Whew, this week has been busy, busy, busy. Last Monday was a holiday, so we didn’t have school. I went to my friend Amy’s house and spent the whole day with her and her host family. When I got there, her mom was tanning by their pool and a maid came and brought me fresh squeezed orange juice. I felt like I was on 90210! In the morning we went in the pool and relaxed on the patio. I got really sun burned :( After lunch it was really hot so we hung out in her sister’s room and talked for awhile. Her sister, Mayda, is 15 too and she’s super nice. At around 4 we went to the Club Internacional de Tenis, which they are members of. There’s a gym and a giant pool and tennis courts and soccer fields and a spa. Amy’s host dad is a former professional soccer player so he basically gave me a personal lesson for two hours, which was so cool. Also, while we were there, there was a giant international tennis competition. The participants were from all over the world including 5 or 6 people from the US. We watched a few games and then went in the sauna. Ahhh. For a few hours I forgot I was in a third world country!
On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I went to a handball tournament every night. It was really interesting, since I had never seen a handball game before. It’s basically like basketball except with a smaller ball and soccer goals instead of hoops. There were six men’s teams and six women’s teams from all over Paraguay. My parents were both volunteering at the concessions stand to support their church, so every night we were there from about 8 pm to 1 am. Needless to say, it was pretty hard to wake up at 6 for school in the mornings. Thursday was the championship for the men’s and women’s teams. Luque (my city) ended up winning for both men’s and women’s! There were a ton of people there, and they were going crazy cheering. It was fun and now I really want to try handball!
Friday was an AFS party for all the students in Luque. It was at my friend Ricarda’s house. There were about 20 students and volunteers there plus the host families. It was really fun, and I met a lot of new people. The party was to welcome me and the two other new students to Luque. Most of the other students are here for the year program. They’ve been here since last August. I think I may end up learning some German in addition to Spanish because about half the students are from Germany! It was so cool to hear all of the different languages and cultures being shared. At the end of the night someone brought out Espuma (which is a foam spray)leftover from Carnival a few weeks ago, and we all chased each other and got completely covered in it. Afterwards we broke a piñata filled with glitter and confetti. It stuck to our foam so we all looked like giant disco balls haha.
Yesterday we washed the dogs in the morning and went to my sister’s friend’s house in the afternoon. In the evening, my whole family went to a pizza place for dinner. It was SO fun! Everyone was laughing and joking around and having a really good time. At this point, I really feel like I am a member of the family, which is great. On Sundays we always have a big family lunch. Today my dad decided to make fish for the lunch, and I got to help him. In the morning, we went to the market and got a giant fish that had just been caught this morning in el Rio Paraguay. When we got home, we had to skin the fish and grill it. In the end it was deliciousss.
This week was so fun, even though it was busy! Hopefully next week will be just as good. Chau!
