As per my Dad’s request, I’m finally updating my blog! I can’t believe I haven’t written since May, but things have been rather busy in these parts of South America.
As of last Friday (Aug 14) I am now the proud mother of 18 new volunteers! My trainees are no officially at site and doing their jobs. We had a nice swearing-in ceremony at the Ambassador’s house just down the street. Here is a picture of them all with myself, my boss Elisa, our Assistant Carola, the Ambassador and our PC Paraguay boss Don right after we ate the most delicious cake in the country!
This day was also a sad day, however. The 13 other people that were my friends and family said goodbye. A few are sticking around, but my two closest friends (Gina and Brennan) left for bigger things somewhere else. I already miss them both a lot, but such is life! Here are 2 pictures. Brennan and I doing what we do best: EAT, and Gina and I with our old boss Fernando and our friend Shawn.
But I still have a group of volunteers under my wing that have another year to go. Just last week they were in the office for a meeting and I continued to win them over with my baked goods. I truly believe that is the key to anyone’s heart! And now that I live in the city and can get better (not great) ingredients for cooking/baking, I’m turning into a regular Julia Childs! I’ve been cooking up all kinds of tasty dishes. I’m going to really test my skills though this Dec when I attempt to make a full Christmas feast. Wish me luck! Last night I made steamed carrots with a complimentary blue cheese sauce and we renamed the apartment. We were referring to it as Hotel Betsy (especially since the waffle maker started to be used!) but now we’ve decided it’s classier than that. Now we’re the Sheraton II.
Speaking of fine hotels, this was maybe the most exciting month of my life! My gym frequently has raffles and this month, I WON! The prize? A weekend for 2 in the nicest hotel in the country! I’m going to make my reservation for right after Christmas when it’s hot as hell and I’ll really want air-conditioning and a fancy pool. Pretty cool right? (It’s the Sheraton, hence why my apartment is now Sheraton II)
Speaking of fine hotels, this was maybe the most exciting month of my life! My gym frequently has raffles and this month, I WON! The prize? A weekend for 2 in the nicest hotel in the country! I’m going to make my reservation for right after Christmas when it’s hot as hell and I’ll really want air-conditioning and a fancy pool. Pretty cool right? (It’s the Sheraton, hence why my apartment is now Sheraton II)
I still really love my job, so it's nice to have training over so we can get back out on the road to do one year visits for some of our volunteers and present our new ones to their communities. I'll be traveling 3-4 days a week until late October.
Its not all work and no play though. In just over a week I'm heading to beautiful Peru with one Ms. K. Meghan Hughes from my days at USC! We're both looking forward to some serious bonding time and over course exploring Lima, Cuzco, Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca. Should be fun! And at the end of October I'll stamp my passport yet again and head to Brazil with Cathy and Carmella from home. Cathy's visited me and Argentina last December but you can't keep to best friends away from one another for too long! We'll be celebrating Carmella's last months without the (new) ball and chain. Her May wedding will be fun though!
As I may have mentioned to some of you, I WAS planning on going home for the holidays but I have since changed that plan. With Carmella's wedding in May and maybe Makenna's in June it just makes sense to wait and go home to warm weather, boat trips with Dad, and plenty of time for friends and family all on the PC's dollar. So, if you can't wait until then to see me... come on down! My once abundance of vacation days are now dwindling quickly, but I'll always try to make time if I can! Hopefully Dan the Man Curry will be stepping on Paraguayan soil sometime between now and my May trip home, so that will make my various Paraguayan families very happy and his one female offspring happy too!
Please send me an email and tell me what's going on there. I miss everyone, although I still can't believe I'm about to finish my THIRD winter here in Paraguay. How quickly time flies when you're having fun :)
