Paraguay`s special year of celebration drew to a chose this month. There were more firecrackers set off than ever before, I'm certain. Here are some photos of images painted on the wall surrounding the local public high school in Villarrica, produced by students. The second image, representing "forjadores" weaves some of Paraguay`s leading patriots into its flag.

The third shot shows the shape of Paraguay painted with the flag`s

colors, "We believe in you Paraguay."

These last two photos, specific to Villarrica.

With this month's post I would like to honor fellow Peace Corps Volunteer Emily Balog. Emily lost her life the Sunday after Thanksgiving in an automobile accident. While I did not know Emily well--she was in a different training group, working as a Community Education Volunteer--I did know her, and enjoyed her sunny disposition. Emily also kept a great blog, "Oh, by the 'Guay...Emily's Intrepid Adventures in Peace Corps Paraguay"--and I link to it here so you can get a glimpse of this exceptional volunteer.

http://paraguayemily.wordpress.com/

The Peace Corps paid tribute to Emily with this news release published the day after her death:

http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.media.press.view&news_id=1921

The volunteers in her training group, G33, put together an incredible memorial service for her within 48 hours of learning the tragic news. Unfortunately I was unable to get to Asuncion for the event, but another volunteer who did wrote about it on her blog:

http://brittanygoesglobal.com/2011/11/30/emily-balogs-amazing-memorial-service/

I was able to attend a Mass held for Emily in her Paraguayan pueblo, Valenzuela, and meet some of the folks whose lives she touched with her service.

Peace Corps Paraguay staff and volunteers, you are all wonderful! Thank you for showing your love and devotion to Emily, to one another. Each one of you are very special and Emily is surely smiling down on all of us. God bless you, and God bless Emily's family in North Carolina. To her parents, thank you for the beautiful letter you sent to volunteers. I include here some excerpts from the Balog's note to us:

My Dearest Peace Corps Volunteers,

Steve and I are so very grateful to you for being family for Emily in Paraguay

--and around the world. She saw in you the person she wanted to grow up to be.

Emily was by far, the happiest she had ever been serving with you in South

America. All of the hard work of a new language, a new culture and a new life

brought out the very best of who Emily was to us....

Most of all, you honor the memory of Emily Balog by your sincere gift of service

to others. Please read that sentence again. You have made a wonderful, life

changing decision to serve in the Peace Corps. You are brave and courageous

and I love you all for your spirit of giving. You will change the world, one

community at a time - one project at a time - one person at a time...

We love you all,

Steve and Susan Balog

Emily's spirit of giving will live on here in Paraguay. 300 mango trees were provided to Peace Corps volunteers to plant in their communities, to create "Emily's Forest." The mango tree was chosen because when once asked what was her favorite fruit, Emily named the mango.

Peace Corps Paraguay, in coming together through this tragedy, has proven that the Peace Corps esprit de corps is incredibly strong, and indeed makes one feel part of the "Peace Corps family."

Peace,

Denise

The beginning of the final quarter of this year found me back in the United States, enjoying my one-month home leave that comes with a full third year of service with the Peace Corps. I chose to take leave from mid-September through mid-October for many reasons, including the chance to a) experience a real autumn once again, including the annual Applejack Festival in my hometown, and b)celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps with throngs of other PC folks during the last week of September in Washington, D.C. The trip was charmed from beginning to end, and thank you to all my family and friends who helped make it so. It brought home to me more than ever that all of life is a journey, and each day is a journey in and of itself. I packed so many memories into that one month that I can't begin to do them justice here, but I will have the memories in my mind for a lifetime. Meanwhile, here's just a partial list to share some highlights of the special sojourn:

-Applejack Festival in Nebraska City, Nebraska, also home of Arbor Day

-Peace Corps 50th Anniversary events in Washington D.C., Sept 22-25

-PC Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill, PC Anniversary Gala + Dance,

-PC Memorial Service at Arlington National Cemetery, Parade of Flags from the cemetery to the Lincoln Memorial

(Bonus: The National Book Festival was held on the National Mall during this same weekend - so I was in hog heaven!!!)

-New York City area - visited oldest nephew at college and dined with dear friends in Manhattan

-Boston/Brookline - barely in the Beantown area 48 hours, dined with galpals in Brookline and visited my friends at the Literacy Connection. (Sorry I didn't have more time to see more of you--next year when I'm back in the States for good!)

-D.C. again (home base during my East Coast swing, special thanks to MB!) - back in time for a special screening of Emilio Estevez's and Martin Sheen's latest movie The Way . (I was able to attend thanks to my dear friend Carmen Estevez, who invited me to join in seeing the "family film" and also join the Q&A and reception following.) SEE THIS MOVIE, about how life is indeed a journey! Also visited the Pentagon's 9/11 Memorial and the MLK Jr. Memorial

-First Monday in October--sat in on part of the Supreme Court's first day in session

-Nebraska Library Conference - donated some Paraguayan nanduti to the conference's silent auction, and whizzed through the exhibits to bring back freebies for our next library workshop

-Road trip to Lawrence, Kansas with sisters to visit our oldest niece who is a freshman at KU

-Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska on a home football Saturday--witnessed the Huskers first Big 10 conference home game, a brilliant victory over Ohio State.

-One relatively quiet week in lovely hometown, including a trip to high school alma mater to speak to a Spanish class, a meeting at the local library to give letters to kids from their Paraguayan pen pals, sitting in on a local book club discussion, walks through Arbor Lodge State Park with my mom, and drives through the neighboring countryside. It was good to have some time to just be....to count my blessings, to reflect...Aaah, my view of the harvest moon on Thursday, October 13, while seated in an adirondack chair on the terrace of the Lied Lodge...emblazoned in my memory bank for eternity. How I love my hometown, especially in the fall!

Again, this partial sketch doesn't capture the full essence of the trip, which again, was simply a GREAT MONTH, from beginning to end. I enjoyed all the time I had to spend with friends and family, yet there's never enough time to see and do everything you'd like. To all of you I didn't get to see during this whirlwind, there's always next year! I was very humbled by this dream trip, and feel more blessed than ever.

It's still springtime in Paraguay, so the switch from spring from fall to spring again has been pretty comfortable. I was back in time to share in a belated celebration of Paraguay's National Day of the Librarian, observed on Oct. 16. My Japanese friend Yoshiko, founder of the Fundacion Biblioteca Maximilian Freundorfer in Asuncion, invited me to lunch with her board and volunteers, after which we went to her library where I gave on talk on PC Volunteer library projects in this country. Now I'm back in Villarrica. I brought back Halloween treats from the States for the kids at the Cultural Center--how many pounds of candy corn must have been in my suitcase?!

I LOVE, absolutely LOVE postcards. I love writing them, receiving them, and collecting them. Unfortunately, I don't think most of us are writing or receiving as many of them as we once did, before digital images became so ubiquitous. I have tried to send real, physical post-cards from Paraguay to many of you during my time here, many of them mailed by fellow Peace Corps Volunteers travelling home to cut down on the postage expense. (Thank you PCVs!)

Here are just a couple examples of some cards that have made it back to the States. I realize the resolution is not perfect on these renderings since I merely took a photo of postcards, rather than scanning them. If you really want to see more, a mere "postcards from Paraguay" search on your browser of choice will bring up more than you'll have time to look at!

1) I took a picture of these school children in November 2009, and the image was one of several selected amongst PCV Paraguay photos to be printed for postcards. (I only had two sets of alphabet flashcards with me the day of the picture; hence, we had to improvise with Paraguay's third "a".)

2)This postcard (which should appear horizontally, but can't figure out how to change it for now) shows an example of some ñanduti craftwork. The word ñanduti comes from Guarani, Paraguay's indigenous language, and means "spider-web lace." It is one of my favorite types of artesania here. I found a woman to make bookmarks for me, since as a librarian I always love to give unusual bookmarks as gifts. Below the postcard are photos of Reina, a Paraguayan who works at this craft, and a close-up photo of some of the latest bookmarks she's made for me.








































Some friends have used these bookmarks as bracelets too!

The highlight of this month took place towards its end. For over 50 years in Paraguay its citizens have embraced the celebration of Friendship Day, El Dia de la Amistad. In the past year a group of determined Paraguayans advocated for the designation of an international friendship day, and their efforts were not in vain. On April 27th of this year the General Assembly of the United Nations declared July 30th as official International Friendship Day.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39199&Cr=Secretary-General&Cr1

In the words of the UN's Secretary-General, may our "old friendships flourish and new ones [be] made."

So, the highlight of my Paraguayan experience this month was that on July 30, the first official International Friendship Day, I was able to share in an international wedding made possible by international friendship. Paraguayan señorita Amada married Mr. James Durmisov from Australia in Villarrica's cathedral, with the ceremony presided by the Archbishop. The couple met last October when Amada and I went to lunch at a German restaurant here in Villarrica. James was dining with another Peace Corps volunteer who also lives in Guaira. We proceeded to introduce our friends to one another, and the rest, as it's said, is history. James had moved from Australia to Paraguay just two months earlier, and was exploring the capital of Guaira on his first trip to the city. Now Villarrica is home for these newlyweds, brought together by Peace Corps volunteers serving here. They will soon be building a house, and plan to include a rental apartment on the grounds--first priority for possible tenants given to volunteers, be they North American, Korean, or Japanese!

Viva la amistad, viva! One of my favorite quotations ever is from Shakespeare, (Richard II to be exact),

I count myself in nothing else so happy

As in a soul remembering my good friends.

And that is never more true than when one finds oneself physically distant from many friends. Facebook may connect you with friends around the world digitally, but in my book there is nothing like the one-on-one, face-to-face sharing with other people. Such encounters create richer, more contextual memories which your soul can resurrect again and again. How often do we recall the intricacies of online exchanges? So, my dear friends I close by invoking the good ol' Girl Scout song, ""Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold."

May we all continue to be blessed with friendship, both in person and online, especially cherishing the meaningful connections we make with other human beings every day eye-to-eye.

First just let me say that although this is now my THIRD winter in Paraguay I don't think I will ever get used to feeling so cold in June, especially indoors. Couple that with knowing that most of you reading this are in the throes of summertime does make it extra challenging to keep the sunnyside up every day! Aahh, this too shall pass. Just picture me sleeping with multilayers of clothing, including a couple pairs of socks and my hat! Amongst volunteers we exchange antidotes about how much time passes between complete bathing sessions since it's so darn cold! An upside is that on a sunny day you can get some relief by sitting outside and soaking up the big star's warmth while you remain bundled up.

