Rain, rain go away (preferably to the Chaco).

There are still some areas in the Chaco in need of rain, hence the headline.

At the moment I am resting at home after Mags so generously shared her bugs with me and I now have a bout of bronchitis. This has not been helped by our current spell of cold, wet weather. Some cold fronts have been whistling up from Argentina bringing storms and some torrential rain. Everything is extremely damp. We have had some spectacular rivers running down our street. I eventually dug out my winter quilt and my fleece jackets have been in use as temperatures have plummeted.

We now have the first of a stream of visitors this year. Elaine Hutchinson has returned for a week of holiday, bringing her husband Barry with her. They arrived on Saturday in perfect weather but within 24 hours they were drenched to the skin in a storm. (Fortunately I had spare wet weather gear to lend them but then the weather improved so it was not needed.) They have been surprised by some of the changes that have taken place over the past two years since Elaine left us, not least by the lovely supermarket that we now have nearby.

Last weekend it was Mother’s Day and Paraguayan Independence Day on the Saturday. The children invited their mothers into school on the Friday for a show to express their appreciation of their mums. Of course this included some patriotic national dances.

On Friday most of the Primary staff went off to a conference for Christians in Education. A few of us stayed in school to teach the children.

On Saturday Mags Southern and our P.E. staff went off with a group from 7th to 9th grade to Brazil for a Sports Week. They were all very excited, but I think that most of them did not relish the extremely long bus journey to get there, (something like 24 hours). In spite of Mags’ meticulous administration preparing documents for the border, they still got held up by the Brazilian authorities. However, we heard that they all arrived safely and were settling in.

On Sunday we had a lovely service in the Cathedral. A young girl, Yanin was baptized by pastor Ronnie. It was a very special time. There have been a few new faces in the congregation recently. As it was Pentecost we had a call to get out and evangelize to the poor and hungry on our streets. There are plenty who need to know the Lord's love.

Busy, Busy

Last week we held a Book Week in Primary. In the library I chose books to read to each class. In the classrooms the children made individual books or a class book, depending on age. Bookmaking has always been something that I love to do with the children and we usually begin the year with a bookmaking project.
This month we started an investigative geography project about the difference between the Arctic and Antarctica. The children have been engaged in searching atlases and encyclopaedias for information. The first and second grades loved watching some Utube videos about the Inuit. They drew some lovely pictures which are now on the wall. (teachers in UK note that we have limited backing resources here so no double or triple mounting.)

On Thursday it was Teacher's Day. The staff had an early breakfast together. We were then entertained by the children. This was followed by more food as there were parties in the classrooms, organized by parents. We also recived gifts.

The children went home at lunchtime and the staff were then treated to a delicious lunch, before leaving for a long weekend.

We have been fortunate with the weather. I have been able to get out into my garden, where the Autumnal temperatures are bringing my bougainvillae into flower, but also making the weeds grow, so I had a bit of work to do.