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.

Terremoto in the library

Last week we had excitement in the library when a hump appeared in the floor. Was it a hippo making it's way up from the swimming pool below?

The hump continued to grow until Alberto our head of maintenance (a big lad!) jumped on the hump. There was a loud shattering noise as all the tiles broke. This led to the closure of the library for a day, whilst the maintenance guys dug up and removed a large chunk of the floor.

Apparently gas had built up under the tiles and as it expanded in the heat it had caused a problem.

Meanwhile runour spread around the school like wildfire and we soon had little noses poking around the door asking to see the "earthquake". We had a good laugh.

The area affected was quite large and it is not possible to repair it all until the holidays in July as the entire floor needs to be relaid.The result has been that we have acquired some nice carpet to cover the uneven floor to make it safer for the children and to enable library life to continue as usual. It has added a certain "warmth" to the library.

On Thursday afternoon there was great excitement in the Primary department as the children participated in the annual egg hunt followed by The Easter hat parade. AS usual there was an amazing array of creations.

After a week of working on a whole school project on our responsibility for the environment, the Primary children gave their presentations. There was a wide range of work in both Spanish and English ranging from recycling, to looking after animals, to the greenhouse effect and global warming.

Finally the entire school attended our Easter service in the cathedral. It was a wonderful time of praise, worship, prayer, teaching and reflection. Babs Owen did a spot, involving the Primary children and Bishop Peter preached the Easter message. The main focus was on the resurrection.

A busy week

This has been a busy week with more to come.
On Monday we saw the handing over of the school and the National flags by secondary pupils to the Primary head boy and head girl. The children are encouraged to be very patriotic in Paragauy.

On Tuesday the Team captains and Vice-team captains were presented with their special badges. They are of course very proud of them. Throughout the year the captains are called upon to organize their teams throughout Primary as they take part in various events. It is a good lesson in responsibility.

Yesterday afternoon the secondary pupils had a great time racing around the school on a sort of Easter treasure hunt, organized by the oldest pupils.

Tomorrow the Primary department will have their annual hat Parade for Easter. They have been busy preparing their weird and wonderful creations this week.

This week is also Responsibility week. The whole school is taking part in a project about protecting the environment, with work ranging from Global Warming to looking after butterflies, ants etc. in the classroom.

Our final Easter a service will be held in the Cathedral on Friday. The children will then have a half day while the staff have an afternoon of in-service training.

Cabanas to be replaced

Important news this week for Paraguay............The coach of the Paraguayan Football team announced a replacement for Salvador Cabanas, who was shot in the head in January. Cabanas has made terrific progress recovering and he is now in a rehabilitation centre. However, he will not be well enough to participate in the World Cup. His replacement will be Benfica striker Oscar Cardozo, who has been having a great season in Portugal.

Elections

Today the children in the Primary department are excited. We have the elections for team and vice team captains. (red, blue, yellow and green teams.)
This morning the candidates made their campaign speeches. Some were longer than others and some were amusing but they were all full of promise. (Politics are a big part of life here in Paraguay.)

This afternoon the children will vote in a secret ballot.

As you may imagine it has been difficult to keep them all focussed on their work today!