This is my first full month as a resident of Villarrica, and I am really enjoying becoming a part of this little town, the capital of the state (referred to as "departamento" here) of Guaira, the smallest state in Paraguay following the Central department that includes Asuncion. It may be small in size, but it's definitely big on cultural heritage and pride. Here is the entry you will find for it on Wikipedia,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guair%C3%A1_Department

The English needs some polishing, perhaps I can try to contribute to the entry during this next year. Would be a good exercise to do with some of the students studying English here, verdad? Among other things, the area prides itself on being a cradle of harpdom, hosting a major harp festival each year. Here's a local practicing on the street:

My Villarrica routine includes living with a new host family. I've been blessed with another warm and wonderful one, thanks to my friend Amada. Sully and her husband Kamba oversee a three-generation household. Sully is a retired educator, and yet she's not even 50. Full of energy and activities. Kamba has his own auto-repair shop, located within a block of the house, so he comes home for lunch everyday, the main meal. Lunch with this family is one of the favorite parts of my day, for you never know who will be joining us around the table. One of Kamba's employees, a coworker of their daughter Paula, a teacher like her mother, the family of their adopted daughter who live in a nearby pueblo. Sully and Kamba's other child, 16-yr. old Pedro, usually can't join us for lunch due to his school's schedule. Sully's father usually pops in toward the end of the meal to say hello. And yes, there is a grandchild/son, Josue, who turned two in May.

When not home I'm usually at the CCPA, the acronym for the Centro Cultural Paraguayo Americano, a binational cultural center where English classes are offered, and where there is a library, full of books both in English and Spanish. My mission here is to get the library organized, classified, lending books....stay tuned!

http://wwww.villarrica.gov.py/

Villarrica's City Hall festively festooned for Bicentennial

(and for Villarrica's 441st birthday!)

May 2011 was a marvelous month to be in Paraguay! Its Bicentennial is all year, but the peak of activity centered around the weekend of May 14-15, its actual dates of independence from Spain in 1811. For those of us in Peace Corps Paraguay the month's celebrations were extra special since the Director of the Peace Corps, Aaron Williams, came here as the official head of the U.S. Presidential Delegation for the Bicentennial events. There was a reception at our Peace Corps office during one of the major parades held in the capital; yes, we could hear the parade while we met since it was marching through the neighborhood. (The Peace Corps office is right off one of Asuncion's main streets, Mariscal Lopez.) It was really inspiring to meet the agency's director in person and listen to him talk about the Peace Corps' past, present and future. Dir. Williams was a volunteer too, an education volunteer in the Dominican Republic. There were approximately 50 volunteers in attendance, and he asked each of us to stand up to give our name, hometown/state and our sector. He made comments and connections while actively listening to us. He later met with a smaller group of volunteers and asked us to bring up anything we wanted; his only agenda was to listen. A very refreshing encounter, and it made me even more proud to be a part of the Peace Corps. Thank you Director Williams!

I also travelled to the capital for another Bicentennial event hosted by the Ministry of Education (MEC). It was a state-fair-like atmosphere (just without livestock); teachers and students were bussed in from all over the country. I rode there and back on a chartered bus full of folks from Troche, the majority of whom were wearing their Paraguayan soccer jerseys, the red-and-white "albirroja" shirts. Upon entering the event grounds, MEC personnel encouraged people to sign a red-white-and-blue cloth spread alongst numerous tables, a Paraguayan flag that would be displayed at a later date with all of our signatures. Peace Corps volunteers staffed a small booth to do free face-paintings, always a popular offering. Troche residents even brought along a cassava tree and cassavas to give demonstrations of converting the cassava to flour, known here as "almidon," a key ingredient in many typical Paraguayan dishes such as chipa and mbeju.

And of course most localities had their own versions of Bicentennial celebration, including student parades, concerts, dances. The photo shows Beta wearing her school uniform-- the sash denotes her as a honor student--and Nico is dressed as Dr. Francia, one of Paraguay's most famous rulers following independence. One evening's cultural event included typical Paraguayan dancing, complete with a bottle dancer or two. Women dance with up to a dozen wine bottles stacked on their heads. Yes, you have to see it to believe it!





































May also included taking my dear Paraguayan friend Amada to a project design management workshop for a couple of days. This is one of the examples of Peace Corps in-service training that includes taking someone from your community to participate, to provide training to host-country nationals. Each pair of volunteers/community counterparts chooses a project with which to focus while we work through the cycle of project design. Our project is the library at the Centro Cultural Paraguayo Americano in Villarrica; to make it more functional and become a lending library.

Another side trip took me to a fellow volunteer's site to help her with a library workshop at her school. She's a crop extensionist volunteer so she lives out in the campo, a very different experience from my more pseudo-urban existence. She also happens to be a librarian so we had a lot of fun. It's always interesting to see other volunteer sites, no two assignments are alike!

May 2011's been a time of total transition, with one foot in my initial assignment in Troche, and the other foot stepping into the 3rd year location of Villarrica. Fortunately the two places are relatively near one another, approximately 25 miles, so that made it feasible to make a gradual move this month, especially with all the Bicentennial stuff going on. Fortunately no one is moving into my room at Dona Lilli's so I moved out little by little. Dona Lilli's birthday was this month too, and she really wanted me around for the celebration. Here are the kids showing the home-made birthday cards we made for their grandmother:






















When I arrived at the house from Villarrica to bring "birthday breakfast" the kids wanted to retrieve her cards from my room at once. We practiced "Happy Birthday" one more time in English, and then delivered cards and song to their abuela. They were so proud of their creations and their English singing, and I was proud of them too! I will really miss these little people while adapting to a new family in Villarrica, and plan to visit them at least once a week.

By month's end I have just about everything in Villarrica. Thankfully there is room at the Centro Cultural Paraguayo Americano ("CCPA")--the binational cultural center where I'm based for my extension--for me to set up shop with all my materials, much like I did at Dona Lilli's with my "aula'i'," aka little classroom.

May was jam-packed until its very last hour. One more trip to Asuncion for a two-day workshop sponsored by MEC at the country's book fair. I helped out a couple education volunteers to deliver reading promotion sessions, including one on Reader's Theatre. While in Asuncion I received a call from my friend Amada (mentioned earlier as the person I took to the Peace Corps workshop), to let me know she just got engaged to a person she met eight months ago thanks to me and another volunteer! I travelled back to Villarrica the next day to join Amada and other folks from the CCPA for a working dinner with folks from CCPA-Asuncion and the embassy, including the RELO (Regional English Language Officer) Dr. Lisa Morgan, (based at the embassy in Santiago, Chile), who happens to be a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. The next day, May 31st, I accompanied the embassy representative and Dr. Morgan to a couple of schools in Villarrica so she could observe English teaching in action. At one of the schools the students had all made little American flags to welcome us.

Whew...here's to the marvelous month of May 2011, and to all you marvelous mothers out there, in the US, in Paraguay...everywhere. Vivan las madres, vivan!

Whew, what a whirlwind 30 days! The month began for me in COLOMBIA, my first visit to the northern South American country. A dear friend, MB, was celebrating her 50th birthday in Cartagena, on Colombia's coast, where she'd arranged for friends to share a nine-bedroom house with her during her birthday week. MB and I have known each other since our au pair days in Madrid many many moons ago, and it was pure joy to get to join her for such a milestone bday in such an incredible venue. It was a gift for all of us present to meet her other friends, and we're all now blessed with a new group of amigas.

The Colombian sojourn was bookended with time in Bogota too, where I spent two nights upon arrival to the country, and one night prior to departure. Once again I could make a cherished connection with an old friend, Ricardo. We met 15 years ago in Boston while I was volunteering at the Boston Public Library, teaching English. We laughed as we recalled how I then helped Ricardo to send his very first email. He was a gracious host, pleased that I finally made it to his country, and that he could put me up in "Hotel Ricardo." (His apartment thus christened by other Peace Corps Volunteers I've sent his way as they travel in the area; the first ones to stay with Ricardo gave him a guest book, dedicating it to him and "Hotel Ricardo.")

Once back in Paraguay I went to the PC training center for one day to present to trainees, and then attended a two-day national workshop in Asuncion organized by the Ministry of Education, on the "National Reading Plan." I attended with a fellow education volunteer, with the hope that we will be presenting at a follow-up workshop, together with other volunteers.

April 14 is Day of the Americas, did you know that? I never did until living here. It's observed in many schools, and I mentioned in last year's April post:

http://deniseinparaguay.blogspot.com/2010/04/aprilmany-special-days-including-arbor.html

Well, this year I thought I was ready to participate more fully. I had my Stars and Stripes in hand, and when it was my turn to get in front of the assembly, I proudly waved the grand ol' flag. I planned on just saying a few words, but then it occurred to me that I should belt out our national anthem, right? Now mind you, I'm no soloist, but I can usually carry a tune, so I figured what the heck, swallow your pride...."Oooh-h-h say can you see...."...can't recall now just how far I got before I drew a complete blank on the lyrics...so I just winged it without missing a beat. I mean, not a person in the crowd knew enough English to know the difference, and it turned out just fine. I was just flabbergasted that I could no longer remember all the words to my own national anthem, being that it's been a while since I've heard it sung in its entirety!

April 15 it was back to Asuncion for "NVAC weekend." NVAC is the PC Paraguay acronym for National Volunteer Advisory Committee. The weekend included a library committee meeting, my final one as chair since we held elections for new officers. I'll of course remain active with the group, but it felt good to pass on the leadership baton. NVAC weekend also includes a concert organized by volunteers, held in a local pub. It's known as "AHENDU," which is Guarani for listen. It's a chance for both volunteers and Paraguayans to share musical talents, and is really a great cross-cultural event.

Before the month was over I had to make one more trip to Asuncion (crazy month!) in order to join my fellow G29 volunteers for the Close of Service ceremony. Yes, the majority of folks with whom I arrived back in February of 2009 are now finished with this stage of Peace Corps connection, and are moving on to life's next chapters. Everyone received certificates and PC lapel pins that have both the US and Paraguayan flags placed above the PC logo. Bittersweet to bid farewell to so many neat people, but know our paths will cross in many ways in RPCV land.

Holy Week...tranquila in Troche, savoring the chance to stay still for several days, and just enjoy the family, the relaxed pace, and time for spiritual reflection while reading E.L. Doctorow's City of God.

Like last year, the month ended with another celebration, National Teacher's Day. I celebrated with both of my work groups in Troche, the Supervision team at City Hall, and the San Pascual teachers at the Principal's house. Both events doubled as pseudo-farewell occasions for me, since I will be moving on to Villarrica over the next couple weeks. I insisted on not having any official "despedidas" (good-bye events) occasions since I will still be nearby and plan to visit Troche at least a couple times a month. I actually spent the month's final hours in Villarrica. I had my English conversation class at the CCPA (Centro Cultural Paraguayo Americano, the place where I'll be based during my extension. After class the center's administration held a teacher's day celebration for all its teachers, which wound up being lunch since it was almost noon and they served us all kinds of delicious savory treats. I stayed overnite at my friend Amada's house (she is the Academic Coordinator at the CCPA) so I could join in a birthday celebration for our Australian friend James.

So, I did manage to get some work accomplished this April, even if the month both began and ended with big birthday bashes, with other fetes sprinked inbetween. By the time I post May's entry I should be fully settled in Villarrica...si Dios quiere, y la Virgen!

