Dia Mundial del Agua

My first real work in Paraguay!

In celebration of World Water Day, I helped to organize and present three different half-day teacher workshops about the importance of teaching dynamic water activities in the classroom in Paraguay. These workshops were the concluding activities for the thesis work Mandi (the former EE volunteer from my community) did during her Peace Corps service about water education in Paraguay.

The Agenda:
Ice Breaker (o Rompi Hielo)- We played a fun game of what I like to call “pass the coin”. The object of any ice breaker is to get the group active and excited about spending time together. And I believe that this ice breaker does just that. The goal is to stand in a line and pass a coin from person to person in your team until the last person gets the coin. However the way you pass the coin is what makes this one of my favorite ice breakers. In order to pass the coin on to the next person in line, you must first pass the coin underneath all of your clothing until it reaches the floor. Almost everyone freaks out after hearing the rules, especially those in the group that happen to be wearing tight pants that day. However, once the game begins there are lots of laughs and the group is ready to see what is next.

Welcome- A short presentation of who we are, Peace Corps volunteers, and what we were going to do for the day, learn about water activities. We then presented the “how we learn pyramid” or the its really important that we teach students dynamically with hands-on activities.


Water- “Water, water all around and not a drop to drink!”
“The amount of water in the world, both fresh and salt can be represented by a bucket of water. Out of that bucket, only a ¼ of a cup is water that we can access, still both fresh and salt. Out of that ¼ cup of water, only a teaspoon of that is fresh water. From that teaspoon of fresh water only a drop is fresh water that we can drink.”
I presented this information to the teachers using all the materials listed above (bucket, ¼ cup, teaspoon) as visual aids to express the importance of water education in schools.


Sum of all the parts- Imagine that you just received a text message telling you that you have won a riverfront property and an unlimited amount of money to build whatever you like on the land. The riverfront property of your dreams! This was the opening to on of our activities for the day. Each person or group of 2 to 3 people, depending on the size of the group overall, was given a sheet of paper to represent their waterfront property. After 20 to 30 minutes of drawing and discussing with their group mates what their riverfront property dreams are, we gathered all the sheets and assembled them into a river. When all the parts were put together all the group members could observe how upstream development was causing downstream contamination. This activity demonstrated how easily we contaminate our rivers and how that contamination affects all parts of the river.





La tormenta- We then taught the group how to make the sounds of a tormenta (storm) by only using their bodies. While the groups quietly stood in a circle, I walked in front of each participant and began an action such as rubbing my hands together. Once I passed a person they then needed to begin copying my action until I passed in front of them again with a different action. The order of the storm is: rubbing hands together, snapping, clapping out of rhythm, slapping your thighs, stomping your feet, and finally slapping your thighs while stomping your feet. Once everyone is copying the last action, I then began to pass in front of the circle doing the actions in reserve, until my hands were open not making a sound.

Density and surface tension- Our final activity for the workshops was allowing the teachers to get the opportunity to practice teaching one another about a water science property such as density or surface tension. The idea was for them to understand the importance of using hands on activities in the classroom to teach. We divided into two groups and each was given information about their topic and some suggestions of activities they could teach to the other group. While it was a little uncomfortable for some to be teaching their peers, I believe that this final activity put them all to the test to be interactive with their teaching and for some of them this was new material.




Certificates- Probably the most important part of a workshop for teachers, students, community members, etc., is the receiving of the certificates. Every participant gained recognition for 4 hours of additional learning. These hours are accumulated my teachers through out the year by attending workshops and lectures to receive higher pay for the next school year. And you can’t forget the all important group photos.



These workshops were great opportunities to both practice my Spanish skills in front of a large group, and to visit two different cities in Paraguay, Valle Apu’a and Pilar.

Site Presentation and Carnival

So what do these two events have in common?... Not much, besides the fact that both took place in Paraguay and I was present for both of them. However, I thought that some of you out there would like to hear about the random events that filled my last few weeks of summer here in Ayolas, PY.

Site Presentation
The site presentation takes place within the first few months of a volunteer arriving in their community as a manner of presenting the volunteer to the community. The presentations are held within our respective communities and we are encouraged to invite community members that we feel we might potentially work with in the future. Most of the people that attended my presentation were either teachers from the local schools or youth from my environmental group. My boss Eli Cabrera for the Environmental sector and our third year volunteer coordinator Austin came to Ayolas for the evening to give my presentation and check up on how things were going for me in my site. I was very happy with the amount of people who turned out to support me and hear a little bit more about what is Cuerpo de Paz (Peace Corps).











Carnival
Unfortunately this year I was not able to travel to Rio de Janeiro to participate in the huge Carnival celebrations, but I was able to attend Ayolas's version with a few Peace Corps friends. There were 8 of us who spent the hot evening drinking, dancing, and celebrating the night away.

mbo`ehao ha mbo`ehara

(school and teacher)

School has finally started in Paraguay!

Summer vacation finally has come to an end and so have the days of searching for something to do to fill my day. I no longer have to roam the streets looking for people to drink terere with. I now have a place to go. Something to sort of do...

