Safe and Sound!

For those who didn´t get the email....

Holas mis amigos! Todo está muy bien aqui!!!

My host family is amazing! I´m living with a couple who has a 12 year old son and a 4 year old daughter. The parents are so sweet and want to help me learn...which is great, but my head is so full with information that I´m not sure I can hold much more! The 12 year old makes it his business to teach me Guarani and helps explain things I don´t understand in Spanish (in Spanish, of course). The little girl speaks mostly Guarani, which is typical here - kids learn Spanish in school and then spend most of their lives speaking Jobara which is a mix of the two languages. I spend a lot of time just absorbing. They are sure to include me in everything as much as possible though. In fact, I don´t get enough alone time, really. It´s easier when the four year old is sleeping because she likes to look in my windows too ;) Privacy is definitely not a luxury I´m going to have here...

My language is coming along...however slowly...and I´m encouraged that I´ll be communicating better in no time. I went to my Abuelos home in the campo (country) on Sunday....talk about rural! My home is fairly modern, with a bathroom, running water (most of the time....it shuts off between about 5 and 10pm), and electricity (and thank goodness because I REALLY need those ceiling fans! It´s sooooo hot here!). But we also have chickens, ducks, pigs, roosters and bunnies in the back yard. The area where we´re living is definitely a mix of urban and rural...it´s just not the urban that WE think of when we think urban, ya know?

So far I´m eating lots of good fruit...the rest is coming...they´re big on starches and meat...lots of meat and have a difficult time understanding the whole vegetarian thing. Not too many big veggie dishes here ;) But my host mom tries to be accomodating and I´ll be cooking on Sunday, so I´ll have to make something fabulous. Any suggestions? Today we had bean soup...sooo good :) Oh, and I´ve become known as the one who doesn´t eat meat...que lastima (what a shame) mi abuelo (grandfather) says. But it´s all good.

What about the peanut butter, you ask? Well, going back to the privacy issue...the first night I was here, everyone helped me unpack my bags (it wasn´t really a choice, they just started pulling things out and putting them away) and the 4 year old girl found them and took them to her mom. What was I going to say? I explained what it was and gave it to her as a gift....Peanut butter is expensive here and she was very appreciative...even used it in the cake she made for Sunday - which was fabulous, by the way. Anyway, guess it´s a special thing here, so while I can eat it occasionally, eating it often is not an option at this point. Perhaps in the future, but I´ve only been here a few days. It´ll all be good...no worries :)

My training group is great. We have 35 total, 10 in Urban Youth Development. The 10 of us meet every day and then we all get together about once a week. My language class is a group of 3, which is perfect. We start our shots on Wednesday - yuck. Turns out we get tons of shots! I was hoping we´d get away scott free, but no such luck. Did I mention it´s hot here? I´m sweating like crazy right now!

Long and short of things - I´m happy and healthy. Oh, and I´ve been drinking the tap water since Thursday, so I think it´s a good sign that my body is adjusting well to the differences.

There´s just so much to tell...next time....until then, just know how much I love you all and that I´m thinking of you! Hope you´re great!!!

Con amor,
Lorien