hasta ahora

so i am currently in villeta, where i was raised in paraguay with the old host fam. i have really missed my old host fam. but ya know, i really do feel like things are different. i can definitely have a conversation with my family now and its really exciting from when i first arrived here and i would just point to things i wanted and told a lot of stories with my hands and police academy noises. so its cool. but now that i`m working in my site... i actually miss it.

so i am here to hang with the family but also to get more training in language and technical. i mean the training isn´t half bad. and its nice reconnecting with the others i haven`t seen in a while. its just different. i mean earlier, i couldn´t wait to leave my site and hang out with the other volunteers. but now things are different. i long to be in my bed and hangin out with my lil buddies and host family in Paraguarí. things are starting to change... and its def a good thing!

i think what really initiated the change was one cold cold night in the capital when i went with my contact and met other volunteers. my contact and i went clubbin that night and had a good good time. then it was time to return to the hotel. we were cold...and wet...and the bed was uncomfortable and the fire alarm kept beeping all night because it needed a new battery. that night, all i wanted was my bed.

then, something else happened. i was having problems with my host fam. i didn`t think they liked me very much. i would spend a lot of time out of the house and out of my neighborhood just hanging out downtown. but then i got sickly. i was on my death bed. and my family took soooo good care of me. they would check on me to see how i was doing and making sure i was fed and gave me some yuyos to help me feel better. yuyos are herbs that they use. kinda like herbal remedies that they put in tea or terrere. terrrere is like cold tea that is usually shared in groups. to terrere is definitely a very social activity. (there now ya´ll learned alil bit about paraguayan culture). even my bro came in and checked on me, even tho he said he was in there to borrow something... yeah riiiiiiiiiiiight. then, i got better and our relationship just became sooo much better! like we really became a fam.

then, with the winter camp, it really gave me a good base of kids to hang out with and keep me busy. we play sports, mostly football which i am terrible! but i just talk a lot of trash and they love it. i gave the kids draw on tats and had a waterballoon fight that day. we just have a lot of fun and they make me feel like a big kid. i told them last week that i was going to villeta for the whole week and they were all like, why you gotta go there, you coming back? and then we really gonna miss you. man, that really hit me that finally i have some friends! now i just like my work is really going to take off!!!!!!

also i`ve become super close to my bro who is military. i am learning a lot about bein super macho. haha. well, i´m learning a lot about living around military ppl. its really interesting. he wants to visit the states on his vacations, which will be right around when i`m heading home. sooo ìm def going to try my hardest to get him to the states. it is very difficult for paraguayans to enter the states. most ppl get denied visas and the visas are super expensive! but if there is a will there is a way babay!!!!!