Paraguay at Last!

So I'm sure a lot of you who have been trying to read my blog thought I died or got lost or was living in some crazy place that has no connectivity to the world! Wrong on all counts! We have just been sooo busy and our lives have been so structured it feels like its impossible at times to get to an internet cafe! So here is a reader's digest update on what my life has been like this past week!

We had a red eye flight from Miami to Buenos Aires, which was terrible because I don't ever sleep on planes. Basically, no sleep that night. We had to creatively navigate the Buenos Aires airport so as not to pass through customs and have to pay the visa fee of $130. NO BUENO. We finally managed that and were on a very short flight from Buenos Aires to Asunción!

When we first arrived we were met by the Peace Corps country director,
and hustled through customs in like 10 minutes! Because we work for
the US govenment, we have connections! lol. Then we were divided up
into two groups (very sad because we had become so close!) and sent to
more orientation in our training facility of Guarambaré.
After orientation and host family intervies, we got on busses to meet our host families...

Meeting the host families was SUPER awkward! The 11 of us in my
community of Villeta went into our local education facility and they
met us clapping and hugging and kissing everyone it was sooo weird!
My host mother and father are in their sixties! They are incredibly nice and
accomodating; I also have a host brother who is 25 and works in the
local hospital, and an older host sister who lives with her husband
someplace else. My host father is a barber and also runs a handyman
business out of the house. My host mother is a teacher at a local
private school.

As far as living accomodations go, it is not that different from home!
I have my own room with a lock and key, as well as a bed and desk and
storage room for my shoes and clothes! We also have electricity and
running water, which every trainee has. This is no garuntee that we
will have this when we are sworn in as volunteers in three months, but
it is a positive sign!

It was pretty intense moving in with my host family, as they speak not
one word of English! I was forced to use my Spanish and learn VERY
quickly what was going on and try to understand what they were saying!
I´m positive that I´ve already learned A TON from them in just the
last week we spent together! After dinner my host mother sat
me down and started teaching me Guaraní! She attempted for about a
half hour, and I definitely picked some things up! She said I did a
great job and that they were really impressed with me; I took this as
a huge compliment because I am their 8th Peace Corps trainee that they
have hosted thus far! As far as I have been able to gather, my family
is the only one to do this; most other trainees only started to learn
Guaraní in the next few days. My brain feels like mush with all the mix of Spanish and English and Guaraní and I honestly struggle to make myself understood in any of the languages anymore! My English is slipping away! Yikes!

Other than that it has been an intense rush of language classes, mixed with technical orientation as well as security and safety information, health concerns, and occasionally (like tonight) a little American time! We are all going out to the local Pizzaria/Bar/Karaoke place to get crazy! Oh yea, you know I'm gonna bust out some Backstreet Boys or something ridiculous! I'm missing everyone immensely (in WA and everywhere else too!) I would love to hear from everyone, and yes I AM checking my email so please shoot me a line at brett.michaelson123@gmail.com

Things here are beginning to settle into a more tranquilopa or chill atmosphere as we continue to integrate into the language and culture. I'm just excited to learn new things every day, and be constantly surprised at what this amazing country has to offer! Until the next post, Chau!