Jumping Through June

Time has certainly been flying by. June arrived out of nowhere and is already halfway done. From the 5^th to the 7^th I had my last AFS weekend camp which was hosted here in Ciudad del Este. At first I was a little bummed that we wouldn’t get to travel anywhere, but not having to do two 5-hour bus rides was quite nice. It was nice to see all the other exchange students, not only those who arrived with me in August, but also those from the 6-month program that arrived in February. The AFS volunteers couldn’t believe how much we all had been “Paraguay-zed” and it’s true that a lot of our mannerisms, habits, and attitudes have changed. Unlike our other camps, they fit in a little sightseeing this time. We visited the Itaipu hydro-electric dam and Saltos de Monday (fairly large waterfall, although it’s nothing in comparison to Iguazu). Seeing how I’ve spent nearly all year living next door to them, I had already been to both places, but it gave the other kids a chance to go to the “must-sees” of Paraguay. The whole reason behind the camp was to help prepare us to return to our native countries and begin the re-adaptation process. The result was that it ended up kind of being a downer of a weekend, but I think it was something a lot of people needed.

Last Friday was a national holiday on account of it being the anniversary of the peace in the Chaco. The sun was shining brightly that day which meant that our postponed parade would finally take place and I could show off my amazing baton-twirling skills. However, since my school is currently testing, they decided to not take part in the parade. I decided to go check out the parade anyways and enjoyed watching all the other schools. It seemed like I ran into everyone I know, which reminded me of back home in Sitka when Swan Lake freezes over or the 4^th of July parade when the entire town is in attendance.

Kate spent the night at my house that night and we had fun watching the relatively new Kiera Knightley movie “The Duchess” and sipping homemade tea. Saturday morning I headed into town to help my classmates set up for our big retro party fundraiser. Luckily there wasn’t that much set-up (no horrific prom planning flashbacks) because they had hired a decorator. I headed home late afternoon to take a nap and get all dressed up for the party. I wasn’t entirely sure what my job was going to be during the party and to my surprise I was designated “waitress”. Although I feel that my Spanish has gotten pretty good, I was a little nervous to take orders and not mess everything up. However, everyone was really understanding as soon as I mentioned I was an exchange student (which never takes much convincing due to the blonde hair, hazel eyes and unavoidable American accent). After taking quite a few orders I snuck in a little time on the dance floor with my host mom. She was pretty darn adorable shaking her booty to The Beatles. Around 2:30 AM we decided to call it quits and headed home. I truly had a great time hanging with my mom, which made me a little sad to think that I’m leaving shortly.

So as a disclaimer, the flight attendant like costume I'm wearing is not actually my baton outfit, it's Kate's (we decided I had to try it on)...but I thought I'd put it up as an example of how some of the other schools were dressed.

