Thanksgiving at the Ambassador’s House

Yesterday all of the trainees traveled into Asuncion to the Ambassador’s house for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.  We arrive about 11 am and after we went through all of the security checkpoints we had about an hour and a half to explore, use the pool, use the internet, and make phone calls home.  Everyone had a wonderful time swimming around in the pool and playing board games as you can see in the photos below.  I spent the majority of my time working on my blog and calling home as well as wandering around the grounds looking at everything.  I did get my feet wet in the pool just to say that I have been in the pool.  They have a beautiful place in the middle of the busy capital of Asuncion, also it is technically considered American soil, so we were all laughing that we were back in the US to celebrate Thanksgiving.  The Ambassador and his wife were just so friendly to us all and just completely opened their home to us all.  It was also fun because Mrs. Ambassador showed us all around her house with the different art and they both played board games with us.  Below you should be able to see some pictures of the house, pool, the playground, and some of the trees and flowers.

At about 1:15 we all headed upstairs to the dining room which you should be able to see pictures of.  We had a wonderful speech by the Ambassador himself and then our country director before we ate.  The dining room was just beautiful with the tables all decorated and our US plates and all of the beautiful flowers.  They also had a wonderful spread of food with all the major Thanksgiving dishes and a wonderful table of desserts as well.  I think all of the weight that I had previously lost in Paraguay I gained back again but this was the most food that I think I have eaten here thus far, and probably the last “American” meal that I will have for quite some time.  I also have two more years to burn it all off!  The food wasn’t quite as good as my mom and dad’s cooking but it was pretty good none the less, and I had no trouble cleaning my plate.  Once we finished with the main food they brought out all the desserts including homemade ice cream to go with our pie!  Also the country director made a wonderful carrot cake!  As we were eating we had a huge storm system roll into the city and it poured rain for at least 3 hours, luckily we were all inside eating and didn’t have to go out for a while, but unfortunately were not able to take a much needed walk outside.  When we all finished eating Mrs. Ambassador came out with Zip-Lock bags and encouraged us to take leftovers since that is her favorite thing about Thanksgiving so by the time all of us (45 now) got through taking food we had cleaned them out.  I just took a big bag of lettuce and two pieces of carrot cake to share with my family.  So if any of you have a simple carrot cake recipe with good icing I would love to have it!!!!

After we all finished eating at least at my table we went around the table and talked about what we were thankful for both here in Paraguay and back at home.  It was great to just take a few minutes to reflect on the last year and also just the last 2 months we have been away from home.  I have a lot to be thankful for and most of all just so thankful for all the support that I have at home cheering me on here.  Everyday isn’t great here at it is hard to be away from home but it is so great to just keep getting wonderful letters, emails, and messages from those of you back home, you have no idea how much the mean to me.  I am having a wonderful time here and my host family is just phenomenal, when I arrived home from my future site visit (after only being gone for 5 days) my host mom just started crying because she said she missed me so much, and it is so great to know that I have another family here in Paraguay as well as my family back home.  I think we all just have a huge list of what we are thankful for this year!

There are many little things we take for granted at home including hot water coming out of the sinks, I was so excited when I turned the knob for the hot water and it actually worked!  This was the first time since being in Paraguay there was hot water coming out of a sink; normally it is just cold water.  Also I can honestly say I just miss being able to watch the Thanksgiving Day parade with all the beautiful balloons, and laying down after eating to watch football, and being surrounded by family and friends!  I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, I know I sure did!