I'm Still Alive!

I was just cleaning my room and got really bored and that is when I realized it has been about 11 weeks since I have been home! That is insane, you have no idea how much I miss Paraguay, like you just can't imagine. First off I would just like to apologize for practically neglecting my blog, I feel terrible for not posting anything in such a long time. However I did start a new blog since I have been home, but I'm not going to give you the link because I don't want you to find it :P

Last night I had a dream about going back to Paraguay, it was really weird, but good at the same time because it really felt like I was there. I was going to Paraguay with a new group of exchange students and some other volunteers I know, only the students weren't getting families, they were just going there. On the way there we had a plane stop in India because in my dream world India borders Paraguay. So we spent a day in India because I guess we had an extremely long layover. We got on public buses and went to eat, I guess. Everyone said how the buses were bumpy and old and beat up but I told them to wait because the ones in Paraguay and an even greater experience. When we ate I told one of people that when we get to Paraguay I would probably go off on my own a little a visit my host family, then I started to cry. I felt like I had abandoned my family and I wanted to go tell them that I hadn't. In truth sometimes I do feel like I am just going to lose them some day and I am afraid of that happening. I mean no matter how hard I try I feel like it will all be gone, and its a terrible fear, but it is my goal never to let it happen. Anyway after India we made it Paraguay and I went to my house and surprised my family. It was as if nothing had changed and it was great! Eventually my dream got weirder and weirder until I woke up because my neighbor and some other random people started showing up in Paraguay and I have no idea way.

This is sort of how I felt for part of my dream

I know it is a really strange dream, but it made me so happy to wake up and realize that as long as I try hard enough I won't lose that bond with my host family. So far I have not lost the connection with my two exchange students and I know I never will because we care about each other enough and we'd never let that happen. If you set your mind to something then fallow through with it, that is what I've been doing, it's what got me to Paraguay in the first place.

Since I have been back I think about Paraguay everyday, my friends are probably sick of hearing about it by now. I gave a presentation to some exchange students who live near me, and my friend from Belgium came and stayed my me and my family for a few days which was really nice because I hadn't seen her in years. Sergio says he is coming over Christmas break, I really hope he does. I haven't talked to him recently because he was out traveling England and probably the rest of Europe (I am so jealous!)

Well I should probably get back to cleaning my room, filling out college applications, finishing Hamlet, or something a bit more productive, but I will try to update this blog more often, I can still go on and on about things I did in Paraguay, I hope you don't mind :)

Oh, I fond this, I think it's pretty funny, well if you speak Spanish anyway. Sorry for the word use, that is if you know what word it uses. I guess I'm not the only person in the world how doesn't like McDonald's.

This Isn't The End, Trust Me

I am not sure if anyone still reads this because my school starts tomorrow, so it is probably a given that I am home by now. It has literally been a week since I have been back (well, not including hours, I got back last Wednesday around 7). I went down the escalators in the Pittsburgh Airport and was expecting to see my mom and my dad, maybe my brother and sister (I wasn't sure about them though because just my parents originally took me to the airport). So as I descended I look around, I saw one guy I thought was my grandpa from my dad's side, but it wasn't him, and I hadn't seen anyone else familiar. Then from out of no where a giant group comes towards me (I was off the escalator by now) with a sign and balloons, it was totally unexpected, but great surprise.

Oh wait, I have to do the last 4 pages in my math packet....school does start tomorrow, so I will finish telling you the end of my trip when I finish my college statistics...

Thanks for waiting, so where was I...oh yeah, I found my family. My grandma and grandpa, one of my aunts and uncles, two of my cousins, my sister, and my parents were there! I wan't expecting any of it. My aunt brought me tons of candy, which I had missed (they don't eat as many sweets there even though they have them). It was like we were having a party right in the middle of the airport, next to the luggage carousel. I opened my suit case and just started pulling things out! My mom commented on the "HEAVY" sticker that even I had not seen before. They must have stuck it on there somewhere between airports. I did have to pay kind of a lot for it. I was supposed to get 70lbs free since I was coming from Brazil, I guess it just weighed even more than 70lbs (but I can actually believe that). I know I brought home so much stuff, but Paraguay is my second home, and these things are some of the only memories I have to keep what I had there alive. I know I will be back there someday, I just don't know when that day will be. Just as long as I make it back, that will be good enough for me!

