Welcome to Paraguay, have some hand sanitizer

My first real introduction to the swine flu frenzy has been in Paraguay. Sure I’ve read about it other places, but this is the first country I’ve landed in which seems to have numerous cases and the paranoia that goes along with that. Arriving in Asuncion my director met me in the airport carrying a surgical mask while most of those around him were wearing one. It turns out that you couldn’t enter the airport without sporting a mask…just in case someone coming off a plane was contagious with the swine flu. On our first excursions around town the faculty liaison apologized for not putting any hand sanitizer into our welcome packages, explaining that the stores were completely out of it. Around the same time I found out that the Paraguayan national schools were delaying the start of school by two weeks for fear of too many students coming sick and passing on the illness. Not so our school. ASA started right on time, not that any of us were to worried. I was amused to have two boxes of Kleenex delivered to my room the day before classes started along with a jug of hand sanitizer, only to have a bottle three times as large delivered two days later (do they really think my students and I would use that much that quick?). Whatever. I’m willing to play the game, and have put it all out on my desk where my students have easy access to it throughout the day. Perhaps my biggest surprise in all of this was talking with my students the first day of school. I asked them to tell me a few interesting things about themselves, prompting them with “what did you do over the break?” if they got stuck for ideas. Several of them told me they “were in quarantine with their family because my sister/brother was sick.” While another shared that he had “had the swine flu, but don’t worry I’m over it and not contagious anymore.” Huh. I guess that should be enough to make it more real for me. At least it hasn’t turned out to be as fatal as health officials were initially expecting. Welcome to Paraguay, here is your mask and hand sanitizer.

The first day

It might not be my first week in Paraguay, but the first week of classes seems like a much bigger step. All in all I have to say that my week went great, and I think I made a good choice coming here. I have just a few thoughts to share about the start to the school year. I am always interested in how the first day of school plays out in a new place. Ranking my four schools I have to say that this was the second most productive. In Guinea the first day was all about getting someone to scale the flagpole to run a string up it and having the students clean the classrooms. In Turkey we pretty much had an assembly and a picnic lunch before sending the kids home. In Paraguay the only difference from a normal school day came from the opening part. Apparently it is tradition in Paraguay, or at least at my school, for the seniors to party with the freshmen and stay up all night the night before school starts. In order to combat the problem of drunken students on campus the administration this year chose to send home all of the seniors after the opening assembly. An assembly which seemed to celebrate the installation of the class of 2010 as seniors. The theme this year was jailers and prisoners, with all of the seniors dressed up as the jailers and the freshmen dressed up as prisoners in black scrubs with 2013 on the back. I had to take attendance (without a roster) before anything began but as soon as my students heard some fireworks going off they started running out of the door and towards the gym. They didn’t want to miss the seniors coming. The entrance was…interesting. The 60 or so seniors piled in the back of a large truck (think more like a dump truck then a pickup truck), waving flags, blowing whistles and all in all making a ruckus. Parents line the sidewalk snapping pictures. The freshmen congregate on the sidewalk waiting for the seniors to disembark and chase them inside – a noisy and chaotic affair. I slowly made my way into the gym only to be surprised by the amount of noise 120 students can make (the sophomores and juniors are fairly quiet in this whole tradition). The seniors were making laps around the gym blowing on their whistles and popping balloons (activities which continued through most of the assembly) while the freshmen bounced in the stands screaming. Things calmed down a bit and the requisite speeches went on – the director, the principal, the senior class president, and a guest (a former teacher who had returned briefly) – then the seniors handed out a t-shirt to each of the teachers and we were off back to class. Time for me to get introduced to most of my students and give them an idea of my expectations. Now I need to get serious about learning the names of my 90 new students, never mind learning how to pronounce them correctly.

Out for a run

I was pleased when I realized on the flight into Asuncion that there were some organized run in Asuncion, or one at least. Lucky for me the half marathon that took place today also had a 10k option. In an effort to keep myself running and exercising I signed up for it online two days after arriving in country…and so I ran today. Not that that tells the whole story. I must say that I should be used to things not going quite the way I expect them to when I first arrive in a new country (I’m not sure if things actually go the way I expect once I’ve been around longer or if I just change my expectations). I went to collect my number and chip on Friday evening only to find that they had no record of me in the system. That’s funny; the charge has cleared on my credit card so I know I registered. With a bit of help from a friend (my Spanish is still nonexistent) they sorted it out and re-registered me without making me pay. Sadly it meant that I didn’t get my name on my number which meant less cheers. Oh well.

