lots of things that I was hoping would be in it (our air shipment) weren't. Like hangers, plastic containers, socks that go with the one pair of closed shoes besides sneakers that I brought, or another pair of closed shoes! (I brought black shoes and brown socks. It was pretty hard to pack for winter in the beginning of summer!) Then there are the things that we did pack that we didn't really need because of things we do have in the house or things that won't work (for example, I love the coffee pot that the Embassy is lending us and our cookie trays won't fit in our too small oven). I hope I get better at packing for future posts! Though, as Abigail put it, we still may want some of the things for our next house that will be completely different!
The girls happily played and unpacked all afternoon and are enjoying their Life game that arrived. We've had a great time playing the games we did bring (Monopoly Deal, Set, and Skip-Bo - all small card games that fit easily in a suitcase), but they were getting a bit tired of playing the same games since we've played so much!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
School!
Well, after much discussion, debate, and prayer, we have decided to send Arianna to school here for 8th grade. She will be attending Asuncion Christian Academy, which starts tomorrow (Thursday - I'm actually posting this Wed. the 28th) at 7 am (the early start both in terms of school year and school day were not good selling points for Arianna). The school takes a short break in the winter (now) and a longer break in the summer (at Christmas), which is why it starts so early.
The school reminds me a lot of Sojourn Academy which the girls attended when we lived in Costa Rica. Arianna loved her teacher there, and one of the things that has helped her to at least accept our decision is that she has met several of the teachers and they have all been very nice. It seems to be a warm community of people, which is the main reason we decided to have her try it. Lately Arianna has thrived in community - Girl Scouts, Theater Class, our home school group, the Godspell production at our church and youth group. And while there are many activities here for her to try, it didn't seem like any of them would offer the same sense of community that we hope she will find at ACA.
For those of you so inclined, we would appreciate prayers for her as she goes through this transition.
Abigail and I will start school at home next week. We have continued to check in with her to see if she wants to continue to home school, and she does. As I've probably mentioned before, she has a friend here already from her time in Costa Rica, so her social needs are a little more fulfilled (and seem to be easier to fill at this stage of her life). I'm hoping that she can attend some of the "specials" at the same school which should help with the social aspect of things for her.
The school reminds me a lot of Sojourn Academy which the girls attended when we lived in Costa Rica. Arianna loved her teacher there, and one of the things that has helped her to at least accept our decision is that she has met several of the teachers and they have all been very nice. It seems to be a warm community of people, which is the main reason we decided to have her try it. Lately Arianna has thrived in community - Girl Scouts, Theater Class, our home school group, the Godspell production at our church and youth group. And while there are many activities here for her to try, it didn't seem like any of them would offer the same sense of community that we hope she will find at ACA.
For those of you so inclined, we would appreciate prayers for her as she goes through this transition.
Abigail and I will start school at home next week. We have continued to check in with her to see if she wants to continue to home school, and she does. As I've probably mentioned before, she has a friend here already from her time in Costa Rica, so her social needs are a little more fulfilled (and seem to be easier to fill at this stage of her life). I'm hoping that she can attend some of the "specials" at the same school which should help with the social aspect of things for her.
Waiting
We've been in our house 2 1/2 weeks and we're still waiting....Waiting for the Cable/Internet to get hooked up. Waiting for the air shipment to get to our house (it arrived in the country on July 5th from what we've been told). Waiting for the pool people to arrive and start working on fixing the tiles (since we believe it will be hot before we know it).
It's a lesson in patience! And we are hopeful - the Cable/Internet is supposed to be hooked up on Thursday. And our air shipment should get to our house before the end of the week.
Now, our boat shipment, that's another story. It is out in the water approaching Buenos Aires. Earlier in the month there was a strike of the dock workers, so I'm hoping that by the time ours gets there the strike will be over and the backlog cleared up.
