Day 1: Father's Day

Like in the United States, people here are celebrating Father's Day today. My host family prepared a wonderful meal of different types of lasagna: one veggie, one with chicken, and another with fish. I have to say that my favorite (yes, I had to try them all--that's what I'm here for!) was the chicken. We also watched a movie in English, The Gift, which I am told hasn't come out in the U.S. yet.

All of the family has been here at least some point in the day t0 wish their dad a happy day. Since I'm not nearby, I'd like to wish my dad, Neal, and my father-in-law, Sam, a good Father's Day as well. If I had to guess, I would say that my dad probably celebrated by going out to eat at a place that most likely my sister chose. :) And Sam, I hear, was going to ride his new X2 at the lake. Hopefully my "children" took good care of their dad today!

I can't comment much yet on Paraguay itself. I can say that my host family is great. They've made me very comfortable here. Graciella was a little worried about the driving scaring me, but it's very similar to Mexico's (Mama, skip to the next paragraph!). It's very crazy, and I would be scared to drive in it, but people here seem to manage it just fine. Graciella said that there is one main road that goes from Ciudad del Este on the east side of the country, through Asuncion to the west side of the country. It was paved and didn't seem to have a lot of traffic compared even to Frisco. We got off of that road to drop off another teacher at her home, and all of the roads there were dirt--not gravel--with speed bumps in them. Most of the side streets near Graciella's home are paved, but it appears that it is not something that is common. You forget how spoiled you are until you are away from it.

After returning from the airport last night, as I said in my last post, I was absolutely exhausted. I tried everything to fall asleep during the flight from Dallas to Sao Paulo, but I was only successful for about 1 hour at most. I did watch lots of TV--a couple of episodes of House, a couple of The Mentalist, a show on New York, even a Monk and a 30 Rock. They'd better have new episodes on my way home!

I spent about 8 hours at the airport in Sao Paulo. Again, I tried to sleep, but I wasn't very successful. I was able to call my husband to let him know that I made it. I put some finishing touches on the scrapbook, and listened to my iPod a little.

I'm anxious to get to go to some of the schools. I'm hoping that I'll get to go tomorrow.

I'm off for now. We're going to take a trip over to Foz de Iguacu.

P.S. I see either Alisson or Leila in Colombia! Who else of you are out there? Leave a comment with your first name so that I know you're there!