¨Teenager´s Day¨

The past five days or so, my schedule has been pretty jam packed. It all started out on Thursday, when instead of attending school, all students in grades 7 through 11 (here 11th grade is equivalant to senior year) headed to Hernandarias for a two day camp. The reasoning behind the short vacation from school was celebrating ¨Teenager´s Day¨, which I´m pretty sad we don´t have back in the states. The camp itself was really fun. It started out a little slow because only 7 of the 15 or so kids in my class actually went...but for a lot of the games we teamed up with the 11th grade (which was overflowing with enthusiasm, unlike us..). A few highlights of the camp include my first Paraguayan campfire (at 1:30 AM), an hour and a half spent running through the woods playing a game entitled ¨rambo¨which left us all covered in mud, and the big futbol game between Cerro y Olimpia (The 2 big teams here...the Paraguayan equivalent of the Red Sox vs. Yankees).

I got back from the camp around 4 PM on Friday, took a quick nap and shower in preparation for the ¨World Fair¨ being hosted by another high school. The school had been transformed by the addition of a very large stage, booths selling food of all varieties, and performances of dance from around the world. The event got over a little early though, so some friends and I headed to a pizza place where we bought the ¨all you can eat¨pass for 26,000 Guaranis per person (about 7.50 US $). The types of pizza here continue to surprise me...they range from the typical pepperoni to corn to tuna to chocolate and strawberries. Needless to say, after only getting four hours of sleep during the camp and then staying out till about midnight I was significantly worn out and ended up sleeping to 2 or so the next afternoon.

That takes us to Saturday, where the rest of the day was spent lounging about the house watching movies with my mom while it (gasp) rained outside...It actually made me a little homesick to have a dreary, cloudy, rain-filled day. That night I headed over to a friend's house around 10 to get ready and after 4 or so other girls showed up we all started towards Coyote (a disco). We didn't actually get there until 12:30 or so and ended up staying till 6, but it was a blast. I literally danced for 5 straight hours! Granted I do have a few random bruises on my feet now, but it was definitely worth it! That night I crashed at the friend's house and spent the better part of Sunday hanging out with her and other friends. The weekend was great, quite tiresome, but a ton of fun...that seems to be a theme in the Paraguayan lifestyle!

El Segundo Campamento

I realize I haven´t posted in awhile (except for the previous post which I just posted...) and some people may have been slightly concerned (sorry Mom...) or maybe just looking for some fun stories. My excuse for not writing sooner is that I spent the past weekend in Asuncion for our second AFS orientation.

The 7 CDE kids all made it to our 7 AM bus and settled in for the 5 hour ride to Paraguay´s capital. The trip was relatively uneventful besides the occasional looks we got for shouting English between rows...I ended up sitting next to a very nice Paraguayan man named Omar who told me all about his life, family and travels. It was good practice for my Spanish, plus he let me go to sleep when he noticed I was tired (always a plus in a traveling companion). After arriving we went to the AFS National office while kids trickled in from all over the country. It was great to see all the U.S. kids once again.

The camp itself was hosted by the Pueble Hotel in San Bernadino. The hotel was really nice and the food was great. We spent the weekend hanging out, talking in English, destroying all the progress we had made thus far with our Spanish, and found time to watch the big Paraguay-Argentina soccer game. The weekend seemed to go really quickly and I was sad to leave everyone. The trip back was pretty easy. Somehow we ended up on a really pimped out bus with seats that we could basically lay down in. I´m a little worried that AFS took my passport and I still don´t have it back, but everything always seems to work out...

By the way, the photo is mainly for my mother (whom I love dearly!). She's really been wanting to see my school uniform. The black shirt I'm wearing underneath is technically contraband, but it was cold...

The Shock Factor

As I quickly discovered, electricity in Paraguay isn´t quite like that of the U.S....First off is the fact that my mom won´t let me walk around the house barefoot. Her reasoning is two-pronged.

1. She tells me the floor is cold and walking around without shoes/slippers will cause a ¨dolor de huesos¨ (boneache)

2. Walking around the house without a layer of plastic between you and the floor often ends up with you slightly electrocuted.

The showers here are also electric and I have been warned by previous AFS Paraguay students to not touch the showerheads. What with all the water that´s involved in showering and then adding electricity, I´ve decided to heed their advice. This is just one of the many cultural/electrical differences I´ve encountered...

Others include:
-The fact that tossing trash on the ground is acceptable
-The fact that toilet paper isn´t put in the toilet after it´s been used
-The fact that nearly every exchange student has been told they can´t eat something cold with something hot because they´ll instantly come down with a stomacheache
-The fact that everyone kisses each other twice upon arriving or leaving an event
-The fact that texting seems to be appropriate in basically any situation
-The fact that Halls cough drops are eaten as candy