August Update

08-05-10
My new Peace Corps project has apparently become CouchSurfing (couchsurfing.org).  After getting back from vacation in Argentina (the rest of the vacation was much more tranquilo than that crazy day in Buenos Aires), I have had a steady stream of random visitors at my house.  The first set was 2 guys from Georgia (the state, not the country) who were passing through Paraguay on their summer vacation.  One was headed to Montevideo to study a semester abroad in Uruguay.  We had some great conversation, visited my neighbors, introduced them to sopa paraguaya which my host family graciously prepared for us, and then I sent them on their way, off to visit another Volunteer in another part of the country.  The next was a girl from Seattle who is going to college in Colorado.  She was doing an internship with a micro-finance organization in Paraguay for the summer and came out to see what Peace Corps Volunteers do.  We really hit it off and had a great weekend.  Then a group of 3 girls came from Australia and New Zealand, also just traveling through Paraguay.  I have never seen people carry so much stuff on their backs or so much stuff fit into my little house, but somehow, we all managed to cram in and I think they enjoyed visiting this community. I don't know what my neighbors think with all these random visitors coming and going, but I can't imagine trying to explain the concept of CouchSurfing to them, haha.   It has been fun hosting people, hearing their travel stories, and sharing my experiences here in Paraguay.  I don't have much to offer people in my little wooden house, but the food will be good, you will stay dry (unless the wind blows while it rains), and the mate tea will be hot and plentiful (as long as the power doesn't go out).
Other than that, Winter in Paraguay has been been tranquilo como siempre.  The days are still short, although getting longer so I think activity is slowly but surely getting prolonged during the day.  Kids got their 2-week Winter break from school extended another week because 65 degrees constitutes as a snow day in this country and then this week, the first one back, the teachers conveniently decided to go on strike, so no class again.  I guess Winter isn't over yet.
There is a wedding this weekend between 2 Volunteers who served in this area a couple of years ago.  They rode their bikes around South America for awhile and now are coming back to his old site to get married and all the Volunteers around here are headed out for the wedding.  My friend, another Volunteer from Ohio got ordained online and is doing the wedding in Guarani.  2 or 3 pigs are being killed, a truckload of beer is being delivered, should be a blast. 
Well, I should get moving on.  Stay cool/warm depending on which side of the globe you are reading this from.  Send me an email anytime.  Hope all is well with you!  Peace!