1 month in site mark

ooooooooooooone month. feels like threeeeee months!

I have been in this house for two weeks now, the house with the internet and a shower I can´t use (i´ve been using the neighbors). unfortunatly, my busy days have slowed down to a whole lotta nothing. The summer camp Kendal (one of my volunteer neighbors) and I helped do at Liz´s site was very tranquilo, only 3 kids showed up, so we just had some arts and crafts time. I did get to spend a few nights in the countryside though, very pretty, very rustic. complete with cows in the yard, hammock on the patio, basin to collect rain water and a latrine. Very diff to my city girl life! (except i´m used to smelly bathrooms since the shower here has poop water in the bottom of it) it was good to hang with some fellow volunteers and do something though. Other than that i´ve been sitting around this house, the house where I share a room with my host bro and mom and can´t get to sleep till 12:30 because that´s when they sleep and wake up at 10 because that´s when they wake up. then my days consist of reading, some studying, talking on the phone and sitting on the computer..i feel like i´m back at home! i need to get out!!!!!!!!! if i were in my soon to be house think of all i could be doing there! fixing it up, getting new sinks put in, getting the fridge fixed, buying new furniture..but here i sit. sigh. ok enough ranting. yesterday it rained so i took advantage of the cooler air and went for a walk to learn what it´s like on the outskirts of the city...

the main square of the city is very pretty with it´s big trees and benches, lots of commerce in this part and the firehouse and church. A couple blocks down by the main ruta is a market where you can get pretty much whatever you need from brooms to terere plants to a bus to the campo. branching out more from the square are houses mostly connected together, a football "stadium" (small and indoors) some schools, branching out more from that the houses are more separate, the road goes from asphalt to cobblestone (well, more just rocks in the road)and it goes on like this for many blocks until the roads turn to dirt and it gets pretty country. all the time in the distance you can see some hills which is nice. all those houses are behind gates with not much of a yard, everyone is very close to one another but it´s ok because everyone likes to hang out together. I went walking up the road from my house and ended up in some woods! I was alone though and figured i should probably be doing this with some company so i quickly turned around.

what do i have to look forward to this month: making brick ovens at kendal´s site (another campo visit!) and another trip to asunción at the end of the month!! huzaah!
oh summer vacation. first couple months are the hardest of service i was told, one down! but don´t worry...i´m still smiling

first 3 weeks in site

guess where i am typing this from? no, not a cyber..and not on my laptop and transfered via pendrive. I´m typing this from my newest PY host fam house, complete with computer and the interwebs! This doesn´t happen alot! and I would know, since it´s my 5th house in 3 weeks! For no fault of my own I keep finding myself having to move! Usually it´s because someone needs the room or whatnot, and I´m usually told that night and pack really fast, shoving everything into bags and moving on. This time I´m at a house with a teacher who lives here with her 11 yr old son. It is not usual to see a woman living sola but props to her. It´s a small house so I have to share a room with them. they have a one month old puppy named sammy who is very cute but taken away from her mom way to early. Now i know why all the dogs here act the way they do, they´re taken away from the mom to young and never get to be taught how to act like a normal dog..then they´re not treated nicely (some, well most) and they grow up and patrol the streets looking to scare and attack me, like last night.

anywho I havn´t been doing to much. first two weeks I read alot and studied every day (so guapa!!) then was christmas and then was new years!! i went into asunción and had a great hotel/on the town party w some of my G (my group, G-31 aka my G) but every since I´ve gotten back from that trip I´ve been to busy to study!! first i had to move my house again to Rebecca´s house (again) then we went one day to Guarambare!! I got to visit the fam and see others as well, Rebecca went to talk about giving a bunny to her old host family. the next day I was in scott´s old house (my soon to be house) repacking all my bags so i didnt´have to bring everythign with me on this next move (so heavy!) then i moved. the next day i went with rebecca to Ndavaru to give a fam we know a bunny. yesterday i studied a little and went to the cyber and met up with brenda for some lomito arabes and today...

today i went to a waterfall! called santo crystal o algo. It was beautiful. we had a crazy hike down this steep rocky slope in the woods to get there, but when we rounded the corner and saw the falls with the pool underneith to swim in, it was worth it! we hung out there all day and had lunch and jumped off the middle of the falls (not me, big chicken) and on our way back up the steep slope it started to rain. once we got back to our ride (in the back of a pickup) it was pouring and my phone got soaked! it´s drying out now. It was a fun trip and i got to meet volunteers from other G´s that i havn´t met before.

so that´s what i´ve been up too. i think i´ll go eat some sandia now. next weekend I will be helping a fellow volunteer down the road with a summer camp at her site. so.. work! Maybe i´ll even do my own summercamp...es posible!

until next time
chau!