Please, please, please forget how terrible I look in this picture! I have been traveling for over 24 hours, I don't normally look that particularly bad

I don't know if this will be my last post or not, so just check back in a month or so. But please, don't forget about South America, or Africa, or parts of Asia, and even parts of the US, people always need your help, don't forget about them, even the smallest of things will help, and even if it doesn't help them it should at least help you (I hope that makes sense).

Wait!

I know it has been a little while since I have posted anything, and I am sure you are wondering if I am home now or not, but just hold on, I will explain everything, but I'm currently really busy, so I will tell you in about a day or so. Please don't abandon my blog, I'm so happy people actually like it!

I Am Lost... Again

Thanks to everyone who has ever read my blog, I now have over 500 views! I do not really know why people keep coming back to it, I am not very interesting, but thanks, again!

Before I left to Paraguay my friend and I put our selves in the middle of Pittsburgh and said if we got lost it was just part of the adventure. Well, I knew Pittsburgh, its my home, so we did not get lost, but here, well that is a different story. I can not rememember the first time I got lost here, but I am sure it was sometime towards the begining of my trip. To my surpise I never got lost going from my work to my old home, not even on my first day! But my new house, well that is a different story. My biggest and worst ¨lost¨ story was on my last day at my old house. I needed to go home so I had to take the bus. I went to the bus stop and got on 61, the one I take everyday, and it even had my cities name on it so I knew it was right. It was going in the opposite dirrection of home, but buses loop around, right? Hey, I was told to get the 61 at that bus stop, so I know it was not my fault that bus did take me home.

Just picture me, sitting on the bus, a bit sweaty because this weather is not cold anymore, it is hot, like PA summer hot, and I thought it was supposed to be winter?! Anyway, we keep going, I see different things, some cows, feilds with palm trees (but those are common) ,and I think, This is cool, I did not know I live by these things. We keep going, and I started wondering when it was going to loop around again, or when I would see something familiar. That did not happen. I did take lots of pictures of what I saw though. In the middle of no where the only other people got off, and I was alone, with the bus drivers. Here there are things you NEED to be careful about: do not be on a bus when you are the only passanger, do not pull out your phone, camera, or ipod on a bus, do not ride a bus when it is getting dark or it is dark, do not walk alone in the dark, and do not pull your money out in public. I am proud to say I have done all of those things, and look at me (well read my blog) I am fine. I was only going against the ¨being the only passanger¨ and ¨do not use your camera¨ rules on this trip, but being the only passanger was not really my fault. They drove a little and asked me where I needed to be. I said Luque. They said other things, but my Spanish is terrible, and when someone speaks a mix of Spanish and Guarani (which I am sure they where) that is when I am completely lost. They kept saying things. Then it just sort of stopped. They kept driving though, they stopped at someones house, I was really confused. They got off the bus, the one went inside. What was I supposed to do, they did not say anything to me. The first time I just stayed on the bus. Then they drove to another house, that time I got out and stood by the bus door, there was no way they where just going to ditch me there! Some new driver guy came, he was kind of creepy, but at least the other guy was still there, for some reason I trusted him. (I am not sure why, but lots of times there are two people in charge of a bus. In the frount there is a little seat for they guy who is not the driver, to sit. Its kind of strange, but I find it, and everything else about the buses here interesting! At the second house another girl got on the bus, she just sat in the back of the bus, I think she knew the drivers though. We drove a little and then stopped, they did not know where to take me. I asked them if they knew the big Catholic church in Luque, but they did not seem to know, I was surpised, it is right in the middle. I called someone to try to give me a common place they might be able to take me, but they did not really help much, they did give me the name of the church, but then I remembered the stadium (where I get off the bus everyday) and they said they could take me there. So we left. I sat in the front and talked to them a little. It was kind of weird, I thought about asking to take a picture of them before I left, but I never did. At first, as we got to a town I did not think we were in Luque, but then I realized we were in the mercado. Right when we started to go into the town, the one guy just stood in the door for the rest of the ride, and the driver told me to sit in the very front see, next to the driver. I did, it felt weird, but cool. I thought, hey if I am in Paraguay, and I have already been on a crazy bus ride, why dont I just relax and sit in that cool seat. So I did! I told the driver I knew where I was, then he asked me for my phone number, 1: I did not want to give it to him, that is creepy, and 2: I did not know my phone number, so he wrote his down and gave it to me. I still have it, but I will never call it, that guy was weird, and had an even weirder beard thing. Then I got off at the mercado, quickly, and walked to the restaurant, from there I took a taxi to my house.

