Two Weeks

Its been two weeks since arriving here in Paraguay, I can't believe it, the time is flying by! I thought I'd recap the last two weeks and share some new things we've learned and seen in the last few days.

Here we are fresh off the plane and being greeted by by our host family (just the husband in this picture).

The pastor greeting us and another lady from church. 

Being greeted by our hostest, they greet you with a kiss, one on each cheek.

Here we are outside the airport in Paraguay!

We got here at an exciting time in Paraguays history. For the last two weeks and even before, they have getting ready and celibrating their 200th year of being a country.

On Saturday we got to see some of the dances, don't know the meaning or significance yet but I was impressed!

Here was a little market, they were selling everything from food to clothes. What caught our attention was that this market was set up right outside the hospital, good business strategy if you ask me;-)

As we walk we always see horse drawn carts. I have also noticed there aren't many lines on the roads, so roads quickly turn from one lane to two lanes to three three lanes and then go back down to one lane. I have also noticed there are no speed limit signs but there are speed bumps. We've learned its good to cross the street before a speed bump, cause there are also no cross walks and people don't slow down when they see you crossing or about to cross the road. I feel well adjusted in this area, for a while I feared crashing when riding in a car or getting hit by a car when walking but I'm learning and reminding myself this is how it is, not bad, just different!

We were out house hunting the other day with friends from church, the kids are loving the no car seats...but don't worry they don't ride like this:-)

Jon and a friend at a birthday party we were invited to. I didn't get as many pictures at the birthday as I would have liked but it was a great time to experince the culture here. Birthdays are a big deal and it showed, lots of people where there, hamburgers were served, music played loudly and everyone had fun. There was a lot more that took place, I came home and took down two pages of notes so that I wouldn't forget. Their birthday parties are different from ours but the same excitement is still there! 

Jamen and Jade are doing very well here. Jamen loves his Sunday school teachers and the songs he is learning in Spanish. I heard him counting in Spanish and the other day he told Jade the water she was drinking is called, "agua". I was so proud:-) In the above picture Jamen and I were practicing our Spanish together.

Jade was practicing too and she said her first Spanish word the other day, "chou, chou" (bye, bye).

My Spanish is coming, I've been practicing my greetings everytime we are out and use as many words as I can when talking with the kids. I also try to have conversations with people at church, there is lots of "sign language" and pointing and laughing as we try to comunicate. But they know I am trying and they all want to help and its been very encouraging! And as a side note, I can count on one hand how many times I have been nervous, the Lord is good, thank you for your prayers!!!! Keep praying!