Thanksgiving

This past Thursday was Thanksgiving!  All of the trainees went to the U.S. Ambassador’s house in Asuncion for lunch.  We all had to make food to bring with us.  I made my grandma’s deviled eggs.  The issue with this was that we made the food Wednesday and then had to travel on buses and walk down dirt road with the food in makeshift Tupperware.  By the time my food got to the fridge it had seen better days.  Pretty much every egg had fallen over and spilled out into the container.  On Thursday while we were waiting to enter the embassy a few friends and myself broke into the deviled eggs before we went in.  This ended up being a good idea since my deviled eggs mysteriously never made it to the table.  This is understandable since the lunch that the embassy staff had made was gorgeous.  There were 4 huge turkeys and everything was on silver trays.  This looked rather amusing when you saw the random fruit salads and popcorn that the trainees had made as their contribution to the meal. 

It was one of the most fun days that I have had in Paraguay.  I was able to use the phone for free and call the states, which was amazing.  I also got to go swimming and play sharks and minnows, always a good time!  It was just an awesome chance for all of the trainees to relax and hang out.  The ambassador was extremely hospitable and made all of us feel welcome in his home.  Holidays outside of the U.S. and away from family can be pretty hard so the fact that we were all able to get together, eat pecan pie, and pretend that the day held any importance in Paraguay meant a lot to me. 

Unfortunately the day after Thanksgiving another trainee decided to go home.  She was in the other training group, Environmental Education and Conservation.  Her reasons for going home were obviously well thought out and she knew what decision she was making.  Still, it is always sad to have someone in our group go home.  Hopefully the rest of us can see this through until the end but I guess we will see how it all goes!