Back to School!

Welcome back! This past month has been full of fun, changes, and excitement, and it's hard to believe I've been in Paraguay for 5 whole months.

At the end of January, I got the chance to spend another long weekend in Encarnacion with my friends, celebrating my friend Sofia's birthday and also Carnival! You may know about the big Carnival celebration in Rio de Janeiro; it's a holiday celebrated all over South America, complete with parades filled with music, floats, and dancers in sparkles and feathers. We scored seats right on the front lines and received cans of shaving cream to spray at each other and the fellow parade-watchers. And on Sofia's actual birthday, Ziggy made us all a delicious dinner of homemade phở. It was such a fun and lovely weekend, and I came back to site ready to be productive.

My English classes continued throughout February and came to a bittersweet close this past Thursday. I threw a little party to celebrate the students and their accomplishments and gave out certificates to all the kids. In Paraguay, certificates are a great way to encourage participation and to let people know that your event is to be taken seriously. The moms of some of my alumnos helped take pictures, pour soda, and make sure everyone had enough to eat. I loved the group of kids and routine of these classes, but I am also excited to have begun teaching in the schools for real! It's surreal that what I came to the Peace Corps to do is finally here.

My friend Jorgelina, with the Little Free Library, organized our first reading club in the community. We prepared snacks for 15+ people, curated a selection of books, and made a lovely reading space in the park across the street from her house. But only 2 members came, one of them Jorgelina's daughter; that's the nature of starting projects from scratch like this. We both had a great day, and hopefully, we can garner more awareness for the next meetings. The aim is to eventually involve environmental themes, with a community tree-planting tentatively planned for May.

Even though the weather would disagree (Paraguay was the hottest spot in all of South America for a few days last week), summer is officially over, and classes began on Monday. These last two weeks, when not teaching English or visiting Ziggy's lovely new house, I was at the schools planning for the school year. The directora of the big elementary school, Digna E., and my official counterpart, is very guapa (meaning handsome/beautiful in most Spanish-speaking countries, but here it means hardworking. I know, confusing). She spent the last year studying in Colombia and returned with big plans and aspirations for the school and for me, which I appreciate. I would rather have strict, clear instructions than wishy-washy, vague ones.

At Digna E., the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders have a teacher who specializes in trabajo y tecnología (TyT) (work/jobs and technology), and part of their curriculum is working in and caring for the school garden (huerta escolar). I am assisting these two profes (one for the morning and one for the afternoon turno), helping to make and plant the huerta, as well as giving an occasional charla (chat/talk) on the theory side of things. But the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders do not have a TyT teacher, so I was asked to lead these grades in the entire huerta-making process—creation, planting, and harvesting—all on my own. To be frank, I feel a little out of my depth, since I do not have a lot of gardening or farming experience, but I am ready to accept the challenge and willing to ask for help when (not if) I need it.

I will be working at the high school (colegio) as well, which in my town is just 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. There, I will also be helping to make the school garden, but with the help of the TyT profe (who also works at Digna E.—que suerte!) and the nearby agricultural boarding school that Owen worked with. He had plans to help the colegio with this project but ran out of time before his service ended. However, since he had already talked to the directoras of both schools, there were some plans for the agricultural school to lend tools, seeds, and expertise to the high school to help them create a huerta. We will be depending on their help since they have the experience and equipment we need. I will begin my work at the colegio the week of March 9th.

Lastly, I have also started working at the smaller elementary school that my host mom is the directora of, called Senavitad. I will, surprise surprise, also be helping all the grades (1st-6th) with the huerta escolar (which thankfully already exists but just needs some cleaning), as well as broader themes of environmental education, recycling, and technology use. So a "normal" week will look like this: Monday at the high school; Tuesday at Digna E. with 4th-6th grade and the TyT teachers; Wednesday at Digna E. with 1st-3rd grade and their "homeroom" teachers; Thursday at Senavitad—2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th grade in the morning and 1st and 5th grade in the afternoon; then Friday off to recover, plan for the week ahead, and grocery shop. Weekends will be flexible for random activities, such as the continuation of the reading club.

The university in Villarrica is still on summer break—the classes I helped with in January were a special-case summer course. The college classes are in the evening, so it will work out to continue helping out whenever they need me when classes resume in March.

So the moral of the story? I am going to be very busy, but I like it that way. I have loved getting to know so many more kids, families, and teachers this week and am so excited to build upon those relationships throughout the year.

And this weekend I will finally be moving into my casita. Stay tuned next month to hear how living alone for the first time ever is going!

Lots and lots of love from me to you. 💚💚💚