changing the way i think

             Well today I went to Asuncion with Alicia, my American friend from Las Vegas which is also my best friend here in Paraguay, to meet up with Jack, a fellow Coloradian!! We were going to go see Sky fall the new 007 movie and i was dying to see it but we arrived and sadly it was not at the theater we choose; we could not have looked in advance because there is no Fandango of Paraguay, so very sad. ANY WHO! It ended up being for the better because we all got to have a good conversation on what different perspectives we have gained in our short three month time here; this was also nice to do with people´s whose first language is English. I shared with them how I think I have changed sense this has started, not a ton but in some ways. Things like in the past I talked ALL the time and now that I am here, though I do have my talking moments with my fellow English speakers, I am comfortable with silence. When you do not have the knowledge to reply very thoroughly you learn to listen very well and I think I have gained that skill. I also feel like my appreciation for the United States has grown tremendously. Sense I have been here just seeing the opportunity of education that I have in the U.S.A. is astounding. In the past I would return from a day of school with the usual question ¨what did you learn today? ¨and my normal response is ¨nothing¨ but living here and looking back I can say I learned a ton! When someone asks me that after a day of school here if can say with all confidence that I have learned NOTHING! Because most of the time the teachers do not even care to show up. Also, while I am here I have decided at some point in my life I want to reach my education to the point of a masters and bachelors degree just because I have the chance to do so. And I would also love to join the Peace Corps one day in hopes of giving back to the people in the same situation of the Paraguayans. Along with education seeing the family aspect here gives me a new sense of the meaning family. Though I have always been close to certain parts of my family it is not something I would do to just hang out with my family (as a first option) and being here it really is. Family here is the most important thing and they show it by the pure friendship they all have with each other which I love. By now seeing myself I fear of what it will be like to go home. Though I am not a totally different person just the matter of the people I used to be friends with, though a few exceptions, my group of people will be very different. It will even be so different arriving back to the U.S. and being a minor. Because here when you are 18 you are considered an adult and here I am. I am my own person and though I do have a host family support system I am pretty much on my own. Making my own choices and choosing my own path.  Going back I feel like I will be with these people that are so new to the idea of being free and they simply want to party and go hard and I feel like after living here I do not want to waste that time because there is so much more to life than getting wasted. But I will say with honesty that down here I will occasionally have a drink with my family when there is a party or when I go to a bar I will get  a cocktail but it is not a I am getting drunk it is the social aspect of it. I see people starting at age 6-85 that spend their days selling gum and bread on the streets. They always wear flip-flops and they feet are cut up and covered in mud; they do that all day every day just to make ends meat. And the thought of wasting my time of getting messed up is just disrespecting all the chances that I have in U.S.  I also really wonder what the adjustment will be into the social aspect of society for me with people my own age. Because, even here I have my fellow AFS people who are on the same mental age as me and all of our Paraguayan friends at least 23 years old and older. It is only month 3 and ½ and I feel this way but it is a great thing to see. I am becoming more at peace here every day. This last Thursday I was meeting with my AFSers from the cities around me as we usually do and we went to get ice cream before dance classes, OH YA! F.Y.I. I take dance classes now twice a week with AFS students from this local lady who did not get much business before us now she is booming! Any who the Belgians taught us a new card game called President. It was just a good fun time and that’s when I really realized, though I miss home and that will never go away, I am okay with everything I like it here. 

Here is the picture from my birthday with some of my friends! Left to right Fernando (AFS volenteer), Jolene (germany), me!, guy up front David (just a friend of PY), girl next to me Rebecka (Sweden), Ruben (Belgium), Charleen (belgium), Lieselot (Belgium), And nick (germany).