FLORA IN PARAGUAY: 2012

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Closing

I can't site too much write now because I have pre-travel anxiety and my hands are shaking.

I will say that we (host mother, father, Paz and Dulce) went out to dinner tonight.. mi ultima cena.

Lol DULCE y mi papa de aca! Jajaj

Anoche había una despedida para me de AFS. Me reglaron una mochila.

Monday, December 3, 2012

So these last two weeks in Paraguay (basically since people found out I was leaving!!) have definitely been the most fun .. now that I'm leaving people actually try to put an effort in to doing things with me. This also might be due to the fact that school is finally out. But I also think it's like, OMG she's leaving! LET'S HANG OUT! So that's been fun for me. I wish I would have told everyone I was leaving two months ago. Mwahahaha.

Today I went to Copaco to drink terere with the guardia. Except we ended up taking a paseo around Pilar, and I got to drive the moto! Nery (that's the guardia's name) was like, OK I have to drive from here because there are police.. which I think is hilarious and so Paraguaya because he is part of the police! Or he's not a part of the city police, but still he looks very official and just lol. I giggled in my head. Half way through our paseo the gas ran out but luckily we were really close to a gas station. Except then there was no gas in the gas station. Nery had to take a motorcycle to another gas station and bring gas back and then we continued on our paseo. We visited a neighborhood that I've never visited before, Bario San Francisco. And then we got some ice-cream.

It's over 100 degrees right now and I have been like dying in my room for the last couple hours with the AC that I swear has close to zero effect on the temperature of my room. Well. It has an effect, just not the affect that I am looking for... like I'm wanting a cool 68F and what it gives me is probably 82. Which, yes, is better than 100 but when I ventured out a while ago and my host mom was like, Hmm well we have to tolerate the heat because we pay light bills and AC bills, and we can't just sit under the AC all afternoon. So I was like, ... Ok. And then I got in the shower with all my clothes on. And now life is much more pleasant. Slightly damp but at least I don't feel like I'm frying. I really should have started showering with my clothes on like, last month. I recommend to all future exchange students to try it.

This whole Paraguayan experience has made me appreciate the life's little convinces. Like air conditioning. And heating. And plumbing that can tolerate flushing toilet paper. And like.. less weather affected houses.

But alas, I very much have a love/hate relationship with this country, and there are some things that I am going to miss a lot: for example, what Peet and I call "chao-ing" which is basically saying "chao" to everyone on the street, whether you know them or not. I know that once college started and I'm back in study mode I'm going to miss the tranquility of Pilar. I'm going to miss my friends, la guardia from Copaco and the foreign exchange students. I'm going to miss Lomito Arabe and pan de queso and cheep drinks. And I'm going to miss people speaking Spanish to me all the time.

BUT I CAN DEAL WITH ALL OF THAT BECAUSE
1. FAMILY
2. BOYFRIEND
3. THAI FOOD

= HOME !!!!!!!!!

besos,
xx

Mi despedida.

Pato and I organized a farewell party for me.. my classmates came & the foreign exchange students plus a few other random people.

Esmore, Richard and Sylvanna (all classmates)

Uly, 3 year electronics, Peet and Yanina, my classmate

Julie having a moment..

We went to get ice-cream after, the ice-cream store had exploded in bugs...

Huge bugs, I took a few photos before I bolted...

EEK!

Super eek!

Nele, Julie and Peet

We're expecting...

Hanging out in the plaza later that night

Carlos, Peet, Flora and Pato

Carlos and I

Pato and I

Stacking people..

And taking pictures..

Walking home and found this..

OMG.

Cold blooded killer

If anyone has been to Pilar, Paraguay for more than 24 hours then they will know exactly what I'm talking about when I say enormous freaking toad in the calle. It's not normal how many toads there are here. Or how big they are. Or how big they are. Or how freaking huge they are. I'm torn by wanting to beat them with a stick until they're nothing but toady pulp (hence the title of this post) and running for my life.

I've invented a game for myself over these last couple of months. It's called, How much can you squish the toad with your shoe before freaking out and running away.

I'm such a terrible person. These toads have done nothing to me.. except for lurk in all corners everywhere in Pilar. With beady eyes. And bumpy skin. I'm like shuddering just thinking about them.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Ahora..

