Book Project

This week the children have been busy designing and making posters to promote reading. They have enjoyed the project.

In the library we have had  some new tables and chairs delivered. It has been something of a problem to fit them all in. I jokingly suggested that we should open a coffee shop.

Yesterday our "Writer in residence" (and school adviser) Nelson Aguilera, came to start off the reading project with the children. He was promoting his books. Nelson is very creative and he has a great sense of humour. He shared one of his poems and very soon he had the children captivated and joining in.

 He then did a book signing for the children.

Back to the grind

We have now been back at work for a week. The time has flown by. On Monday the Paraguayan staff had a long day of in-service training from the government. The English teachers had a day of planning and preparation, which eased us in gently. The only hitch was that the Internet was down so we could not do all that we had planned. A tall truck had driven down the road and pulled down the cables. Nothing is fed underground here. Even high power electricity cables are swung from pole to pole precariously.

On Thursday afternoon we had a visit from a local artist, Lucy Yegros. She talked about her work and the work of other local artists. It was all very interesting. The art here can be very childlike and it can be simple, but beautiful.

On Friday we celebrated Friendship day. The staff arrived at school early, before 7.00a.m, for breakfast together.

                                               Here you can see some of the Primary staff.
It was a jolly time and a good start to the day. We were even serenaded with songs of friendship.

Before Friendship Day we all pull a name of a "secret friend" from a box. The custom is to send secret notes to that friend during the week and finally present them with a gift on Friendship day. I received a useful gift of hand and body cream this year, from my secret friend, Clemi, the art teacher. (The water here dries our skin terribly).

The children all arrived excitedly at 8.00a.m, clutching their gifts for their secret Friend. They also brought big bags of sweets to share with their classmates. I joined fourth grade as I was supposed to be teaching a group of them in the library area. The day began with prayers for friends.

They then sat around in a circle with their teachers and in turn they described their secret friend (only good comments allowed!) for everybody to guess the name. Presents were then swapped.  (I had to soft focus the pics, sorry).

It is a lovely occasion. The children are always boisterous afterwards, but my group soon settled to work, (probably after seeing a big bag of lollipops on my desk.) Of course they all received a lollipop at the end of the lesson. (probably something that you would never see done in UK).

Having a bit of "Argie Bargie"

The trip to Argentina was a lovely morning out. We were up at crack of dawn and away by 7.00 a.m in the new school People carrier. First we went to pick up Alberto, his wife and Babs Owen from Roque Alonso. Alberto took over the driving then"'Ere we go,'ere we go, 'ere we go."

 We drove out into the traffic on the main ruta and headed off to the Trans Chaco road. After a quick stop at the toll bridge we soon turned off on the road to Argentina.

It was great to be out in the countryside on the other side of the River Paraguay. Everything is so rustic. The area is known as the Little Chaco. It is part of the Low Chaco area. There were palm trees everywhere and thick thorn bushes.

We saw lots of bird life. There was quite a lot of water around so there were several types of waders and water birds. Also there were lots of birds of prey circling

 overhead. There must be rich picking grounds there, with water rats etc.

The views back to Asuncion were quite impressive,
seeing all the sky scrapers and the Central bank.

Soon we turned off the metalled road that goes to the official border post. We headed for Nanawa and Puerto Elsa on the border of Paraguay. The road was a mud track road that ran for miles. Thankfully the new school bus has good shock absorbers. I have done the journey in a local bus before, packed in like sardines and standing up. It was the bumpiest, shakiest ride I have ever endured here. On the return trip the bus was full of contraband, hidden under the seats.

The sites along the road were wonderful. A "flock?" of goats ran across in front of us.
There were cows in many places, just wandering along untethered and free. There were small ranches with cattle and there were smallholdings and little shacks where the Indigenous Indians live. Some had washing hanging along the fences. I just love the Chaco area.

Eventually we arrived at Puerto Elsa and parked up.

There is no road across the border there. One has to wander through a sleezy market and find one's way across a bridge to the frontier post. One cannot cross on a passport here. You have to be local, with an identity card.
 In fact they did not even look at mine.
We moved through the colourful market on the Argentinean side in Clorinda and hit the main street.

We left Alberto and his wife to wander round the town while we hit the supermarkets. The exchange rate enabled us to save a lot on some of our weekly shop. My special toothpaste was a third less there so three months worth went into my trolley. Cheese is also the best quality and cheaper so we stocked up with cheese for our freezers. On the way back into Paraguay we passed the local dentist's surgery. (Remind me never to get toothache in Puerto Elsa!!!)

We also bought a lot of other things. I saved a lot of my salary. I must remember to go again sometime if the exchange rate stays in our favour. We had a fun trip and we were back by lunchtime.

The only problem left was to find space in my freezer and cupboards for my purchases. I always have fully stocked cupboards and my freezer is always full. However, I have good spatial awareness and I managed to get everything stowed away.
It was then time for a long siesta!!!

Time flies

It has been a while since I wrote up my blog. The main reason is that I have been too busy or too tired, but all good things come to those who wait and now the holidays have arrived!!!

The last few weeks have been full of activity at work. After the Bicentenary celebrations there was the exam period. This was swiftly followed by reprt writing and meetings with parents. There was also Fathers Day. The dads came in for breakfast followed by seeing their little ones perform songs and poems for them. There were a few emotional moments.

