We're Moved in at Last...

...although we still have lots of bags and boxes. I didn't think there'd be that much to move, since we've lived here less than a year, and we only brought to Paraguay what could fit in our suitcases. Man, how we pile up the junk!

Our new neighborhood is quite different than anything I've ever experienced. I've always lived out in the fresh air of the country, so being in town is all new. Our neighbors are VERY close and they don't keep the same hours we Americans do. They think we're weird because we don't have all our doors open. (There are 3 doors on the side of the house that face our nearest neighbors, who are about 10 feet away.) The heat almost necessitates opening every door and window, but this home doesn't have ceiling fans. That means that we fill up with mosquitos pretty instantly. Ken slept through the first night here without a hitch (he was worn out from the move), but he awoke covered in bites. Thankfully, we'd put our one and only floor fan in the girls' room that night. Needless to say, the next purchase was a fan for OUR room. I think ceiling fans will probably be on the list of "have to haves" soon, even if we don't get an air conditioner. A little air flow seems to send the mosquitos packing.

Our new neighbors are all very friendly, offering cooking lessons and advice on home remedies. Most people here think we're Germans because we're fair-skinned, and because there are really more Germans than Americans in Paraguay. The Germans come and buy large parcels of land for farming. So a couple ladies have come and offered to sell us farm animals. We're missing our old neighbors already, though, and anxious to get back over there and sit down for some terere.

Most of our neighbors here can speak Spanish, so that's a little different. We still hear Guarani when they speak to each other, but they converse with us in perfect Spanish. A couple of the nearby teens have already expressed interest in English classes.

The home is huge and has SO much room inside, and for that we're very thankful. It's enclosed, which isn't very common here. Most Paraguayan living is done outside, with the cooking and clothes washing areas on what we'd call a porch, or in the front yard. So we feel very blessed to find a home that has a layout we're more accustomed to. Now, the fact that there's no screen on the windows (and there are LOTS of windows and doors) and no ventilation is taking some adjusting to.

A typical Paraguayan bathroom is what you'd see in an RV. The door opens just enough to let you squeeze through, and in one corner is a showerhead. You empty the bathroom out and turn on the water for showering, then squeegie the water on the floor into a drain in the center of the tiny room when you're done. The whole room is the shower. It's smaller than most closets in the U.S., but it works. Thank the Lord. We'd been watching folks bathe from buckets in their yards, so we're not going to complain that our INDOOR shower is tiny. It's a quirky little benefit of living in the third-world, and it's kinda neat in a strange way.

Keep us in your prayers as we deal with the dust, mold, and mildew we're cleaning in the move-in process. The weather is going from intensely hot to rain storms and cold, so our bodies aren't at their best anyway. Couple that with the cleaning, and it makes for some sniffles and sneezes. And forgive us if the posts are few right now, or if we don't respond to your emails right away.... We're probably going through boxes!!

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