Yes, it's now 100% official, your's truly will be serving one more year in Paraguay! I learned of the decision in a very special way too. This month included our library workshop, March 11-12. We were delighted when the US Ambassador accepted our invitation to attend the event to give the welcome and opening remarks. Our country director, Don Clark, was there to introduce the diplomat. Before he turned the podium over to the Ambassador, he included thanks to volunteers for putting together the workshop, naming me and my colleague Marissa, the workshop coordinator, specifically...and to the thanks he added something like, "...and Denise, it's now official, we just heard from Washington that your extension has been approved, so you will be in Paraguay another year, congratulations!" I was standing in the back of the room, and couldn't help but let out a bit of a spontaneous shriek. What a sweet way to learn the news, at an event that represents the essence of my work here...as good as it gets!

Getting the extension means I can take some vacation time now. Normally, volunteers aren't allowed to go on holiday during the last two months of service in order to finish up projects in site. But since I'll now be around until May 2012, my final two months won't be for a while yet! So yes, I'm off for some much needed decompression time following the successful workshop....I'll write about my latest adventure in April's post.

Meanwhile, a big SHOUT OUT and GRACIAS to all friends and family who supported our workshop in so many ways. For those of you who sent items for our conference bags, I have to tell you that they were a BIG, BIG hit with the Paraguayans. It was worth all the extra effort to put those together. The US Embassy contributed as well, providing book donations for us to include in each bag--many thanks!

February 2011 - February Funk

Yes, "funk" is a good word to describe much of my state of mind during this short month. With last month's Close-of-Service conference I've been extra eager to move my extension efforts forward, and yet I must be patient,working with the pace of bureaucracy. I managed to get all my required medical check-ups scheduled and as of now have done everything required by Peace Corps on the medical front. One thing I still hope to get is a hearing test, for as mentioned in a previous post I am convinced I have experienced some hearing loss while living here, and not just a normal amount that one would attribute to mere aging. Hearing well is a daily challenge, as one's ears work to distinguish speech and other things you want to hear from mufflerless motorbikes, megadecibel music and other varieties of noise pollution. (Wouldn´t you know, right after drafting this first paragraph I left the city hall to go home for the day, only to hear that we`re in for another evening of concert-volume music across the street. Heaven help me, help my hearing!) A hearing test isn't required for me, but I want to know how this function is faring, not to mention it`s always a good idea to document any changing health conditions one experiences during service.

The "funk" continues until I know my extension request status, because if it is not approved I need to be ready to depart for the States in less than two months. With each passing day I am feeling more positive that it will go through, and yet I do want to assume anything until I have the official decision in writing, especially given the current state of U.S. budget deliberations. One way or another, stay tuned for the March post which will convey my confirmed status!

Meanwhile, February means back-to-school mode here. Last week I went snap-happy taking pictures of Nico´s first day of school, eager to document the childhood milestone. He now goes to preschool every afternoon, complete with a "Cars" backpack and cup. It rained cats and dogs all over the country on the first official, country-wide day of public school, and so many children didn't trek to school, including those in my site.

Carnaval time again too, and although there's not a celebration in Troche this year, nearby Villarrica is staging two Carnaval weekends. Our PCV group for Guaira met in Villarrica this past Saturday to coincide with the carnaval happenings. Carnaval is colorful and a feast for the eyes (especially if you happen to be a heterosexual male), but I can do without the spewing foam that is part of the Villarrica version. Nonetheless, I did enjoy experiencing this spectacle once again, trading in the month`s pervasive funk for some FUN with which to draw February to a festive close.

2011 began with some much needed vacation. I thoroughly enjoyed my sojourn to Chile, including the 30+-hour bus trip from Asuncion to Santiago, complete with two border crossings (Paraguay-Argentina, then Argentina-Chile) and the snail of curved passes through the Andes. This was my first time to Chile, but hopefully not my last while serving in this part of the world. This visit was limited to the capital of Santiago and a day trip to the port city--and UNESCO World Heritage Site--of Valparaiso, a place I’m totally enchanted with and heartily recommend. Some good American friends are living in Santiago for a few years, so that’s an extra good reason to get back before I live up north again. Once back in ol’ Paraguay it was birthday time. Dear little Nico made the change from three to four, and I gave him a birthday book I’d found in Chile. It was specifically for 4-yr olds, and included props, pop-ups, room to write guests’ names, a photo, and other information about your special day. It was a big hit, and he asked where I found it. I explained I found it in a bookstore in Santiago, where they only had such books for years three and four. When he learned that he asked why I didn’t bring the one for three-year olds too! (Note: When I returned from Chile, his greeting included the question, “Did you see any of the miners?” Yes, a special kid!!) The month has also been a turning point in my service. As every Returned Peace Corps Volunteer knows, the Peace Corps experience includes a Close-of-Service conference, held approximately three months before the end of our two years of service. (Close of Service, aka “COS” in Peace Corpsese.) Well, by the end of January it was our training group’s turn for our COS conference since our COS date is April 20, 2011. We were put up in a nice hotel for two days and two nights to attend sessions on assessment, reviewing our PC experience, readjustment, options for life post-Peace Corps. We were given our COS “kits,” essentially the check list of the approximately 30 administrative tasks we need to “check off” in order to officially finish our service in Paraguay, and the accompanying forms and documents to help us complete the list. They really do us a favor in holding this conference three months before our two years are up since there is indeed so much involved in wrapping up an experience like this…you don’t want to leave it all for the last minute! In Peace Corps Paraguay they do a nice job of holding this conference in an appealing venue where we can rest and relax between sessions with folks from our training group, some of whom we haven’t seen much since training in 2009. By the end of the couple days of immersion with fellow Americans about to finish this chapter of life, you really did feel like you had reached a turning point…..and yet in my case, the turning point has a broader curve…I have submitted a proposal to extend for one more year, and should know the decision within a couple of weeks, ideally by the next time I post to the blog. So, for now, I only have to start doing a portion of the items on the check list, and hopefully the rest will get checked off around this time next year. (Medical tests are pending, since you can’t receive an extension without medical clearance.)It´s really hard to believe that two years ago I was muy busy with another to-do list, all the things to take care of before departing the States for this adventure...yep, it's nearly two years to the day, Dios mio. If my extension is approved, I will be a volunteer here in Paraguay until May of 2012.

Now for the final portion of this post, the part that corresponds to "request" in the entry´s title. As many of you know, I´m very involved with library work here, and it culminates with a library "mini-conference" we´re staging next month, March 11-12 to be exact. We plan to give all the Paraguayans conference bags, full of practical goodies to take back to their libraries. If anyone would like to send me *anything* for these bags, I would be so very grateful! (Think anything "booky" for instance, including stickers, posters, book marks, small bone folders--for book repair, book-themed wrapping paper...things easy to mail, of course.) Someone once gave me stickers of just little books, and they're great, but I've never seem them for sale myself. Here is the mailing address for the Peace Corps office in Asuncion:Denise DavisCuerpo de Paz162 Chaco Boreal, casi Mcal. Lopez

1580 AsuncionParaguay, South AmericaBest option is to just use padded manila envelopes... they seem to get here more quickly. Plus, the majority of items I've suggested can fit readily into the envelopes (posters folded flat, obviously!) I would suggest mailing anything by FEBRUARY 15 to assure we have your things in time to use for the March 11-12 workshop.MUCHISMIAS GRACIAS a todos! I hope your 2011 has gotten off to an excellent start!

December...in and out of site...including some vacation time!

Since school is out my schedule has more flexibility between now and February.

I've really enjoyed the tutoring classes I'm giving to some students. The focus is on reading, since they're not yet at their respective grade levels, and I try to make the learning fun for them. I go to 10-yr old David's house, where we're joined by other kids who live in his neighborhood. David's mom has been great about giving us free reign with their limited living space, and we've essentially set up a small classroom in their main room. I used my staple gun to place 29 milk cartons on the wall, each one covered in paper and bearing a large capital letter. (The Spanish alphabet has a few extra letters, e.g. the "ch," the "ñ," the "ll.") The 29 cartons are in three rows, with enough space between the rows to place a large flash card of the matching letters on the tops of the milk boxes. The kids love this set up, and we invent all sorts of ways to play with it!

I had an interview for my Peace Corps extension proposal, but won't know the decision for a while yet. Meanwhile, another group of volunteers finished their service this month, leaving my "G," aka training group, as the "senior" group of volunteers. Our close-of-service conference is next month already, and the actual close of service is in April, 2011. Yes, we're quickly approaching two years here already, unbelievable!

I spent Christmas with my host family. This year we travelled to Asuncion to stay with one of Doña Lilli's cousins. I renewed my Paraguayan driver's license so I could drive the family's vehicle. (As Peace Corps volunteers we are only allowed to drive in country when we are on vacation.) My, did it feel great to be behind the wheel once again!

I'm drawing the year to a close in Santiago, Chile. I'm visiting a friend who moved here this year. I took the bus from Asuncion, a 30+-hour journey, complete with crossing the Andes between Argentina and Chile.

May your 2011 be full of many magical moments, wherever you may have the privilege to be living YOUR NEXT NEW YEAR! Happy new year, full of blessings and good stories!

I've had to backdate this entry, I must confess. November was not a happy month for me in the online world. For the first time in my digital life I became a victim of hackers' activities. Some of you may have received email messages ostensibly sent by me, sent on days I wasn't even online! I apologize for any inconveniences this may have caused you. Ironically, the hacking coincided with a phase in which I had much less online access, since the wifi connection at our city hall was mysteriously and suddenly disabled just prior to the November 7 municipal elections. So, the precious time I could access the Internet when in Asuncion or Villarrica was spent checking all my accounts, changing passwords, responding to those of you who alerted me to the spam coming from me, etc....in short, a major hassle which kept me from doing my "normal" online tasks, like posting to this! I have yet to catch up 100% with messages sent from many of you, and I thank you for your continued patience. Lesson learned: change passwords on a regular basis! I think I was vulnerable to a hacker's attack for having maintained certain passwords for way too long.

In the nonvirtual realm, November brought the official end of the school year, like last year, on the last day of the month. The month also included several library workshops that I gave, both in Troche, and in other communities. I participated in a "Diversity Panel" at the Peace Corps training center for the current group of trainees; I believe I was a part of it to represent the "seasoned youth" amongst volunteers! I submitted my proposal to extend for one more year in Paraguay. I also turned in a narrative about Nico, per my manager's request.

Thanksgiving was spent with a small group of other Peace Corps volunteers; we gathered at one volunteer's house and did our best to replicate turkey with trimmings, a la Paraguaya! The Thanksgiving weekend also included a family wedding in Troche. One of Dona Lilli's sisters tied the knot. It was a perfect evening for the outdoor event, and we danced under the stars. Another month in which to be thankful for all the good people and things in the world, hackers excepted!