Now the holidays are here. The last couple of weeks have been bitterly cold so I decided not to go away. In fact the weather has now turned back to being beautiful. However, rather than rush off I am taking life easy, visiting friends, going out for meals, entertaining a little and tomorrow I am off to Argentina to go shopping. The exchange rate is currently in our favour, so we are on the hunt for bargains.

We have all been following the football Copa de America. What a disappointment this evening. Paraguay were 3-1 up against Venezuela, who fought back and scored two goals in the last three minutes, creating a draw. 
Due to insomnia I have also enjoyed watching the women's football at one in the morning recently. I was disappointed when France beat England on penalties. It was a bit of a brick wall match.

Matthew, Kim, Sam and Ben will be leaving Ireland tomorrow to join us here. We are looking forward to seeing another family out here. They are due here around midday on Friday.

Mother's Day

The official Mother's Day was last Sunday, coinciding with the National Day of Independence. This week the children in the Primary department have been busy finishing off making presents for their Mothers. They have also been busy learning songs and poems.
Yesterday morning the children celebrated. Each grade gave a presentation to their Mums in their classrooms. There were a few tearful Mothers as emotions took over and of course cameras were clicking away, recording the event. After the presentations and receiving of presents the Mums shared snacks and coffee with the children.

A whirlwind weekend of Fiesta

This has been an action-packed Bicentenary of Independence weekend with a continuous programme of events all over the city, ranging from marches, carnival parade, concerts, markets, light projections on buildings, military parades, theatre and spectacle, with a massive fifteen minute firework display last night at midnight. It has been quite amazing.

On Friday night Mags drove us into town in the new school bus..... big mistake! as we hit an enormous traffic jam. However, the Lord led us to a parking spot fairly quickly. It could have been much worse.

From there we walked all over the city looking at the illuminated buildings and what was going on. We were disappointed not to see the President's Palace illuminated and assumed that (in spite of the guards reassurring us that they would come on in a few minutes) there was a problem as there was lots of electricity being used behind the Palace where two enormous stages had been set up in the grounds for concerts.

The Pantheon of the Heroes (where the unknown soldier is buried along with other heroes) was a sight to behold. It has been renovated and repainted in it's original colours. It was illuminated in a loop of colours which made it appear first red, then white, then blue. There were dense crowds there all taking lots of photographs.

The atmosphere within the city was relaxed and very friendly. There had been strong warnings about security on the Thursday evening television news, telling people to be aware of thieves and even worse. In fact there were so many police and soldiers around that the usual sense of being careful almost felt unecessary. Mags carried her big camera around openly, slung around here neck and we did not feel threatened.

We wandered all over the city taking photographs.

Yesterday I walked into town and browsed for about two and a half hours (poor feet!!!). I photographed some of the buildings that we had taken the night before. Here are some of the photos for those of you who know Asuncion. After those I will put some up that have been in the local ABC newspaper.(I am sorry but after three hours I still cannot get the captions in the right places so I have given up.

El Panteon de los heroes

El Cabildo

Casa de la Independencia

Keeping dry on Avda. Mariscal Lopez.

Military Parade in the pouring rain. Nothing was suspended... there was no plan B.

Fireworks over the bay of Asuncion.

A very busy week of celebration.

This has been a busy week with lots of things going on in school and in the city.

In school we had several presentations connected with the history of Paraguay.

On Monday the seventh grade gave a presentation of old machines such as cash registers and old telephones. Each pupil explained what they were displaying and gave a bit of the history. For me "the Golden oldie" there was a bit of nostalgia as I recognized a few things from my youth.

The fourth grade gave a presentation this week too with a wonderful display of dance.

At the beginning of the week it was announced that there would be a national holiday on Saturday, Sunday and Monday to celebrate the Official Bicentenary of Independence from Spain. It was also announced that schools would close on Thursday but that all students were to meet in a recreation park to have a day of fun, educational activities to celebrate the Bicentenary. Our parents were concerned that there would not be enough security for our high profile kids. Consequently we decided not to take the Thursday off but to take the Friday instead, giving us a long weekend and enabling us to attend the first day of the Bicentenary celebrations in the city.

We rounded off the week with a beautiful bicentenary service in the Cathedral. It was packed to standing room only. It had been prepared very thoughtfully and it was a serious occasion. The theme was about God being the carer of the nation. The reading were given in Enxtet, Spanish and English. Bishop Andres from Concepcion gave the address and he began in Guarani. He aimed at the older children and parents and gave an opportunity for people to commit themselves to the lord if they had not already done so.

The school choir and a choir sang some beautiful songs. Then the third graders sang "Paraguay for Christ, Paraguay for God" in Spanish.

Afterwards we all moved out into the grounds to witness children, staff and parents placing their hopes and dreams for Paraguay into a time capsule. This has been interred in a special plinth, upon which an ex-pupil has placed a sculpture of doves of peace. Bishop Andres, Bishop Peter and the head of the school,unveiled a plaque explaining what the plinth is.

Finally, before we broke up for the long weekend, the children all enjoyed panchos (hot-dogs) in their classrooms.