One Last Day!

After all this waiting I now have less than 24 before I get on a plane, but it'll be a few more days before I see my host family.

Today I haven't done much, I watched half of a movie, ate some french toast, and repacked my suit case to maximize space and squeeze in some gifts for my host family. I skyped with Sergio and I am planning on going saying good bye to my neighbors/family friends.

Yesterday was a productive day though. I had a sleep over into Monday morning, and then I went to my grandparents house. We would have stayed longer but my brother had soccer and we needed to beat rush hour. I still had a great time though, I got to see 3 of my cousins, one of them I am also good friends with. I also got to do something I have wanted to do all summer, go to the ice ball man!!! It was great, I got creative and tried pineapple lime! It was really good (especially because I made the combination). It was also great because I went with cousins and Pap, Pap.

That was just a big deal for me, other than that though I didn't do anything over the past two days. Now its 9 and I'm going to say good bye to some more people, but I know it'll be fine because I'm not even going to be gone for too too long. Oh and last night my friends stopped by, said good bye and made me some awesome cookies! Do they look like the flag, I think they do!

What is Paraguay?

Once again I have failed to post not only another post, now I am 3 or 4 behind schedule...I hope no one minds.

In general, when I tell people that I am going to Paraguay very few people know where it is. This has been kind of shocks me, I've known where it is for a long time, but maybe it's because my mom is a Spanish teacher. Here's some stuff to familiarize yourself with where I am going. I learned some of this stuff after I found out that's where I am going, and this way when I talk about me being there you'll have an idea of what my surroundings are like. Enjoy!

For the record, I've known where Paraguay is long before I knew I was going there. But like everyone else, I still don't know everything about it, so here's some stuff to familiarize yourselves when I'm actually going to talk about me being there. (I don't know if that last sentence makes sense but just bear with me.)

Paraguay is one of the only two land locked countries in South America. It is below the equator and  borders Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia. It has two major langues, Spanish (used in government, work, and the capital) and Guaraní (which is used in homes and around communities (I think)). As I explained before Paraguay is home to lots of different animals. It, along with the whole of South America, is in LOVE with soccer! The town I will be staying in is home to a big soccer museum, at least I think that's what it is.

Paraguay is mostly a Catholic country, it is run by a president, and it is about the size of California. It's flag has two different side, a front and a back (obviously), and there are about 6 million people that live there. It has tropical forests and the country has two regions: Paraguay Oriental (East) and Paraguay Occidental (West).

Well that's pretty much what I know, and I know I was just rambling off like I'm wikipedia or something, but  the only think I had to look up was the East and Western names, so I think I'm pretty good. Oh, it's capital is Asuncion which is about the size of Pittsburgh, and it is home to the Iguazu Falls which is on it's Argintian/Brazil border.

Well I hope you know what I'm talking about now when I mention Paraguay. I leave in 3 days so I'll keep you posted on my flight patterns (like a bird :P)

Packing

So I already broke my streak of a post a day, but I didn't promise anything. Anyway today I don't know what to talk about so I'll fill you in on my packing/preparation. 

This meme doesn't really pertain to me since (it sounds like a guy wrote it and) I'll be gone longer then a week or two but it's still king of funny, I mean its a frog (or a toad, making it toadally cool :P that's just a lame joke me and my friends have)

Up until today the clothes I have been planing on taking have just been in big piles on one side of my room, covering the entrance to my closet. Yeah it's pretty inconvenient, but I almost always do things the hard way, however this time I realize this was a stupid move. Today I put it all in my suit case though. I still need a few last minute things: a pair of nice(ish) black flats, and a black hoodie, white hoodie, when I put it like that it sounds like I'm quoting a youtube video. It's funny, we always imitate it in my dance class! It's a popular video so you may have seen it before, but I want to see if I can upload a video on my blog...

Hey it worked! I just hope I put up the right version, and check out the original news interview before watching this one.

Back to my packing. My carry on weighs about 9lb right now, but I still have to put in a change of clothes and all my papers. My papers alone weigh about 3lb, but I have a 22lb limit, I just need to make sure I don't hit it because I want to bring lots of stuff home. Don't worry, I won't break the bank, I'm a good bargain finder and I want to try haggling in a foreign country (Sergio tells me how he did it all the time). I'm also saving room in my suitcase too. I think I'm going to take some stuff out and leave it home, if worst comes to worst I'll just buy what I need when I'm there. I'd rather jam my bag closed on the way home.

When I get there it will be winter (because it's below the equator,) but it's also a lot closer to the equator then PA so I really don't know what to expect weather wise. Today it was 61 degrees but the other day it was 87 and one Paraguayan said that sometimes it gets down to 30 so I'm completely lost. I have pants and sweaters along with my shorts and t-shirts. 

Well I'm off to my last color guard practice before I leave (in one week)!

¡Los Animales del Paraguay!

