1 week down and I definitely Don't wanna go home!

    So, I made it a week and aside from some mosquito bites and bruised toes, I'm unscathed!
    Apparently the top step leading up to my bedroom has declared war on me.  I trip up or down it at least three times a day...whether I turn the light on or not!
    Living here in Paraguay is a lot of fun so far. I have awesome neighbors all around me and it's a lot of fun to be able to just stop and talk with the people who live around you. Somehow a trip in the common area to get a broom always seems to turn into an hour long conversation about something that everyone one on the floor eventuall drifts outside to join. Makes it hard to get things done, but it's a great way to get to know each other!
Tomorrow is payday for us, so we are excited to be able to buy some much needed things for our apartments, as well as some actual food for actual meals. We are planning to go to a huge market in the area which will be quite the experience. Apparently it's like a huge, crowded flea market type thing where you can get pretty much anything at a really cheap price (though obviously, some of it is good quality and some of it definitely isn't).
    Tuesday is our last day of orientation, and we were supposed to start teaching Wednesday, but school's been postponed until Monday (a HUGE blessing). Because of the cold and the damp, a lot of children are in the hospital with the flu and H1N1.  The government required public schools to delay and suggested that private schools delay to prevent the spread of the virus.
I'm super excited for the extra days to work in my classroom, because I've barely made a dent in the chaos of it all. The last few teachers seem to have kept every teacher's manual and extra workbook for the last decade.  I have "teaching ideas" books and curriculum books dated in the early 90's on my shelves! Today I spent several hours just going through books, tossing out extras and unusable books just so I'd have room for new text books and to actually put materials on shelves (and I still have a cabinet full!). Tomorrow I'm going to try and tackle the many very dusty boxes of random art materials and who knows what else. After that I can actually start setting up my classroom.
    Other than that, I'm really enjoying being at the school.  The Pre-Kinder teacher is across the way and her name is Katie, too! Since there is a third Katie teaching middle school and living in the apartments I'm going by Kathryn here, or Katalina/Katarina to the spanish speakers. The Pre-Kinder aid has been a really great help in figuring out the day to day way of things in the classroom.
  

Life in Paraguay #2: You have to turn keys twice to lock doors.  Once around locks it a little bit and around again locks it all the way.

Prayer Requests:
Pray for the children of Paraguay, their health and their first days of school.
Pray for all the teachers at Asuncion Christian Academy as they prepare for school on Monday.