With the days numbering, I just can't help but think about what time is left and what to do with it.

My latest host family is amazing. After being with these people for just over a month, we have finally started being comfortable with each other - learning the other's quirks and how to live together - and I'm glad to know that i finally, FINALLY, have a paraguayan family. I've been told repeatedly that I'm going to be missed when gone, and even though I've promised to call when home, I know that I'm most definately going to be leaving a piece of me behind with these people, in this place. Weird.

My feelings can be summed up rather simply. (These words are stolen from a text zan sent me...sorry.)
''The thing is, I hate leaving people but I'm addicted to travelling around. That makes no sense...''
But life rarely does. Who knew that I'd figure that out here.


But anyhoo, even though I'm leaving so soon, I'm finally settling down here-

My daily routine is that exactly - a routine. After five months of summer vacation and not knowing what I was going to do that day until that morning, having a daily way to go about my business is kind of weird, but just a reminder of how it'll be once I'm home. I wake up at five every morning and hop onto the bus half-asleep to school, which takes an hour. I always am plugged in, listening to Frankenpod (thanks again, daddy!) and snooze my way through the ride. I always get off the bus early so I can walk a little bit and wake up, in fear of getting hit on the head by a number of objects if I'm found sleeping in class. (Known from experiance..haha)
My school day is somewhat boring - now that Im no longer a hot commodity being new and all, my companeros have fallen in step with me. I still get greeted in the halls by random strangers (''hola hannah montana!!!'') and I'm still friends with all of the teachers. Overall, life is good.
It's just weird to think that I only have a month left of this.


This coming weekend I'm going to el chaco on an AFS trip (i'm the only american going, so it's basically just me, serkan (from turkey) and about 30 germans. Fun fun fun, since they all call me 'nazi'... we'll see how that goes.)
Once I get home from this marvoulous adventure I will surely post pictures and talk all about it.

Next weekend is our final AFS campamento - it's all based on going home, and how to deal with what you're going to see/feel/expieance. That's hard to think about - going home. As much as i miss being home and the people there, and sometimes even fantasize about how being home is actually going to be, I know iIcan't actually imagine it.
I officially fly out of Paraguay on July 8th at 18:00, and after a couple hours of layover in Buenos Aires I'll hop on good ol American Airlines and touch down in Miami around 6.00. Whoa. After a few hours of customs, I hop on another plane, and then i'll be in o'hare by 11, where the smiling faces of my family (and a Zan! will be waiting for me just beyond security, or at baggage claim, maybe. Double whoa.

But back to paraguay.
The next next weekend is that of my birthday(!) where there are many plans, but none set in stone... they range from having a huge asado at my house to heading back to my first house here in Paraguay (that of the Perez family, not sure how I feel about that) and partying it up with Jorge and a few of my friends. We'll see though. a very paraguayan thing to do is not plan, and then come up with what you're going to do at the very last second, and I'm pretty srue that is what's going to happen.

After that, I'll have just over 20 days left in Paraguay. It's very hard to believe - all year I've had this feeling that my time here is never going to end. I've known how much time is left since the plane first touched down, and now, that I've finally stopped counting and focusing on missing home, I'm truely enjoying my time here.
That, and the fact that many of my friends have started heading home has kind of slapped me back into the reality of my situation.