I didn't realize that I have only published 5 post, I've written more (just not published them) and put a TON of time into this thing, but I guess it's pretty boring for anyone reading this, sorry. My point of this post is to familiarize you with where I am going. It turns out many people know little to nothing about Paraguay which is quite sad, but that's ok because it gives me an excuse to write something new!

Since I only have about 10 days until I leave I'll try to make ten posts. For a while I'll make ones specifically describing Paraguay since most people don't know much about it. Today's topic...Animales! 

Because Paraguay has rain forests and tropical/subtropical features it is a great home to many different animals. Here in the US there are tons of animals that are native to the US like the buffalo or the alligator or even polar bears but who actually see these in their natural habitat? Almost no one. Even though Paraguay is home to awesome animals I know I probably won't see most of them, but I still think they are really cool so I'm still going to show you them!

Some of Paraguay's animals include, but are not limited to: the armadillo, one of my favorites!

This cute thing that I just found called a Paraguayan Hairy Dwarf Porcupine.

Coati's I think I've seen a picture of these walking in the cities, but I really have NO idea.

What I think is one of the coolest (the jaguar)!

Lets not forget the worlds largest rodent, the Capybara (I thought this picture was funny)

This thing can get to be the size of a cow (from what I've been told, I don't actually know).

Well that's just to name a few of the many animals Paraguay has to offer, but I hope you've enjoyed!

Pre-Immersion

The only way to truly learn anything is to completely and fully immerse yourself in it. My mom gave me a suggestion to go to Pittsburgh for a day with myself and my good friend and just try to find our way around. She said it would help me prepare to walk around foreign cities in Paraguay (even though I might be alone). I had wanted to do that for a while so my friend and I planned it as soon as possible. We made a few adjustments however; we only had $20 each and we brought are bikes to help us get around fast and cheaply.

We went last Thursday and here's how it went, with lots of pictures. 

Are plan was to park in the South Side, bike to down town, look at the art at the Three Rivers Art Festival, get an Ice Ball from Gus and Yaya's, head over to Oakland, and go the Strip District. We also wanted to ride a bus, the metro, and go to Rivers Casino somewhere in the middle of all that. 

I'll tell you right off the bat, Rivers won't let you in unless your twenty-one, I was extremely disappointed, I'll just have to go to Canada. We didn't end up riding a bus or make it Oakland, the Ice Ball man, and when we got to the Strip District most places were closed which made me sad, but now I have an excuse to do it again! (The picture above is me and my cousins at the Ice Ball Man's, on a different day.) Um...oh yeah, don't chain your bike's to a "public" piece of property. 

Aside from the downs we had are ups, like life, are trip was a roller coaster ride. We got to ride the T, ride our bikes, and pose with the many statues around town! We also at some sort of chicken pita rap for lunch and dinner, we bought foreign chocolate (which I always do), and my friend saw Station Square for the first time which really surprised me. I also almost got hit by a bus, yay!

My "immersion" in my home city might not have sounded like much, but I had a great day. It helped open my eyes to be more aware and also to stick to my gut. Both those are things that I need to work harder on and both will help me a lot just down the road (by road I mean Paraguay).

Pre-Departure Worries

I know I still have some time before I become an exchange student, but I just can't get it off my mind! Last night I even had a dream about going....I got the air port and when I went to get my ticket I didn't have my pass port, my id, or anything! My dad flipped out on me and I had to go home where  I freaked out too! At least it was a dream, but knowing me I'll probably realize somethings miss right as I'm boarding the plane. There are a few things that worry me though, for one the langue and other is my host family.

I'm not actually afraid of my host family, I'm afraid of not having one when I first get their. I volunteer with exchange students and there is usually one or two who come here but they haven't been picked by a family so they are just floating around the volunteers. I do not want that to be me! But I think I am just over thinking it. I mean I have not gotten any emails about my family or anything about where I'm going to stay, but I haven't gotten any emails telling me when to get my shots either, and that's pretty important too. I know that if I'm going to be some place rural I need a rabies shot, yellow fever, hepatitis B & A, typhoid, and some thing called routine. My whole arm will be swollen, but I'm not afraid of shots so I should be good. 

Another thing I'm worried about is the langue. You would think that since my mom is a Spanish teacher I should be fluent in Spanish, right? Well your wrong, I suck at Spanish and on top of that they have another official langue in Paraguay, Guaraní. I'm screwed...I do know one word though, piranha, you know it too, the man eating fish. If I really try I think I can pull through, I'll just bring some dictionary's and hope for the best. I know this sounds extremely corny, but I know the universal langue of laughter, it really works. Because I've known so many exchange students I've learned some good ways of communicating with out words. Kids are great at it! When I was younger it was easier for me to connect with exchange students, not that it's hard now, but teenagers can be weird sometimes, but almost all of us love kids! If you ever want to host exchange students make sure you have at least one kid, or teenager living in your house with you, it really adds so much to the experience!