October

This past month in Pilar, schools began to compete in a variety of tournaments. Similar to the United States, our soccer, volleyball, basketball, and dance teams competed against other schools. However, here, rather than having an entire season devoted to a sport, they do it all in one or two weeks. I had a great time gathering with friends to cheer on our classmates. "Cheer".. the underestimation of the century... honestly, if anyone has school spirit and the energy to continuously chant, scream, jump, and heavily beat on bass and snare drums all evening for their school, it's people here! My favorite event was the competition of the best fans. Each school had their decorated student/family section in the gym and everyone went crazy with school spirit for a good while. My school won that event, and we had no problem charging the court with our excitement and the gigantic school flag.

Our Mascots for the event of the best fans were from Monster's University.

There's really nothing more beautiful than people uniting for a cause. Paraguay's rich in a togetherness I've never felt anywhere else. That's why I love this country so much.

On Sunday, I went with my family to watch the dance competitions. They had competitions in both Folkloric dance of Paraguay and rhythmic gymnastics. It was super awesome to see a bit of culture and even cooler to see people I know doing it. However, the rhythmic gymnastics were definitely the most exciting part! It was like nothing I've ever seen before. My sister was one of the dancers for our school and I think she made us all really proud. She did such an excellent job and it made me so happy to see her perform, because I know how much she had been practicing over the past month. The group did so well that they won the dance competition! And they totally deserved it. If you have the time I recommend clicking on the link to the video below to get a taste of some of the sweet stuff they did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkuVqPmZ-8I#t=17

On a more serious note, the teachers here are still working for the rights that they deserve. I have been going with my mom every week for three weeks for praying in the Plaza. I hope things can improve for teachers here in Paraguay. Teachers play such an important role everywhere and it hurts me to see them and their families struggling.

-

On Halloween my sister Vivi gave me some candy so I could still take part in my Halloween tradition here in Paraguay.. and I almost thought I would be stuck with a healthy Halloween. ;) Honestly, it made me really happy. 

Tonight I'm going to the Halloween party in town to go dancing with my sister and a family friend. I'm going to be a mime. Surely there will be pictures to follow.

Oh yeah! And I cut my hair short for the first time!

Happy November. My American parents are coming to Paraguay this month, it's the birthday of two of my sisters, and the 30th is my graduation with my classmates, kicking off summer vaykay!
Xoxo