The starting of school has brought about a lot of work opportunities for me. Since I am a second time volunteer in my site, I have found it to be pretty easy to enter the schools and find at least one or two teachers at each school that are interested in working with me. Before the school year began, I headed to all the schools in my area to pass out a short survey to the teachers presenting some possible topics I could work with them to incorporate into their curriculum this year. While I only got a few surveys back, the actual act of handing them out gave me the opportunity to present myself to the schools and meet lots of different teachers. (Now my problem is remembering about 200 different teacher´s names.) As of today, I think that I will have a pretty full schedule of work for the school year. Both of the local primary schools are interested in having a school garden program this year, while the high school teachers are interested in working with me on large community projects within the environmental technical student classes. Even the special education school has plans for incorporating my work into their weekly schedule starting in April (I am most excited to work with them).

While I am excited to work on all the projects/topics that have been presented to me thus far, the challenge is making sure that there is a balance to all my work. While I am here to share my skills and motive teachers and students with my passion for these subjects, I am not here to work alone. This might be one of the hardest things for Paraguayan teachers to understand. When I am in their classroom, it should not be an opportunity for them to leave. I am not their substitute teacher for the hour. The more that I work alongside teachers, the more they will learn and incorporate different strategies into their teaching as well. So my next steps for the following few weeks is to hold some informal meetings with the interested teachers I have met and begin lesson planning together. This is much harder than it sounds due to busy schedules, my still struggling Spanish, holidays, and/or the laziness of the teachers. Vamos a ver entonces. (We will see then)

However, I have found all the students around Ayolas to be very welcoming. The 1st-3rd grades love to stare at me, 4th-6th graders love to ask me random questions about the USA and then run away laughing, 7th-9th graders are a combination of the staring and question asking, while the high school students love asking the personal life questions (how old are you, do you have a boy friend, where do you live, etc.). I have already had the chance to teach in two different high school classrooms about the very important topic of trash decomposition. These two charlas (talks/lessons) gave me a lot more confidence in my language skills and excitement for my work in the schools in the future.

Aaprendese guarni ikatu haguàicha añe`e la gentekuèra ndive.
I want to learn Guaranì to be able to speak with people.


School has not only started for the Paraguayan children, but for me as well. For the past few weeks I have been going to Guaraní school (or my private Guaraní tutoring at a former neighbors house). And I love it! While my Guaraní is still almost none existent, I adore my Guaraní teacher and her family. Profesora Irma is a retired Guaraní teacher that lives two houses down from my third host family´s house (Señor Susana and the granddaughter Camila) here in Ayolas. Her husband is a jokester that enjoys making me say obnoxiously hard words in Guarní and her two kids (Jose 12 and Belen 13) are very mature kids that still love getting into a little bit of mischief.

Irma grew up about 30 minutes north of Ayolas in a small town that has seen about 5 different Peace Corps volunteers in the past 30 years. So she understands a little more about my work here, and about the wacky lifestyles us Americans like to live than the average Paraguayan. I go to their house about three times a week for my tutoring for anywhere from an hour to three (my lesson is usual 45 minutes and the rest of the time I sit around talking with the family). Then after my lesson I usually sit with my old host family and the other neighbors to drink some terere and hear the town gossip. These have been some of my favorite afternoons in Paraguay. And I am looking forward for many more to come.




Those who sow wheat, they prepare for the year;
those who plant trees, they prepare for various years.
Those who teach the youth, they prepare for various future generations.

Summer

So the weather here the past three months has been unbelievable. While most of you know this from other emails or letters I have sent, I thought that it would be important to state it one last time. (Sorry if you all have had enough of hearing about it, but it is a pretty all consuming matter in my life here.) On average I talk about how hot it is here about 20 to 30 times a day with my host family, friends, or random people I run into on the street or in the supermercado. The main reason why it is so unbearable here is because there really is no escaping the heat. When it gets warm in the states we have our refuges of the movie theater, the mall, our air conditioned homes, swimming pools, and lakes or rivers to pass our day away in. Here that is not so. The best you can do is either sit under a ceiling fan or hang out under the shade of a tree while drinking terere. And most of the time if you are doing either activity you are either thinking or talking about how hot it is. However this summer I have been trying to keep myself busy with random little adventures in both Ayolas and Paraguay.


Sonidos de la Tierra
In the early part of February, over 2,000 youth from throughout Paraguay and Northern Argentina, gathered in Ayolas for "Sonidos de la Tierra" or "Sounds of the Earth". Sondios de la Tierra was founded in 2002 by the musician and composer Luis Szaran. Luis Szaran was lucky enough to study composition in Europe after a prominent Paraguayan musician recognized his talent. As the eighth child of a farming family, he was extremely grateful for the opportunity, and he went on to become an internationally known composer and the conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra of Asuncion, Paraguay.