October in Paraguay means Olympics in many schools, at least in my part of the country. The children get so-o excited about their school-wide “Olimpiadas.” Here in Troche both my school (public) and Beta’s school (private) hold Olympics. In my school each grade is a different country (chosen at random, out of a hat), and at Beta’s they don’t organize by country, choosing to use colors instead. Countries in this year’s Olympics for my school, San Pascual, included Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Slovakia, and Spain. Each grade decks out in sportswear displaying its country’s colors, carries a banner conveying the grade’s chosen message (this year’s theme was caring for our environment) and the opening ceremony is complete with the parade of countries, flags, and even torchbearers. This year the teachers paraded too, wearing our matching polo shirts. It’s quite a production and is a major fundraiser for the school—the opening ceremony is held in the evening and admission is charged. (If you want to sit down on something other than the ground you must rent a chair, a common practice here.) The 8pm event started at 9pm, and it was already 10:15pm when just the opening procession finished. I took Beta and Nico along, and they loved seeing all the pageantry, standing up on our sole rented chair. The pre-schoolers were especially fun to watch. Their country was Spain, and their parade included a little bullfighter, and accompanying bull. Once all the countries entered and took their places, all the “athletes” moved together to some popular tunes. In this World Cup year Shakira’s “Waka Waka” is omnipresent, and it was a hoot to see kids of all ages groove in time to the catchy tune. We departed when the parade portion ended, and I could hear the event wrap up about midnight, and yes, this was on a school night! (We live right across the street from the empty lot where many local activities take place, and so I can usually hear events, thanks to the loud PA system!) The next two school days were dedicated to various athletic contests.

Yes, October has been a very NOISY month. I’m pretty sure I’m experiencing some hearing loss while living here. One October Sunday we were exposed to 14 hours of nonstop LOUD noise masquerading as music, provided as background ambiance for a car show. It was the first day in Paraguay that I came very close to pulling out my hair! Imagine stereos blasting on a college campus on a Friday afternoon, or on the day of a home football game, and then multiply that sound, and its duration, many times over. Music forms a big part of political campaigns, and the whole country is filled with extra doses of music thanks to the upcoming municipal elections. Sunday, November 7, is the day on which Paraguayans in communities large and small will elect their respective mayors and city councils, who will serve for five years, through 2015. Many candidates, at least in my neck of the woods, have campaign songs which are blared through all the neighborhoods via campaign vehicles equipped with sound systems on steroids. I wonder how many different versions of Shakira’s lyrics to “Waka Waka” are circulating around Paraguay this election season? At least it will all come to a halt Friday, November 5, when all campaigning must cease, leaving a brief time for “reflection” before everyone heads to the polls on Sunday, Nov. 7. Winners will take office in mid-December, before the end-of-the-year holidays.

September, short and sweet

The month was indeed both. The 30 days seemed like three, and it was sweet with the arrival of spring, which is heralded countrywide almost like an official holiday, since it starts on the same day as “Dia de la Juventud," aka "day of youth." Paraguayan springtime really is short and sweet, and the flowering bushes and trees are abundant (more than "mere" flowers in the ground). The month was also sweet with the news that our library committee proposal was approved, and went live on the Peace Corps web site September 8, International Literacy Day. (A good sign, I hope!) For those of you who would like to contribute to our library workshop for Paraguayans, please follow this link:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=526-215

A shout out to my local Rotary Club in Nebraska City for its generous contribution to our workshop. The club designated one meeting a month as “Paraguay Day” during which it raised money for our project.

At my school we observed International Literacy Day by highlighting it in the daily “assembly” and also entering each classroom to announce the winners of a reading contest. The winners were every student, since the idea was to motivate everyone to read more, not merely recognize the kids who read well, since everyone can readily identify the best readers. Every child was given a brand new pencil with an eraser, as we emphasized that reading and writing are linked.

This post is also short and sweet since I'm down to the wire, posting on the last day of the month, during my final moments of online access.

Happy Spring to colleagues in the Southern Hemisphere; Happy Fall to friends and family up north!

This month holds one of Paraguay’s most beloved holidays, the Day of the Niño, August 16. While not an official bank holiday, it is typically celebrated in the schools with snacks and raffles (hot chocolate is especially popular since the day occurs during wintertime). The origin of the Paraguayan version of the Day of the Child is tragic, for it commemorates the brave children who fought in one of Paraguay’s major wars, the majority of whom lost their lives in battle on August 16, 1869. There was a shortage of men, and children put aside books and took up arms, painting their faces with mustaches and beards. Most of them perished, and to this day every August 16 in Paraguay niños—and their rights—are center stage. I like this excerpt from one of the books I donated to the library, in an entry for the Dia del Niño:

"Los niños de hoy, tambien tienen esa batalla que libran dia a dia, la lucha contra la ignorancia. Sus armas son cuadernos, lapices y libros. Esta batalla todos la tienen que ganar."

In other words, today's children also have a battle that can free them day by day, the fight against ignorance. Their weapons are notebooks, pencils and books. Everyone must strive to win this battle.

For me, the best gifts for children have always been and will always be books. For the Day of the Niño I gave Beta and Nico each a book. Nico was especially excited with his Ben10 title. (I’d never ever heard of Ben10, a cartoon action figure, until Nico told me about him.) It made my day when I came home once and saw Nico lying in his bed on his stomach, attentively studying his new book! At schooI, I organized a book expo, to showcase all the new books either donated or purchased as a result of my recent trip home. ¡Muchas gracias! to all my friends and colleagues who are supporting my efforts in getting more books in childrens’ hands, whether via a direct donation of books (a big shout out to my friend Library Jane, and her foundation Libraries for All, www.librariesforall.org ) or by purchasing some of the Paraguayan “ñanduti” fare I was peddling while home, namely the colorful bookmarks made out of spider-web like lace. My ñanduti sales made it possible for me to return to Paraguay and purchase books published in this country, thereby further supporting the Paraguayan economy, rather than spending money on postage from home to mail books purchased in the States. Most of the kids in my school do not have ANY picture books at home, and there is no public library in this community, so the books in the school library are the only ones they see.

The book expo also kicked off a reading contest I’m holding with the kids, to culminate on September 8, International Literacy Day. Some days it can get discouraging when several kids in grades beyond 1st can’t read two letter words to you, like “yo,” “en,” “de”…you get the idea, and so I’m doing my best to put forth my little grain of sand by (hopefully) making reading more appealing to even reluctant readers. Every child will receive a prize on International Literacy Day, even if “just” a new pencil, for we must motivate everyone to try to read, and not merely reward those who already read well. Pencils (yet another thanks to those of you who have sent me pencils!) will be prized, especially as we approach the last phase of the school year here, when many children can be seen writing with pencils two inches long. I also plan to give out bunches of bookmarks and posters, part of my ALA conference swag collection! ¡Vivan los niños y los libros, vivan! ¡Y que vivan juntos siempre!

June and July…how did they fly by! Missed posting in June, and almost this month, due to VACATION…and when I am on vacation my focus is on real time with the folks around me, not on online time!

Peace Corps grants two days of vacation per month of service, 24 days a year, so I did have a nice chunk of time for holidays. “Back in the day” PC Volunteers could not travel to the States for vacation, a policy no longer in place. I went to the States. First, to Washington, D.C. for the annual conference of the American Library Association, to reconnect with my professional colleagues, and just otherwise enjoy a great time in our nation’s capital. I am so glad I went, for I always relish a trip to D.C., and this time was even better since I’d been out of the country for nearly a year. I never fail to get a “high” when viewing the main Presidential monuments, and flying into National Airport with a clear view of them was a treat. Conference highlights for me included: a lively RPCV luncheon in Chinatown, hearing and seeing Toni Morrison speak during the opening ceremony, a StoryCorps, www.storycorps.org, presentation by its founder Dave Isay, a night at the Newseum, www.newseum.org , the international relations reception in the Great Hall of the Library of Congress, and the “Vote for Libraries!” rally on Capitol Hill, not to mention the delightful encounters, both planned and serendipitous, with library folks from all over the world. I felt reenergized from the reunion with “mi gente,” my professional guild. I also enjoyed how colleagues and friends bought up all 150 of the Paraguayan ñanduti (“spider web lace”) bookmarks I’d brought along. I had them made in Paraguay to help raise money for books for my library. I sold out in two days and could have sold many more if I’d had them. While in town I also stopped by the PC Headquarters, where I had a chance to meet with PC Staff in the ICE department, Information Collection and Exchange.

Nebraska was next on my travel itinerary, and I was surprised at how much water I viewed from the air as we approached Omaha’s Eppley Airfield. I don’t recall ever having seen so much beyond the banks of the Missouri River before. The upside was that I enjoyed an extra lush and verdant Nebraska countryside, and with the exception of just one day, no rain fell during my stay. I rented a car for the first few days, and just loved the chance to drive again, something we can’t do during our PC service (only when on vacation.) Several nights were spent watching nieces play softball, and just taking random drives in both town and country, amidst perfect weather during some of the summer’s longest evenings...ahh, the good ol’ summertime!

While home in Nebraska City, I again spoke to my local Rotary Club, this time to give them a show and tell of this year’s library workshop they helped fund, and to display some other pieces of ñanduti. (I just love the stuff, and even had an outfit made that includes several ñanduti appliqués, which I wore to the meeting.) I also distributed PC bookmarks, brochures and stickers, items I’d picked up in DC from PC’s “Third Goal” office, the department which overseas the PC’s Third Goal. The Peace Corps has three primary goals, copied and pasted here from the PC web site, www.peacecorps.gov :

1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.

2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.

3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

So, in speaking to my local Rotary Club, I was carrying out the PC's third goal.

The trip home went way too quickly of course, but I felt blessed to be able to make it both to DC for a professional “fix” and home to “the good life” in Nebraska. Family and friends, thanks for making it such a wonderful trip...it was great to spend REAL time with you face-to-face, and for those of you I did not get a chance to visit with one-on-one, I hope to next time, some time next year. Meanwhile, I thought of all of you yesterday, July 30, while celebrating "Friendship Day" here in Paraguay, a holiday started here in 1958,

http://discoveringparaguay.com/home/ - ¡Feliz Dia de la Amistad!

I’ll be honest, readjustment here has been a challenge, slow...plus the first days I was back in Paraguay were among some of the winter’s coldest and grayest….and it’s raining cats and dogs as I write this. Mind you, the outdoor temps aren’t what we Nebraskans would consider winter cold by any means (approx. 40°F), but when the indoor temp is also in the mid-forties, well, you might as well be camping outside!

School starts up again across the country on Monday, August 2, following a three-week winter vacation.

May in Paraguay is replete with the above. In fact, Paraguayans refer to May as the "mes de la patria." Paraguayan Independence is celebrated midmonth, as is Mother's Day. Independence Day is officially on May 15, the same date as the immovable feast of Mother's Day. For many years the country's independence was observed on both May 14 and May 15 since the final machinations for achieving independence were in full swing on the first date, back in 1899. As of today's post, Paraguay is just 347 days away from celebrating its Bicentennial. (The MEC--national Ministry of Education and Cultura--calendar that I cited in last month's post, and repeat here, does a fine job of mentioning all the special days of each month on its web site, complete with colorful icons. Special days of the month = Fechas especiales del mes

http://www.mec.gov.py/cmsmec/?page_id=899

Its May list shows both dates for independence:

May 14, Independencia del Paraguay

May 15, Aniversario de la Independencia de Paraguay

And so as referred to on the "Discovering Paraguay" blog, it's "Happy Independence Days

http://discoveringparaguay.com/home/independence-day-dia-independencia/

Both dates ALSO coincide with the founding of several communities in the country, including nearby Villarrica, capital of the department in which I reside. This year marked its 440th anniversary. I went into town with my host mother Doña Lili to watch the parade, a three-hour long view of all the educational institutions' students and teachers, decked out in their respective uniforms. Little pre-schoolers were kept in line by holding onto low-lying limbolike bars, and/or by holding on to strings attached to the leading flag bearer in front. I've never seen anything like this back home, a big local parade primarily for schools to strut their stuff. One addition for the Villarrica parade was a harp contingent, since the city prides itself on being the harp capital of the world. The harp element included both harpists just walking as they held their harps horizontally, as well as a float on which about a dozen musicians played their beautiful instruments.