That guy straight ahead is the nice bus guy who was not creepy and did not give me his number.

That was just one of my lost stories, I have more, they are just not as interesting, or scary, well that was scary for me anyway. The day after the long bus ride catastrophe I was taking the bus home to my new house. The bus ride went as normal as ever, but when it came to finding my house, I did not have a clue. My house is kind of in a neighborhood of other houses, and dirt roads. You get to it off the high way, I guess, and if you go the correct way it only takes about 3-7 minutes to walk to my house. It took me about an hour that day. I walked down the right roads, but then I did not know when to turn so I kept going and I turned on wrong roads. I ended up walking very far away. Then I remembered that the day before, when we were driving home, we turned onto a road between the super mercado and the big ice cream shop with a giant Pepsi bill board. I went that way, and then I remembered that my house had very square cut bushes, so as I walked down the road I looked for the bushes and then I found it. That whole hour I did not know what to do, I did not have a phone, it was really hot, and I ended up walking at least a half a mile away from the Pepsi bill board even though it seemed like it was just a few streets. I did it though, and when I got home, the girl at our house was waiting for me, as soon as she saw me she knew I had been lost.

I think they are supposed to be yelling, but the one guy looks like he is singing and the other just looks weird.  The one kind of looks like one of my friends.

The next day I had bus troubles again, but nothing as bad as the other bus problem, and I was not as lost as I was the day before this either. What happened was, I got on the bus and I asked him if it was going to Shopping del Sol, when I meant to ask him if it was going to Los Jardines. So  I ended up going not quite half way between my house and the mall. I did not know if I was going the write way, and I was afraid that if by the time I found the neighborhood I would not be able to find the house again. This time was pretty nice. The only bad part was the long walk in the sun, and not knowing if I was actually right or not, but it turned out I was. I found my house easily too! After that I have not really had any problems with getting lost. I guess Luque really is my home now, but I leave in about 5 days. To me, sometimes it only felt like 6 days, but other times it felt like 6 years. 

I will try to write some more before I go, and I am going to try to squeez in a few last minute things, that is if I do not get eaten alive by the bugs first, they are killing me!

Oh yeah, and once again, I am sorry about spelling and grammar problems, all of my posts have had and will have them...

La Comida

Before I came to Paraguay I tried to look up what kind of food they have here, what I saw online is totally different then what they actually eat here =)  Almost all the food is different in some way or another. The only thing I have eaten that is the most similar would be my chicken sandwich from Burger King, but even that was different. The chicken was not as good as in the U.S. which kind of suprised me, and they have McDonalds fries, and the ice cream was not as thick. It was not bad though. Right now I probably sound like a pig because I am discribing in full detail my fast food, but I have actually only had fast food twice since I have been here, and once was last night (that is why I can remember what I eat so well). I have seen more Burger Kings than McDonalds, but I hate McDonalds so I do not mind.

Lets forget the crappy fast food that I barly eat and I will tell you about normal food here. Before anything though understand that meals here are different. Breakfast is small, and they do not have pancakes or waffles. I usually have cafe con leche and bread, maybe with some fruit. I have also had chipa for breakfast too. (I will explain chipa later.) Lunch is the biggest meal of the day. It is like dinner. It took me a while to ajust to it, sometimes it makes me feel like a pig. It is usually rice, or sometimes pasta with meat, but almost never chicken. Between lunch and dinner is merienda around 5-7 and it is usually cafe con leche, bread, cookies, sometimes empandas or tortillas, just light things. Around 7 or later people have dinner, which it light, sort of like lunch, sometimes sandwiches, or empanadas.

