An evening at the theatre

Last night I had a treat. I knew that there was a school dance competition taking place so I decided to go along and add some support. My friends gave me a lift and I was surprised to hear that we would not be going to school. Instead the school had taken over a local theatre.

We arrived late but just in time to find the last seats in the house, right at the back and high up. We had a good view but my poor little camera did battle with the distance, in the extreme lighting conditions, as I tried to capture some photos.

I have never enjoyed a school event so much. The sixth form had arranged everything. The children had been practising for weeks outside school hours so we staff were not involved and we could just sit back and enjoy the performance.
Our comperes for the evening (Kike and Paloma) were excellent and brilliant at improvising when there was a hiccough.

We were told that the competition was called the Brit dance competition but the British theme was only obvious on two occasions, whilst the American influence was very apparent.

The Primary department danced in teams. We have 4 colour teams. Both boys and girls danced.
Yellow team kicked off the compettition with something very original and very creative, an orchestra of dance.

They were followed by the blue team, who had a distinctly British flavour.

The green team gave us an extremely energetic and athletic performance, with basketballs, a human pyramid and somersaults.

The red team was amusing as the muppets.

Every team was so different that it was impossible for me to pick a real winner, but the external judges chose the green team, (much to the Hickmott's, my neighbours, delight).

The secondary teams performed extremely well. Seventh grade had a British theme.

Then followed The Pirates of the Caribbean, complete with a ship on stage. (Aren't parents wonderful when it comes to props and scenery?!)

A Michael Jackson routine had the whole theatre yelling and applauding. It was choreographed beautifully (by Michael Jackson?).

The final act was a total surprise when the sixth form lads appeared, dressed as Power Rangers.

They danced really well and were such good sports. For the first two minutes they stood quite still to give us an opportunity to watch a funny video, in the background, that they had prepared of themselves getting ready for the competition. They obviously had a lot of fun doing it all.

In the end the judges chose the Michael Jackson performance as the secondary winner. It was well deserved.

Welcome to God's family

Last week there was a baptism and seven people were confirmed by the bishop in our English chapel. This week baby Derek was baptised. Pastor Ronnie came over from the Spanish speaking cathedral. He preached a great sermon in English on meekness and its real meaning.

After that he officiated at the baptism of Derek Morgan, the second son of one of our teachers. It was a lovely, relaxed, family service.

I baptise you in the name of..............

I sign you with the sign of the cross.........

When all was over we gathered for a photograph of our chapel congregation...... (Just in time for my deputation visits that will be coming up in UK).

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Mad Mayhem!

Sales mania was abroad in the local market this weekend, with around 10.000 people jostling for purchases on Avenida Francia.
I made the mistake of going there to buy my fruit and vegs. The sales had started at six a.m. I arrived at half nine and the streets were a sea of bodies all buying and selling. Thankfully I had taken my trusty trolley with me. It became a useful weapon when the crowds would not move. A few ankles were rammed but I did apologise and the crowds moved on to get out of my way! It was another Paraguayan experience, although most of the experience came in the Bolivian market quarter. They were practically giving away lovely woollen coats.

 
Large crowds on Francia and in the Bolivian market made the rest of the market seem very civilized.

Knock down prices

                                                                        A snack joint

Cheap Pasta

herbalists

¡Libertad!

The title means freedom or liberty. That is certainly what some of the children seemed to think they had yesterday when we took them to the cinema. I made the mistake of otping for the bus with the naughtiest characters. I will say little more other than for those of you who remember the Fenn Street Gang on TV, it was not unlike an outing with them.

The staff on my bus came back tired and a little hassled, but the kids had had a great afternoon out.

Health and safety in Paraguay? What's that?

Waiting to join the popcorn queue with about 150 other students.

Yum!

The unlucky ones.... no popcorn.

The film.

Demonstrations

There has been a new series of demonstrations in front of the Congress building recently. Last night there was another as "revolucionaries" tried to storm parliament. The riot squad was called out and later water cannons helped to disperse the crowds.

An Unexpected Visitor

This morning the children were very excited in assembly, when our school Sporting mascot, Andy, arrived. Andy is a British lion and he often appears at tournaments to cheer the children on.

Today he had come to silently let them know about a Primary school sports tournament that will be taking place a week on Saturday at our sports ground. We will all be on parade that day.

The children love Andy and some of them ran to hug him, nearly bowling him over.

We have a few competitions coming up. The annual dance competition will take place soon. This is a very serious affair and teams are already practising outside of school, spurred on by parents, who organize rehearsals. Dance is very popular here. This year the secondary pupils are also competing.

Shopaholic's Dream

Life has been manic in Asuncion for the past three days. A one day sale was advertised for last Friday.

There had been one earlier, in Ciudad Del Este in the east of Paraguay. This week it moved west to the capital.

I made the mistake of forgetting about it and decided to nip to the market after work on Friday to leave Saturday free for other things. It took me 45 mins to do a 5 minute journey on the bus.

The market area was packed with traffic and people. Apparently the city centre was also in mayhem.

On Saturday I avoided Asuncion and went to Luque jewellery shopping. I also managed to acquire some new trainers at sale price because the one day event was extended to three days by some stores.

This was the first ever Black Friday in Asuncion. Hopefully lessons were learned so that next time the traffic will be controlled better.