6.29.2009

im catching up so heres a summary of the last month.

ive been here for a month now and im gonna try to squeeze my brains out of memories these past four weeks. i'll do highlights, then maybe the big picture. if i forget anything i'll try to come back to it later on...

our first week was a success, i managed to make it, as i planned, to the paraguay/chile game on our first saturday with a bunch of new friends from my group. (we call it G-30, for we are the 30th group in our training facility). i also managed to immerge pretty quick, which got us 5 tickets to the game. my host brother got his connections so we got down on getting those tix. although paraguay losts, it was a hell of an experience. jumping up and down, singing side by side with nationals... on the way home, since the next week after is the classic rival game between 2 major teams (cerro and olimpia), our bus got asaulted with a flying beer can from the back. being a cerro fan, our driver, or atleast by having cerro sticker on his bus, olimpia fans hit the back window as a target. next thing you know, all you hear is glass breaking and shattering. being in country for only a week, that got us thinking... youd consider rivals are normal, but to be hostile like that might take a bit more of getting used to. olimpia ended up winning that game on the following weekend, but cerro seems to be turning out to be the champion on this final days of the league.

things ive gotten used to on my first week here are also terere, mate, and how nice people are. how social it is here in paraguay. people will share you what little of it they have. and its nice... its very nice... ive noticed the similarities of culture i have with them, between philippines culture and paraguay... the sharing and caring with space and everything... i guess it was also why i managed to immerge better and quicker... i feel very comfortable here... felt like being back to somewhere ive never been before.. although thats a bold and true statement, its also true that there's much more to learn...

going back to terere, for some who hasnt heard of it, its composed of a lot of yerba, cold water, and all day of drinking.. well, almost all day... but since its been fairly cold, my host family and friends from training have been busting out mate here and there... im not so sure or rather cant quite grab the words to explain it, but ill put up a picture one of these days here... i guess theres really much to say about it, you just have to experience it.. people huddle around and talk about anything, while you pass around the drink... one of these days, once i get to my site, i'll probably end up buying an 'equipo' as they call the set for drinking terere and mate...

ive also ate lots of fried goodness food... lots of empanadas, mandioca, and more fried foods.. they're big on that here... my favorite though ,although ive had it only twice is the chicken joint by the road here... ive been to a lot of places with roasted chicken, but this place, this place i tell you, is mind blowing. something about the herbs that they put there, its called something amazing... my first time was a total roasted chicken orgasm and then some.... it was also the time when we got back from the paraguay x chile game... jimmy (my host brother and I) ended up there... being the local celebrity that he is, we got a treat for roasted chicken, churizzo and some lengua (cow tounge). it was. amazing.

talking about my hosts family. im probably one of the luckiest there is landing on one of the most amazing family... there's che sy, che ru, ha che ermanos... all potei of them.. (ive also been picking up guarani, the national language along with spanish) che sy, my (host) mom, is a house wife and takes care of the family, che ru , my (host) dad is a motorcycle mechanic... he picked up a very lucrative business being on the ruta. motorcycle is one of the biggest indutry in paraguay, and also the number reason of fatality in paraguay. so he fix things, chill, drink mate... a very guapo guy. (guapo means hard working here). then ther's my host brothers and sisters.. got 2 bro and 4 sis.. 3 of my hosts sisters are profesoras so that helps me a bit both in guarani and just major paraguay topics in general... one of my hosts sister just had a baby maybe two weeks ago so the house is full of love and excitement, although my hosts mom has been restless...

i was saying... it will be an expensive june for my hosts family.. because its celebration after celebration... father's day, emilio's (the new baby's father) birthday, and the baby's birthday... but hey, there's always asados to kill... asado is by the way, grilled meat and when there's a celebration, you bet it will be on the table...

thinking of celebration, when i was doing a visit to one of the volunteer, i experience the whole big thing.. on my visit, it just so happens to be the birthday of the intendente's (mayor's) mom so they had the whole shebang... alcohol, roasted and grilled meat, classic dance and music...


other than all the fun things, im pretty much occupied with training... and the days goes like this(unless there's special event, like angelique's birthday, which looked like a quinceria), i wake up at 6:45-7:00am, but really around 7:15am, shower, get ready, sit and have coffee or breakfast with hosts mom or/and dad then go to language class at 7:45am... its about 5 minutes walk away... we have a class til 11:30am, i go home, hang out eat lunch then go to class at 1:00pm again... afternoon is all tech class where we learn all the great wonders of tenchinal skills for our future projects... its like learning how to be a ninja, preparing for upcoming battle or war, but not really... i just like to throw that out there... then we finish at 5pm,i go home, hang out with the family, eat dinner, watch tv. lots of tv. tv is a big part of the family here... then go to bed, wake up and do it all over again.. i throw in some reading here and there, and some other activities...

speaking of activities... i first time played football or soccer with my hosts brothers and friends last thursday.. it was in a closed court, 5 on 5 astroturp or however you wanna spell it... had a great time and looking forward to do it again... not really looking forward for jimmy yelling at everybody, but hey, i can dig it, soccer or football as they or we like to call it, can get intense... other than all of that, at the end of the day, its all a great time non the less... i might not be a ronaldinho or kaka, after this.. but i should hope to pick up some skills... (sucks by the way the us lost from brasil).

well what else.... our group takes trips here and there and i think we'll be doing lots of it these coming weeks.. cant wait for it... hopefully i'll pick up more new and interesting things and experience bigger and bolder places, events, and whatever you want to call it...

i'll put some picture up once i get to it (won't say it again, i promise) but i'll rest here for now and get some dinner...

peace!

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