This is merienda, but it is not a good example of it.

Common food here that I have never seen in the U.S. would be stuff like mandioka, sopa Paraguaya, milanesa, empanadas, and a crap load of eggs. Mandioka is like the only food here that I just do not like. For some reason I just find it really hard to swallow. It is a lot like a potatoe, but when you see it and taste it you know it is some how different. Sopa Paraguaya sort of looks like corn bread, but even though it is not like it, it still is pretty good. It is a bit dry or crumbly, but at the same time moist. It has onions and corn, and is not sweet like corn bread, well at least corn bread is sweeter. I was addicted to empanadas earlier into my trip, them and bread, bread is everywhere too. You can get them really small, or just like normal sized. Carne are the best, do listen to what others might tell you. Oh milanesa, that is probably my favorite new food here. It is sort of like country fried stake, sort of. It is very common and I think usually eaten with mashed potatoes. Here, eggs are everywhere. The are on hamburgers, any sandwich, sometimes with rice, in empanadas, with fried mandioka, and lots of other things. I do not like eggs, but since they are in lots of my food I eat them and I have started to forget that they are even there. Other typical things are rice and meat dishes, soups, and rice and bread with pretty much everything. Fruit is common, but not with meals, and the only vegetables are those in your salad, and you do not always eat salad. I do miss vegetables. There are lots of other foods, like lomito, andstuff, but I can not write down everything.

This is milanesa with potatoes and onions.

This is me and my host mom!

I forgot to mention drinks, so I will do that as quickly as possible. Fruit juice is everwhere, and it is cheep, I like to buy it when I can. People here drink a lot of Coke, not really Pepsi. When you buy a big thing of Coke, or any pop, it comes in a glass bottle that you have to return to the store when you are done. Pulp is a drink from Paraguay. It is like an orange pop, I like it, and I do not really like many pops! Coffee with milk and sugar is something I drink at least once a day, it is really good. They sell lots of carbonated water, but I always buy sin gas, or regular water. One drink that is only in Paraguay, or some small parts of Argentina is terere. It is like mate, but you drink it when it is hot out side and it is a cold drink. Mate is always hot, and is all over South America. Mate is usually common with adults, or even older people, but everyone drinks terere. It is a part of the culture. When you drink it you carry around your terere, the cup, and your thermal. The cup is always needing to be refilled. You fill it with the yerba stuff and it starts of strong but as you keep drinking it, it gets less and less. People pass it around and you drink it out of a metal straw. At first I did not like it, but now I drink it everyday.

This is to make your own yerba, but most people just buy it. 

It is in my hand, we were teaching English, but people drink it and take it EVERYWHERE!

3rd World Country

Before I came to Paraguay I never realized what a 3rd World Country really was. Sometimes now I find myself close to tears at the fact of different lifestyles are and how people around the world forget the fact that there are other people just able to get what they need. Aside from the people you see that the roads, the water, and the plumming suffer too, but the people are the most important to pick up on. The other day at my work my "boss" took me into her office and asked me what I like about Paraguay and how is it different from my home? I told her that in the U.S. people and kids need technology and things to keep them entertained and happy, but here from my work I have learned that even though you might be extreamly poor and not able to afford anything keep you entertained you can have fun even though you have nothing. She started to cry. She said that the kids at my work come literally from nothing and she wishes she could give them more, but it is very hard. I started to tear up too. Every where you go you see poverty. When you come to a big intersection there are people who come and wash your windsheild for small change, seeing the little kids, 5-10 years just makes you want to cry. They do not have shoes, they are very dirty and they keep running around through the busy traffic, I guess after time you just pass them by, but for me to see it, it is just so painful, in the U.S. people spoil their kids all the time and these kids will be doing this terrible job for the rest of their lives, and for what? Little food and a place to live. One of the saddest things I have seen here, actually lives in my house. My host family has a 14 year old girl living with them, she asked them if she could stay with them and help them around the house so that she could earn money for her family. She has 12 brothers and sisters and they are very poor. It makes me want to cry, but she is so nice and happy. She does not like to visit them though, I do not think she likes it at her home, but my host family is very nice Here she is treated much like a part of the family. I just find it so sad, but here it is normal.

