Soccer team at the Independence Day fiesta, celebrating their victory
Enrique and I bundled up at the party (thanks for sending me that coat mom!!)
Enrique rocking the opponents socks off on the field
Our first game...yay!
The inaugural parade, with judges in the foreground
That's right ladies and gentlemen, the humble field workers of Cerrito are SCORING BIG (and I mean BESIDES having a super amazing blonde in their neighborhood, heehee)! "Futbol", ie soccer, is going really well this year. We started out strong, taking second (and therein winning a soccer ball) at the inaugural parade. Then, of the three games we've played, we've won two; the losing game was against the best team in the league and last years champion, so we didn't really expect too much from that one. The best part is, unlike some of the other teams (especially that winning one), we don't recruit any paid players from other parts of the country. All of our boys are Cerrito born-and-bred, and play for the pure joy of it.
Our last game was on Mother's Day, which, in Paraguay, is the 15th, or last Friday, also Independence Day. Also just in time for Mother's Day we had a huge rain. It was a wonderful gift, because we've been without it for two months now, and heading into winter, the dry season, that could be disastrous. After the rain cleared, though, those winter temperatures that we've been evading since the end of March rolled right in. So the Independence Day party Friday night was held in about 40F weather. The party is held in the indoor soccer stadium about 2km from my house, in town, which is basically an uninsulated warehouse. I went, but only under the cozy cover of tights, long johns, wool socks(thanks dad!), sneakers, pants, undershirt, turtle neck, sweater, and ski jacket. I also kept off the chill by dancing away to Paraguayan polka! Good times.
In honor of Mother's Day, I took my host mom to the dentist. Unlike most country Paraguayans, she takes care of her teeth and had kept all of the in her head and white. But last year, her canine broke, and because there was never money to repair it, it has rotted out since then. I finally convinced her to go to town on my wallet, which was quite a big to do; getting a Paraguayan housewife out of the house in the morning (when the dentist is in town) is extremely difficult, because that is when they have the most work to do. The tooth, however, was pulled successfully. I haven't paid yet; the dentist said he found two more he wants to work on, as well. And Enrique is hoping to go, too; he grinds his teeth at night and is wearing them down to a pulp. We'll see how all THAT turns out.
Right now I'm in Asuncion an interview with my boss on work progress/future plans. The weather, strangely enough, warmed up again by Sunday, so we're back to sweating our socks off (sandals are better anyway!) in 75-85F.
By the way, may I remind you all that I will be leaving Paraguay in 7months? (Staying for New Years, mom, sorry...I can't resist just one more 50kilos-of-barbecue event.) Packages are still workable and welcome (dried fruit, chocolate, basic spices, natural peanut butter, homemade granola...I'll take it all!). They average about 2 months to arrive, and the most I've ever had one take was 3, so have no fear. A word of warning, however, to those of you who thought they'd never see me again: BEWARE! Your hour is approaching. Bwahaha!
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