Monday, July 30, 2012

It's late and I'm too lazy to think of a title...

Hello there everyone!
I hope your summers are going swimmingly!

So let me update you on what's been going on down southhhhh.

I  have exactly one week left...

Yup you heard me.

ONE WEEK.

and then my life as I know it will be over!

The other night I was laying in bed and I actually started having a panic attack, like a legit panic attack. My chest tightened up, I started having trouble breathing and my heart was beating a mile a minute...but I'm no stranger to panic attacks because...well it's not important. Anyways, you could say I don't want to leave Paraguay, I'm actually thinking of hand cuffing myself to my bed post and then I can just stay forever.

















P.S. ^That's me having my panic attack^


Everyone is always like "How much time do you have left?""You're leaving so soon!" "When are you leaving?" "I'm going to miss you so much!" "Are you going to miss me?" "Are you going to forget about us?"

And my reactions can range very depending on what part of the roller coaster they happen to catch me on.


Sometimes I get mad:





Other times I go for denial:


'



























Then other times I...I...I...










 And sometimes I just plain freak out:






















I'm pretty sure everyone thinks I'm bipolar...



But my friends are already talking about when I'm coming to visit and I'm like "awwww you're going to miss me! :3"
They want me to come back in december for their graduation and Prom and I think it would be insanely fun to do that!...But then I remember I can't fly and have yet to invent a teleportation device and I am poor so...yeah couple problems I still need to work out!



Okay so getting down to business!

Things that have happened recently:

A.) I was on a two week vacation from school.

B.) My parents came to visit me.

C.) They added an extra week of vacation because it was supposed to be "extra cold last week" which, by the way, is a load of crap because I could have gone tanning.

Random story: I was talking to my cousin here and I was like

"No tienes colegio esta semana?" (You don't have school this week?)

"No se alargo las vacas" (I actually have no idea what she said there but I recognized the word 'vacas' which is cow! so I asked:

vacas como 'moooooo'? (cows like mooooo?)

and she said yes!

So I was like....maybe there is some kind of giant cow heard coming through and they are going to be filling the roads so the cars won't be able to get through so they cancelled school....




Yup, that's it, I'm a genius.


Then I asked my host family about it and they brought me to the mental health clinic...okay not actually but they thought it was just about the funniest thing in the world.
Apparently 'vacas' is short for vacations....I hate not knowing spanish slang! :'(

D.) I'm leaving in 7 days and I am going to have a mental break down because I don't want to go back to the nightmare that is my life back in the states.



Okay so let's start off from the beginning:

I have been on vacation from school which meant late nights and sleeping in. I'd pretty much become a hermit, only leaving my room when I smelt food or needed to use the bathroom (I joke).

But I really didn't do much...I DID go to Brazil with my host family the first week, which was really fun! And then I hung out a few times with some other exchange students but other than that, my computer has become best friend, oh and don't forget the fridge, I love her too.


So now let's move on to what the chunk of this entry is going to be about:

The rents coming to visit!

So yeah, they came and I had really mixed feelings about seeing them because as much as I love and missed them it's like, I have my own life here and I'm living in it, and I have left that life behind and all the people in it (yes I know I'm a terrible person) but that's how I feel.

So we picked them up at the airport at like 1:30 in the morning (god bless my host family for coming with me).

I was also kind of worried about my two family's meeting because well...you can just imagine why. It was all good though, they got along just fine and we drove to my parents hotel and I stayed the night with the.

I actually didn't realize how similar my set soy parents are:
Both of my dads are easy going, tell lame jokes but think they're really funny, protective of there kids and love to eat and drink beer.

Both of my moms are overprotective, freak out at the smallest problem, try and do too much, independent and they don't always comprehend what people are saying....

For instance, the entire time my mom was here she kept trying to talk to my host mom in english and kept waiting for her to respond and I was like
"MOM SHE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND A WORD YOU ARE SAYING!!" But for some reason she kept trying to communicate in English, and my host mom was exactly the same, she kept talking to my mom in spanish and Jackie was like "MOM SHE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND A WORD YOU ARE SAYING!!"
They ended up playing charades 24/7, it was actually quiet funny to watch.

I don't know if I ever wrote about this, but in the beginning my parents always had my host sister translate for every little thing they said, they wouldn't even try to explain it another way or repeat it more slowly, they just expected jackie to translate, and not only did it get really annoying for jackie (and myself) it also hindered my spanish learning!

So after my parents being here, I can attest to how truly annoying it is; Having to translate for both sides...

I don't know how to explain it exactly but I can understand things in spanish and have a normal conversation with a person, but then if I try and translate it into english, it just fails terribly and I found myself getting really frustrated that my parents just didn't understand everything! (My dad's spanish is actually fairly good and my mom knows how to say I'm hungry, I gave her a gold star.)
But I have to remember that I was worse than both my parents in the beginning...I actually wonder why people even attempted to talk to me...it's so aggravating!