4 Day Weekend and a Helicopter Ride

It turned out that this weekend was 4 days long and jammed pack of things to do. Thursday, May 14th, was Paraguayan Independence Day and as part of the celebration, my school was going to take part in the parade. For several weeks I have been practicing everyday at school as a batoner (batonist?...I'm not sure). The past week we upped it to 2-a-day practices, marching through the streets around the school breaking in our high heeled leather boots. Oh no, they do not joke around with their batoning! Wednesday afternoon I arrived home, completely exhausted from practicing in the sun all afternoon and lied down to take a nap. I awoke at 7 AM the next morning to pouring down rain. While I was fully rested, the downpour meant that the parade would have to be postponed. Paraguayans don't do rain! So instead of spending the morning waiting around in lines for the parade to start, I snuggled up with a warm cup of coffee and the 7th and final Harry Potter book.
Friday was Paraguayan's Mother's Day and as such there was no school. I woke up relatively early and gave my host mom her present (a photo album filled with pictures of the two of us from throughout the year). I must say it is fairly difficult to buy a Mother's Day present when you have no Dad to take you shopping, although I managed (had classmates make the purchases for me). She seemed to like the gift as she took it with her out to the farm to show off to everyone. On the way we stopped and picked up a "Feliz Dia Mama" cake for my grandmother. As part of the celebration we had a big lunch (although I must admit I can't ever remember a time we ate "lightly" out on the farm). Mid-afternoon my mom, Aunt Mauchi, and I made a pit-stop at the house to pick up my passport and headed off to Argentina. However, as we got near downtown, we realized there was a huge line to get through the border and decided to turn around. I was a little bummed, but 2 hours waiting through traffic just to get there didn't sound like too much fun either.
Saturday was my grandfather's birthday and with yet another cake in hand, we headed to the farm. After a big barbecue and more cake consumption, my mom and I set off to check out the "Exposition" going on in Santa Rita, a town about an hour away from our house. The Expo was filled with every kind of booth you could imagine. There was tractor equipment and farm animals, not to mention car dealerships and radio stations. The kids section resembled fair grounds, complete with a ferris wheel and rodeo. We moseyed about until a concert began at 8ish and listened for an hour or so until we finally gave into the fact that we were freezing our butts off. As soon as we got home, both of us crawled up under the covers and called it a night.
Sundays we usually go out to the farm, but seeing how the two previous days had been spent there, we opted against it. Instead, midmorning we bundled up and headed to Brazil to check out the "Parque de las Aves" which is more or less a botanical gardens and bird sanctuary. We were able to get surprisingly close to some toucans which was fun. After walking through the park, we walked across the street where my mom signed me up for a helicopter tour of the Iguazu Falls. It was incredible!!! First of all, it was my first time in a helicopter and secondly, the Falls are breathtakingly beautiful. It truly was a once in a life time experience and I enjoyed every second of it, even the few seconds when my stomach was knotted up and jumping about. The experience left me with a high the rest of the afternoon (there may still be a trace of it now) as we lunched at an all you can eat seafood restaurant and returned home to admire all our pictures. I still can't believe that only a matter of hours ago I was soaring above some of the largest waterfalls in the world. I think I can fairly say that I took advantage of our 4 day break and truly enjoyed it.

Cara Comes to Visit

It's hard to believe that May has already arrived. While my subconscious is preparing for summer vacation, the reality is that the days are getting shorter and colder and schooldays continue. I realize it's a little strange to mention "cold" living in a tropical climate, but when neither my house nor school has any type of indoor heating, it can get a little nippy. I doubt that Paraguayan winter days will shrink up to the length of Alaskan ones, but by 6 o'clock it is already dark now.
Two weeks ago fellow USA AFSer Cara came to Ciudad del Este to visit Kate and I. We had a great time talking until the wee hours of the morning, discussing all of our Paraguayan observations. Unfortunately, in the midst of all of our cultural analysis, Cara came to a tough conclusion. After a rough first and unstable second family experience, she decided the best thing for her to do was to go back home to the States. It was admittedly quite hard to take in and even more difficult to explain to our Paraguayan friends and family. After a few calls to AFS to organize homebound flights, her return was pretty much set in stone. While Cara was following a gut feeling by going home, it was also hard to think that everything she had been planning on doing in her last 2 months wasn't possible anymore. Kate and I decided that we had to do what we could to help her make the best of her last week. So the following day, the three of us crazy American girls set off in the pouring rain to see the Iguazu Falls in Brazil. Having already been there and back again by bus, I was confident we could make our way through the Portuguese speaking world.
It was great fun playing the English-speaking, photo-taking, blatantly American tourists for an afternoon. Due to Cara's unabashedly outgoing nature we made quite a few international friends including: 2 couples from France, 3 people from Switzerland, a Bulgarian living in New York, 4 Canadian 21 year old boys backpacking there way through South America, and who could forget the salesman intent on offering the full-boat tour who explained how his name derived from a tribe of people who crossed over from Russia to Alaska who became the original Alaska Natives. You gotta love how hard people work to make connections with foreigners! On the way back to Kate's house we stopped by "El Centro" and Cara picked up some last minute gifts (aka bought out the entire store!).
Shortly afterwards, Kate and Cara set off to Asunción to make Cara's final return arrangements with AFS. Since then, Cara has returned to Pedro Juan Caballero (her host town) to pack up her things and is now waiting in Asunción until her flight leaves on Tuesday. It's sad to think that another one of our original USA group is gone. Since our orientation in Miami, I think we all have had a picture in our heads of going back together and getting the most out of the 10 hour international flight. I have been incredibly lucky to have ended up with a family situation that I love and been saved the grief of changing schools/friends/family. I'm thrilled to be able to say that I have lots of really good Paraguayan friends, but not all exchange students can say that. For those who have had to endure a lot of change, fellow exchange student friendships have really come in handy. For me, no matter how I look at it, there are a ton of people from my year that I'm going to miss, whether they be Paraguayan, American, or German.

