A week ago i arrived in asuncion with 72 other afs students.I talked to many people in the couple of days and we also learned a lot about paraguay. We learned that they drink mate and tetete. They are types of tea. We learned different gestures that they do in paraguay, health and safty, that the families are very protective and restrictive of their daughters, about the sounds that men make at women. There is the dengue fever here in paraguay so we have to wear insect repellent in the summer and at night. Also paraguay is a third world country that has a lot of poverty. There is no hot water or heating in my town and not much internet. But there are a lot of gracious and caring paraguayos that help. Paraguay is relativley safe expecially where i am in a safe town. It is also a traditional society that values the family very much and the women clean and cook while the men work. The day that meet my host family i was very very nervous! I was so worried to meet my family because they would be the family that i would live with for a year. A lot of paragayan families came to pick of their new son and daughter. A lot of them had nice cars and clothes. A lot of them were wealtheir and live in asuncion where there is more wealth. But there were also poorer families. Gustavo, my representative in nueva Italia, came to pick me up along with two other student who live in my town, one from germany and one from belgium. I was nervous because i didnt know where we were going and i didnt understand why my family didnt want to come pick me up. But it wasnt because they didnt want to its just that they dont have a car. Not many people have cars but many people have motorcycles. i wont ride one because they are very dangerous, many people get into accidents expecially at night when they drink. So when i got to my family first was the first time i felt homesick because everything was so strange...And no one seemed excited to meet me. My host mom took me to the backyard because everyone was having dinner at the grandpas house. There was chickens and dogs running around under the table, lots of flys on the food, and a lot of arena everywhere. Arena is a type of sand that they have everywhere which is the color of red clay. At first no one talked to me and everyone talked in guarani. So i didnt know what to do...i couldnt understand anyone..and it was so different so i felt like crying. The daughter was cleaning the dishes and didnt talk to me. Later on they talked to me in spanish so i felt better. Speaking spanish all the time is difficult. There is a lot of feelings that go along with it. I feel embarrased because i cannot understand or speak well and i feel bad that they always have to repeat things for me and explain things to me. Sometimes i dont ask for an explanation and sometimes i do. But im learning that its okay if people need to speak slower to me and repeat things. I shouldnt feel bad about it but its hard not to feel frustrated. Later on i talked with my host sisters and i can have interesting conversations with my host sisters. We talked about many things and they have told me many things about paraguay. They told me that their parents dont like it if they leave the house often and that if they have a boyfriend they cannot let their parents know. Also they told me that there are a lot of disrespectful men in paraguay and that many young girls become pregnant because the men refuse to use a condom. There are people that come to their school and explain how to use one and about the diseases that you can get other wise but still not everyone uses protection. My sister is actually doing a proyect on stds which i find intereting. Many subjects are considered taboo here such as sex and gay people. They tend not to talk much about those subjects. Also politics. This past week i went to the pre school but i did not like it very much because i felt useless. I cannot understand younger people because they speak much guarani and there was not much that i could do other than hand out milk and cookies. One teacher asked me what i was doing here and when i asked her what i could do to help she did not know. So i felt very unwanted. I told my representative and he said that in a month we could find another type of work like teaching english. I want to be useful and be able to help the people in some way. Also one afs student told me to be patient because she felt the same way for three months. It is not easy being a foriegn exchange student. The people here stare at me but they dont smile. I really dont like that they dont smile or laugh much in public and it makes me feel bad. There are not a lot of men who make the chi chi noises but sometimes there are. I am very happy that there are other foreign exchange students here, so i can speak english and so i am not alone. I imagined my exchange year romantically, that everyone would want to talk to me and that i would make many friends and enjoy learning many things. I never thought about how it would be difficult.  Hopefully i will soon find my place here and make friends. I meet my sisters friends the other day and they were so nice to me! They asked me what i like to do, how liked paraguay which is a question thats hard to answer right now. They showed me how they dance and also how they draw. They often cook together and go to the church to sing and dance on saturday which i missed yesterday because i was traveling in paraguay. I hope i can make friends here and that my parents will let me go out a lot to spend tiime with friends. My host brothers are very very cute! I played games with them with marbles and cards. It is interesting because the people here in paraguay are very generous and they like to take care of you but they do not apear that way. They apear standoffish and distant. In paraguay we always share food and we always poor the water or soda for each other at dinner time. One person serves the rest. People are not very independent. Also winter just started here and it is very cold!! including the homes and i do nott want to take a shower or change my clothes because it is too cold. Although paraguayans are very clean people and they like to organize and clean each other things. The food is also very good and filling! We eat a lot of chicken and soup. Also this really hard bread we put in mate, hot tea with milk. Also everyone drinks tetete, this type of tea. They carry around thermos filled with water to fill their cup with the tetete leaves. I have learned a lot of spanish words here, there are so many to learn! They call the bus colectivo for example which is different. In the town there is a hopital that people are working on to raise money for a improve. There is a community center where you can take spanish, guarani leassons and also learn how to make clothing and how to fix motorcycles. There is also another center where people organize the money and where there  are therapists. Im not sure what else but i know that every saturday there is a fiesta for young people. But my host mom doesnt allow her daughters to go because there is many drunk people and accident with the motorcycles. I really want to go to the colegio which is their high school. To see what their schol is like. I think that the school is pretty good and they can learn quite a bit there. I saw my younger brothers homework and it was pretty difficut but he did everything right. I walk to school everyday butt i could also take the bus because it comes every fifteen minutes. No one in the town can speak english but there is an english class and some peop9le try speaking english to me. But they only can say hello, goodbye, see you tomorrow. Also i love how they say my name here. IT is hard for them to pronounce but once they get it it is funny because their voice goes up and them down, they pronounce the ka with more emphasis. Right now i am using the computer of gustavo. he said i could use it whever but i still feel bad taking from people. The other day i went on a trip with the other afs students all around paraguay. WE saw a lot of towns and places where there was just nature. And this previous day i went with the afs student in the town to buy things in asuncion. There are not many afs student who i feel like i really get along with but i hope to find paraguayan friends.Ive wondered how everyone elses experiences are in paraguay.....I think thats all i can think of for now bye!!