Cooking in Paraguay.

One of my favorite things to do is cook for other people. I'm not really a big fan of cooking for just myself, that is boring. So two years in my campo house have seen some pretty interesting meals that have stemmed from the lack of desire to cook.

But, when I have the chance to cook for other people I love it. However, cooking in Paraguay comes with its own set of challenges. Basically everything has to be made form scratch. You don't realize how easy it is in the States to be able to buy most of the ingredients for meals. In this country I've learned how to make so many things that I would have just bought from the store back home; things like bagels, pizza, pie crust, yogurt, buttermilk, and the list goes on and on. So my adventures in Paraguay have led to some pretty interesting concoctions.

      

                                      

Home-made pizza crust, brownie, banana icecream, bagles, and a perfect example of working with what you have, a giant quiche!

Summer fun.

There is a joke in Paraguay .... There are 9 months of summer and 3 months of hell, and I am happy to say that I just made it through my first full 3 months of hell aka Paraguayan summer. Let me tell you, it was HOT. I've never experienced that kind of heat before. Therefore lots of my free time was spent sitting in the shade drinking t-ray ... not blogging. So I thought I'd give you an update on things I did this summer.

First I went to a Paraguayan wedding! My host brother was the one getting married. It was actually a super nice wedding and we danced all night until about 5am. It was a ton of fun.

Me and some of my host family before the ceremony

Bride and Groom after the Ceremony

At the reception!

 I also went down to Encarnacion, a city in the south of Paraguay, that has the biggest Carnaval celebration in the country. One of my fellow volunteers Yihana was actually dancing in the parade! It was so much fun, Encarnacion is a great city, if feels very different than the rest of Paraguay.

Me and Yihana before the parade!

My neighbor kids have been bugging me for months to make pizza for them so one day when I had all the ingredients I finally did. We made the dough from scratch, and I even splurged and bought pepperoni at the grocery store! It was delicious.

Mariana and Me with the finished product

Elena chowing down.

Fatima 

Finally last week I was given (without really being asked) a cat. I hadn't really planned on having a pet here, but she is just so darn cute I can't give her up now. I haven't thought of a name yet, ideas are welcome.

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