Paraguay II

Updates:

1. I finally am with my official host family! They were in Asuncion with my host uncle because he was getting surgery, and until Wednesday night I was staying with Nele, and AFS student from Belgium and her host family.  Even though they were really, really nice, I am glad I am finally settled in.

2. My new host family has a tiny dog named Dulce. She is the size of a bread box and white and fluffy and superhyper all the time. 

3. Paraguay time is so true. Nothing happens when it is supposed to. For example, at orientation they had a schedule posted on everyone´s door: health concerns at 10.00am, lunch at 12.00 etc. Except nothing happened at the right time!! We were sitting under a tree during one of the breaks and then all of a sudden the orientation people started giving us a lecture on saftey tips, which was supposedly, according to the schedule, much later in the afternoon. Also, when people do manage to meet up (I was supposed to hang out with my friends, Vane, Nele and Julie at 3.00 and we didn´t end up getting together until 4.00) it takes forever to get anything done. Nele has been wanting to buy a guitar and we go to like every shop that sells guitars and compare prices and talk to the owner, etc. I know I have a slight tendency to be a tiny bit late but here it´s an hour or so as opposed to 10 minutes. 

4. Other interesting things about Paraguay...

• People will just throw their trash on the ground. Some parts are worse than others. But it´s still very strange to see someone toss their empty juice bottle over their shoulder. Pilar is supposedly one of the cleanest cities- I don´t even want to imagine what Asuncion is like!

• There is no toilet paper in public bathrooms. You have to bring your own.

• They have scented toilet paper here. Because you can´t flush the toilet paper in the toilet, you have to put it in a trash bin. 

• The toilet water goes backwards!!!!! When AFS USA landed in Sao Paolo, Brazil, we took a field trip to the restrooms to watch the toilets flush.

• The food here is SO rich. It´s good, different, for the most part but sometimes my stomach gets a little overwhelmed. They don´t really do anything except boil the milk here so it´s like whole milk on steroids. 

• Even though there are rules here regarding driving cars and motorcycles, no one follows them. I have seen a family of five cramed on one motorcycle. Also no one wears helmets!

• There are a lot of dogs in the street just chilling. 

And that´s it for now! I start school Monday!