Good News

I'm thrilled to be able to write that Kate´s brother Ben is doing better. He´s still in the ICU, but the antibiotics seem to be doing their job and Ben´s now breathing on his own. Thanks for all of your prayers and good thoughts! I´ll continue to update you as he continues his recovery.

Prayer Request

Today I found out that one of my best friends down here in Paraguay, Kate a fellow U.S. exchange student, got some tough news. Last weekend her 17 year old younger brother, Ben, back in the states got diagnosed with a rare bacterial infection that has caused damage to his liver and the muscle tissue in his chest. He is now taking antibiotics that seem to be fighting the bacteria, but is in the ICU with a breathing tube and has had to undergo surgeries to drain liquid from his lungs. The sickness has come out of nowhere and is truly a shock to everyone. I would ask that you would all have Ben in your prayers and I will continue to post updates on the situation. One of the worst fears of a foreign exchange student is that a family member back home gets sick. Thank you for all of your help!

Semana Santa - Holy Week

Last Sunday was a rather exciting one. My host mom got back from Taiwan! Being that she is the first in her family to have ever traveled by plane, it was quite an event. My grandparents live with two of their four daughters 16 kilometers from us on their farm. The security on their land isn’t that tight, so at least one of them always has to stay behind to take care of the farm when everyone else leaves. They decided my Aunt Vicki would keep guard while both grandparents and Tia Lida came to our house to surprise my mom. With 3 cars full of people (friends, family and coworkers) we headed across the border with Brazil to wait for my mom at the airport. My mom was thrilled to see her dad, who hardly ever leaves the farm. Back at the house a feast was awaiting us, which my mom took no time digging into. Turns out the Taiwanese are big fans of raw food. My mom, not so much…

We had a good time listening to my mom’s stories from abroad, but by 7 PM she was good and worn out and decided to call it a day. The next morning marked the beginning of my weeklong Spring Break (in Paraguay it is due to the Catholic observation of the Holy Week leading up to Easter). I ended up spending my first night out on the farm, which proved to be an experience. As the sun set we sat around beneath the trees drinking tereré while my aunts caught up on their favorite soaps (every Paraguayan has their preference). By 9 o’clock we were all in bed and with reason, because by 4 AM that rooster was crowing. I couldn’t believe it when I awoke to an honest to goodness rooster. Luckily I managed to drift back asleep until 6:30 when Aunt Vicki lovingly woke me up to help make the “chipa”. Chipa is very typical Paraguayan food generally eaten for breakfast that I happen to love! Ingredients include: corn flour, mandioca flour, Paraguayan cheese, eggs, butter, milk, salt, and anise (a spice). There are various “chiperias” were you can buy some pretty tasty chipa, but the Wednesday before Easter each home traditionally makes their own. I was up and ready and game for busting out some serious chipa! The process is relatively simple…put the ingredients in a large bowl and mix them until a dough is made. What made it a little more work for us was the quantity we were making (as Tia Vicki referred to it, “Tamaño Pais” or “Country Size”). We’re talking at least 4 wheels of cheese, 2 dozen eggs, and ­­­8 kilos of corn flour…enough to make 160 chipa, each a little larger than your typical biscuit. Needless to say, we’re still working on eating it all…but I don’t mind. It’s delicious!

