Week of Celebrations!

I've been in site for just over a month now and I'm not going to lie it hasn't been easy. A lot of volunteers say first month in site can be one of the hardest. You go from a family you have been living with for 10 weeks and that you have gotten comfortable with to a brand new one. You go from being surrounded by other Americans all day to being the only one for miles, and you go from having every single second planned out for you to having no set schedule at all. Guarani is also a lot more prevalent in my site than it was in my training community which has been another added difficulty.

But I've made it through the first month, taking each day at a time.

Last Tuesday was also my 24th birthday! My friend Alex (also in G-38) came to hang out with me and my host family for the celebration. On the day of my birthday we made whole-wheat pizza and drank "Paraguayan Sangria" (aka Wine and Orange Fanta). It was a fun first birthday in Paraguay.

Made a Pepperoni Pizza and a Veggie Pizza

Alex, Host Mom (Margarita), Me

2 of my favorite girls in my site so far -- Maribel, Lizzi with my host mom, Margarita

The next day after my birthday it rained all day so Alex and I decided to make a Pumpkin Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting. A few things ended up going wrong ... we didn't have enough powdered sugar for the icing so it was more like a glaze and we didn't bake the cake long enough but we were impatient and ate it anyway.

Doesn't look the prettiest but it sure did taste good.

The next day after that was "Dia de Maria Auxilliadora." She is one of the Patron Saints of my town. My host grandmother had been preparing for this day at least 2 weeks or more, painting the house, buying food (lots and lots of food), renting chairs and even wiring the outside of the house with speakers. It was a  long day of eating lots of food, praying to Maria Auxilliadora, dancing, drinking and even doing a small procession around town. Oh and did I mention this all took place at my house.

Decorating!

Sooooo much meat!

Alex and I enjoying some Terere

Sopa Paraguaya

My host Grandmother

All the people at my house

Procession through town

The next day Alex and I left for Asuncion where a bunch of our G-mates got together for the weekend to celebrate my birthday and David's birthday. It was so great to see all my friends again, I didn't realize til I went to site how close I'd gotten to the rest of my G-mates, this experience really bonds you together. We went out for dinner, one night to TGIFridays and out to a bunch of other places around Asuncion to celebrate.

Amy and I sharing a romantical moment

The group at TGIFridays

Alex y yo