International Dinners and Marisco Lopez

This week, I had the opportunity to help plan the International Dinner we are having in a few weeks. I am very excited about it! I expected there to be about three of us bouncing ideas around in English. Instead, there were about eight women (teachers and moms) and Sam (one of the teachers here) all speaking in Spanish! It was a blast :) There were a few parts that I did not understand, but I was able to comprehend and communicate quite a bit, which was exciting. On Thursday, Emily and I went to Dani's house (my cooperating teacher) to meet the ABWE missions team and get to know them a bit better. We had a wonderful time learning more about the culture and getting involved in their ministry. On Saturday, we went to Lomito Arabe, which is one of my favorite places to eat here in Paraguay. I get Lomito about once a week!! Sam and Darrin (Darrin is student teaching as well) live across the hall, so they take Emily and I with them when they go grocery shopping or if they are just going out, which has been such a blessing! We are able to see a lot more of Asuncion because of them. They took us to Marisco Lopez to go shopping, and then we watched Sherlock Holmes. I am just having a blast getting to discover the culture here!

A Whirlwind Week

The last several days have gone by very quickly. We had Parade of Nations on Friday, which is an all day festival of countries. Each grade adopted a country. My fifth graders transformed our classroom into the United Arab Emirates and brought food and items in to share with the entire school. My fourth graders created a skit and decorated their classroom to look like Thailand. It was a wonderful time, although exhausting! I was so impressed to see my students step up and really work hard to learn about another culture. Tomorrow I begin teaching, which I am excited about.

On Friday night, I had the opportunity to visit a Paraguayan family that Emily knew. We went to their house and spent time with them. I had a blast using my Spanish and getting to know the family a little better. I wake up every morning, thankful that I have this opportunity to learn, grow, and impact others for Christ here in Paraguay.

Thankful, I am thankful

I am so blessed to be able to share my time in Paraguay with the first grade teacher here. Her name is Jenn and is such a kind person. I am really enjoying getting to know her. The church I visited this morning was the church Jenn goes to. What an encouragement to hear people praising the Lord in another language! I am so thankful to have Jenn as a roommate and to have a God who hears all praises, no matter the language!

benediciones!

Blessings! Thismorning, I was able to attend a Spanish speaking church. There is a lot I don't understand and their accents are incredibly different from what I am used to, but I really enjoyed it. After church, we went out to eat at a buffet, which is very different from a buffet in the United States. All of the food except for the meat is treated like a buffet. Customers go up to the line and choose the food they want. Then, the waiters come to the table with about 15 varieties of meat, bringing one or two choices over at a time. It is like a giant meat-eating party. I was suprised how much the Paraguayans like their meat. I bit into a tomato today to find that the Paraguayans had stuffed it with meat (as if there wasn't enough meat to begin with!!). I also tried the desserts and really enjoyed the passion fruit dessert.

Shopping and Eating... what a difficult Saturday :)

Today we went out with two missionaries to get supplies and lunch. One of the stores we went to was fascinating... it reminded me a lot of Target! Some of the stores here have American things, but many do not. We were suprised at how modern and American the mall looked last night (we got Pizza Hut pizza and some empinadas- traditional Spanish food). We also went out to eat at an Arab place which had fantastic food. They made really good smoothies for us with all natural ingredients. I am starting to be able to use the Spanish money a little bit, but it is still very confusing. Three of us went grocery shopping today which was a blast! I learned a lot about the culture that I didn't know.

Estoy Tranquilo!

Hello everyone! I have arrived in Asuncion and am really enjoying everything here! I met my class today and am very excited to teach them. My teacher is fantastic and is bilingual, which makes everything a bit easier. The students are required to speak in English during the school day, but my teacher can explain what things mean and how traditions work here. Our flight was incredibly long and I am so happy to have an apartment! Tonight and tomorrow we are going to be spending time shopping and learning more about the culture. I begin teaching half way through next week.

Chow!