Hats Galore!

Yesterday afternoon, the children gathered in the school hall for the annual Easter hat parade. Last year the theme had been the Paraguayan bicentenary. This year, as the Olympics are being held in UK and it is the Queen's Jubilee, the theme was Great Britain.

The array of hats was amazing. There was no lack of imagination. There were hats from England,

Scotland,

Wales

and Ireland.

The children entered various categories,

The Queen,

Afternoon tea,

The guards,

The Beatles

etc. etc.

They were wonderful.

Not broken, fried, scrambled or boiled.

It is that time of year again when the children think of eggs and chocolate. (It is OK, they will get to the "real meaning" of Easter!)

Unfortunately the planned Easter egg hunt at our Sports Centre had to be replaced with a hunt in the school. We have had torrential rain this week, which left the Sports ground inaccessible.

Undeterred the P.E. staff organized a hunt around school. The children were lined up and given the rules, "No running, don't go here, don't go there....." Of course there was the usual stampede as excitement got the better of them.

Great fun was had by all.


The whistle blew and then the count-up began. You could hear a pin drop.

Finally the worst / best was known...... the Green Team had found the most eggs.

However, nobody was disappointed and they all received a chocolate egg.

Cooler climes at last!

Yesterday we had torrential rain all day.
"So what?" you may ask.
For us it was a real gift from Heaven after a very long, exceedingly hot summer. The weather is a pleasant 18C today. I even had to get my fleece out for the first time this year. Wonderful!
Here are some photos from our local press.

A busy time

The past couple of weeks have been very busy so I have only just got around to trying to update my blog.

Last week we saw the handing over of the flags of Paraguay and then St. Andrew's flag, from the seventh grade students (now in the secondary department) to the 6th grade students. This is always an important ceremony as far as the children are concerned. Speeches for the handover are learned by heart.

I have found myself rushing to grab my lunch this year so that I can be back in the library to oversee students. The weather has been so hot that the library has been very busy at lunchtimes. It is the coolest place in the school. The children all thought that they could treat it like a coffee and chat place to come, but we are enforcing the "Quiet" rule, so I need to be around. The children are enjoying playing chess and reading in the quiet and coolness.

In my classes the children have been listening to Bible stories about Forgiveness. They have really enjoyed the stories and the discussions afterwards have been enlightening. Several shared the pain that they have felt from family break-up and from maltreatment by others. Some shared how forgiving people has led them to peace in their heart. My classes have been quite emotional at times.

 

The children have been working on producing posters of verses about forgiveness, to put around the school in places where others cannot miss seeing them. It has been a valuable exercise.

Today the Primary elections were held for Team Captains. They were run as real elections, with a secret ballot in booths and everybody had to give a fingerprint to prove that they had not voted twice.

The count was overseen by everybody, so there was no "fiddling". Inevitably there was disappointment for some children and their parents and there were a few tears but a prayer and a few words of encouragement for some of them helped.

The latest

This week saw me in the surgeon's office again. This time I took Gwen Carlisle with me for backup!

I was duly examined and to my and Gwen's surprise the decision now is to operate in May. It will mean about a month off work and eight weeks with no lifting. I felt instant relief that I would not be going into hospital this week, but later realised that this just means longer to think about what lies ahead. May the Lord prevent me from thinking too much!

Otherwise it has been a good week, I am feeling a lot better and work has gone well. We even had a day off on Thursday for the Day of the Heroes.

Yesterday the seventh grade handed over the flags of Paraguay and St. Andrew (Scottish flag) to the sixth grade in assembly. It is a ceremony that takes place every year..... sorry, no photos this time as I left my camera at home.

Hospitals, doctors and advice

Hello, I am still recovering from the time that I had in hospital. On Wednesday I spent a really frustrating and upsetting morning, between doctors, with conflicting advice. Finally an agreement was reached, that no operation will be performed until I have healed up from the infection, as that would be too dangerous. I now have to go back in two weeks. It is very difficult going through all this alone. Everybody else is tied up with work, but really I am not alone and Jesus is with me placing the right people at the right time. Please pray for protection for me as I have to make decisions. I have a history of making bad ones.

I am not the only one with problems and now poor Kim, my next door neighbour is really struggling with a sore back. I know how that feels and she is just like me.... you can't keep her down. Please pray for her to be sensible and to rest.

Enough of that!

