Today is "feriado" in Paraguay, which means... HOLIDAY! and a LONG weekend! :) A small group of us from the CD went camping with Concordia's youth group. It was so much fun! The campsite was along the bank of a rive, and the scenery reminded me a little bit of when I went camping along the East coast for miniterm in high school. (Except there were no BOnanzas anywhere, haha.) If you're wondering, the only difference in camping in the US and Paraguay is that they drink tereré, but that's not specific to camping, that's Paraguay for ya! :) The picture below shows us drinking tereré at the campsite and some more picture of camping).

Drinking tereré.

The group of campers from Concordia. There were about 40 of us in all.

Sofí, a volunteer at the CD and I, on this really neat bridge. Once upon a time, there used to be water there I think... :)

If you're not familiar with what tereré is, it's dried yerba leaves that are cut up in small bits and pieces, and put into a guampa (a cup, which in Paraguay, is traditionally shaped like a cow horn), and then there's a specific way to prepare it (which I'm still working on). After that, ice cold water is poured into the guampa, and you drink through the bombilla (which is something like a metal straw with a sieve at the bottom. You can see it in some of the pictures. The thing that I like most about tereré is that it's a communal thing. You sit around in a circle, and drink. Someone serves everyone in the circle; they drink, and pass it back to the server, and so it goes around the circle...

I think I've mentioned before, my frustration with the German language. Concordia is the only German speaking church in Asunción, and this is the youth group that I went with. But of course they all grow up speaking Spanish as well (and lot speak English too), so that was really helpful. There were so many times where people would translate what people said, or even just responding in Spanish, as opposed to German, to steer the conversation in a way that included me. For all of you German-speaking Paraguayans out there that are reading this blog, no tenés ni idea como lo aprecio tanto!

Oh, and to let you all know, I am officially DONE with the "leben nachzufolgen!!" We'll be starting on registration soon; putting the forms in the computer. But we can't do that for a couple days yet, so I'll just be helping out in the office where ever they need me. But that's nothing too new! :)

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy your monday at work or school, where ever you are! Renate, my roommate and I are planning on going to Aregua for the day, because it's a HOLIDAY and we don't have to work! :)

Take care, you are all in my prayers!