It has been SO long!!!! so many updates!

Wow. It has been a longggg time since I've updated my blog. Sorry to all my faithful readers, I've just been super swamped. I'm gonna just have to briefly summarize what I've been doing for the last month because or else it would just take way too long to type out.

HIV/AIDS Taller:
As I mentioned in my last post, I took 2 teens to an HIV/AIDS workshop hosted by Peace Corps. Leti and her friend Sandra were the 2 girls I took and they had a fabulous time. We had to leave town by 3am to get there on time because we just live SO far from everything. We got to the camp and it was a really beautiful place, very woodsy and it kind of made me feel at home. Over the following days we did many activities regarding HIV/AIDS and how to prevent it. It was so awesome to see youth from so many different communities around Paraguay come together simply because they are interested in making a difference. I was told by Leti that they had practically learned more about sexual health, etc in the 2 days we were there than they had in years of health class. It was such a bittersweet moment for me. On the one hand, I'm thrilled that they really paid attention and that the information seemed to stick with them but on the other it's kinda crazy if it's true. It was also so awesome for these kids because people don't typically leave their communities, especially at a young age, without their families. These youth were able to meet people from all around and that's just not something that occurs often. We'll go back in October for a follow up workshop and in the meantime the youth are supposed to do some sort of community project using the info they learned. Vamos a ver what ends up happening with that.

Reconnect:
So the workshop ended on Saturday afternoon and I sent my two girls home on a bus from the camp. I didn't go with them because I actually had a week long training event in my original training community, called Reconnect. That didn't start until Monday but it simply would not have made sense for me to travel all the way to Carmen and then back the next day so instead I went to Villarrica and hung out with my good friend, Bonna. It was a lovely city and we got to hang out with some other PCVs who were also in town so that's always a fun time. Before we headed to Guarambare we stopped at the famous carpincho park. Carpincho is the Spanish word for capybara which is apparently the worlds largest rodent. Who knew they'd be here in Py?!

what a lindo park!

Look at that sassy carpincho.

Anyways, we made it to G're on what I'm pretty sure was the most crowded bus in history. I mean seriously, Bonna got a seat near the front and I was in the very back and when we got to our stop she literally had to yell my name because I couldn't even see anything... it then took me literally like 10 minutes to get off the bus because I had my large backpack and there were approximately 50 people in the aisle. It was hell and my legs and arms were shaking when I finally squeezed off that bus. After an adventure like that we decided to reward ourselves with the best empanadas in Py from our favorite little restaurant, El Paso. As soon as we arrived the lady who owns the place was just thrilled to see us! I mean we had gone there so often during training. I'm almost certain that she would stay open even if she only ever served PCVs. We LOVE that place. Its like home. It's the place where we started to form these amazing friendships. Afterwards we all headed back to our original host families houses. This was an interesting experience because I hadn't seen them in so long... it was great though because now my Spanish is a lot better, which they obviously told me many times. Throughout the week it was the same old thing, head to class early do some trainings, language and other random things... but it was so nice to see everyone from my G and hear all of the their stories about how it's going in site and what projects they are either already working on (alright, guapas) or are planning on starting soon! After class pretty much everyday we went to El Paso so spend some time. It was overall a very good week.

A cute little drawing someone did during Reconnect!

MATT VISITS!!!!!!
Well this was clearly the most exciting thing that has happened to me since being in the country. The weekend after Reconnect, Matt, my fiancé, came to visit me for 2 weeks! Let me back track a little. A large group of us went to Asuncion after reconnect for the weekend.
Friday we finished our training and headed into the city. We all just kind of hung out at our favorite hostel, La Casita. That night we went out to bar with a group of PCVs. It was really fun and we got to dance which was great.
Saturday was the day Matt was supposed to arrive... but then he didn't and I was just devastated. We went to Mercado 4 to just hang out and keep my mind off of the fact that he wasn't here. His flights were all crazy due to weather so there was really nothing we could do about it. That night there was a pub crawl so we all went to the that which was interesting because Matt's flight was supposed to get in at around 8am on Sunday morning and here in Py they stay out until like 6am. Craziness, I know. We got back to the hostel at around 5am and took an hour nap before we had to catch a cab to the airport. By "we" I mean myself, Chelsea, Bonna and Jen. These ladies are just the most fabulous friends I really could ever ask for. They got themselves out of bed at 6am in order to accompany me to the airport to pick Matt up. Also, Jen made an incredible welcome sign and had all of the members of our host families (who are related, if you remember that from forever ago) sign it. It was so touching! So we're waiting at the airport, dead tired, and all these people are arriving from his flight. I had butterflies in my tummy because I was just so anxious and nervous, but then people stop coming out. I immediately have a slight panic attack. Where was he?! All I could think of was that he missed another flight... after waiting for what seemed like forever he finally stepped through those doors and I just ran as fast as I could to him. Luckily, my handy dandy friends were there to captures the moments. I was just all tears but I was elated!!!!

Jen's fabulous sign!!!

best hug everrrr!

never wanted to let go!