Mother's Day is one big country-wide asadofest, with enough leftover meat to get most households thru the next day. For this very devout Catholic country the month is also chock-full of devotions to the Virgen Mother. For example, there were numerous tributes to the Virgen of Fatima around May 13.

Wanted to share (again?) this wonderful video of Paraguay, produced by a Peace Corps trainer last year to show new trainees destined to become volunteers here.

http://discoveringparaguay.com/home/sites-and-sounds-of-paraguay-sitios-y-sonidos-del-paraguay/

Viva Paraguay, Viva! And to all you great moms out there too!

Si amigos, not only was April another good month for this PCV, filled with muchos dias buenos, but it also has been replete with several "official" special days. Once Easter was history, the calendar brought other things to celebrate:

-April 7, World Health Day

-April 14, Day of the Americas

-April 19, Day of the American Indian

-April 22, date of the original ARBOR DAY, and now well-known as EARTH DAY

-April 23, International Day of the Book (UNESCO)

-April 30, National Arbor Day in the States (last Friday in April)

-April 30, Day of the Teacher in Paraguay

An integral part of the Paraguayan school day is "la entrada," the few moments that start each day with all of the children assembled outside in front of the school's flagpole, lined up by grade. At a bare minimum, the ritual includes greetings by the Director, and/or the teacher who is in charge of the entrada for the week, and the singing of the national anthem as the flag is raised.

At my school, the teachers are very good about using this time as a daily "assembly" and cultural exchange, especially since there is no indoor space in which everyone would fit for such a gathering. So, on most of the dates listed above there was a presentation on the history and significance of the date. This presentation typically includes various recitations by the students, e.g. poetry, sharing a new song, etc. This month I especially enjoyed the tribute given on April 14, the Day of the Americas. I have to confess I didn't know about this day prior to this year, and was embarrassed to admit it when the teachers asked me if I'd celebrated this day in the States. Students from various grades had made homemade flags of all the 30-plus American nations, including a nice likeness of our good ol' Stars and Stripes (even if it didn't display all 50 stars!), and waved them in sync during the singing of a song in which all the countries are mentioned in rhyme.

The national Ministry of Education and Cultura (MEC) does a fine job of mentioning all the special days of each month on its web site. Scanning the month of April made me aware of many other celebrations that took place during these 30 days:

Special days of the month = Fechas especiales del mes

http://www.mec.gov.py/cmsmec/?page_id=899

I couldn't be present on April 23, the International Day of the Book, but my colleague Antonia, the school's librarian, was well prepared to give everyone an overview of the special day, declared by UNESCO in 1995. The date selected to celebrate the book is the date on which both Cervantes and Shakespeare died. I wasn't at school because I was in Asuncion. I had back-to-back presentations on April 22 and 23, to two different groups of Peace Corps folks. The first was to a group of Municipal Development Volunteers, and their community contacts, on working with libraries in Paraguay. The April 23 talk was to Peace Corps trainees, (during one of their last days in training before swearing-in today at the US Embassy), to talk about libraries. Libraries oftentimes become a secondary project for Volunteers, regardless of their assigned technical sector. So, as the only librarian amongst the current PCV Paraguay ranks, I'm being called upon to share the little I know about one of my favorite institutions. It's a lot of fun for me, and the most satisfying part is when someone who perhaps wasn't too enthused with the idea of listening to a talk about libraries, is jazzed about the idea of working on one in Paraguay by the time the session is over. On the Day of the Book, I was able to conclude the day with a quick showing of the "Gotta Keep Reading" video made last year by a middle-school in Florida. The catchy Black Eyed Peas tune is very popular here in Paraguay, and is used by various products in TV commericals, so it was fun to share it with this new twist:

(now to try and make a version with Spanish lyrics, which some of my students in Villarrica want to try!)

http://www.schooltube.com/v/e9bd79d29b4d0e6a2345

(and am compelled to cut and paste this whole article too):

Student video ‘Gotta Keep Reading’ inspires nation

Posted By mstansbury On March 18, 2010 @ 2:13 pm

In a powerful example of how online social networking, youth exuberance, and digital media can combine to affect a nation, students at Florida’s Ocoee Middle School created a video called “Gotta Keep Reading,” an infectious message that has “gone viral” and inspired other schools and big-name TV stars to endorse reading as a path to success.

The video began when the school’s reading coach, Janet Bergh, thought it might be fun to do something like The Oprah Winfrey Show’s “flash mob” video in Chicago last year. Winfrey and her producers elected to kick off the 2009 season with a live open-air version of the show in Chicago, featuring the Black-Eyed Peas and other performers. The Black-Eyed Peas rewrote the words to their single “I Gotta Feelin” as a Winfrey tribute dubbed “Oprah Feelin,” and hours before the show began the approximately 21,000 audience members were taught choreographed steps to the piece to create a flash mob dance.

As to why she chose to create a flash mob video about reading, Bergh said on Oprah recently that “students have a lot of other interests. Oftentimes reading takes a back seat to that. …It’s not always real cool to be seen with a book.”

“The initial inspiration for the flash mob was the idea of involving every student and adult on our campus in an event that was a fun, exciting, team building activity with a great message,” explained Sharyn C. Gabriel, principal of Ocoee Middle School, in an interview with eSchool News. “We wanted to promote reading—as we always do—in a way that was motivational, meaningful, and engaging to our middle school students. The idea of any publicity was not a part of the plan. However, it has been a welcome, super fun, and exciting addition to the project!”

Gabriel continued: “Our goal was to inspire all readers, especially teenage readers. They love music, they love videos, so why not a music video about reading? We thought this was a win-win situation.”

After the idea took hold in the school, the administration next had to secure rights to the song, “I Gotta Feelin.”

“We worked through [the Black-Eyed Peas’] publishers to get permission to use the song. While we did not speak directly to the artists, submitting our lyrics about reading was part of the approval process,” said Gabriel. “We are hoping they are thrilled that they motivated and inspired us, and we do know that they support our message.”

After the school secured copyright permission, music and drama teachers began to write the lyrics to the group’s song and to choreograph the dance moves.

Students practiced for the flash mob video during their gym classes.

The “Gotta Keep Reading” music video features nearly all of the school’s 1,700 students dancing and singing while holding books in the school’s courtyard. It was recorded with the help of the school’s partner, Full Sail University, in December.

“Full Sail University [staff] very generously donated their time, their equipment, and their talent to this project,” Gabriel said. “They support our school in a variety of ways, including curriculum development and professional training for our teachers.”

Lyrics were changed to make reading the center of the song, and to include the refrain “This book’s going to be a good, good book.”

The video was posted to the school’s web site in late January. It also was posted on YouTube, where it went viral and captured the attention of Oprah show producers.

This month, The Oprah Winfrey Show highlighted Ocoee Middle School and its video by filming a segment on the school’s campus. Winfrey announced that she and Target would pay for the school library’s makeover, including new furniture, new computers, and 2,000 books.

“They managed to get almost 1,700 kids pumped up about something you know I love,” Winfrey said during the broadcast.

(Singers are the school’s band director, Nicole Nasrallah, and its former chorus director, Jamie Perez. Principal Sharyn Gabriel is the solitary dancer at the front of the group when the video begins.)

Winfrey asked the students questions via satellite link, and the entire school gathered in the courtyard, just like in the video. Eighth-grade students Alexis Fox and Danny Mora were on stage with Gabriel and answered some of Winfrey’s questions.

Gabriel said the announcement about the library’s renovations is a great surprise, especially because the library was built to accommodate 600 fewer students than now attend the school.

“We are very fortunate to have been given this very generous and meaningful gift that will touch our entire community,” she said. “The plans for the renovation are top secret, but we do expect the renovation to be complete [by] the end of this school year.”

Since Ocoee Middle School recorded the video, Gabriel said, school data suggest that students are ahead of where they were last year at this time in the number of books read and Reading Counts! quizzes passed.

“There were many lessons learned throughout this entire process, but perhaps the most important is the value of an entire school community coming together to work on a great project with a crucial message,” said Gabriel. “The other lesson we hope to share with others is to think big. Our students can go farther and do more than we think they can. They can be rock stars if we believe in them and if we don’t hold them back.”

Gabriel said Ocoee has received messages from schools all over the country and even from other parts of the world—many sending their congratulations for a job well done and asking for information on how they, too, can do a similar project.

“We are thrilled beyond belief that others want to spread this message,” she said. “We certainly hope other schools will think outside the box when it comes to inspiring and motivating their students to read and succeed. We collectively need to share this message with students all over the world.”

Article printed from eSchoolNews.com: http://www.eschoolnews.com

This final week of the month has been very special too! Monday, April 26, I ventured to the southwest region of my department (state), to attend a workshop on reading promotion offered in the town of Iturbe. Iturbe was home to one of Paraguay's most famous authors, the only one to receive the Cervantes literature prize awarded by the King of Spain. Agosto Roa Bastos died five years ago on April 26, and the town of Iturbe's recently established cultural center and library (donning his name), located in an abandoned train station, paid tribute to Señor Bastos with a celebration of reading. I'd been invited to attend by one of the "reading promoters" who works for the Secretary of Culture in Asuncion. We had become acquainted by phone during my work on the library manual revision. She told me the workshop would be at 9am on April 26. The earliest I could arrive to Iturbe via two buses was 9:30. I arrived, assuming I was late. Instead, I found two "guapa" (hard-working) señoras in the old train station, in clean-up mode. Turns out the workshop had been changed to 3pm. One of the women, a retired high school principal, "Reina" kindly invited me to her home for lunch and a nap. It was 4pm by the time the event began, and by then I KNEW I would not be able to make it back to Troche in the same day, at least not via public transportation. But I was "tranquilopa," knowing everything would work out...as it did! I spent the evening with Reina and her family, and departed the next morning on a 6am bus bound for Villarrica. I promised Reina I'd be back, to offer a one-day workshop for her and her colleagues on libraries.

The unexpected Tuesday morning in Villarrica brought a nice surprise, for I stumbled upon the inauguration of a "TELECENTRO" in the city's main museum when I stopped by to greet its librarian, Olga. Villarrica's mayor has been trying to establish the town as Paraguay's first digital urbe (outside of Asuncion, claro), and he was able to secure funding from a NGO to help begin this reality. The "Telecentro" is comprised of 10 computers housed in the municipal museum. There is an Internet connection, and classes will be offered, all at no cost to the citizens of Villarrica. I took advantage of my presence at the ribbon-cutting, logged on muy quickly, and sent a message to a RPCV (returned Peace Corps volunteer) who just returned to the States after serving in Villarrica for two years.

