President´s Day - training in Paraguay

Today is the beginning of training week #2 with Peace Corps Paraguay! No holiday for us here!

All Monday morning - language class in Guarani. There are just five of us in this class so we are moving right along. Something else you hear a lot of here is Jopara, which is the fusion of Spanish and Guarani. A lot to learn!

I'm in the EEE section, Early Elementary Education. The new school year begins next week; this week we will make our first visit to a local school with which we'll be working during our training. It's a brand new school so we get to help create classroom display materials for grades K-3. To help us with this work we're taking a field trip into the capital, Asuncion, on Thursday. The eight of us in our section have been divided into pairs, and each pair has to get to Asuncion on our own, and complete a "mission" before meeting up with the rest of our group at the Peace Corps office in the afternoon. Here´s my mission:

Your mission is to go to downtown Asuncion. You are to walk from the Cabildo down to the Recova. Many historical and important buildings such as the Catedral, el Palacio Lopez, and the Congreso are on your walk. Your task is to go to the newspaper, Ultima Hora, (Benjamin Constante 658 c/15 de agosto) and meet with Carolina Cuenca to learn about the educational materials they offer through their newspaper. Give the letter from the Director of Virgen de Carmen [that´s the name of the school with which we´re working] to Carolina Cuenca. Request the requisites for schools to apply for materials. Don´t forget to check out the bay area view and artesania in the Recova. There are plenty of places to eat on Calle Palma. The Lido Bar has great empanadas. Good luck!

Please remember to stay in pairs, and that you need to be at the Peace C orps office by 12:30pm.

Stay tuned for how the mission turns out!

p.s. Our education training today was led by two current PC education volunteers here. One of them hails not only from Nebraska, but she lived in my hometown during her high school years... AND she lived right across the street from my family! Demasiado, verdad?