At the end of last week we had a little scare about our stuff that WASN'T supposed to leave VA. John received a series of e-mails that led him to believe it was on it's way here. We had been advised to not send anything here that we would be very sad to lose, so there were many things that we decided to send to long term storage for safe keeping, never dreaming that they could be accidentally shipped to post! Well, it seems that our storage items were perhaps being prepared for shipment, but that they were indeed still at the warehouse in VA. A big relief if that's the case.
It's a lesson in patience! And we are hopeful - the Cable/Internet is supposed to be hooked up on Thursday. And our air shipment should get to our house before the end of the week.
Now, our boat shipment, that's another story. It is out in the water approaching Buenos Aires. Earlier in the month there was a strike of the dock workers, so I'm hoping that by the time ours gets there the strike will be over and the backlog cleared up.
At the end of last week we had a little scare about our stuff that WASN'T supposed to leave VA. John received a series of e-mails that led him to believe it was on it's way here. We had been advised to not send anything here that we would be very sad to lose, so there were many things that we decided to send to long term storage for safe keeping, never dreaming that they could be accidentally shipped to post! Well, it seems that our storage items were perhaps being prepared for shipment, but that they were indeed still at the warehouse in VA. A big relief if that's the case.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
It's COLD!
Brrr! Today and yesterday were definitely the winter weather that our friend here warned us about. It got up to about 51 degrees today (Fahrenheit that is!), which maybe doesn't sound too cold, but our warm coats haven't arrived yet, and the houses are not built for this weather. Neither is the mall! We went there yesterday on an errand, and walked into a very cold building. One night last week it got down to 3 degrees Celsius, which is hopefully as cold as it will get.
Having said all that, we are very thankful that we have heaters in all the rooms (except the bathrooms). We are thinking of the many people in this country do not have any significant heat in their houses or hot water.
Having said all that, we are very thankful that we have heaters in all the rooms (except the bathrooms). We are thinking of the many people in this country do not have any significant heat in their houses or hot water.
Friday, July 16, 2010
What if they won?
We where very happy to be here for Paraguay's final showing at the World Cup. We thought about going over to our friends' church to see it (they were playing it on a big screen), but decided if Paraguay won it might be pretty hard to get back to our hotel. So, we went over to the Mall where there was a book fair and watched the first half there - they had several TV's set up so the employees could all watch. We watched the second half in the hotel lobby, where the employees again were all watching. I thought that Paraguay had a great game, and it would have been great to see the country after a win. Here's a little clip of what how much celebrating there was even after a loss!
That was after the Paraguayan/Spain game. Earlier in the day we heard lots of car horns and fireworks after Germany beat Argentina. I'm not sure if that was because there are so many Germans here cheering them on, or if the Paraguayans were happy to see Argentina defeated....During all of the games of the World Cup the streets were pretty much deserted (which is certainly not the case the rest of the time). It was great to be in Latin America during a World Cup year.
That was after the Paraguayan/Spain game. Earlier in the day we heard lots of car horns and fireworks after Germany beat Argentina. I'm not sure if that was because there are so many Germans here cheering them on, or if the Paraguayans were happy to see Argentina defeated....During all of the games of the World Cup the streets were pretty much deserted (which is certainly not the case the rest of the time). It was great to be in Latin America during a World Cup year.
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!).
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!).
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
New Home!
We got into our new house last Friday! There have been an amazing amount of little things that need to be taken care of, so we are still getting settled. Here's an example: Today I came back in from an errand and found that one of the door handles to the house wouldn't open. I went outside and then the girls couldn't get the keys to the porch door to work! Fortunately the embassy sent someone over this afternoon to fix it. While he was out getting a part fixed, the door handle in our bedroom fell off! I think that they were in a hurry to get the house ready for us last week.
We are still working on getting the internet set up, so it will be a while before I can post some other details of our move, but I hope to soon!
We are still working on getting the internet set up, so it will be a while before I can post some other details of our move, but I hope to soon!
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