FINALLY HERE!

So please stick with me as Paraguay isn´t great on technology. Internet just hit a few years ago and cell phones are the latest rage for those that can afford it. I´ll try to give a recap of my new life...

Miami was short and sweet. I´m in a group of 16, 7 of us (Brennan, Andrew, Stuart, Dave, Will, Mary) though are my core group. I see the other 9 when we´re in our main training station in Guarambare which is just outisde the capital of Asuncion. We come from very diverse backgrounds. Everything form former music compsition major and masters to all-American lacrosse player, business owners and lawyers. I´m the definite baby of the group the. Another guy is 22 but will turn 23 in the Fall.

My group is pretty great! Five boys and two girls, so that is somewhat rare. The guys are all really specactular though and have taken me under their wings. I´ve always been better friends with boys anyway!

We flew from Miami to Buenos Aires and then to Paraguay. A few delays but nothing major. We arrived at the aiport and apparently I won the "Welcome to the Peace Corps Prize!" because BOTH of my pieces of luggage didn´t make it. Luckily I know how to pack so I had some clean underwear for overnight! We were transported to our main training center in Guarambare which is about 45 minutes from the capital. Introductions and then we were out meeting our families.

My family lives in a tiny campo called Las Piedras. My mama is 38 and her name is Esperanza. She lives with her son Gabriel (8) and father Quintino (70). Gabriel can help me with Spanish and Quintino will be a great resource for Guarani, which is the local language. I´m rusty on Spanish and have learned a few Guarani words, but basically my evening consisted of me going through my Spanish dictionary pointing out words. They have a nice house as well. Its about5 rooms all connected via an outdoor walkway. Esperanza manages a tienda (store) out of her home during the days and her father farms nearby.

As I was getting a tour, I also got yet another gold star for having one of two houses (out of all 16 of us!) with an OUTHOUSE! I guess this just points me back to my real WV roots! Its not too bad, although I´ve only used it once and have yet to venture there at night. There is a shower as well but it doesn´t get hot at all. This is what I signed up for though, so bring it on!

Our days will be filled with training. Right now I am in Guarambare, but soon I will only be here once a week. The other 5 days of weekly training (the only day we have off is Sunday) I will be in my campo which has no phone service or Internet Cafe. I´m SLOWLY relearning the Spanish I learned in junior high and high school, and starting to learn other skills as well. Many other trainees are already fluent and so I have had to rely on them a little to explain things. I can understand it far better than I can speak it. I guess the evenings are for studying!

Home life is interesting too. They are really into soap operas! I´m in a rural area as well, so that means lots of roosters (or I call them alL GAMECOCKS!) and cows walking around on the roads and dogs that aren´t pets. The farmers get up around 2am to start their days, so its very noisy all morning. Again, this is what I signed up for! The only things I could really talk to my host family about was my family, a little bit of food talk and where things are. Esperanza said "tu madre es linda!!" which means your mom is pretty, which only makes since considering her given name is Bonita! They also asked if Kyle was my boyfriend and when I said no they said Ben O´Dell was lindo (attractive) and simpactico. Get it Ben!

Anyhoo, please continue to send me emails if you can! If you reply to the email I send you after my blog is updated, it reaches all of us! Just type in betsy.curry@yahoo.com and write me! Hasta Luego!