Our Tuesday...

I have been having dental work done in the capital at the rate of once a week, since we've gotten here. It's not that there's that much to be done, but the dentist has a whole different philosophy about getting it done. He does a little each day, so as not to shock my tooth. I have to say that my jaws are happy about that plan. Rather than the days of soreness I usually have after a dental visit, this gentle approach just leaves an only ache, that passes within an hour or so. It turns out that my tooth is actually trying to heal from this past summer's root canal, but that the crown was sitting on there crooked and making trouble. He repositioned it and all's well. I actually cracked the crown (twice) before I could get the final work finished, but my friendly dentist was able to fix it. Nice guy. He's from Argentina, incidentally, and gave me some lessons on culture and geography while he did his work.

I also attended a ladies' Bible study hosted by American missionary wives in Asuncion. It was great to be with them for a study about Esther in English, and spectacular (they use that word a lot here) to have brownies and treats, American style. (I always said I could live on the food served at wedding showers....) This is a monthly meeting, so we're planning to make our trips into the city on the days of the Bible study, if all goes well.

The girls have been shopping around since our arrival for somewhere to spend their Christmas money from the grandparents. They bought bicycles today, rode them for a few hours, and Camille got a hole in her tube. Bless her heart, she'll have to look at hers for a couple more days until we can get a patch. They are both getting so good at soccer, and at communicating. They spoke with the bicycle dealer (who also thought we were Germans) and the sales guys, as much as they could.

Funny thing, the locals usually seem very stand-offish with us in the stores, until they find out we live here, and we throw in something like, "This is such a beautiful country," or "We are already in love with Paraguay," or "You have wonderful, welcoming people here." Then the smiles come out, the handshakes take place, we get a million questions, and we're family.

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