photos

The most recent four, top to bottom.
Norlita and her kitten Michi...actually every little kitten is called Michi which means small.
Making yogurt with one of my host families, Favie and Diana are my assistants. This particular batch was made with the heat from the fire. It turned out so creamy and smooth. We enjoy adding cinnamon, sugar, pears, or guava jam. We have also made lots of banana bread, biscuits, and regular bread. It brought a smile to my face when I came by for a visit, I have switched families, and they offered me fresh banana bread they had made themselves! To thank them for hosting me I made them lunch. Ham and cheese pananis, fresh vegetable salad, and oven french fries. They love Ketchup and mustard as much as I do! The whole lunch was a huge hit.
As much as I love my site, I still enjoying getting out every now and again. This time I made a stop to visit Amelia, fellow Crop Extensionist PCV who lives about 3 hours from me. We enjoy cooking together and this photo is of our mexican dinner. We made flour tortillas, guacamole, and a spicy tomatoe, onion, and garlic sauce. Oh, so delicious. And yes, I have little tiny rubber bands in my hair. Lorena, former host family granddaughter, was excited to do my hair before my trip.
Amelia and I split bamboo to prepare for a fence for her garden.

I almost have a house...

Last week, my house went from being a cement floor and techo roof to having four brick walls with spaces for the windows and doors. I’m so excited I can’t wait to move in. This coming week I’m hoping we can put the doors and windows in so it’s ready to for when I buy my bed, refrigerator, and electric oven. We couldn’t have asked for more perfect weather all week. On Monday it rained and cooled everything off. I was playing 500 with the kids in the rain when the truck with all the bricks pulled up. I hoped on the back and road down to the building site and help unload over 1000 red bricks. Tuesday morning, I was there before the brick layer. We removed the former frame and put supporting planks to hold the roof. No zoning laws make things go so much faster. While the bricklayer built the walls, I pulled nails, mixed cement, carried hundreds of bricks, and filled buckets of concrete. My contact and his son were helping too. When I wasn’t needed I helped with lunch.
The pictures document the days of progress. Whoever happened to be there at the conclusion of each day I asked them to pose with their fingers indicating the day.
I’ll post another picture once it’s fully furnished, but that’s the latest here in my town.

Dia de Enamorado

Valentine’s Day…”Felizidades” were wished to me. I don’t think I’ve ever been reminded that it’s Valentine’s day so much before. Leading up to this day I was asked by several different people what I was going to do…was I going to call my boyfriend, was he going to call me, was I going to call my family, was I going to use the internet, was I going to cry? They seemed to understand “satellite phone”. I explained that it is impossible for me to call him. I said using the internet is impossible because no busses run on Sunday, the nearest internet place is 22km from me and I’m not allowed to ride moto’s and no I wasn't going to cry.

So for those of you who wondered if Valentine's Day was merely a U.S. holiday you now know.

one night

7. Febrero.2010 2347
I’m up so late because:
A. It’s hotter than a sauna in my room and I’m lying in a pool of sweat.
B. A cricket is keeping me awake with its extraordinarily loud chirping.
C. I turned the light on in hopes of finding the cricket and instead found a cockroach and two good sized spiders
D. I killed the cockroach with several loud whacks with my flip flops (everyone sleeps right through the dogs so I’m not worried about waking anyone)
E. I sprayed hairspray on the spiders after failing to find raid or anything close. I don’t know if it will do anything except irritate them, but it felt better than just leaving them. They are chilling in the space between the cement and wood wall otherwise I would have delivered the same death that the cockroach received.
F. In the process I discovered why I don’t like their cats and don’t let them in my room if I can help it—I’ll deal with the turd in the morning.
G. And now the dogs are worked up about something again.
It’s just another night in Paraguay.
It’s not usually that dramatic and having a fan helps the heat tremendously, but sometimes I’m left thinking how different things are in the states. Twice now I’ve stuck my foot into my boot only to frantically pull it out when I realize a toad or kururu has made his home in it. I’m just really glad it wasn’t something poisonous.