Bridge crossed--over a month in site, in service

Yes, it´s true... I´ve now been in my new home for a month, a month full of holidays here. My first full week in site had back-to-back holidays. April 30 is the national ¨Day of the Teacher" (celebrated in the schools the day before so they can have the 30th off), and Paraguay observes Labor Day, like so many other countries around the world, on May 1. The following week I attended two days of teaching training for the educators in my district, which gave me a chance to meet many of the people with whom I´ll be working during these next two years. Mid-month included my official site presentation, which was replete with dance and musical performances by local school children (YES, I WILL publish some photos one of these days!). This event is/was my formal introduction to the community, and was held in the local city hall, with the mayor and other officials in attendance. It was raining cats and dogs before and during much of the ceremony, but my PC program manager said that the rain portends BONANZA for the future, so that´s good! The presentation was held on the eve of another long holiday weekend, for May 14 is Paraguayan Independence Day (1811, so Bicentennial coming up in 2011), and May 15 is Mother´s Day. (The day of the presentation my PC colleagues brought the rest of my belongings from PC headquarters in Asuncion, including a bike to use while here. It has been great to get back on the two-wheeler after a half-year hiatus. I can easily ride to the pueblo when the weather is good, for there´s only one major hill to climb!) During the next week, classes were suspended nationwide for a teacher´s strike, and another day in my area due to rain. (Think ¨rain days" in lieu of snow days!) The month also included my first "VAC meeting." In PC/Paraguay parlance "VAC" stands for Volunteer Area Cluster(I think!). Anyway, there are approximately a dozen-and-a-half of us in Guaira, the state ("departamento") in which I´m located. We met in Villarrica, which I love, and then several of us attended a free Jazz & Blues concert that evening. Gotta love it--Jazz and Blues performed by native Paraguayans, with the lead performer outlining a history of the latter between songs, including mention of how he became introduced to the blues by a Peace Corps volunteer many years ago--woohoo! (Peace Corps´s had volunteers in Paraguay since 1967, and today is the 2nd largest country corps of all PC countries.)

So, with a month like this, I have yet to establish a "typical day" pattern. The school schedule is 7am-11am and 1-5pm, and children go either in the morning or afternoon, not both. Thus far I´ve divided my time between one focus school in my neighborhood, and the District Supervisor´s office in the City Hall. The District Supervisor is eager to tap my librarian background and to have me circulate through the district to deliver library workshops. Before that can happen tho I have a lot of observing to do, and am also working directly with the librarian at my focus school to reorganize the collection. Meanwhile, not a day goes by that I don´t add yet another raw material to my ¨didactic materials ingredient warehouse¨--nearly every receptacle of everything I consume is cleaned and designated for a new purpose: plastic bottles will be cut and used to store "tapitas" (bottle caps of all colors) to help teach colors and numbers; cereal boxes will be saved to use the carton for flash cards; milk, yogurt and juice cartons will be used in a myriad of ways. Nothing like not having any garbage removal service to make you REALLY proactive about dealing with your carbon footprint!

My neighborhood, I love it! I´m in what´s known as a "compania," a rural village with 300-500 inhabitants, which is located just a few miles from a pueblo that has appromixately 5000 people.
I live on a dirt road on which oxcarts go by every day, including one with the fresh milk peddler. Cows graze in a verdant pasture framed by soft hills across the street, while a paved highway with frequent bus service is just 500 meters away. For my taste, it´s a perfect blend of the bucolic with modern convenience. I have a lot to learn from my neighbors, like next-door neighbor Justina, an 84-year widow who weaves cotton and woolen blankets outside on her hand-made loom most days, and her daughter Martina, one house over, who milks all the cows I view across the road. My host "mom" Estela and her 3-year old daughter Angeles are dynamic and fun, and many members of Estela´s family, e.g. grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, sister, mother, live along the same road. Invitations to stop by for terere http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terer%C3%A9
are plentiful, and it´s essential to share in this activity to get acquainted with the community. I am so very glad to be here...it just feels so right in every way...hasta la proxima!