Friday, instead of visiting the farm, my mom, Shirley (the maid that’s more like family), her son Gabi and I set off for a little road trip. Every year the town of San Ignacio is host to a large gathering of people for a candlelit walk and Easter reenactment. For years my mom has watched it on the news, always wanting to go. This year, with me here, she had an “excuse” to go so we packed up some chipa for the road and set out. We made a pit stop on the way to check out the last major ruins site I still hadn’t seen. Just like the other ruins, it was quite impressive. This particular site was significantly bigger than the others. An hour or so exploring the ruins and we were back on the road. After arriving in San Ignacio, we parked near a public park and got out to stretch our legs a bit and figure out where exactly our nighttime activity would take place. A few girls on bikes directed us towards the local church (there’s always one main one in every town, despite how many denominations there might be) and from there we followed the large masses congregating in a clearing a few blocks down. We were all pretty surprised how many people were there…and they just kept coming! Today’s newspaper listed 15,000 being in attendance. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a crowd that big before. It was evident the town had put a lot of work into the event. There were thousands of homemade candles (orange/lemon peels filled with cow fat and wicks) lighting the pathway. The main event, following the Virgin Mary brought in by procession, was full of dancers, lights and music. Being stuck in a mob of people, getting a good view of what was going on was a little tough. We did manage to prop Gabi up on our shoulders, alternating between us, so that he could catch a glimpse. By 8 o’clock we had started the drive back home and pulled in the gate at midnight. I had a good time seeing some good sights, but more than anything I loved watching Shirley the whole time. She really just had a ball. It was the first time she had ever had the chance to get out of the neighborhood and travel a little. She loved being able to show everything to her son. With her economic situation, it wouldn’t have been possible to do it on her own. The fact that I live in a family where my mom took it upon herself to invite Shirley and her son along, makes me truly grateful because there are a lot of people here that wouldn’t feel the least bit compelled to make an offer like that.

Yesterday was another day spent at the farm, eating Abuela’s delicious concoctions and hanging around in my hammock letting all the food digest while I finished off the 6^th Harry Potter; read completely in Spanish I might add…;) This morning I had my mom wake me up early to go to the morning Easter mass with her. The rest of the day I’ve been hanging around the house, eating Easter chocolate and chipa, and watching Fahrenheit 9/11 with my mom. The effect Michael Moore had on her worries me a little bit, but hopefully she won’t believe everything he says and think my country is completely hopeless.

Fresh Fruit

I simply can´t get over how wonderful it is to have fresh fruit available at such affordable prices. For an example, yesterday I stopped by the market on the way home from school and picked up the following for only 40,000 Guarani (8 US Dollars):
3 Apples
6 Plums
4 Pears
1 dozen Bananas
2 Cucumbers
7 Tomatoes
1 Head of Cauliflower
2 Red Peppers

On top of the great pricing, the fruit came ripe. It wasn´t like back home where you buy underripe fruit and then wait 2 weeks so that it becomes somewhat edible, it comes ready-to-eat right from the market. Sitka simply can´t compare....

Taiwan Update

So I got an email from my host mom in Taiwan today and I thought it might be fun if I translated it for all of you. I´ll give you the Spanish too for those of you who are interested (or wanna check how well I can translate ;)

Cute! You make me cry! I already miss all of you. What luck that you are doing well. I am doing okay, but I´m getting a cold and I think it´s because of missing everyone so much. The town here is gorgeous and the city is too. It´s just a little complicated because of the language barrier (it would have been easier if I spoke or at the very least understood English, but it´s okay, I understand anyway). We´re staying in a military institute and they treat us like soldiers! The food is horrible, but I have to eat...I´m going to come back half-transparent. Hahahah! Kisses! I love you a lot!

Chuli!! me haces llarar, ya les extraño a todos. Que suerte que estes bien, yo estoy bien pero con mi gripe hoy creo que es de añoranza!!! El pueblo es lindisimo, la ciudad tambien, solo que es complicado, por el idioma, hubiera sido mas facil si hablaba o almenos entendia el ingles, pero bueno, ygual entiendo. Estamos hospedados en un cuartel, una academia militar!!, y nos tratan como a los soldados. La comida horrorosa, pero tengo que comer, voy a volver medio transparente jajajaj. Besos, tqm!!

