Chile and finally Paraguay. I guess I leave Cheyenne on June 21 and return around August 13. Im getting pretty excited and I suppose I should start packing and practicing my spanish more. oh and get some shots probably.
I got a email the other day that AFS is working with a specific family for me, but that I couldn't have any details since it isn't finalized yet. But this means I sould have a host family and community very soon, so as soon as I find out I will document it here.
I got a email the other day that AFS is working with a specific family for me, but that I couldn't have any details since it isn't finalized yet. But this means I sould have a host family and community very soon, so as soon as I find out I will document it here.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