Now for the positive aspects of our lives here.

Each year the new sixth form tries to out-do the last with their entrance to school. This years group was very enterprising. They found an old, rusty, open top bus somewhere. It did not run. However they worked hard, (keeping everything a secret), and with parental help they painted it red and got it going. To our delight they arrived in it on the first morning, complete with Union Jack. What they were not aware of is that our first whole school project this year is Great Britain, followed by the Olympics. Their entrance was so appropriate and one of the best so far, since they were well-behaved, but had great fun and great taste.

The year started with the usual service in the Cathedral. This year's theme is forgiveness. I will be continuing that theme in the Library as we begin classes. We will be looking at God's Promises for us, but with a particular look at verses about forgiveness.

On the first day there were more parents than children in the First grade, ready for class to begin.

A good piece of news is that our first grade teacher, Raquel Greco has just become engaged. Two lovely Christian people, so we congratulate them.

A long week

It has been a while since I wrote on my blog. I will tell you all the positive things first.

Towards the end of the school holidays I was determined to get away for a complete rest before the onslaught of school again. I decided on a trip back to Santa Maria de Fe by bus, to swing in a hammock reading, to go for long walks and to be fed lovely meals.

Sharon decided to come along. She was not in the same mind as me and she wanted to go about evangelizing. I just wanted to relax. Within two hours I think that the whole village knew her.

It rained quite heavily the first day, so the hammock was not in use. At least the weather was cooled after days of extremely high temperatures. However, we got out with brollies and walked to a local farm.

The rest of the time we went for long walks, as well as swinging in a hammock.

The countryside is beautiful around the village, with undulating hills and pretty streams with wild flowers everywhere. It was such a change from the smog and muck of Asuncion.

On the second evening a troop of howler monkeys came to the square right outside the hotel and we fed them bananas. They were not nervous and came right down to us swinging by their tails and reaching out their hands for bananas.

I spent a couple of days sewing with the ladies in the sewing project workshop. They make pictures of typical Paraguayan scenes and then make articles to sell and send abroad. I made up one of their little pictures with them.

 Then on the last day they came to me in the hotel, having made a purse with my picture and  gave it to me as a gift. They are lovely ladies who talk freely about God and who share the Bible when they are together. However, they are inclined to lapse into the Guarani language so I was a little lost at times as my Paraguayan language is Spanish.


Just before I went there I was told that I have inherited genetic diabetes, like my sister. This was a bit difficult in the hotel so I ordered a salad and some protein most days. Sharon had an interesting breakfast. (Natural vitamins, apparently.)

I never eat lettuce here because it is full of bugs. They therefore gave me raw cabbage with my main meals, which is equally lethal. I did not like to complain as the staff are so kind. The result was a week in hospital.

I came back to Asuncion and my diverticulitis flared up badly. I am now home from hospital but feel very shaky and weak after laying flat out for a week. I am hoping to be back at work in three more days, but have an operation set for a month's time and visits to the surgeon between now and then. It is all a nuisance as I don't like missing work and everbody is extremely busy here so I felt guilty about people having to come miles to visit me at the end of a long day, but when you have been in solitary confinement for days it is so lovely to have visitors. (Cheeky Mags took a photo of me at my best. From thereon in it got worse and I had a drip installed in  my neck.)

 The trouble is that they all make me laugh and next time I will be literally in stitches. I must say that Mags and Gwen and my neighbours the Hickmotts were real troopers last week, bringing me mountains of pears to keep me going. The hospital food was atrocious. I was brought grilled chicken, (which was so dry I could not cut it) and rice five meals running. It is important for me to eat regularly to keep my sugar level, so the surgeon was not pleased when I complained about the food and refused to eat. Breakfast and snacks between meals was four cream crackers. I never want to see another cream cracker! I am not sure how I will survive another week of hospital food. Of course, looking on the bright side, I have lost weight.

I went down to look at the Annexe School when I arrived home from my holiday and it had been finished. It is looking lovely. All it needs now is the computer equipment.

School has now begun  for the staff. The children arrive next Wednesday.

We have a number of ex-pupils on the staff now. Some are teaching in different areas and some are classroom assistants. We even have two who are psychologists and one who acts as a secretary.

All the heads of department met at Mags' and Gwen's before term started.

Finally, this is the first year that I have missed being in the staff photograph, which was taken at a retreat held in the cathedral on the first day of term.