The past month or so has just been flying by. Everyone keeps saying that the second year as
a PCV goes by faster than the first (which to me flew by) so I am hoping that I
can somehow try and slow down the time.
This blog posts covers my wonderful but short trip into Asuncion to help
with training as well as some other fun along the way. It is hard to believe that it is already
November, last year this time we were still in training and had no idea where
we would end up, now a year later I am calling this place home and falling more
and more in love with it each day!
Enjoy!
This is a picture of my friends Cari, Michael, and I helping
with training one day wearing our “professional dress” of paper agroforestry
ties and nametags. It was a great time
to not only meet the new training group but also catch up with each other and
learn a little bit more at the same time.
Part of the training involved taking a walking tour and
seeing different agroforestry systems that are actually being used. For many of the PC trainees they had never
even heard of agroforestry but by the time they left they learned about the
common systems in Paraguay, and were actually able to see them in use.
Following training I spent a couple of days in Asuncion for committee
meetings and hanging out with other PCV’s.
On Saturday morning we were invited into the American School in Asuncion
(which is a VERY NICE private school) and PC had a basketball tournament as
well as other activities such as yoga and meditation. It was a great morning to just hang out with
each other and catch up after being apart for so long.
Our hostel in Asuncion had a pool and given the temps were
well over one hundred all weekend we made good use of the pool. This is just me with some of my other
wonderful g-mates!
On Saturday night we had what they call Ahendu which is
where PCV’s and anyone else are invited to come and perform. It is also partly a cultural exchange because
we had everything from bagpipes to PY dance team, to a wonderful
violinist. It was just a great time with
a great group of friends!
This is a picture of my friend Jen and I at Ahendu enjoying
the live music!
I came back to site and for whatever reason everyone seems
to have their birthday in Oct/Nov. So in
one week alone I went to 5 different birthday parties and ended up baking cakes
for 3 of them. They were all a lot of
fun and each unique. This is a picture
of my mom, host sister, and nephew Junior on his 3rd birthday. He was super special because he got two birthday
cakes!
As you can see in the next photo
though he had so much fun running around all day and playing that after the
photos were taken and we were getting ready to sit down for dinner he just
passed out exhausted. Luckily we had
plenty of cake so he was able to eat some of his birthday cake the next day! This month (November) as well is full of
birthdays but I am learning that I am able to save some money on food being
able to eat at all these birthday parties and am having a wonderful time baking
and decorating cakes!
Right
now my garden is in the transition from spring to summer crops which means that
I have a lot of different fresh veggies.
One evening I made stuffed squash filled with all fresh veggies like
carrots, sweet potatoes, beans, peppers, tomatoes, onions, and rice. They turned out fantastic and I was able to
get a few meals out of them! So as the
weather is turning warmer I am now able to put out more of my warm weather
veggies and my sunflowers are doing amazing!
I have decided to end this blog post with one of the many
quotes that I have hanging on my walls that I look at every day, so I hope you
enjoy it as much as I do!
FIND A PATH THAT CAPTURES YOUR HEART AND FOLLOW IT TO THE
END.
-unknown
-unknown
