Three Rs Workshop

As you many have notice much of my service has revolved around trash and what to do with it.  One of the projects I am most known for is the tire chair.  Many of the people in my community, long before I was even close to leaving, asked for my chair after I left.  I decided rather than figuring out who to give it to I would teach them how to make their own chairs.  I planned a workshop to teach people about the "Three R's" (reduce, reuse, recycle).  I created a presentation and brought in examples of things I had made from recycled materials, such as a pencil holder form a soda bottle, a bowl from magazines and a few other things.  Also we did an activity to demonstrate how long certain materials take to decompose and everyone was very surprised as how long things plastic, and even paper take to break down.  The municipality donated money so I was able to buy paint and brushes to paint the chairs and also a re-usable bag for each participant. There were 8 participants, which was fewer than I hoped, but it worked out well because I was stressed enough trying to help them get their chairs made, I can't imagine I what I would have done with more people.  

Although my time here in my little town of Moriningo is coming to an end, my time in Paraguay is not.  I have decided to extend my Peace Corps service for another 13 months.  I will be working as the Volunteer coordinator for the environmental sector.  I will be working in the main Peace Corps office in Asunción helping volunteers find resources and being an overall support person for them.  Also I will be helping the environmental sector managers with new site development and visiting current volunteers.  About 70% of the time I will be traveling with them.  I am excited for the change and the opportunity to see more of Paraguay, but not looking forward to another Paraguayan summer.  Fortunately I will have a month of home leave which I am taking in December to escape a little of the heat and get in some much missed skiing and family time.  

So Much Soccer

I am not sure how I managed to live in my community for a year and a half and not go to a local soccer game, but I finally rectified the situation.  There are two club team one is 25 de mayo and the other is 14 de abril.  My neighbors are 14 fans, so by default, I am too.  

I am still getting invited to play with the girls team in Fassardi.  Last weekend we had an away game and I got promoted to foward.  I unfortunately I didn't score any goals, but they tell me we still have quite a few more games to play.

I am not sure if any of you back home were following the World Cup, but here in Paraguay it was a pretty big deal, even though the Paraguayan team didn't qualify.  Unfortunately the teams I was rooting for all lost, but it was still fun to follow the games.  One game in particular was especially exciting because I was at the stadium.  Mexico Vs The Netherlands.  Near the beginning of this year a friend and fellow volunteer, Cara, asked me if I wanted to go Brazil to watch a World Cup game with her.  I was on the fence for a while about it because I knew it would be an expensive trip, but in the end I decided it is a once in a life time experience and after all, it's only money.  I am so glad I went. I was so much fun.  It was the first time I had ever been in a stadium with 67,000 screaming fans. 

We flew into Fortaleza, in northern Brazil, and spent four days there.  On the beach they set up a couple of huge screen and have music and other games.  It's called the FIFA Fan Fest. We watched some games there and others in restaurants.  

On Sunday the 29th we headed to the stadium.  There were free city buses that took people to and from the stadium.  They busses didn't go all the say to the stadium.  I think it is part of the crown control techniques.  We had to walk for about 10 minutes to get to the stadium after getting off the bus.  We weren't sure what lines would be like so we got to the stadium pretty early.  There were no lines and we just walked right in.  We were rooting for Mexico and luckily the majority of the people around us were as well.  Unfortunately Mexico lost because of a questionable penalty (sorry if any of you are Holland fans) but it was still amazing to see them play live.  Our seats were pretty high up in the stadium, but we could see the field and the players surprisingly well. When we left the stadium I thought we would have to wait a while for a bus, but we only waited about five minutes.  They defiantly know what they are doing when it comes to transporting thousands of people.

Yes, we realiza the Mexican flags are wrong on our faces, but they were free so what can we say?

After the game we headed to a little town called Jericoacoara to finish out our trip on the beach.  Jericoacoara is a tourist town surrounded completely by dunes. It is about 290 kilometers (180 miles) from Fortaleza.  The most popular activity in Jericoacoara is to take a dune buggy ride to lagoons and other sites.  The first lagoon we went to was called Lago Paraiso.  We stayed there for a couple of hours lounging in hammocks submerged in the clear blue water and drinking fresh coconut water.  The we headed put again to Pedra Forada which is a big rock with a hole it it.  The dune buggies can't go all the way to the rock so we walked along the beach for about 20 minutes to get to it.  The rest of out days we just relaxed on the beach and watch the World Cup.  It was hard to come back to the cold of Paraguay after 85 degree days. 

I hit the ground running when I got back to Paraguay.  I had to plan the final week of my English class.  I was hoping to have finished before leaving for Brazil, but with so much rain I had to cancel a few classes.  It threatened to rain a few times, but fortunately the rain held off and I was able to wrap things up and give out certificates.  Of the 53 students who came to my class to one point or another I had 16 who only missed one class and took the final exams.  Those 16 received certificates.  Having a certificate of completion here is a very big deal so they were excited to receive them. I planned a small ceremony and all week practiced a song to sing in English.  In my class of older kids no parents showed up and in the class of younger kids only two came.  That's the way things are here.