Estoy acostada en la cama de Julie, y ella esta afuera nadando con Caro, una chica de Uruguay y su amigo del Cuerpo de Paz.. demasiado caiweh yo siento. No quiero mover, ya nadé y también hay aire en la pieza entonces.. y también por la tormenta pocas días atrás hay muchísimas hojas en la pecina ahora, bichos también. Aunque yo aprendí pecina para ¨pool¨ acá se dice pileta también, que también significa ¨sink.¨

Anoche yo me fui a la casa de Peet, mi amiga de Tailandia y cocinamos comida Tailandia y pan de banana. Invitamos tres de nuestras amigos pero solo uno vino y prácticamente tuvimos que arrastrar a el en la casa.. porque tenía vergüenza. No se por porque.. diferencia de cultura, supongo, pero haso Paraguayos igual jaja. Hicimos pan de banana, yum woon sen y ramen de Mama. Y para postre tuvimos sandia. Era rico pero una mezcla muy rara.. y después yo quería vomitar un poquito... o mucho, en actualidad. Ahora estoy bien.

Ah Pato me escribió. Creo que voy a pasear con ellos!

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Love is in the air..

So guess what I did today guys...

BOUGHT A THERMO..

Photographic evidence of my photo booth sesh.

3.00am hi

It's interesting the things one learns when in Paraguay... for example. Like, Flora don't leave your empty glass on your night stand because there will be a thunder/lightening storm tonight and you will knock it over and it will split into a thousand tiny sharp pieces in your attempt to grab your iPod to text your boyfriend a farewell message because you're sure that the thunder and lighting is going to be the end of you.

It's almost three in the morning and besides the fact that I can't sleep, I now have mini glass shards stuck in my left index finger and thumb. So I'm typing handicapped. It's too scary to make my way to the kitchen and tend to my (albeit fairly minor) wounds.

On the bright side this thing is very cute: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmoo

And, as the lights are flickering.. Um the power just went out. Shit. And the Internet too.. :/ Um. Well... On the other bright side what ever pet I decided to buy when I return shall be dubbed with the name Chipa, in honor of the chipa vendors here. If anyone has been to Paraguay, they will know the call of the Chipa people. Chiiiipa chiiipa chiipppa chipa!

It's like the scene from The Wizzard of Oz and the tornado. I'm scared....

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Amigos!

JULIE lollll tomando terere

PATITO!!!

Angel! Tomando mas terere

Falta poco.

It's interesting how dramatically my perspective changes on being in Paraguay when I know I'm leaving in exactly one week. Or maybe it's just that finally I'm starting to get a little more used to things here, and I finally have made good friends... I think it's a little bit of both. End of exchange, been here almost five months = getting used to things.

But it's ok. I'd much rather leave Paraguay on a good and pretty note, regarding friends, host family, Dulce the Dog than on a bad and miserable note.

A little bit on my second to last weekend: Went to my final AFS camp in Ciudad del Este which was definitely a 15 hour travel day. And the second bus we took from Asuncion to CdE (cross country trip, for those of you who are unaware of Paraguay city locations..) sounded like it was about to die. Like the motor was like the Grinch's heart, three sizes too small, and the whole ride I feared it would cut out and we would be stuck in the middle of the Paraguay campo with about 8,000 cows. Luckily that didn't happen. I'll just briefly state that the hotel we stayed in had a fabulous pool.. and that was the highlight of the weekend. Other wise it was just AFS being AFS and that's not a fun topic to write about.

Well.. actually we went to go see a hydro dam at like 8.00am Saturday morning for like four hours. That's always fun. Wandering around in loud cement underground tunnels for extend periods of time.

Sunday was just a visit to some waterfalls, which were actually quite pretty, and then a long ride back to Asuncion.

Monday: I saw Lady Gaga in Paraguay. FACHA. So worth the four and a half hours of waiting in the cold and rain outside. She brought her own freaking castle to Paraguay. And then she came out of it on a fake mechanical horse. And fire was blowing out of her nose. No, just kidding. But her costume wardrobe for that two hour concert probably equals my wardrobe for life. Just saying..

Today is Wednesday, or miercoles as they say here. This afternoon was a scorcher, a whopping 94F, and I was literally dripping with sweat starting at about 10.00am until maybe around 5.00pm when I found relief under the the fan. I spend the afternoon with my new friend Angel and we looked for thermos.. but due to the lack of thermos here in Pilar and my inability to make decisions, no matter how few options I am presented with, I did not buy one. But I shall return to the US with a thermo. I'm going to bring back terere to the USA and make it big.

Terere is one of the things I didn't really like before but now I'm actually quite the fan of. Like, I would drink it willingly by myself now.