Thursday, June 28 – Things are never what they seem to be. I woke up this morning feeling okay. I got in the shower, ate breakfast, and walked to school with my host sister, Maria, and my host brother, Nestor. The sky was gray and a light drizzle began to fall. I don’t know if it’s just me, but the rain makes me gloomy and low-energy. We arrived at school and the thunder began to crackle and roar. I just felt like today was not going to be a good day. I was asked to present my LearnServe Fellows venture to the students to show an example of helping the community, and then we wrote our proposals in our small work groups.
Fast forward to lunch. Every day we all go back home to eat lunch prepared from scratch by my host mother. My host mother is so kind and generous, and it makes my heart melt. We leave quickly because we know it will rain again soon and want to arrive 
at the school before the rain does. After lunch, we visited an artisan, a ceramic artist, to see how she creates her art, her trade, her pottery. Her art, the ceramics, is a family tradition. Paraguayans are so innovative and hardworking. They have so much pride in what they do and that should be a lesson and a reminder for us to also take pride in the work we do. We should not just hand in an assignment or project or venture if it’s just average. We are all creative and special beings, and it’s up to us to dig deep within ourselves to find that creativity and work ethic and use it for good.
When arriving back, we reflected on our day and played games, danced and just had fun. I hadn’t felt like this in a while. Paraguay has made me realize a couple of things – Life can surprise you in crazy ways and a very bad, humble day can turn into one you’ll never forget.
Joy C., Paul Public Charter School