Finally, today, April 30! Officially the Day of the Teacher here, although the main celebration took place yesterday across the country. We went to school for about an hour in the morning, for a prolonged "entrada" ritual to hear the different grades pay homage to their "profes," after which each grade went briefly to its classroom to shower the teachers with gifts. By noon all of the teachers were gathered at a colleague's home for an all-afternoon lunch, complete with mucho dancing! (oh, and I forgot to mention that we first had to go to the local sugarcane processing factory for a Mass to commemorate the official launch of the new harvest season, a very big deal here since the factory is central to the area's economic survival. President Lugo and the Minister of Industry and Commerce coptered in for the event. The President sounded the factory's siren to herald the harvest's start.)

Even tho I pen this from Paraguay, I would be remiss if I closed this entry without mention of one of the days nearest and dearest to my Nebraska native's heart, Arbor Day. The original date, April 22, was the birthday of the holiday's founder, J. Sterling Morton. I still remember the excitement I experienced on the 100th anniversary of the holiday's founding as we wore our Centennial Arbor Day shirts and went to the parade in my hometown of Nebraska City, Home of Arbor Day. The celebration has come a long way since then, check it out at:

http://www.arborday.org/

In the words of its founder J. Sterling Morton,

"Other holidays repose upon the past; Arbor Day proposes for the future."

March 31, Holy Week

As I post this entry, and reflect on the month that's transpired since my last one, I have to say that March 2010 has been a "mad" month in which I seem to have gotten my groove back! It began with a national holiday on the 1st (which is also the b-day of my home state of Nebraska!), and hosting the Peace Corps trainees that I mentioned in my previous post. We travelled to nearby Villarrica on March 2nd to attend a meeting of the area's volunteers, and then put them on their bus back to the Asuncion area. My pace accelerated MUCHO in the first week, as I finished prepping for our Peace Corps library workshop, held in Asuncion on March 5-6. I took the librarian from my school here in Troche, Antonia, and we boarded the 4am bus for Asuncion on Friday morning. The workshop ("taller" en español)was held in a lovely locale,

http://www.quintaykuasati.com.py/galeria-de-imagenes.html

where it was a pleasure to stay up until 2am the next morning mounting the "shelves" for the Dewey Library I would have participants create the next day. It was "maddeningly" fun to get my groove back doing the library stuff...yes, I'm a library geek, and proud to be one! Here is the thank you note sent by one of my fellow PCVs to those of you who donated! (I've forwarded it some of you as well, and my apologies if I missed you!)

Dear Library Lovers,

I could not be more excited to write to you today. Finally, the library workshop has occurred, and it was a great success! On Friday, March 5, and Saturday, March 6, almost 30 Paraguayan librarians and 30 Peace Corps volunteers convened in Asuncion to participate in two half-days of activities devoted to library creation, management, and use.

The presentations were dynamic and varied, ranging from the vibrant storytelling of a Paraguayan historian/author to Dewey Decimal games to small group discussions about the importance of story hours to software demonstrations of Biblio, an open-source digital catalogue program. Three Paraguayan publishing companies also attended the workshop as part of a miniature book fair, displaying their wares and donating books to be raffled to participants.

The participants came from as far north as Concepcion and as far south as Pilar (for those who don't know Paraguay, the two cities sit on opposite sides of the country), from tiny villages and pueblos and metropolitan areas. Some are currently engaged in building school or community libraries; some seek to better use existing libraries; some hope to create reading programs for schoolchildren in their communities. But all left happy with the information shared, the contacts made, and the energy generated by the workshop.

The Library Committee already is planning for next year, hoping to amplify the web of ideas, information, and creativity generated in this year's workshop. And, according to evaluations from participants, the workshop already is eagerly anticipated! "Sigan adelante con talleres como estos!" urged one comment.

I'm forwarding a few photos of the workshop in a following email (sorry--I'm having computer troubles, and the photos won't load as attachments): 1) of Don Clark, the director of Peace Corps, delivering opening remarks; 2) of Margarita Prieto Yegros, a Paraguayan historian, storyteller, and author; 3) of groups working together to learn about systems of classification; 4) of the publishing display of Editorial Oceano; and 5) of the 60-person-created Dewey Decimal wall library (an activity designed by PCV Denise Davis to teach the fundamentals of the oft-feared Dewey Decimal System).

On behalf of the Peace Corps Library Committee and on behalf of all the communities who participated in the workshop, thanks so much for making this happen. The experience was tremendously valuable, and I, personally, count it among my most inspiring moments in two years of service in Peace Corps-Paraguay. I truly think each participant returned to his or her community motivated to make reading a fundamental part of the community's life.

Thanks again,

Amy Dickinson

Peace Corps Volunteer

Early Elementary Education

Yuty, Paraguay

Post-workshop I worked on transcribing all the info we gathered during the event, including the evaluations, into computer files so we'll have good documentation with which to plan for the next workshop. As Peace Corps volunteers with "only" two years in our sites, the turnover in volunteers is constant so it's helpful to get as much documented as possible for those who follow.

By month's end I'd attended a library inauguration in Asuncion, for the Fundacion Biblioteca Maximilian Freundorfer,

http://fbmf.org/

which I'd learned about in the course of revising the library manual for the workshop. It was like food for my librarian's soul to attend this milestone event, to see the 80-yr old Japanese woman who has dedicated her life to libraries and librarianship in Paraguay, open a beautiful library primarily for children.

While enjoying delicious sushi once the ribbon had been cut by the Swiss ambassador to Paraguay, I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow American, Robert Russell, who has lived here many years and brings his children to this jewel of a library. He serves as the treasurer of the library's foundation, and is also involved in the local American Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Turns out one of the current projects of the Foundation is the construction of a library in another area of Paraguay....fast forward, and less than 10 days later the President

of the Foundation has called me, and invited me to visit the construction site with her, and to later attend THAT library's inauguration, sometime in April/May.

Spent the last weekend of the month in Asuncion (first and probably only time I'll be in Asuncion so often in one month!) to meet with my PC boss, participate in an interview for new PC full-time staff, and to attend a library committee meeting. We debriefed the library workshop, and "elected" new leadership. Yours truly will be the "President" of the PC library committee for the coming year, and is delighted to have the chance to work with other volunteers in this area of INTEREST/PASSION!

Oh yes, and now it is HOLY WEEK, a VERY big deal here in predominantly Catholic Paraguay. Holy Wednesday, today, appears to be NATIONAL MAKE CHIPA day...and oh my gosh, how I love the INTERNET, for after typing "appears to be NATIONAL MAKE CHIPA day" I just had to query the web, y VIOLA:

http://discoveringparaguay.com/home/

in which you can read how HOLY WEEK ("Semana Santa") is also Chipa Central, y specifically TODAY.....in fact, I must log off now for I've been invited to go help make, and partake, in some local chipa creation, a final day of MARCH MADNESS a la Paraguayan!

Hasta abril amigos y amigas!

February has been full of carnaval fervor, and now has begun to settle into the school year routine.

Who hasn't at least heard of Carnaval, right? Well, I'm here to tell you, anything you've heard or seen from afar pales in comparison to experiencing it first hand...and mind you, I didn't trek to the Mother Lode of Carnaval celebrations, the Rio de Janeiro version. I merely watched the smaller fetes held in my area of Paraguay, the state of Guaira...its capital city Villarrica's celebration, and the parade staged in my pueblo of Mauricio Jose Troche, aka "Troche."

The celebration, "Carnaval - the holiday of self-indulgence just before Lent in Latin America, Europe and the US." honors el Rey Momo or Bacchus. It always starts on a Friday, when the Carnival queens (and their courts) salute their subjects from atop scintillating floats. The pageantry is beyond anything I've ever seen. The females' outfits put Cher to shame. The floats feature anything from giant genies to fire-breathing dragons. I especially enjoyed the Carnaval in Troche since it was a chance to see my colleagues and neighbors in a totally different light, literally. There is a fierce competition amongst the barrios to stage the best group performance, and in Troche they have two nights to strut their stuff. It was fun to see students and teachers I know from school parading in public in such a variety of costumes. These include the scantily-clad females that you can picture in Rio, to the older señoras who are fully clothed in gorgeous belle-of-the-ball gowns (picture dresses from Gone With the Wind), the latter group affectionately known as the "Retro" ensemble. I aim to join this group for next year's celebration! Oh, I almost forgot to mention the foam, the "espuma." Spectators participate by spraying surrounding bystanders with white foam, so it's next to impossible to attend a Paraguayan Carnaval celebration without being coated in the white stuff, at least for a while....gotta get in the spirit!

Many in this Catholic nation then go on to observe Ash Wednesday. (I went and was blown away by the massive attendance. The church choir I've joined got to sing at the Mass.) What happens in Carnival stays in Carnival… After all the hard partying, everyone is spent; it's easy to behave for the following forty days of Lent.

Switching gears, the first day of school was Tuesday, February 23. (Conveniently scheduled post-Carnaval.) The Ministry of Education asked that all church bells ring at 7:00 a.m. to literally ring in the new school year. 7:00 is starting time for the morning shift of school, although starting today our school day will begin at 7:30 until we change the clocks some time in April. The first day's opening included dance and poetry recitals by the teachers. Even the Directora got into the spirit by performing the traditional Paraguayan bottle dance, moving about with an empty wine bottle on her head! The 2nd day of school it rained cats and dogs, both morning and afternoon, so very few kids showed up, and therefore there was no class. The teachers did come in the morning though, and we used the time for a group meeting. I'd given a little workshop to the teachers the day before school started, covering "Los Sonidos de las Letras" - the sounds of the letters - using a song and flashcards created by previous Peace Corps Volunteers. My host family sister, 3rd grader Beta, went along as my assistant. It was a big hit, and so on the first day of school I sang the a-b-c song over half-a-dozen times to different classes of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders. Imagine me singing "Araña, araña (spider), a-a-a; Bebe, bebe, b-b-b; Casa, Casa, c-c-c...while showing the big flash cards with letters and pictures. Fun way to start the new school year!

Last day online for this short month, hence my "early" post. This weekend I'll be hosting a current Peace Corps trainee in the new Education group, and she'll be here through Tuesday, March 2. Next on tap is our Peace Corps Volunteers Library workshop, March 5 and 6 in Asuncion. I've submitted the final version of the revised manual we'll be giving out (came in at 96 pages)...and now I'm clamoring to put together a basic overview of the Dewey Decimal System for the Paraguayans, sans powerpoint...it must be interactive and full of fun examples! Thanks again to those of you who contributed to our fundraising for this workshop, including my local Rotary Club back in Nebraska. All of this will be happening amidst Peace Corps Week, March 1 - 7:

http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.returned.thirdgoal.pcweek

Until next time...wishing those of you up north better weather as you transition to a much desired springtime, while we here begin to don long sleeves as fall approaches.

This entry's title might be a bit of a misnomer, since it's now January 31st, but thought I should at least try to be a bit consistent, given my previous entry's title. I mistakenly thought the holiday festivities would be a bit more prolonged here, like they are in Spain with the observance of the Reyes Magos on January 6. While many children here do indeed receive a gift from the Three Wise Men/Kings on the morning of January 6 (after first leaving out water and hay for the camels the night before), the day itself is not an official holiday nor is there any sort of community-wide celebration, e.g. parade, at least not in my village. The upside is that since it is not a holiday, there is mail service. I felt like the Kings had left something for me too since I received my first USMail package of the year on this day, a package full of gifts I had ordered for folks here...so I in turn had a chance to give back on the special day!

