Chilling at the embassy

Embassy Suites hotel that is. Yesterday we were given name tags and had a bit of free time to meet everyone. In total between Paraguay, Brazil, and Chile we have 37 students who are scheduled to leave today. It's amazing how much diversity there is in the people here. There are people from all over the US. This hotel is overnight the second best hotel I've ever been to (second only to The Royal Highland Hotel in Inverness, Scotland). Breakfast this morning was AMAZING! They have a line where you pick your ingredients for omlettes and then hand your choices to the chef. A few minutes later she has your omlette ready to eat along with hot pancakes, sausage, and bacon. They also have a nice little room that is sectioned off as the business center but also comes in handy for things like writing blogs. Unfortunately their work station setup makes it impossible for me to run skype off of my thumb drive.
Right now we have a lot of free time until we leave at 6:30 this evening. Our actual flight is much later but I'm assuming they're giving us extra time to clear security. While the AFS volunteer here (who we call bel) is worrying about getting us out the door and on our 3 respective flights she will also be dealing with the next group of kids coming in who are headed to Panama.
When we get to Santiago, Chile tomorrow morning we will have an 8 hour layover during which we are absolutely forbidden to leave the airport terminal. When we asked what we were supposed to do for 8 hours Bel shruged and said that we would have to entertain ourselves and that AFS does provide us money for lunch.
When we get to Paraguay we'll be staying at the AFS retreat 2 miles outside the captital city Asunción. After our 2 days of orientation we will either be picked up by our host families or be sent on a bus (their equivalent to greyhound) to our respective host cities.
That's about all for now. Post when I can. Next post from either Chile or Paraguay.