Wishing to return the favor, he founded Sonidos de la Tierra to inspire local towns to form musical ensembles for young people. The organization travels throughout Paraguay during the year with their "conservatory on wheels" to lead workshops for Parguayan youth interested in enhancing their musical abilities. Some of the youth in Paraguay have never seen a violin or harp, let alone have the opportunity to the learn the basics of playing such an instrument. Every year, Sonidos hosts a national music camp that is open to young musicians from all over Paraguay. Children from rich and poor families eat, study and perform music together for one week. Ayolas was lucky enough to host this annual event for Paraguay this year.



For one week, the town was full of youth praticing their instruments by day and performing for the community by night. During the day, the youth were scattered around Ayolas, practicing under mango trees in the town plazas or inside emptied schoolrooms alongside new friends from across the country. While at night they preformed pieces ranging from Motzart and Vivaldi to traditional Paraguayan folk songs. Not only was I am greatly impressed by the advanced level performers, but also by the beginner students that took to the stage to play "Twinkle Twinkle" after just three days of playing the violin.


Itaipu
The previous volunteer in my site created a jovens or young adults (15-29) group called EcoAyolas. The group focuses on raising awareness about environmental issues in the community and exploring the natural environment of Paraguay. So during this summer vacation the group decided to travel to the Itaipu dam, located outside of the Ciudad del Este along the border of Paraguay and Brazil. The Itaipu dam is the worlds largest operational hydroelectric power plant in the world. The group petitioned the dam in early December to receive an all expense paid trip to the dam for the day in early February. And we got it!




At 1am in the morning, the bus arrived in Ayolas to drive the six hour trip to Itaipu. All 37 of us loaded the bus and prepared for the sleepless ride. When we arrived the day started with a bus tour of the dam, followed by a trip to the dam´s museum and zoo. We spent the afternoon at the Refugio Biologico Tatí Yupí where we relaxed in the shaded, took a horse buggy ride, rode horses and enjoyed the view of the Itaipu Lake.


Yes he is texting while driving our horse buggy. Got love technology.

After a rest full afternoon we got back in our tour bus and headed an hour outside of the city to Los Saltos de Monday. These beautiful waterfalls were a refreshing site to visit. While not nearly as big as the famous Iguazu Falls that I hope to visit in the near future, I did enjoy the sights and sounds that the waterfall blessed us with that day.



As the day came to an end we headed back to the Itaipu dam for a second time for the evening light show. Since we arrived a little early with a few hours to kill before the show started, we decided to start an impromptu dance party in front of the visitors center. We even got some other visitors to the dam to join in with us. After the lighting of the dam tour ended, we loaded the bus for one last time and traveled the six hours back to Ayolas. It was a day full of adventures and new friends in Paraguay.





SuperBowl
While most Paraguayans do not understand the complicated rules of fútbol norte americano or football to us from the USA, they do understand the importance of a partido or game. So when Super Bowl Sunday approached, us volunteers in site decided to take the opportunity to cook up some tasty traditional Super Bowl Sunday food and watch the game together. Since we are Peace Corps volunteers, none of us had a TV or the cable connection needed to watch the game at one of our houses, so we took the opportunity to share a little bit of our culture with some local Paraguayan firefighters while we watched the game on their TV in front of the firestation in town.

The game started around 7pm here in Paraguay, so Mandi, David and I, took the afternoon to cook up some chips and salsa, hot pork sausage dogs, an apple salad, and for dessert Mandi prepared buckeyes in saludos to her home state of Ohio. Unfortunately, that Sunday ended up being one of the hottest days in Paraguay, making the food preparation almost unbearable in the 105 degree heat. But the sweating was well worth it in the end. For at the nights end our stomachs were full and we all cheered on the New Orleans Saints to their win.


Olympics
It was only last year I was living a little more than an hour drive away from Vancouver, Canada, the host city for the winter Olympics of 2010. Now I am living over 5,000 miles away...

While I was a little sad during those two weeks of ceremonies and competition seeing all the snow and beauty of the Pacific Northwest, I had a great time watching the games with my host family and neighbors down here in South America. Paraguay did not have any competitors in the games, but Paraguayans still took some interest and luckily I was able to watch a lot of different events. During those two weeks I became the town`s walking Winter Olympics encyclopedia. I was asked to explain many of the rules for the events, where certain countries are located in the world, what language they speak in those countries, and what the hell is curling to at least five different people. I can hardly explain that in English!

My favorite memory I will take from watching these Olympic games will be sitting with my Guaranì teacher for three hours on two different days watching the ladies figure skating. During both of those days I was supposed to be learning more Guaranì, but instead we had a great time watching each routine, commenting on their outfits, country they were from, the choreography of the routine, etc. The best part of all was that it was a Brazilian channel that showed the skating, so everything was in Portuguese!

Next
So with autumn just around the corner, I am going to say that I had a great first summer in Paraguay. While there were definitely challenges in the first few weeks with language, holidays, and new host families, I learned a lot about my community and about myself. While it wasn`t easy and I wouldn`t want to do it again, I did learn more from things being challenging.

Almost all Peace Corps volunteers say that the first three months of service in site are the most uneventful, lonely, and awkward months of service you will ever have during your two years. After three months my calendar is starting to fill up with activities at the schools, I have a handful of close friends and families I can rely on, and as for the awkwardness....that will never change.