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.
