Celebrations

Today was the day of folklore in Paraguay! Yet another day of celebration, dancing and rich with tradition. The more time I spend here the more culture and history this country has along with the complete need to have an excuse to have a party. I have learned more about the oppressive history of how for many many years they were under and cruel dictatorship and were forced to keep silent and uniform. This explains many things like how everyone here gossips. Because in the days when nothing could be said publicly it just went ear to ear. And also they need to party, dance and have fun is from the days when the oppression ended and they celebrate every moment of freedom. They also celebrate to remember that they were once not free and that they should never forget where they come from. This also explains the extreme importance of Guarani because it is specific to only Paraguay.
The more I understand the more I give props to this country as well. These people have VERY little. Just enough to survive. But they love this country. There is no disrespect towards the government or other people it is simply them not finding a negative in this country. I love the positivity of the people yet I also despise it. The drastic positivity stops improvement in the area. People don't see the bad or if they do the completely write it off. If there were more of a balance they would have a lot more of a country to talk positively about.
In today's celebration they danced and dressed up in traditional clothing. Along with hours of Paraguayan music, which all sounds completely the same in my opinion! We also drank gallons of Terere. Along with having to endure listening to the students trying to sing the national songs that almost no one knew, it is no wonder there are no famous singers from Paraguay!
I also witnesses a chicken murder. Which was very unexpected one moment they were holding it and playing with it. Next moment there was a big pop and there was a dead chicken. Then they plucked its feathers and stuck it in boiling water and that's what we ate for lunch... New meaning of the word fresh.... The pictures below are of the traditional dances, people singing and just me and my friends :)

Homesick round 2

So today was the end of my weekend of being in Asuncion and having a real conversation and normal food. But now it's all over and I have to return to my family. Being at the orientation really made me remember how boring of time I have in my city and how I cannot communicate. Also it mad me really homesick. Rite now I really just want to be home sitting on the couch with my friends and family. Because I really miss having things like hot showers, comfy bed and people who actually don't mind talking to me. Also rite now it is really cold so there is nothing to do to take my mind off of how much I don't want to be here.

AFS orientation!

Ok here is the AFS weekend update! Im here in Paraguay with people from: Iceland, belgium, Germany, Italy, Canadiana, Norway, Sweden, Philippines, and USA it is amazing to be able to talk to people from all over the world so interesting! They are all just amazing people that I have become great friends with in matter of days. I'm jealous of people with more students in their town because they get to spend more time with these cool people. The actual AFS orientation has been boring but the people make it so funny and fun. It is a great get away. In just 48 hours I'm so stress free and happy. Because being able to understand and have people to relate to you is really fantastic. Even taking the bus here from Asuncion was so fun even through everyone had been bussing all day before that bus and we were all tired but we just danced and had fun. I love these kids I hope that one day I will be able to visit them in their countries and the other way around!

Orientation

The break is here! Tomorrow I get to go to Asuncion, the capital, to see the other AFS kids!! I am so excited to get to speak English and have some friends! The only thing I am not looking forward to is hearing how they do all of this exciting stuff and I tend to normally be stuck in the house because there are no school activities or any form of transportation. But I am I'm still so happy! Also I am so happy to be staying in a hotel because that means hot showers, regularish food, and a comfy bed!! But I have to leave my little Celeste, my chicken, here I will miss her little tweeting self... A little... She tweets ALL the time it gets on my nerves but she's so cute I get over it. I will blog once I have internet access again which i dont know if I will while in Asuncion but hopefully I will be having to much fun for computer time. Photo below is my two friends Yessi (next to me) and Daly (eating a apple) haha it was a good day of school!

Children!!

Siblings....

So all my life I have pretty much lived with 4 older brothers and Gregory who is technically my little brother but We are 11 months apart so he doesn't count. Now I'm in a house with four younger siblings. Also, all o you whom know me in the slightest know that I do not like kids very much. Considering they are loud, dont listen and are just genuinely irritating. Living with four younger siblings hasn't really taught me anything i didn't know about myself. I know I lack patience, thank you dad :p, and I know that logic and children do not go hand in hand. The only thing living with a 5, 11, 12 and 16 year old has done for me is highlighted how the worlds best birth control is children! And of people spent more time with kids before they had them we wouldn't have a massive over population issue that we have currently. my little sister is completely out of control and runs the house here. She gets away with it all and does not understand boundaries in the slightest. Comes in and out of my room, takes my things and when ever she doesn't get her way she cries. She cries ALL of the time. Over half of the day I try to not shake a baby. My brothers are malty manageable the older one is cool the younger sometimes just repeats everything I say which is beyond annoying. And my sister i don't consider younger because we are so close in age. To be honest the major issue I have in this house is dealing with the little girl with out her in the house it would make this experience a lot less painful.

Q&A

So I have gotten so many questions about my trip and many are very similar so here are the answers I came up with! If you have another's just shoot me an email kayemilewski@live.com

Q: how do people cope with the water shortage?
A: well my little neighborhood is the only one who gets lack of water because it is a poorer area. People have been living with it forever so it doesn't even phase them.

Q:how far are you from the Argentina boarder?
A: I am not exactly sure Asuncion is almost rite on the boarder so I would say no more that 3-4 hours which here is just a bus ride!

Q: are you traveling anywhere else why your there?
A: I hope to go to Brazil in October with october to see the Iquazu falls which is where brazil, paraguay, and Argentina's water shed combines it looks beautiful. And if I had to dream a little bit I would love to go skiing in Chile and visit Argentina and Bolivia haha :)

Q: have you showed them how to play frisbee?
A: I have not yet because my disks are in the mail on their way down here! However, some people know what a frisbee is but have never used one.

Q: do you have a tv?
A: yes there is a tv in the house in my brothers room. It is mostly used to play video games but sometimes we will watch tv. It has very bad reception and is all Spanish!

Q:do you have access to books that you want to read?
A:yes I have a Kindle but I'm trying to not read because I think that it is affecting my learning curve.

Q: can you see the southern cross constellation?
A: yes I can! The sky is so clear out here at night I cannot stop looking at it. I can even see the streaks of the milky way. One thing that is weird is that some nights there is no moon only in the day time.

Q: how can you pass your classes without knowing Spanish?
A: well I only need a math and elective credit currently I'm in classes that I have already taken so I really do not need to pass them. Also the teachers don't expect me to do the same work considering here it is semester 2 so it's half way through the curriculum.

Q: how do I communicate with other AFS students?
A: there is one other AFS girl in my town and we text the others that I have become friends with we stay in touch my reading each others blogs and Facebook is a god sent!

Q: doesn't the family get paid to help host you
A: nope!! AFS is a strictly volunteer host program. All family's do not get any money or other support to host me. Which I find really cool because it gets families who really care and aren't in it for the money.

Pollito

So today...I bought a baby chicken! I named her Celeste which mean turquoise in English. She is really sweet and tweets when ever she's Away from me which is so cute! I know it's weird but I kind of feel like me and this little baby chicken are in this thing together. My goal is to keep this little animal alive and let it experience this year with me. Yes I know it's just a chicken but it can probably relate to me better than many people could rite now haha any way I love my chicken!