Ellen in Paraguay

Hola Everyone! I said I would be able to write this weekend, and indeed I am right on schedule. I already have my routine here down pat; Monday through Friday I wake up and pray in the mornings with Vivi and Emi, the two sisters that I live with, and we go to school at 6:30. The entire week I was Ben’s protégé as I followed him to his English classes all morning until 11:30. The morning can sometimes seem long, but we get a recess and I usually get out of at least one class every day because another grade will ask me to join them for phys. ed. Lunch is the big meal of the day here, and the favorite time of day for Vivi and Emi and I to spend together. Since I don’t really know how to cook here, they have been making delicious meals everyday and I watch and do all the cleaning afterwards. Perhaps starting next week I will make a meal or two (tell me if you have a good idea of what to make using simple ingredients and only a stove, it is way too hot to use the oven plus we don’t have a very big kitchen so we use our oven for a cupboard). I spend the afternoons at home alone while Emi takes university classes and Vivi goes back to teaching. It is necessary to take a ciesta because it’s too hot to do anything else, and I also study my Spanish. I am looking forward to when I don’t have to study as much and I can read during this time. Sometimes I like to wander around the neighbourhood; I entertain myself by getting lost and finding my way back. At 3:30 I return to the school to tutor Brandon and Gabriel, the missionary kids. Those 2 hours are part of my day that I feel very much at home during, since we speak English and I mostly nag them a lot, but they are funny kids and I enjoy our time together. In the evenings we can hang out at the church/school since there are always people there talking and playing sports, and prayer meetings or Bible studies or people practicing music. I think one of my favourite things about being here is living so close to the people from church and to the grocery store and the man who sells light bulbs and to “work.”
Even though I wake up at the same time every day and see the same people, it’s always exciting because I am experiencing so many new things. Going to the supermarket to get groceries was totally exhilarating; you should have seen the piles of produce and the mass of all different types of bread in the bakery. Plus, the cheese is delicious and so cheap. My splurge at the store was some hard dutch cheese that cost about $3 US/kilo. Even riding the bus was fun, or interesting at least. Oh, I just noticed this blog is way too positive and there are some things I don’t like; I don’t mind washing t-shirts, but my socks are so crunchy when they dry. Fortunately, I come to Oscar and Karen’s house on the weekend and they have a washing machine! Another thing I would never have to deal with in Edmonton was the cockroach that was in my dresser when I first got my room, yuck! But at least I learned the words to the rest of the song “la cucaracha…” Everyone kept telling me I was going to get sick from my body adjusting to the water, but I never did. I must have an iron stomach. Right now I am loving the food, but you can ask me in a couple of months if I am tired of eating empanadas and rice and tomatoes and bananas. I am looking forward to when I can be more useful in teaching at the school. In two weeks Karen will be really close to having her baby so I am going to take over her classes and teach the kids Christmas carols…while it’s 28 degrees outside and the mangos are ripening!