I Do What I Can

The temperatures have dropped and the rains have begun, which has made it hard to get anything done, but I do what I can between rain storms.  

I have extended my English class to include two classes on Saturdays.  One for kids under 10 years old and one for 11 and up.  It is more popular than I thought.  I have just over 50 students between the two classes. Thankfully they don't all come every week, but they are still a lot to handle.  I have kept it very basic, just teaching vocabulary.  Maybe the next session will be more advanced to include grammar.  I had planned for it to be a six week course, but with the rain it keeps dragging on.  

The school garden had started again.  I wasn't sure it would happen because of all the problems last year.  I didn't know it at the time, but there was a huge fight between the teachers.  They accused each other of stealing vegetables and putting poison on them.  The area supervisor had to come into the school to mediate the problem.  Hopefully this year things will go smoothly.  I am also teaching recycled art again this school year with a few more teachers so that is exciting.  

Unfortunately the soccer team here fell apart.  The coach, who told us he was serious and doesn't do things half heartedly, stopped showing up and the girls lost interest.  On the up side I have been invited to play on the girls team José Fassardi.  They are pretty good, but they aren't so good as passing the ball. They all want to be the one to score the goal.  I sometimes get frustrated about this, but it is still fun to be able to play and use my new snazzy cleats.

My tire chair design has become quite popular.  The environmental department at the Yacyreta dam in Ayolas wanted to put on a recycled art workshop at one of the high schools in town.  They asked a volunteer who lives near there to organize it.  I was invited to teach a session on making tire chairs.  There were about 80 student in total.  We had six different stations the students rotated through.

My host cousin, Sandra, from training, who I have kept in touch with, had a baby  in the beginning of April and I went to visit her in the beginning of May.  I knitted a little hat for the baby and Sandra said she wanted one too.  Since then, she has been calling me with more hat requests.  On rainy days my house converts into a little knitting factory.  

Yesterday I climbed the tallest mountain in Paraguay...again.  The mountain is called Tres Kandu, which I learned yesterday means three knuckles in Guaraní.   The volunteer who lives in the neighboring town of José Fassardi had a Peace Corps trainee visiting for a few days.  They wanted to climb the mountain and they invited me.  Because of all the rain the trail was pretty muddy and a portion of the trail had converted into a stream.  Just as we were leaving the reserve, there was a man leaving his fields for the day in his ox cart and he offered to give us a ride.  I realized that after a year and a half here I still hadn't ridden in an ox cart.  We probably could have walked faster than the cart, but it was a well needed rest and a nice way to relax after the strenuous hike.  

Patron Saint Festival

Every year around the 15th of March is the Patron Saint Festival here in Morinigo.  Every year on the Friday night of the celebration there  is a big concert with many different group performing.  This year there was even more talk about the show because a singer named Marilina would be performing.  She is one of the top pop artists, if not the most popular, in Paraguay.  She was the winner if a reality show called "La Acedemia".  I would describe it as a mix between American Idol and Big Brother.  It was a singing competition and all the contestants lived together in the same house.  I'm not a fan of her music but it is cool to say that I have seen her live. 

Marilina

Oasis

Folkloric Groups

Saturday evening of the festival there was a bull fight and then again on Sunday morning.  After the bull fight there is a horse show.  

On March 25th a friend and fellow volunteer passed away.  He was a member of my training group, we spent this past Thanksgiving together and climbed the tallest mountain in Paraguay together.  He, along with a couple other friends, were planning to come stay with me and climb the mountain in the beginning of April. On April 2nd there was a very nice memorial service held for him at the Peace Corps office in Asunción.  It was a rough couple of weeks getting thought the initial shock of his death but with the support of fellow volunteers we are staying strong. We will all honor him through our service. Here is link to an article about his life and service in Paraguay. http://www.peacecorps.gov/media/forpress/press/2354/

After much refusal I finally agreed to help a teacher with her English class.  When I told her I would help I should have know that I would be teaching the class by myself, but I was hopeful.  We have only had one real class and another partial class, but so far it has been more fun than I thought it would be.  It is only 1/2 hour once a week, which isn't enough time to really learn a language so my plan to make it as active and fun as possible with lots of games and activities.  

They have finally started a girls soccer team here in Moriningo.  The age range is 13 years old to me being the oldest at 26.  We practice Saturdays and Sundays but I have offered to practice during the week with any one who is interested.  We'll see if anyone takes me up on it.  We still need to form an official commission to be able to start fund raising for uniforms, travel and other expenses but so far everybody seems pretty enthusiastic.  Hopefully we can keep up the momentum.

I recently took a day trip to a waterfall that is in a fellow volunteer's site.  There two falls and they have built stairs with hand rails down to the lower falls. Also there are a few benches and even garbage cans which is almos unheard of in here.  Even the Paraguyan I was with was impressed.

Here are a few random pictures that don't have a whole lot of explinication, but I wanted to share them.

The owner replaced the fence around my house.

This is what happens when it rains for three days straight.

My lawn mower.

The Toad Family

My cat has found her new sidekick.