2010's first month has just evaporated. It began with a couple days of being under-the-weather thanks to extra gastrointestinal activity, and then switched gears to an office routine, as I staffed our area's education Supervision office from January 5 thru Friday, Jan. 29. The women who work in Supervision include the person who requested a Peace Corps Volunteer for this area several years ago, while she was still the director of the small school where I began my service. "Lidia" is now "Supervisora Lidia" who oversees 54 schools in our district. She and others in the office had worked through December 30, and were looking forward to their January vacation, planning to return to open the office on February 1. (School is out for the summer, classes scheduled to resume on February 23.) She learned on Monday, January 4, that the Ministry of Education and Culture had decreed that all Supervision offices must remain open during the month of January...you now get the picture....she asked if I could staff it so they could have some long-anticipated time-off. I was more than happy to help out, especially since I needed some good office space, complete with a land-line, this month to make progress on the library manual revision. So, in short order, I was given the keys to not only the education offices in the City Hall, but the key to the front door of City Hall, and the key to the Mayor's secretary's office where the fax machine is located. My "keys to the kingdom" have come in very handy this month...in fact until this last day of January...for having them has allowed me to come into the City Hall on a Sunday afternoon to post my January blog entry (the City Hall has a wireless network, hip hip hooray!) I turn the keys over this evening so my colleagues can open up the office tomorrow, February 1. I will be boarding an early bus to Asuncion with the director of the main school; where we have a 2 1/2 day workshop with the rest of my training group.

January was not ALL work at the office however...it included two lovely outings to nearby Colonia Independencia. The first was for a birthday party for 3-year old Nico, held at http://www.hotel-sportcamping.de/en/index.php?weiterleitung=true&language=en. In essence, it was a pool party, amid thatched huts, and mountain views. I delighted in getting Nico to jump into the pool/my arms repeatedly, and started teaching him how to swim. Many Paraguayans do not learn to swim. The kids were amazed when I simply dived into the pool! The second outing was with some girlfriends, and included a behind-the-scenes peak at a 21st Century castle that looks like it should be overlooking the Rhine. (I'd mistakenly assumed it'd been built by a homesick German, for there are many Germans in this part of Paraguay, dating back to post-WWI days.) Colonia Independencia is nestled amidst Paraguay's highest mountains, the Ybytyruzu range, and we could readily view Paraguay's highest peak, 842 meters high Cerro Tres Kandu, from the castle tower. Here are some mountain views, courtesy of the Travel-images web site:

http://www.travel-images.com/paraguay5.html

Hope to make it back to Colonia Independencia before the summer's over and school starts again. Thankfully it's really close by, so we'll see...meanwhile, next on the fiesta agenda here in Paraguay is CARNAVAL...and nearby Villarrica supposedly stages one of the country's best celebrations...stay tuned!

The end of the school year here in late November makes for a seamless segue into the holiday spirit! This first December in Paraguay included my first American visitor, and the chance to explore the country beyond the bus routes I'm usually limited to. Our initial foray with the rental car, to drive the roughly 100 miles to my site from Asuncion, usually a 3-4 journey by bus, took us a delightful 10 hours as we stopped umpteen times to take in many places I'd only seen on a map or wanted to see, intrigued by roadside signs while on moving buses! This day trip coincided with the eve of Paraguay's #1 religious celebration, the Virgen of Caacupe (Dec 8 is also the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on the Catholic calendar). Many Paraguayans make a pilgrimage to the town of Caacupe, the spiritual capital of Paraguay located on a major highway, the same road we needed to take to reach my new home. For a good description of this devotion and ritual, see

http://www.guidetoparaguay.com/blog.html#5086068459308273680

We passed a lot of pilgrims on the move, both west and east of Caacupe. The Virgen of Caacupe and her devout followers reminds me of the fervor the Virgen of Guadalupe receives from many Mexicans, and Mexican-Americans.

As long as I've already led you to the guidetoparaguay.com blog in this post, I'd like to reference this well-done blog once again, particularly to the Christmas entry,

http://www.guidetoparaguay.com/blog.html

for the author has captured the spirit of the 12 days of Christmas Paraguayan-style. Actually, many of the 12 images shared here can be experienced year-round in Paraguay.

12 chiperas selling--definitely an omnipresent, ubiquitous occurrence here, for "chipa" is the national carbohydrate of choice, a fusion of corn flour, cheese, anis...not as chewy as a bagel, and definitely better when consumed fresh from the oven. The chipa sellers board most long-distance buses at different points along the national routes, and it does not matter if a bus is already filled to beyond capacity, beyond standing-room-only. Paraguayans always find a way for the chiperas to board with their bountiful baskets of the fresh bread.

11 hammocks swinging--don't let one of my blog pics sway you into believing I have much contact with these here! In fact, I have yet to sway in one here, truly!

10 harpists playing--yes, isn't that beautiful? The harp is a central instrument to much traditional Paraguayan music. I get to sing right next to one when I join our local church choir in song, for our group includes a harpist...just love it!

9 yuyeros mashing---mashing herbs to incorporate into mixes of mate and/or terere drink, the national beverage.

8 fritters frying--have indeed consumed my fair share of these, yummy!

7 mitos haunting--I *think* I've seen this specific place, but can't place it right now. "Mito" means "myth," and the Guarani component of Paraguay keeps many Guarani mythology figures alive and well in the Paraguayan psyche.

6 oxen pulling--one of my favorite things to see in movement here. A cart or two pass my house every morning, and then again in the late afternoon. One of these days I will ride along, something on my Paraguayan "bucket list."

5 Fiiiiiiive kambuchiiiiii (full of clerico)--kambuchi is the ceramic piece; clerico is the wonderful liquid refreshment it contains. While I've not yet imbibed kambuchi-kept clerico, I've certainly enjoyed more than 5 glasses of this Christmas-time treat, a mix of diced fruits and either sparkling cider or red wine (or strawberry soda for kids). Interesting, they don't usually add watermelon to the mix, altho that fruit is in great abundance this time of year. Actually, I would include it in my own list of 12 Days here, but I'm guessing the author didn't since she paid tribute to this Christmay fruit in a separate entry, the one published just prior to 12 days, titled "Tis the Season for Watermelon."

4 kiddie pools--popular ware on street corners these summer days. I actually saw this specific display in Asuncion earlier this week!

3 tatakuas--wood oven. Need a lot here to make all the chipa, among other things!

2 flor de cocos--coconut flower, a part of most Paraguayans' nativity scenes, and one of the most pervasive Christmas-time aromas here. For more info, see yet another interesting post, http://www.guidetoparaguay.com/labels/Flora.html

1 a monkey up in a tree--well, I haven't seen one here yet, but I did see several when we visited the Iguazu Falls earlier this month, on the Argentinian side. In fact, we saw ONE MONKEY UP IN A TREE take a high, flying leap from the very edge of one tree's limb to another tree on the other side of a small river--a magical moment!

May your 2010 be full of many magical moments, wherever you may have the privilege to be living YOUR NEXT NEW YEAR! Happy new decade, full of blessings and good stories!

Si, senores y senoras, as of Monday, Nov. 30, 2009 the 2009 Paraguayan school year draws officially to a close across the entire Republic, as decreed by law...that is, by the book, whereas the reality is that actual classes began to end almost a month ago. The exam period is very drawn out here, coupled with an extremely tedious and almost painful-to-watch process of data gathering as teachers submit their grades. Graduation events are in full-force, with invitations coming my way from all directions. Last week was the first, the official graduation of students from the "initial cycle," aka the pre-school and kindergarten classes. Evidently it´s quite the tradition here, with each family bringing its own cake to the ceremony. I was asked to present the "diplomas," together with the mayor, the superintendent and the principal. The next school year begins in late February.

This past weekend Paraguay`s President, Fernando Lugo, descended upon Troche. It was fun to watch the local children get so excited as his helicopter approached. He came to celebrate the end of the sugar cane harvest at the state-run alcohol factory, which had a record-breaking production year. I attended the event, and was amazed at the low-key security level!

I`ll be on vacation for about a week in December (no, not until late February!...much prep work to be done for next school year, plus offering a summer camp or two) with my first US visitor, hooray! Together we´ll visit the Iguazu Falls shared by Argentina and Brazil, (seen in the 1986 movie "The Mission") and the Jesuit missions in southern Paraguay. So, the next post will have to include a synopsis of these side sojourns!

Meanwhile, I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving, and enjoys a happy holiday season. It´s hard to remember that it´s "that time of year" without as many temperature or visual cues, although they do put up quite a few lights around here!

Yes, a new home was found shortly after posting my previous entry (thanks for sending along those positive housing vibes!). I´m now living with three generations of a family, and the house is located right between the City Hall and my main school, the two places where I spend most of my time. The town plaza is just a block away. My "pieza" (aka room) is more like two, for it once housed a family business attached to the house. Just love my new set up; I feel so very lucky that everything has worked out so well!

"On the move in October" included more than the usual number of trips to Villarrica, the largest city in our state of Guaira. Just as I was in the midst of my house move, I received a call from the Peace Corps office in Asuncion to let me know the US Ambassador to Paraguay would be visiting Villarrica, and that I was invited to attend some of the events. Her itinerary included the presentation of a large book donation to the Centro Cultural Paraguayo-Americano (CCPA), where I´ve been volunteering a couple times a month. It was great to see her again, and to meet several members of the Embassy staff, including its new director of the Information Resource Center. Several other PCVs in the area were able to attend too, and we all held new books in front of us as we posed for a picture with the Ambassador. The cultural center´s library received the donation with the understanding that it would convert its collection into a circulating one, since all the materials must still be used in situ. I´ll be helping to make this change happen for the CCPA-Villarrica´s library.

My monthly trip to Asuncion was extra interesting this round for it coincided with the national conference for libraries and librarians. ABIGRAP (the Paraguayan equivalent of ALA) doesn´t hold a conference every year, so I lucked out that one was held now, to coincide with the National Day of the Librarian on October 16. I stayed with one of the LIS professors who helped organize the conference, and met some really neat folks, many of whom I´m sure I´ll be writing about in future posts as I hope to follow-up with them during my work here.

Yes, amidst much change and movement! Shortly upon my return from the lightning-quick trip to the US, my host sister Stela told me she´d moved her wedding date up from December to October 31. Looking forward to my first Paraguayan wedding on Halloween!

The not-so-happy flipside is that one of the consequences of the imminent union is that I must find a new place to live, since I´ve been living in Stela´s daughter´s room. Finding a new venue has proven to be much more difficult than I anticipated, for three weeks after Stela gave me the news I´m still looking...meanwhile, as of today I´m moving in with some great neighbors on a temporary basis while I continue the search for something in the nearby pueblo. (Moving from the rural village of Itacurubi to the nearly town of M.J. Troche since most of my work is with the local area Superintendent`s office, which is housed in ¨Troche.¨ It´s a challenge to work at ¨full¨ while housing is in limbo, but I know things will work out soon. Hopefully my October post will include details on mi nueva casa...send good housing vibes my way!

