2 months

A few weekends ago I went to San Bernardino with my family and our friends for Semana Santa which translates to "Holy week." Effectually being our Spring Break. It is a popular vacation spot for city dwellers in Ciudad del Este, Pedro Juan Caballero and Asuncion to name a few. We stayed out in the campo presumably to avoid all the commotion caused by the avid partiers who inhabit San Bern during this time, while still remaining in close proximity to Lake Ypacaraí. (Urh-Pa-Ka-Ah-Ree) The lake has a lot of historical relevance and is cited in several popular Paraguayan songs. It is about the size of Lake Washington, probably slightly smaller, yet the second largest body of water in Paraguay. It is nice hangout spot, however widespread pollution has consequently turned the color of the lake into a nasty brown.

Much of our time in San Bern was consumed in the campo which was basically a ranch setting (though in addition to going to the lake, we took a trip into Asuncion for bowling) playing Mímica meaning Sharades, (in this case for movie titles) and a popular card game played principally in Brasil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Southern Chile and Venezuela called Truco.

Truco, meaning "trick" is played between 2, 4 (Two teams of two) and 6 (Two teams of three) people with Spanish playing cards. It is like nothing I have played before, the only way I can explain it without launching into too many specifics, is that it combinds the aspects of Hearts (The premise of winning "tricks") and Poker (Deception and Intimidation). Besides, Wikipedia does a much better job anyway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truco. The rules are fairly simple, but the strategy takes months or even years of practice to become worthy.

Last week I went to Foz do Iguaçu with some friends, a Brasilian town just adjacent to Ciudad del Este to watch a movie at the cine. I definately feel fortunate to live boardering two other countries. Especially the fact that it is an open boarder between Paraguay and Brasil, so you can just scoot on through without being interrogated by some douche who wants to know what is in your trunk. "Its plastic explosives, you jerk, whats it to you?!"

The movie turned out to be Fast and the Furious 4. (Yes, it was terrible) I was really impressed with the condition of the theatre; it was nicer than any that I've been to in the States.

Last night, we went back, but this time with the whole family. We watched Slumdog Millionaire which was great, because I hadn't seen it yet. (Gasp?)

I was impressed, just like everyone else, but I feel like I would've liked it more if my expectations hadn't been so high. After seeing and hearing statements like "omg, that was liek the best movie I have EVAR seen!" and "Wow, that totally changed my outlook on life" (I usually take such assertions with a grain of salt) its just hard to go in without preconceived notions. Curse media hype.

Afterwards we went to this neat little Brasilian restuarant closeby. I love the Brasilian style: Instead of serving yourself, the waiter brings you the prepared platters of food, and serves them from there onto your plate, so you don't have to deal with it. You can recieve white table cloth service and 5-star food in this region for the same price as you would pay to dine casually in the States, that is definately one point I am beginning to appreciate. (Due to the fact that all the meat is raised locally and job security is sparce, among other factors). As my Spanish has been vastly improving, I am learning that Paraguayans are great story-tellers, which explains why formal meals are longer here. People seem to enjoy each other's company more.

Next weekend I am going to Buenos Aires, Argentina with my "mother" and "brother" for five days. Really excited, except for the roughly 18 hour bus ride.

I guess I just have one burning question: Is the air actually nice in Buenos Aires?

One month

It is surreal to think that I have been here for one month already, things have gone by very quickly.

On that note, I can definately notice my gradual assimalation into Paraguayan culture...

• I wore a wool shirt and jeans today and did not drown in my own sweat.
• I no longer have a tendency to look like someone with a severe case of Down Syndrome in class.
• I can generally participate in conversation in social situations (or in the very least understand the topic).
• My bowels do not turn over after I indulge in a couple of empanadas or most other questionable local delicacies.
• I have found that wearing a seatbelt is not fashionable, ever.
  
• I ignore vendors when they makes this obnoxious sound that can best be described as: ¨chih-chih-chih¨
• People´s conception of time is not universal.
• Paraguayan sleeping patterns: It does not necessarily happen when you want it to, it happens when it is convienient for everyone else.
• Similarly: You are important, but the collective good is more important.

Other than these Observations/Personal victories, I have been doing a variety of things the past two weeks. Two saturdays ago, we went to Carnaval, which was held in my city. Apparently it is not to be confused with the Brazilian ¨Carnival,¨ (I still don´t quite understand the difference). It was basically just a huge Disco. There were probably about 400 to 500 people there, though that estimate is rough. We got VIP passes, so we were partying in style.

Today, I just returned from San Bernardino (A vacation suburb just north of Asunción) where I and the other AFS-Paraguay students attended Adjustment Camp for the weekend. It consisted mainly of learning about Paraguayan history, Hanging out, and talking about our feelings... (Yeah, just great). We stayed in a hotel, but we basically had the whole place to ourselves. It had a beautiful pool, which we took full advantage of by playing a large game of Marco Polo.

It was interesting to talk to the other exchange students: How well they are getting along with their host family, how proficient they were in Spanish in relation to my ability and finding out more about the country which they are from. There were students from the U.S., France, Belgium, Germany, (A surprising amount) Thailand, Japan, Switzlerland, and Iceland. The guy from Iceland was incredible at cubing. He could solve the standard Rubix cube in 20 seconds and the five by five in two and a half minutes! He even had a seven by seven but it was apparently too valuable to take with him to the camp. He declared that he was ¨probably the fastest cuber in Iceland¨ I didn´t doubt it. All in all, it was a pretty nice weekend.