So now he was here but had no luggage because it ended up in Brazil. But we'd figure that out later. We went back to the hostel because obviously everyone else was excited to meet him, did I mention how fabulous all of my G-mates are?! We all went to dinner together and it was such a wonderful time. We received his luggage the next day and he had soooo many goodies for me. It was pretty much like Christmas! And he also brought treats for my best friends too! What a guy!!!

We eventually made it back to my site and it was so great to be able to show him my new home. We spent a few days there and hung out with my host family which was great. They finally met the guy that I was always talking about! It was so interesting having to be constant translator because all of the other times that I had guests, they knew Spanish and could speak for themselves. Very strange having to switch back and forth between languages. A few days later my host mom and siblings took us to the Jesuit Ruins that are near by. They were incredible! It was such a great opportunity to learn a little bit about Paraguay's history. The only part that was stressful was that I had to literally translate the tour guides entire tour. It was awkward because she was say a sentence and then wait for me to translate it... and Leti knows English so she would know if I was just making stuff up. There was no way to get around it. It was actually exhausting especially because I don't know construction vocab or a lot of religious vocab either. But I made it through and my family was very proud of me! :)

The Jesuit Ruins of Jesus

The Jesuit Ruins of Trinidad

aw, aren't we cute!

Then we went up near Chelsea's site because there was a ziplining thing that we could do, which seemed like fun so why not? But first we stopped in Jen's site because it was on the way and she lives a lot more campo than I do so I wanted Matt to get a feel for what that was like. He loved it. He was amazed by how many cows were just roaming freely. Haha. It was super awesome for Jen and Matt to hang out considering she was the first person I officially asked to be one of my bridesmaids! It only seems right that they would actually interact and get to know each other. The next day we headed to Paraguarí for the ziplining. It was so wonderful! It was one of most organized things I had seen in this country. There were swinging bridges, ropes courses, ziplining, and a rappelling part. Well worth it! It was also great because Chelsea got to spend some quality time getting to know Matt too, since she had heard so much about him already!

Cute helmets huh?



Just a walk on the costanera in Carmen.

We went back to Carmen and spent our last few days together just watching movies, playing cards and chatting. It was low key but still incredible. It felt even more like home with him here. He even fit in well with my host family. We spent a few dinners over there and it was just fantastic. On his last night in Carmen my family made an Asado for him which was delicious. We just sat around the table and talked for hours. At the end of the night they brought out a gift for him and it was a beautiful Ao Po'i dress shirt. Ao Po'i is a traditional type of embroidery and its pretty expensive so I was just overwhelmed by the gesture. These are the people that I call my family and they were just treating Matt like they'd known him forever and accepted him into our little unit immediately. I never wanted him to leave but the time came and we headed back to Asuncion. I took him to Mercado 4 because that's a experience you simply can't miss out on and he bought his own guampa, bombilla and yerba to make terere of his own! How cute, cultural exchange! I also bought my very own ukulele and named him Oliver! I'm so excited about it! yayyyy! We spent our last few days just roaming around the city and loving every moment of it! Eventually our wonderful time together came to an end and I was so sad but I'm so thankful he got the chance to visit this place that I call home now, although it will be so tough for me to get used to him not being around anymore. But hey, on the bright side I've already done it before once so this time should be a breeze. Right?!



Me and Oliver, my ukulele!

Immediately after he left I headed to Bonna's site because it was her 25th birthday the next day, and it just seemed like the best choice. Going and being with friends orrrr going home and being alone and sad...i'll take the first option please. So after many hours on a bus I finally made it and her house was just adorable. If you knew Bonna, you'd know that her house would obviously be the cutest. She's the Martha Stewart/Betty Crocker of our G and it's fabulous! The next morning we had plans to hike up to the highest point in Py. It was quite the adventure with it's ups and downs, literally, but it was an incredible view and I'm so glad we decided to do it. It took forever and was actually a lot more intense than I would've imagined for a "mountain" in Py. At some points we were literally crawling up the path trying not to slip on the loose rock. When all was said and done we had walked over a half marathon, which was pretty insane considering I didn't even really know we were going to be hiking it until 2 days before hand. Oh I forgot to mention that since we didn't realize how long it would actually take we brought practically no food, one empanada and 2 bananas each. We were starved. My body was just exhausted, my legs, hips, arms, back... all of it hurt. We eventually got back to Bonna's and showered (we were filthy) and had a little birthday celebration for her. We made chicken fajitas which were probably the most delicious thing I've ever eaten (maybe a little bit has to do with the fact that we were all famished) and then had a cake for her. After we all relaxed for a bit we decided to go the local discoteca...what we didn't realized was that we would literally be the ONLY ones there. It was actually quite wonderful because we had all the space we wanted for dancing and didn't have to worry about creepy dudes!

Getting ready for our hike!

At the top of the Cerro, there was a ladder that led to no where so clearly I climbed it.. maybe it's there for better views?

Our discoteca group!

Finally I made my way back to Carmen. I think life will start to normalize again (well... what really is normal life in the Peace Corps?!).

OH! I forgot to mention that I officially have my Maid of Honor! One of my best friends from college, Sara, has agreed to take on the daunting task from afar. I am SO lucky to have her and I could not be more thrilled that she agreed!!!! :)

xox

P.S. i'll try to be better at updating now!