August sneaked by!

Did it ever, without a chance to post my monthly entry! Firstly, MUCHISIMAS GRACIAS to the generous supporters of our LIBRARY WORKSHOP, the focus of July´s post, for the event is now fully funded (hence, the link with its information has already vanished)! I can´t thank you all enough, and I will report on the workshop, now slated for next spring, in this space, so stay tuned!

August "sneaked by" thanks to a couple of Peace Corps multi-day workshops, one focusing on language (aka Guarani in my case, for more about Guarani, see http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/247844/Guarani-language), and the other on Project Design Management. The latter was especially interesting since each volunteer brought along at least one Paraguayan, meaning the total group had more Paraguayans than "nortes." It was really interesting to meet Paraguayans from all parts of the country, and I was delighted to take two women from my host community, Marlene and Simone. Marlene is a teacher who works on project management in the Area Supervisor´s office, and Simone is a young activist in my rural village who has already begun to form a neighborhood association as a result of the workshop. ¡Qué guapa! ("Guapo/a" in Paraguayan Spanish means hard-working.)

The month really sneaked by me tho, when I was able to slip in a quick, surprise getaway to the States, literally surprising my whole family (except one sister) as I arrived for the celebration of my parents´ 50th wedding anniversary. The travel gods were on my side and the trip couldn´t have been better. Even managed to purchase 12 Paraguayan soccer jerseys before take-off, and now have some great pics of my 12 nieces and nephews decked out like an "albirroja" team (Paraguay´s national soccer team, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albirroja). Since the colors are red and white like the Nebraska Cornhuskers, it´s likely more than one of these shirts will make it to Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, NE this fall! The best part was seeing the moving sea of red and white as all 12 played soccer in my parents´ back yard...oh, and the snapshot of all 12 giving the thumbs-up sign, known as the beloved "al pelo" here.

Stay tuned for another entry this month, to make up for the August lapse!

Denise

Approaching halfyear mark in the Southern Hemisphere!

Yes, it´s hard to believe, but come August 4 I´ll have been in Paraguay half a year already…incredible!

By now I´ve made some library connections in Paraguay. The PC infrastructure here includes a library committee--hooray! I`m currently helping with the revision of a library manual compiled previously by other PCVs, ¨Manual de Bibliotecas en Paraguay¨ as part of the prep for a library workshop to be held this fall, offered to PCVs and their respective Paraguayan community contacts. That is, we HOPE to offer the workshop, if we can raise enough $$$ via the Peace Corps Partnership Program. Please indulge me, dear friends, by taking a couple of extra minutes to read a letter from our committee which I´m taking the liberty to cut and paste here:

Dear Family, Friends, and Generous People who Love Books and Libraries,

A couple interesting facts about Paraguay: books are prohibitively expensive, and libraries are few and far between. Those libraries that do exist often lack staff. Those staff members that do exist often lack knowledge of how effectively to use the libraries.

That’s why we write.

In September 2009, the Peace Corps Paraguay Library Committee hopes to hold a two-day workshop for 30 librarians, teachers, and their Peace Corps volunteer counterparts. The workshop’s theme? How to find library resources and how to use them well once you get them.

We hope that you, Generous Readers, will visit the following link,

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=526-195

for more details about this important project. (Please check out the link!)

We hope that you, Generous Readers, will find the project worthy of your support and donate some small (or large!) amount to making it a reality. Your donations (tax- deductible, of course) will cover food, lodging, and logistical workshop expenses. Participants will work with their communities to raise money for transportation to and from the workshop, held in Asunción.

Thank you so much, everyone, for your time, your consideration, and (we hope) your support.

Sincerely,

Peace Corps Paraguay Library Committee

DENISE here again...THANKS in advance for reading all of this, and consider donating even just $20...like one trip to the movies with snacks! (Or in lieu of sending me a birthday package :)) I can personally attest that $20 goes a LONG way here in Paraguay. I, of course, plan to attend this workshop (assuming we raise enough $$$) and will help assure that we get the most bang possible for your hard-earned bucks!

If you think of it later and don´t have the above link handy, just go to the Peace Corps site, www.peacecorps.gov

You`ll see a "Donate Now" on the left side button. Click, and you`ll find the project by entering the last name DICKINSON to make your contribution.

(Here´s more info, directly from the link, in case you want to know more before clicking the link):

The summary below was provided by the Peace Corps Volunteer and the community administering this project.

The Library Workshop stems from the collective desire of the Peace Corps Volunteer-led Pro-Library Committee to provide a 10-hour capacity-building workshop to 30 librarians and/or teachers from diverse Paraguayan communities, both rural and urban. All participating Peace Corps Volunteers are actively involved in library projects, either working with communities to improve library management and community access to information or create such access. As such, all members of this committee seek to strengthen community institutions and foster responsible project management design.

Due to a scarcity of public libraries and the prohibitively high cost of books, many Paraguayan communities have infrequent access to informational and reading materials. Thus, many librarians in Paraguay do not possess the necessary resources, training, nor contacts to run successfully the community institutions placed in their charge. Often, school libraries exist without pertinent educational materials and/or caretakers or are managed by teachers lacking professional training as librarians.

The two-day library workshop seeks to introduce librarians and educators, and their Peace Corps counterparts, to the basic skills of library management, including book classification and catalogue organization, book maintenance and upkeep, systems of lending, and methods of fundraising. Participants will also learn how to integrate school libraries and story-related activities into daily classroom curriculum, improving language arts in education and fostering a culture of reading among students. The knowledge and skills gained by the librarians and teachers in the workshop will serve, ideally, the entire community, providing greater access to available books, educational resources, and information and expanding opportunities for schools, businesses, and organizations.

Yours in librarianship,

Denise in Paraguay

Yes, still getting used to using the word winter in what would normally be the good ol´ summertime. While I don´t need to bundle up with a heavy winter coat nor gloves, I DO need to dress in layers many days and nights….especially the nights since there´s no heat, combined with minimal insulation….just have to get used to filling colder inside than outside!

It was a little hotter than a normal winter weekend this past, first winter weekend, due to the popular celebration of San Juan (St. John the Baptist, feast day June 24). Many of the games and traditions that are part of San Juan involve FIRE; yes, a pyromaniac´s dream fiesta! El dia de San Juan is one of the most widespread festivals anywhere. Probably beginning in pagan times...fires that were lit at the time of the summer solstice(in the northern hemisphere), and in these giant fires, bones were thrown in. And that's where the term bonfire comes in, from this festival. It was perhaps the most widespread, important pagan celebration known. The St. John the Baptist celebrations were very quickly adapted through South America everywhere and integrated into indigenous, native celebrations. In Paraguay, this ranges from highly mobile activities like a tag-like game in which people chase each other with long lit-up reeds...kicking around flaming balls made from rags, and steering clear of the fiery path of a bull-shaped figure whose real bull horns have been set aflame...to more stationary customs like a burning scarecrow-like figure, and stoking the omnipresent bonfires. In my community the local schoolgrounds served as the center for most of this flaming activity!

Speaking of school, it´s nearly the middle of the school year here, since the new academic year begins in February. Starting next week all schools in the country, both public and private, will close for a two-week vacation. I´ve been busy giving reading tests to the kids so I can compile and analyze the results during the school break. (No vacation yet for we new PCVs.)

Meanwhile, many Paraguay PCVs will be heading to Asunción this weekend to celebrate the 4th of July American-style. I´m looking forward to meeting other Americans living here during the celebration at the embassy. VIVA America! (both North Y South!)

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!

Yes, today, April 23, 2009 (International Day of the Book, hooray) was our final day of training. We`ve had a full week (like all weeks of training!), complete with a visit to the Ministry of Education, and the Museo de Las Memorias in Asuncion; a session on bicycle maintenance (many of us will receive bikes from the PC to use in our sites); learning how to cut wine bottles to make glasses and other objects; compost creation, planting a vegetable garden (and trees on Arbor Day!), the requisite group dynamic activities, and more (including language proficiency interviews, both in Spanish and Guarani--ndaipori problema!)...

Our training class, G29, swears in tomorrow, 4-24, at the U.S. Ambassador´s residence in Asuncion. We´re especially thrilled because all 31 of us will become Volunteers, a 100% swearing in rate! The 11 week process has been pretty intense, and we´re all eager to travel to our sites next week. But first, time for some much deserved R&R in Asuncion as we celebrate this milestone.

Happy equinox greetings to all, be it spring or fall!

The training pace has really picked up this month, hence fewer posts. Now we´re all about to depart for "Long Field Practice." Next week, in groups of 4-6 trainees plus language teachers and trainers, we´ll travel to various parts of the country. Each group will settle in one community for the whole week to work with a current volunteer in his/her site, and each of us will live with a host family during our visit. I´ll be in a group destined for Yhu (Guarani for "black water" or "black river"), a small town about 230 km from Asuncion (east and north). I´d include a link to the area/town but in the short time I have online I can´t find a good site in English :) We´ll be working at an elementary school and giving presentations on dental health. We´ll also be helping the volunteer introduce the students to the school´s new library (Yaay!), and conduct reading evaluations. More later....and still so far, so good in Paraguay!

This past Sunday, March 1, 2009, was Peace Corps Day. (In addition to Nebraska´s "birthday!) March 1st marks the 1961 anniversary when President Kennedy signed an executive order establishing the Peace Corps. Check out the below site for more info on the Peace Corps.

http://www.morepeacecorps.org/

One of my fellow trainees started a Facebook presence for our training group. Its creation, ("G-29 Paraguay Peace Corps 09-11"--the "G-29" identifies us as the 29th group to be trained for PC Paraguay at the facility located in the town of 'G'uarambare, Paraguay) finally ¨forced¨me to join the masses on Facebook.

I realize I didn´t follow up on my trip to the Chaco mentioned in the previous post. The trip was great, and included watching an Indian celebration of Carnaval in an indigenous village called Santa Teresita. The Indians danced non-stop from the Sunday before Ash Wednesday until Ash Wednesday, amidst ¨mucho calor¨and while covered in various layers of masks. Amazing!

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?

First and foremost, a big GRACIAS to my dear friend Maura for creating this blog...just the jumpstart I needed!

This first full week of February 2009 is my first full week in Paraguay for Peace Corps training. I arrived with my group of 30 fellow trainees ("aspirantes" in Spanish) late last week, via Miami and Sao Paolo, Brazil. Upon landing in Paraguay´s capital, Asuncion, we were given a rousing welcome by many PC staff and trainers at the city´s airport. All of our bags were loaded onto one moving truck, and we followed in a convoy of vans and SUVs to Guarambare, a small city about an hour´s drive south of Asuncion. The primary training facility for PC Paraguay is located here. We are all living with host families and learning two languages, Spanish and Guarani. More on the latter later!

Meanwhile, we´re all happily adjusting to the warm temperatures and frequent showers that are part and parcel of this time of year in Paraguay.

Hasta la proxima!

Denise