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i just went to visit my Papi's mission president and his wife. they are good family friends, but this was the first time i met them. it was a nice, quiet visit. i was extreamly happy i could sit down and speak with them. they told me stories about their family and some of their experiences. 

IT'S COMING  TO AN END Sir Caleb Cunningham is gone. he and Wess decided to book it to Buenos Aires before he leaves the continent on Friday. i wont be seeing Caleb until january. he will be attending Cambridge for two months, then will be in Jerusalem until december.   at the end of every internship, an intern gives a presentation to Fundación about their project, experience and suggestions. since Caleb and I were a rockin'/hoppin'/awesome team we decided to do it together (because we are both leaving around the same time). ... there was more info in the presentation, but that basically sums it up. we compleated 34/48 fichas. cool. now Anna, an intern from Seattle WA will be finishing it up. YAY. take luck Anna.  Mika, Caleb & Nancy (one of our superiors) after the presentation and we won! we have certificates to prove that we did. and this is us in the office, i spent hours in here making new friends.  aguije. ONE MORE DAY  IN PARAGUAY.  now what? i th

i'm so lucky. i get to celebrate 3 winter solstices in a row. HUZZAH. (fireworks) winter finally hit Paraguay, and no, there is no snow or santa clause, but it sure is cold.  Paraguay is a HOT country, so any time there is cloud cover or a little breeze during the "winter time" Paraguayans would walk around with huge jackets, scarves, gloves and hats even though it's warm.   but now it is FOR REAL. before i would make fun of my coworkers because they were all covered up when i thought it was hot. now i'm sitting in the office wearing a sweater and a jacket i found in a bin of free clothes in my last apartment complex. my fingers even have a hard time typing.  but i'm not complaining. i'll be in summer land in a week. 

i went to a magical place called Mbaracayu . it is an all girls school that is self sufficient. the girls come from places like brazil, paraguay and a few from bolivia.  i went with a handsome group of people, Juan, Ton, and Leah. we left on Wednesday at 11:00 am and arrived there at 7:00 pm. i love bus rides, but any ride that is more than 2 hours can be difficult on the heart and soul. a part of the trip was over an uneven dirt road. but people selling chipa and playing music on their portable radios made the sojourn more bearable.  we arrived in a little place called Villa Ygatimi and spent the night there. Leah, reading The News from Paraguay  6:30 am, a man picked us up and drove down a dirt road into the reserva. this is us at the entrance: Leah and a Mika after we were feed delicious rainforest breakfast, we went on a rainforest walk.  i can't remember the last time i was in a rainforest like this. Mexico most likely. i love the smells, the sounds, the lighting. i

the final stretch is always a little frantic. so a quick recap on why i came to paraguay for two months: working with Fundación Paraguaya. there has been a list composed of 48 business ideas taken from the lists of jobs the women do within the foundation. job: make a write up explanation for a business (containing information about the costs of the mercantile, how much money it costs to start the business, some of the advantages and disadvantages, and suggestions from women with experience). goal#1: (week 1-3) 5 fichas. interview at least four women for 1 business (interview 4 women for the empanada business) and make a "ficha" with the information. 7 fichas completed. goal #2: (week 3-7) 5 more fichas. 8 fichas completed. total of 15 fichas out of 48 goal #3: (week 7-9) finish fichas. we sent out our survey to the offices because we thought it would be quicker to get more fichas finished. and it was. within 3 days we have done 13 fichas and now are at 28/48

AREGUA known for it's ceramics. ceramic chimes, ceramic frogs,  ceramic hello kitties, ceramic shreks, ceramic fionas, ceramic virgins, ceramic bears, ceramic etc. as one would walk down the little artisan market they could peek to the back of the shop and spy on the painters painting little piggy banks. i walked down the street 4 or 5 times just enjoying the array of colors.  and then these men serenaded me with songs of amor then we met up with Rodrigo. he works for Fundación in the Luque office. he gave us a tour of Aregua.  FIRST STOP was the police station. Rodrigo wanted to show us a little hill with a mysterious rock formation, but we had to be accompanied by the police. apparently really bad guy men hide in the brush and attack people on the hill with dangerous things. so the police picked us up on a pick up truck and drove up the hill. i felt safe.  perantly, this rock is extremely rare. only exists in three places on the entire planet.   1. Paraguay  2. Canada