Holding Down the Fort

Last Friday my host mom spent 30 hours on airplanes and spent a few hours in 5 different countries (Paraguay, Brasil, USA, Japan, Taiwan) on her way to a 3 week conference in Taiwan for her work. Since my host family consists of my mom and I, the logical question is ¨Where does that leave Allison?¨ And the answer is that I am holding down the fort at home, living more or less on my own. Since our cozy house sits beside that of my aunt, all inside one large protective metal fence, I can easily go and ask her for anything should any situation arise. Originally when my mom told me that she would be traveling for nearly a month, I was a little worried about being all alone for so long, not to mention pretty bummed about not seeing her for so long. Over the last couple months we´ve gotten pretty close, spending lots of time in deep discussion and laughing our heads off. I´ve gotten used to having her around and now she´s....not. :(
However I must admit that I had a surprise waiting for me when I thought I would be spending a lot of alone time. Our body guard (due to the dangerous nature of my mom´s work prosecuting drug dealers) was put in charge of taking me to and from school as well as to social gatherings that may come up. Between him and my aunts, I´ve barely found a single alone moment since my mom left. Everyone is always asking me what I´m doing, what I´m going to do, and what I´m going to eat. All the attention makes me feel loved, but what they don´t realize is that even when my host mom is here, she is working quite a bit and I do, after all, know how to fend for myself. I´m also surprised how quickly my days here fill up with things to do. Maybe it´s inevitable, busyness hunts me down no matter what continent or language I´m in.

Back To School

I have to apologize for not updating this sooner. The new school year has started up and I am a high school senior, yet again. I was admittedly anxious to go back to class after the long, hot summer vacation and be able to see all my friends again. There are two new girls in my class, but two of my old classmates switched schools so we remain our small group of only 15. We are so few, in fact, that we got moved into the art classroom that is about the size of my bedroom and is complete with a chalkboard. My classmates did not respond well to the move, taking at as an insult that in their last year someone would dare to rain on their parade. However despite all the huff and puff they make, the administration really has nowhere else to put us and it seems as if were are gonna have to suck it up and make it through the year as is. More than anything else, I find the situation humorous because even when we did have a regular sized classroom last year, they didn´t use a third of it, choosing instead to move all their desks as close together as possible. It does shine a light on the inflated ¨we are seniors and therefore rule¨mentality. I suppose it exists in all countries.

In relation to academics, this year I am taking it upon myself to do all the work in (and what little work there is assigned out of) class. Starting from the beginning of all the units makes it a lot easier to follow what they´re doing. Plus, now that my Spanish has significantly improved, I can keep up with the taking the notes dictated to us all day. You´d be surprised how much easier note taking is when you understand what it is you´re hearing.

Yesterday was Kate´s birthday and I helped her host family throw her a surprise birthday party. Her family really went all out in the set-up. There was everything from an enormous Paraguayan flag to her name spelled out in small candies. Although I have a feeling she knew something was being planned, Kate seemed to really enjoy herself (and even played along with the surprise).

Summer Vacation Comes to a Close

The last few weeks of my summer vacation have been much enjoyed. Another American exchange student, Kate, spent a little over 2 weeks living with my mom and me. She was in between changing families and needed a place to stay while her new family was travelling. It was a lot of fun to have a friend/sister around the house and I was sad to see her go. However I’m also really glad that things with her new host family seem to be working out and she has finally found some stability.

While Kate was with us we celebrated my host mom’s birthday by decorating the house with balloons and candelling a cake while she was lured out of the house mid-morning. For a gift I managed to track down some Paraguayan yarn (surprisingly hard to find) and knitting her a hat. I also printed out one of J.W.’s Obama pictures and had it framed in the hopes of feeding my mom’s Obama obsession. She seemed to like them both and quickly placed the photo on her nightstand. For lunch her co-workers came over and we had a traditional Paraguayan asado (BBQ).

One night my mom decided to take us to the Itaipu hydro-electric dam to watch the light show done every weekend. My mom happens to know someone who works for the dam and we got to ride in our own van as opposed to the crowded buses. The show itself wasn’t much of a show, but it was cool to see the dam all lit up and is something I can now cross off of my “To-Do List”.

I recently started taking a cooking class with a girlfriend of mine. The course itself is pretty short (only 4 classes), but is a nice way to fill time until school starts on the 18^th. I really had no idea what to expect as I arrived at the class the first time and was surprised to walk into a large room equipped with what seems to be a professional kitchen (straight out of a cooking show). The teacher is really nice and accommodating, allowing us to pick what we’ll learn to make. So far we’ve done pizza from scratch, a fruit-filled cake, ice cream, and the traditional “Sopa Paraguaya”.

