Second week completed! And a good one overall. Scott had his first week without his predecessor and he came out the other side unscathed. Kiersten and Mackenzie worked on finding activities to keep them busy while daddy was at work. We all are still adjusting to our new life.
This week we received a cold front and some rain, the first rain we've had since we arrived. Nothing too spectacular but it did cool things down. On Wednesday the girls joined Scott at the Embassy for lunch which was a very fun occasion. Now that we live so close to his work we are hoping we can have lunch with him more frequently, perhaps a few times a month? We'll see if M's nap schedule will allow it.
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| Swings at the playground before our lunch with Daddy! |
Kiersten and Mackenzie visited a new park with our sponsor family. Parque de la Salud (Park of Health). There were trees, a playground and a walking/running/biking loop. Most of the loop was gravel with some paved parts so not ideal for jogging with a stroller but walking was fine. We then ate lunch at a nearby bakery called God's Pan. We aren't sure if it means God's cooking pan or God's bread (pan in Spanish means bread). Either way it was a pretty tasty sandwich.
Friday when Scott got home from work (remember, Fridays are half days) we went for a family walk in search of the church building we are technically supposed to go to. We found it and it's much bigger and nicer looking than we thought it would be. It's a Branch and neither of us are comfortable enough in our Spanish to go there so we'll stick with the Moroni Ward near the Temple. There are 6 sets of missionaries (two sets of senior couples and one set of sisters) and at least two other American Embassy families in the Moroni Ward. A lot of Americans and English speakers but it's still all in Spanish which is hard right now but will be great with time and patience.
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| Beautiful weather in this forecast! |
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| The Branch house. Nice, right? |
Church on Sunday was really good. The first Sunday of the month is Fast Sunday in Paraguay too and we could actually understand a few testimonies. When the Americans speak we understand a lot more. We stayed for all three hours and were able to secure a babysitter for this coming Friday night when we are going to attend the Temple. Mackenzie has taken to the people here very quickly which is wonderful. She happily sat from person to person in Relief Society before realizing how tired she was and needed mama.
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| Our wee Bonnie lass with her pig-tails. |
Monday was another day for the books. We've previously mentioned the little market up the road from us and this week Kiersten made it a goal to actually buy something there by herself. Well today she did it! It wasn't scary and yes the cashier spoke to her but she was prepared with her standard response of, "Lo siento. No hablo espanol." and a smile. And she found brown sugar! We'll see how it tastes. Then after dinner we were getting Mackenzie ready for her bath and her diaper and pants (and onesie) was a complete mess! Let's just say the diaper didn't catch everything. Kiersten had to hog-tie carry her into the bathroom so Scott could help clean her up. Good thing she was about to take a bath anyway. No we didn't take a picture (you're welcome) but it was what being a parent is all about. Cleaning up the little bums we love.
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| Clean after the storm. |
It was definitely a busy week and we know there are things we are leaving out (not on purpose). It's a little hard to believe we've only been here a little over two weeks. In some ways it feels like more but we are adjusting slowly but surely. Before we go this week however, we will leave you with the two continuing segments from last week.
Time for our Quirks of Paraguay segment!
- Grocery shopping. In the produce section when you bag your produce you take it to a counter which weighs it and puts a barcode sticker on it so when you check out the cashier just scans everything. It's kind of nice.
- Trash. Almost every house has a wire basket out front which is where you place your garbage. The trash collectors come a few times a week at night (which is pretty smart if you think about it. Less traffic, not as hot.) They also have a specific Christmas tradition we've been told about where they come to your door expecting cider and a fruitcake. If you don't give them something they don't pick up your trash! What they do with these hundreds of bottles of cider and fruitcakes we don't know but we'll update everyone at Christmas time when we hopefully get to experience the gift of the sanitation worker first hand.
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| Trash bins on poles. |
- Sidewalks. Every house has a unique sidewalk in front of their home. Some are really fancy like marble but most are pretty basic with simple tile or stone. Areas of sidewalks with no houses are generally all the same. While this might sound beautiful it really isn't. The sidewalks are inconsistant or holes in some places. And there generally aren't ramps at the curb. Just a really high curb. So Paraguay in this sense is not the most stroller or wheelchair friendly country. It's been a challenge. But we have found the best path to the Embassy with the least amount of curbs to jump so I call that a win.
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| No sidewalk. |
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| Elevated sidewalk to get over the driveway! |
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| A fancy, smooth marble sidewalk. |
- Man-holes. Here they be triangles. See for yourself.
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| Triangle! |
And lastly the Mackenzie Update (we'll come up with a catchier title in another post).
- She is starting to learn how to use utensils like a fork. She eats better when she is independent and since Kiersten has lots of time on her hands and sweeps the kitchen everyday anyway, the mess isn't so bad.
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| Baby Pebbles eating with her fork. |
- Tantrums. These are pretty mild and usually means she is tired. If she doesn't get her way or is tired and we've missed the signs, she'll throw herself down on the floor into a ball. It's adorable but we are trying to keep ourselves in check so she doesn't learn that it's funny because when she's 6 and still doing this, it won't be funny.
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| "I don't want to go to bed I'm so tired!" |
- Pigtails! Mackenzie's hair is getting longer and to prove it, mommy gave her pigtails and it was just about the cutest! She was pretty wiggly so it took some patience on both sides but it was well worth the trouble.
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| Piggies! Yes she is eating the comb. |
And there you have it. Another week in the life of the South American Jacksons. Thanks for your love and support and we'll see you again next week!