*Gross! I Just kicked a frog.

Well, it's back up near the 100's again, but it's not so bad. That good ol' north wind keeps things warm around here.

So there's this insect here that likes to lay eggs in peoples' feet that they call a pique. It's quite painful, and it actually feels good to dig into your toe to get it out. The only draw back is that there's a small hole where it was. I feel so hard-core!

I walk everywhere here; its about a mile to the community where I spend most of my days with the 11 other crop extention people, and about 2.5 miles to Guarambaré where all 42 of the training group meet. The roads are made of sand and are speckled with flattened, dried frogs. *See title

I also got my mosquito netting this week, which is awesome since now I can sleep in a somewhat naked state and not have to worry about being eaten alive. Plus, its a great place to dry recently cleaned underwear. Rock!

My host sister celebrated her 20th birthday last night and nearly all the crop people came. Birthday parties here consist of a ton of meat, sopa paraguaya, soda, beer, and more meat. Oh, and Cumbia played so loud that you can't have a proper convirsation. But they're pretty fun if you can get away from the speakers. People always dress up for parties.

As far as my studies go, this is the week where they really start pushing us out of our comfort zones, which is what training is all about. Wednesday we travel to Asunción in pairs and have to do a sort of scavenger hunt, then find the Peace Corps office by ourselves. Thursday we have a day of practice which involves working one-on-one with a community member, and this weekend we visit a current Peace Corps volunteer at his or her site. Uuuf! Must. Learn. Guaraní. I don't even get siesta during training.

But! I do like Paraguay. Despite the machismo attitude that manifests itself in weird ways and the lack of trash collection, things make sense here: you want chicken? You go out to your yard and butcher one. Milk? Antonio down the road has a cow, go buy some. Things are simple here.