take me home country road....

Well, I am already back in the city after 3 whole weeks in site. The three longest weeks of my life because I have been preparing to go home to the states for the holidays! I don´t know how I did it, and I will probably regret it when I get home, but I managed to fit all of my crap into a backpack that I´m bringing home. There was no way that I was carrying my gigantic rolling suitcase 45 minutes on muddy, sandy road to the bus stop, then hauling that big ass in buses around the city. No thanks. So instead I am bringing a virtually empty backpack home, that I plan to fill up with lots of good food and other goodies to bring back to Paraguay in January. I´ll just have to buy a whole new winter wardrobe for the two weeks that I am home. Daddy will be pleased when he gets the credit card bill, but I´ll already be out of the country, so mom will get in trouble. Anyways, its thursday now. I leave for the states monday evening and arrive in new york 8am tuesday morning, so i´ll be expecting a welcome party. and that means you, with posters and streamers, and balloons and whistles. You may have trouble recognizing me, as now I have a newly acquired double chin, long straggly hair, cracked blistered hands, and even though I have consistently gained weight these last 14 months, my clothes hang off of me like parachutes because of the consistent washing and scrubbing. Just look for the girl whos really tan (you´ll know i´m not one of those fake bakers because of the awful farmer tan lines) , has holes in her dirty ass clothes, and is wearing flip flops (because thats all she knows) in winter in new york.
So tomorrow our new sister group swears in, while our old sister group completes their service. Every year a new agriculture group comes, which means exactly one year from now I will have left my site for good and be preparing to come home forever (or will I?). It makes me sad to think about. I almost cried last night at the neighbors house, while we watching ¨bailando por un sueno¨for the last time this year on their brand new COLOR tele, and while I made chipa guasu with mom for the family to eat for dinner, and to take with me to the city, because I told them how much I was going to miss campo food. delicious fresh corn bread with lots of cheese and oil. Anyway, about sister groups. Tomorrow night is the despidida/swearing in party at some hotel in san bernardino (a city described by lonely planet as the town where the ´elite´paraguayans have their summer homes. I didnt know there were such a thing). It should be a wild time. Then I will have the rest of the weekend to recover and go shopping for christmas gifts to bring back to the states and as much yerba maté I can fit into my suitcase to keep my tereré and maté cravings under control these next couple weeks. Let me know if you would like any souveniours from paraguay. Santa Sara would be happy to bring you a giant clay rooster (a sign of good luck here in my country), your very own disco of all things paraguayan polka, a wooden penis, a bottle opener made out of a baby cows foot, whatever you like. Just let me know.
I suppose I should go shower. You know you are dirty when waiting for the bus, and there are melted popsicles all over the ground, and a child next to you that keeps farting, but still the flies choose to land on you and eat your grime. yeah im pretty nasty, i know. see you at the airport.