Oh yeah!

And, how could I forget?! Yesterday was a wonderful, wonderful day...maybe my most favorite day here yet! My roommates and I ventured out to San Lorenzo to help celebrate Lila's birthday with her and her friends and family and it was absolutely wonderful - a perfect reminder of exactly why I wanted to do this whole experience to begin with. Wonderful food, wonderful company, and some wonderful music to top it off! Check it out :)

Concerts, Thanksgiving, and Cataratas del Iguazu

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted (again!), so here's a quick update....

First, I'm blown away that this first semester is almost over; where did the time go??? This is my last week of teaching, followed by review-week next week, and then finals...I did it! Well, almost ;)

The past few weeks have been busy, but enormously enjoyable! After the pep rally a few weeks ago, I went to a David Guetta (enormously popular DJ down here) concert just outside Asuncion and IT WAS AWESOME!!! It was exactly what I needed. As cheesy as it sounds, I really love when so many people can come together and enjoy something such as music. I mean really, when do so many different walks of life all come together? Anyway, it was great. So great that we were out til 6am...oops!

Around that same time, I finally started taking Spanish lessons and just today I got complimented on my accent...guess the lessons (plus 9 years of Spanish in school) are starting to pay off!

Let's see...what else? Oh, last week was Thanksgiving and one of the houses of teachers here hosted a huge potluck dinner. We had about 20 people there, plus all the fixin's. It was an insane amount of food! So thankful for this opportunity and cannot wait to share all my stories with a lot of you when I'm home in 3 weeks!!! Can you believe it?!

And, most recently, I went to Iguazu Falls and it was AMAZING....absolutely stunning. The pictures don't even begin to capture the beauty of this natural wonder. Plus, it was a comical trip filled with memories for a lifetime (remember how I told some of you that I wanted more stories to tell when I was older....got 'em!)!

Waiting to boat our way to Argentina. That's Brazil on the left and Argentina on the right.














Our boat that carried us legally into Argentina. (We don't have Brazilian visas which forced us to be creative when trying to get to the falls!)














In the middle of the boat ride, we were between all three countries. There's Brazil...



















Argentina,



















and back behind...Paraguay!














Now, onto the Falls!!! First look...



















Beautiful creatures on the way...














And, the first breathtaking look at Iguazu Falls...



















Here are some more to tide you over....















































That's a boat down there! We did that on day 2 :)

































A crazy, cool fig tree on a lil' detour to get lunch



















And, more falls...obviously, it was hard to pick which pictures to put up;)














Just walking along :)



















My favorite little nook of the falls!














The two brothers...



















Okay, and last but not least...THE DEVIL'S THROAT!!!














So yeah, that's my life in review as of late. Tons more has happened...like the story of the old man who works at a nearby corner store and the crazy conversation we had, but some things are better left to be told in person...hehe! So for now, enjoy. Hopefully I'll post some more before I leave for break, but if not, look for lots of posts come February!

Guess Who's the New Cheerleading Coach???

So, after a random sequence of events, I was selected to be the new ASA Cheerleading Coach/Sponsor and I gotta admit....I really love it! I mean, it's fun for me because I get to re-live a significant portion of my childhood, but what really seals the deal is how enthusiastic the girls are about it. They absolutely LOVE it! In fact, if they were as dedicated to math as they were to getting everything ready for their cheerleading debut, I don't know if I'd have enough material to keep them occupied. Seriously, it was unreal. Anyway, after a week's worth of practice, the girls debuted their stuff at ASA's first-time-in-a-long-time Pep Rally before a bunch of kids left for the week to go to a whole-week sports tournament called Rancho in Brazil. Sounds pretty great, huh?! And, if this whole cheerleading thing takes off...I'll get to go with them next year (yes please!). Needless to say, I was ridiculously busy practicing, rehearsing, and laughing a whole lot, but in the end, I was sooooooooooooo proud of the girls!!! GOOOOOOOO ASA!

Let's Go RED, Let's Go WHITE...














For some of you, you'll know exactly what this is....(Dominate and Devastate, we'll blow you away!)














Yell Out Your Colors ASA: RED, WHITE, BLUE!














Good Job Girls!!! So proud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!














And, a little video so you can see it all ;)

COMING SOON

And, the whole week leading up to the Pep Rally was Spirit Week. Here's a couple of my costumes/outfits....

Celebrity Day



















Just in case you weren't quite sure who I was...













Twin Day...awesome (aka dorky) Math teachers and the most awesome hats ever!!!



















There were several other days, but I don't have pictures of those (Pajama Day, Beach Day, and Paraguayan Colors Day). All in all, it was a great and exhausting week...can't wait for the next one ;)

I'm not too good at this!

So, now that it's a month later, I guess I'll post again! Man, I'm really not so great at this. Well, it's not that I'm not so great at blogging, it's just I always have so much other stuff going on. First year teaching, social events, sleep, teaching, planning, grading, social events, working out, etc etc. It is all just a little much sometimes. That is why I've decided to slow down a little and just start living. I kind of feel like I've been in panic mode a lil' bit and haven't really been taking time for myself. I've been constantly thinking in the future rather than just living in the now. I don't know...I guess as a teacher, you always have to be thinking ahead, but when I do have my time, the here and now, I just want to breathe.....ahhhhhhhhhh. Much, much better.

Alright, now that I've gotten that out, here are some pics from Halloween Paraguayan style! My favorite part was getting ready...the hairstylist really outdid himself and I think this may be my most favorite halloween costume yet :) Check it out!

Neapolitan...Strawberry, Vanilla, and Chocolate!



















Check out our hair!!!




























Bzzz, Bzzzz...There's the bee and a Facebook Page!



















The "Big" house gang!














Derek enjoying the ice cream sandwich;)














Poison Ivy and Floronic Man



















Magic 8 Ball



















Good times, good times! Now, off to do some work so I can relax (if only for a little bit) later. xoxo