Midstay Orientation, End of March

    For me at least, March went by pretty fast. I guess that's because it's finally settled in my mind that I only have 3.5 months left of my exchange.

    Last weekend, we had a mid-stay orientation in Estanzuela/Itaugua. It was organized by the Capiatá, San Lorenzo, Lambaré, and Luque teams. I was the only student from the US who came, there were about 8 students, plus our families. The only male student who attended was from the new group; he had arrived a month prior. I spent the most time with him and we became good friends. The students showed collages of photos from our exchange as well as items to represent what countries we're from and our host country. I brought a small American flag and a guampa (cup) for tereré.

    For our main discussions, the families formed a group and the students formed another. We and our volunteers talked about how things are going in our families and any problems we might be having. We also talked about different ways people react to and deal with problems. After our discussions, we ate empanadas, chipa, and sandwiches, and then went to see the lake. When we got back, we had some pool time. The teams had ordered so many snacks and pastries for us that we all went home with leftovers. My sister and I promptly collapsed into bed when we got home.

    On Tuesday, I had a zoom meeting with my biological mom and my school councilor from the US. We discussed and came up with a plan for what school will look like when I return. Hopefully, my councilor will be able to transfer most of the classes I have here to credits, and I could still graduate with my class next year. The SAT's have apparently become optional in Colorado so I don't need to take it to graduate, but I would still like to take it.

    There isn't much new with school. I'm still only copying notes in some classes, and doing small assignments in others. I'm putting more time into biology class, and my teacher has been helping me immensely. He's even given me English translations of materials and has sent me pdf's in English and Spanish of our workbooks. Everything in this class I've already learned at least some about. This class is just refreshing my memory and going deeper into the material. We just finished our first unit about biomolecules, and we are now starting the next unit on prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells.

    Next week is Semana Santa, which is a religious holiday where students get off from school and families spend time together. They usually travel to see extended family, make chipa on Wednesday and don't eat meat on Friday. Then Sunday is Easter. I'm going to go with my family to their grandmother's house in the countryside. My sister said it will probable be boring, but I'm just excited to be going somewhere with my family. My next blog post will be about that. Thanks for reading!