We feed them breakfast and lunch, the biggest meal of the day. I do not know if we feed them merienda or no, I leave to early.

Coming into Luque (my town) there is a group of people living in little houses that seem to be made out of garbage bags. It looks like Occupy Wall Street, except worse and it is their perminite home. It is sad to drive by, but the people are really only friendly to eachother, and I have been told they hate white people, like me, so I do not think they ever get much help. Here things are so different, and so sad. 

This is not the best picture of it, but I hope it gives you an idea.

Even though people here have very little they still keep strong faith. It is strange, it seems that people who have so much in the U.S. never go to church, or even truly believe in God. Some people have candles burining in their homes, I have seem perminite nativities outside of peoples houses, and on busses or buildings it is very common to see pictures of Jesus, or statues of Mary or other saints. The other day I saw Jesus stickers for sale in the grocery store. If something like that was in the U.S. there would probably be some kind of law suit. These people are thankful for everything they have, and do not really ask for much. People in other countries have become full of greed and have to have the newest thing, here the only expensive thing I have seen everywhere are Black Berrys, no one has iPhones. Many people do not have cars, you see tons of motorcycles everday. I heard that 5 people die in Paraguay everyday because of motorcycle crashes, I am not sure if  that is exactly true, but I have seen motorcycle crashes before and they are very scary. 

This is a sign for food, but if you see on the right it has a picture of St. Joseph hold baby Jesus.

I have been to one house that was very poor, it seemed like it would fall apart. Here it is common to see, I guess I would call them, crappy houses. I like my house it is very nice, but some houses have poor doors and windows, I do not know what they do when it gets cold (not that it gets that cold, but it still gets pretty cold). It is also common to live on a dirt road, I have stayed in two houses, and both have been on dirt roads. They are not completely dirt, its more like rocks and dirt. It is very common to see roads like this, even in the capital. The dirt is not like the dirt at home. It is redish and sandy. I do not understand how anything grows in it. At first, at my work, I thought they brought in sand for the kids, but now that I see it everywhere I realize it is just dirt, and there is lots and lots of dirt. It is hard to keep your feet clean, but I like it, it shows I am on a true journey. 

Both these pictures are not very good. The dirt is redder sometimes and the stones are bigger and bumpier.

I am going to quickly say a few more things that make it obvious that Paraguay is a 3rd World Country. Here you cannot flush your toilet paper. It did take a while to get used to, but now that I have it is not a big deal. I will be happy when I come home and I will not have to worry about the paper clogging the toilet. Also the water is not clean enough for me to drink. The Paraguay people can drink it because they have for their whole lives, but I have to buy my water. It gets annoying, sometimes I want to drink it just to see if I get sick. I have had juice they made at home and I think that has sink water in it, and I am still fine. Another common things is dogs. Most people have pet dogs, I have 5, but the one just had puppies so now there 14. But I do not mean pets, stray dogs are everywhere. And they are dirty so when they come up to you all happy you just have hope they do not jump on you or lick you or something. You see dead ones on the side of the road too, it is sad, but I try to think of it like they are deer or raccoons or something. 

This picture is random, but I thought it was funny that they spelled Welcome wrong =)

Even though Paraguay is so much different then the U.S. I know I will miss it here, I will always remember it and I know I will be back! I think of it as my home now, and even though it is 3rd World it is still a nice country that is not worth passing up! But the next time you are upset that you cannot go on a trip or you cannot have something you really want, think of the people living here, or in Africa, or somewhere less fortunate, and try not to be so upset.

This is just me having fun in Paraguay!

Oh and I am 100% sure there are spelling errors in this, I wrote it quickly and I do not have spell check, so I am sorry, please just deal with them =(

Esta Complicidad

I was planning on writing about my house and restaurant, but some problems have pop up and I am now living in a new house. This is as of a few hours ago so I dont know what it is like to live here just yet, but when I do I will update my blog as soon as possible.

I just wanted to write something today because I said I would yesterday. I have another post in mind, but Im going to get ready for bed now. Here is an interesting picture I found of Paraguay, cheer for us in the Olyimpics! I will write to you soon =) (I know this is not from London, but we are still there!)