So the next  morning we went for some breakfast and then took a bus (nightmare) to my house where my extended family and a bunch of my friends were waiting! The thing about my family here is that they are literally picture perfect and...well yeah you know all about them from my family entry, so I'll just say, that my parents loved them and my cousin here (Gaston) might be coming to do foreign exchange at out house in a few years! :)

So the "party", here's my parents trying terrre:







And some pictures of me and my friends:


















And then Monday we went to Brazil and it looks like this and there we're so many cars and it was pouring and I thought we were going to die.



Then first night we went to a performance that showcased that traditional dances from all the countries in Latin America!

Before it started, the announcer asked where everyone was from and people were like "Holland! China! Japan! Africa! L.A!"

And when they said L.A. I was like

"OMG we're from the same country!" and I started freak out and clapping and everyone just turned to look at me and then my mom was like 

"....since when do you like Chile?"


And I was like




Anyways after I went and switched clothes so no one would be able recognize me, the show was actually quite nice. And when the paraguayan dancers came on, I freaked out andI was actually really proud, which may sound a bit weird, but honestly, I might as well have been born in Paraguay, I fit in so well with the culture and the people, and apart from certain food, the place is da bomb! It is just as  much my home as the U.S. is :)

But yeah the paraguayan dancers actually have the coolest dance out of any country (yes I am a bit biased but it's totally the truth!) ever because they dance...with bottles...on their heads...not attached to anything. And I'm not just talking about 1 or 2, I mean there are people who can dance with up to 20 bottles  balancing on their head and then they dance while they do it, and it is seriously the coolest thing ever!
Here's a link if you want to watch some:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRGxJf6LKAg











PARAGUAY!!! <3
















 The next day we went to Iguazo falls, I had already been there with my host family but my mom went all 5 year old patent girl on me, so I gave. and after hitting some road bumps along the way that included: me forgetting my passport, almost missing our flight, dad being sick, not speaking Portuguese, the hotel not having our reservation, no cell phone service, not speaking Portuguese, having to buy wifi to check email on my phone, the bell hop trying to give me alcohol, the air conditioner breaking, not having Reals (brazilian money) and not speaking Portuguese, we finally got to the falls!

Now if any of you know my mom, you know she doesn't handle stress very well and she is, well, probably the most impatient person in the world, so the entire first day she was like this:

WARNING THIS PHOT HAS WORDS THAT MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE FOR YOUNGER READERS:






















and me and my dad were like:










Believe me when I'd rather hug a prickly pear than deal with her when she's frustrated. Not. Fun.

The next day we actually got ourselves to the falls via taxi and it's lucky we did, because the place was busy than walmart on black friday. But since we were with a taxi driver he somehow got us tickets and drove us to the falls.
 The first time I went it was overcast, so I was pleasantly surprised when we got there and I saw all this:










Nature made wishing well! I tried and missed terribly, piece of advice: never pick me to be on your basketball team.








These little fuzzy creatures were everywhere! :)











Pretty sure some of those pictures belong on post cards...but I digress.

We had some troubles going through immigration on the way back because when we entered brazil we didn't exactly go though immigration...but they don't stop you! It really wasn't out fault! But then on the way back, the taxi driver was all stupid and responsible (because he's brazilian) and made us get out and got talk to the Brazilian immigration and they were like "Where are your visas? You guys are here illegally."



They let us go with a warning and we all heaved a sigh of relief but then the taxi driver made us stop at the Paraguayan side and they were like "You have two stamps saying you entered Paraguay and none saying you left, and that's a problem for some reason and so you are going to have to pay a fine and blah blah blah." 

And at this point we were running late to for our bus back to asuncion and we got there with about 30 seconds to spare. They don't call us the late leaders for nothing!

Oh yeah and then my dad forgot a bag of stuff in the car so my host dad's friend that lives in Brazil but works in paraguay went to pick it up from the taxi driver (who lucky was brazilian because apparently if he was paraguayan, we would never have seen that bag again.) and deliver it to my host dad who then brought it home, because you know, nothing is easy.

Oh god I sound like my mother.

So yeah...

So what else...Olympics! I'm actually watching them right now!


During the opening ceremonies when they showed Paraguay, my sister and I freaked out and then when they showed the U.S....let's just say I will be buying a few hearing aids for my family.

Paraguay only has like six athletes competing so that's kind of sad, and I haven't seen any of them because they channels here are weird and I can't figure out when things are on...

The U.S. has been kicking butt and I am so proud to say I'm an American!


And then tonight I'm going out with all of my friends to see Batman and then I have school the rest of this week, I'm gonna spend my last weekend with my family and friends, saying my goodbye's. I leave sometime monday night and land in Miami Tuesday morning and then I'm back to the lovely Tucson heat a few hours later! School starts just a mere two days later and at first I was dead set on going since I'm gonna be a senior and it's my "last first day" but then I decided to screw it because I need more than two days to readjust to "my life" and you know...the less school the better!

I'll hopefully be updating at least twice more before I leave cause there is some stuff that I realized I never posted about my time here that I need to for memory sake, so be on the lookout for that the next few days!

Oh my gosh that was soooooo long! and if I used up all of your bandwidth with all of those gifs....sorry, but I love me some gifs :)

Anyways, happy International friends day!! Which reminds me, I need to go spend some good quality time with my computer. Bye :)



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