Why we're here

I realized after sending a massive e-mail out today that some of you may not have any idea why we are in Paraguay and others may still be wondering even if you had heard the news. Last September John started a new job with US-AID which is a US government relief and development organization that works in the "third" world (I don't think they actually use that term any more, but I'm not sure what the correct one is).

The process involved in getting to this first "post" was a long one. John actually applied for the job in November of 2008, not too long after we arrived back in the US from Costa Rica. After a long interview process he was offered a position last summer and we moved to the DC area for him to go through training, including some more Spanish training. We found out last October that we would be coming to Paraguay but did not actually arrive until July 1st. In the meantime we enjoyed a year in the DC area while I continued to go back to WV with the girls once a month to play in the Symphony there.

Since this is his first post, we will be here for two years. Sometime during the second year he will bid on his next post, which will most likely be a longer post (as I understand it, usually four years). My role will evolve as we get settled here - at the moment I seem to have daily appointments just getting everything set up. Today it was the maintenance guy from the embassy who came to show me things like how to manually open the garage door when the power goes out and how to exchange the gas tank for the oven/stove when it runs out! Then the plumber came to fix a leaky faucet, adjust the temperature in a shower and fix a leaky shower. The house was really in good shape when we got here, but some of the things just needed to be tested out by the tenants (us!).