Well thats all for this time.

Buenas Noches,

Leif

First Week

As of Saturday I have been in Ciudad del Este for 10 days, and it has been an eventful time indeed. I am beginning my second week of school and the structure, of course, is going to take some getting used to:

• My school is Catholic, but there isn´t a ton of religous activity. [Aside: Many Paraguayans are ¨Casual catholics,¨ (such as my family) meaning that they consider themselves Catholic, but do not routinely go to Church.]
• My school has a mandated uniform. (I don´t really mind).

• The Student/Teacher relationship doesn´t make any sense to me. The teachers address you as hijo or child, but they seem to have a high tolerance for clowning around as well (which mis compañeros de clase seem to do in excess). This creates kind of an authoritative contradiction for me; its very confusing.

• I have somewhere between 8 and 10 classes which are on a bit of a sporadic schedule. Students remain in the one room while the teachers move around.

• In some areas I am way ahead, (such as math) but in any class that involves a lot of lecturing in Spanish, I am having trouble. (which is most)

Outside of school, life is very tranquilo. Paraguayan people are very laid-back and inviting. I tend to play about three hours of fútbol a day in the ¨club¨ with my homestay brother Carli and anywhere between 10 and 25 other dudes. In the club, fútbol is played on some sort of hard linoleum surface. I am not exactly sure what it is, but I just try to avoid falling on it. We play 5 on 5, first to five goals, with the losing team rotating out. The games are pretty competitive, but we are all pals in the end.

I just began 40 hours of AFS-mandated Spanish classes yesterday. There are currently five AFSers in the class, two from Germany, (I think...?) one from Japan, another guy from the States and I. The class is a bit tedious right now because I am a little ahead of the rest of the class, but its nice to be able to hang out with some other people that are in the same boat.

In other news, my family threw me a huge surprise party for my 18th birthday. I must admit they left me completely aghast. Additionally, they were somehow able to create this amazing poster for me. (In a couple of days!) Everyone kept prodding me to sing karoake again as I had done the first night, but I really was completely exhausted from the long week. I ended up going to bed at 1am. I´ve never felt like such a party pooper in my life, haha.

Everybody seems to have a different nickname for me, ranging from ¨Hahn-sen!¨ to ¨Lay-fe¨ to ¨Jeffery¨ (I have absolutely no idea where that one came from).

If I understood correctly, this weekend I am going to Carnaval in Encarnación. I am really excited. I have been horrible about taking pictures thus far, but I will make sure to take some then!

Your fearless reporter from the Southern Hemisphere,

Place preferred name here _______.

Update/First day in Ciudad del Este

Hi everyone... This being my first post, I´ll update you all on the past week or so of my trip. I left Seattle the 10th at midnight (which has become a common theme on the trip) transferred to Miami from St. Paul, Minnesota, where all the other AFSers and I that were going to South America and met and had orientation -- at the Miami International Airport.

(Aside: Miami may as well be located in a Spanish-speaking country, or at least the airport, because roughly 95%, probably higher, of the employees at the airport spoke English as a second language, including the representatives from AFS attempting to help us, which made things very difficult.)

After spending two days in the Miami airport, we finally were able to go through security and get on the plane. Unfortunately, one of the girls in my AFS group lost her passport in the bathroom, and the flight ended up being delayed several hours, (hilarity did not ensue).

Finally, we boarded the plane at 1am, and flew all night, until we arrived in Santiago, Chile at roughly 11am. After a two hour layover, boarded the plane and traveled to Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay. Immediately after exiting the airport, we were struck with the hottest, most humid air I had ever felt in my life. It was (only) 88 degrees outside, but the air felt over a hundred. We traveled to el campo, or the country, were we held a brief one day Paraguayan Orientation, where we met the other AFSers that would be staying in Paraguay.

There we were introduced to a number of Paraguayan customs to name one, Mate: a hot beverage drank in the morning, and Terere: a cold beverage drank in the afternoons and evenings, both being traditional Paraguayan drinks both derived from Yerba Mate. They serve as light stimulants, and are very much ingrained into Paraguayan culture.

After spending one night there, some of us took a bus to ´ciudad del este´ where I will be living. I was met at the bus station by many of there family and friends, including my new four-year old host sister, Gabi, who is currently trying to sneak pictures of me, haha. It was very overwhelming. We drove back to their house and my host brother Carli(to) introduced me to his huge posse of friends (12?). They range from 15 to 20 and are all very fun. From what I understand it is normal for people of all ages to hang out.

We had a huge barbaque, with chorizo (sausage) and steak. I have never seen that much food in my life, unfortunately I was unable to get any pictures of it, but there will be many in the future! We sang karaoke, ate and played mafia until seven in the morning, this is the paraguayan way. I am quickly learning that if you want to have any personal space, do not come to Paraguay! You are constantly surrounded by people, just while writing this blog, six people have to come in to interrupt me.

I have so much more I would like to write, but no more time. I start school tomorrow, I must confess I am a little nervous. I miss you all!