Villa Florida

Last weekend I had the pleasure of taking advantage of my summer vacation and travelling a little with my mom and Aunt Vicki to a small town called Villa Florida, located in the south of Paraguay. The Tepicuary River runs right through the town and hosts several sandy beaches. A friend of my mom’s has a house that they let us stay in for the weekend. It reminded me a lot of the condo my family rented out in Hawaii last New Year’s Eve. My mom, Aunt Vicki and I drove down Friday afternoon (as soon as my Aunt Lida’s collegiate graduation finished) and arrived just as the sun was setting.

Early Saturday morning we applied our sun-block and staked out a spot on the beach. By lunch time, my Aunt Mauchi, Cousin Marcos, and various other extended family members arrived. We prepared a typical Paraguayan “asado” for lunch and tossed around a volleyball until the sun fell a little lower in the sky and it was bearable to lay out in. Then it was back to the beach to darken our tans and lounge about in the bank of the river. That night we walked to the nearby supermarket/bar/ice cream shop and treated ourselves to ice cream.

The next day, to my great surprise, it was raining! Unlike back home in Sitka, rain here is quite sparse indeed. Due to the precipitation we hung around the house all morning, but by afternoon with clouds still looming overhead, my mom decided we were going to enjoy our vacation on the beach anyways. So Vicki, her and I secretly packed up our stuff and headed to the beach (sneaking away from all the other relatives we left at home to watch the little ones). We took a quick dip in the water before they finally decided it was waaaay too cold to be wading through rivers. We substituted our plans with a fairly substantial drive through the countryside exploring a different beach which my mom quickly deemed to be much too far away and host to too few people. By the time the sun was setting there were no longer clouds in front of it and the other cousins and I decided to take advantage of the break in the weather and headed to the grand opening of the new beach, where there happened to be a show of sorts. It was complete with loud music and models strutting their stuff down the runway (scantily clad I might add). I am not quite sure I will ever fully get used to this Paraguayan tradition, simply standing next to countless men staring onwards as women prance about on stage (and almost tripping several times I might add).

Our last day we headed to the beach one last time to soak up those last rays before heading home early the next morning. On the way home we took the scenic route and stopped a few times to check out the famous Jesuit ruins. The ruins were very cool! It is truly amazing how much work was put into building such works of art and then were never finished. But the parts that still stand strong certainly are a must-see if you happen to visit Paraguay. I was surprised how little security there was controlling the preservation of the ruins. For the most part we could explore whatever part we wanted…and we did just that! Standing on top of one of the giant roofless structures was a little scary seeing how there was not a guardrail in sight.

In between ruins we stopped for lunch in Encarnacion, a Southern city on the Argentinean border. Being that I had not brought my passport along we were not able to pass into Argentina (I have been told they are very strict when it comes to documents). However we did drive across the bridge so that I could take pictures and say for the very least I had entered onto Argentinean soil. The rest of the trip home was fairly uneventful, but it certainly was good to sleep in my own bed. I think it is proof I have truly adjusted here when I start missing my house after a few days away.

The First Goodbye

The past week I made yet another trip to Paraguay's capital city, Asuncion. This time Kate (Missouri) and I were accompanying Linny (also from Missouri) as she headed back to the States. In order to graduate this year, she could only stay for the 6 month program. It was really hard watching while she said goodbye to her host family at the bus terminal. I will be doing the same thing in less than 6 months. It's hard to believe...

The first night the 3 of us hung out with the Asuncion exchange students. Linny and I ended up staying at Emerson's (Vermont) house and headed to bed following the conclusion of "Finding Nemo". We spent the morning enjoying some shut-eye and the luxury of not needing to be anywhere. Early afternoon, an AFS taxi came and brought us to the airport. We wanted to get there good and early as to not create any unnecessary stress for Linny. We passed the hours waiting for her flight hanging out in an airport cafe. Just about all the AFSers from the US had showed up to see them (Linny, Nate, Rachel) off and as always it was great having time to catch up. As a special surprise for Linny, one of her classmates had made the 5 hour trip to see her off. There were definitely some teary goodbyes as the 3 headed back to the states.

It's still hard to imagine that some of us aren't here anymore. I can honestly say that our group of Americans really became like our own little family over our first few months here. Kate and I spent one more day in Asuncion, chilling with the others. The trip was a fun way to mix it up from the day to day summer vacation routine, but we also had to say our first goodbye. The first of many to come...