This morning my friends picked me up on the side of the main road at 7am. I have to tell you that Asuncion is pretty much dead on a Sunday morning. In fact, it was still quiet when we had finished our race and tried to go find brunch around 10:30. I guess we started so early though so that they wouldn’t have to close off the streets when traffic was really around…especially as the race pretty much just went straight up one of the main thoroughfares and then turned around and went back down it. At one point I was bit nervous about the fact that I was running down the yellow strip in the middle of the road while cars were driving by on either side of me. Huh. Always a new experience when you run a race in a different country. Happily I finished without any incident, in a time I could be happy with, and pleased to have had a chance to look at some of the neat buildings that line many of the streets here. What a way to spend the morning.

Train to nowhere

They call it the train to nowhere, although I’m not sure I’d agree. It actually goes from Asuncion to the lake town of Aregua. It is a bit odd to think that this is the national railroad of Paraguay, and that this is the only route it runs. Did I mention it only goes twice a month? If you choose to take this trip you will be riding on the only wood fed steam train still in operation today (if their claim is true). You’ll also get to ride in the original cars (thankfully with cushions added on to the wood seats)…or perhaps I should say mostly original. I know for sure that some of the windows have been replaced as a branch broke about 10 of them during our ride on Sunday. (Things never go quite as expected here.)

When we boarded the train on Sunday for our trip up to Aregua about all I knew was that we’d be going on a steam train, would get about 2 hours in the town and then would be headed back. There was so much that I just didn’t expect to be part of the experience, beyond even the window breaking and subsequent pause in the journey. It started out with some laughter as we noticed a “guard” dressed up complete with a painted on mustache. Continued with some small theater pieces given in the aisles of the cars. Confused by the appearance of joker, penguin and batman (I’m still not sure what they were doing on the train besides providing more entertainment). Surprised by the scene of people all along the tracks stopping outside to watch the train go by, wave and take photos (I’m convinced there were as many pictures taken by people watching the train pass as by those riding the train). Amused by the shock of seeing pigs in yards, my first pig sightings in three years (oh yes, that’s right, I have been in a Muslim country). Unclear as to the difference between a strawberry and frutilla when the frutilla looks just like what I’d call a strawberry (they say a strawberry is more purple…I’ll have to see for myself once the season comes). Entertained by some of the staff playing music on the way back down. Needless to say it was more that I had bargained for but a completely memorable and entertaining experience. It makes me wonder what else Paraguay has in store for me.

First impressions

It is hard to believe that I’ve already been in Paraguay for five days. It doesn’t seem as if Asuncion is all that different from things that I have experienced before. I’m not sure if this is a result of having now moved around more than the last time I picked up and changed countries, if it is because I didn’t actually make it back to the US this time before leaving again, or because I really knew so little before arriving. While there have been instances when I’ve had to pause and think to myself “oh yes, you are living in a new country” such as when we passed a man juggling fire in the middle of a street one evening, I also feel as if things are a bit more familiar. Although in the past few days it has really hit home to me that I need to learn yet another new language. Until I get a handle on Spanish I will not feel self sufficient here. Most of what I have been exposed to is my new school. The American School of Asuncion has a nice campus just off of one of the busier roads in the affluent part of the city. What I do like is that it is a campus set up around green space. Students will be walking outside to get from class to class, and they are free to make use of the grassy areas as they wish (or so I’ve been told). It is clear that the school is smaller than the one I just left…there are probably fewer classrooms for K-12 here than there were for the high school in Istanbul. This just gives me hope that I really will know all of the students better, even if I don’t teach them. Sadly I’m still in a hotel, but there is hope that we might get to move into our house tomorrow (more on that later). I’m excited to see what this country holds in store for me, I have no doubt it will be another great adventure which I’ll be happy to share with you.

Another query

Much of what I learn about Paraguay comes from questions that people ask me which I can not answer at the time. Today at lunch one of the other teachers asked me where exactly Paraguay was. He didn't want to know what countries bordered it (Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia)he wanted to know where it was in terms of latitude. Frankly telling him an inch and a half below the equator didn't seem like it was going to cut it. So tonight I looked it up, the capital Asuncion is around 25 degrees South. The Tropic of Capricorn (23.5 degrees South) also passes through it. To put it a bit more into perspective I had to look at what other countries contain the Tropic of Capricorn. The answer is Chile, (the northern tip of) Argentina, Brazil, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Madagascar, and Australia.

Map from www.mapsofworld.com

Figuring things out

I won't be moving to Asuncion for another 4 months, and yet I feel as if I've been inundated with e-mails and information from the school non-stop in the past week or so. It is so odd to realize that things are really getting sorted out. My main accomplishment, if you can call it that, is that as of this weekend I now have my housing situation for next year sorted out. Along with two other new teachers I will be taking over a house that several teachers are moving out of. It is more than a bit odd to think that I now have a house I've never seen, with two roommates I've never met. But despite that all there is a big sense of relief to know that I will have someplace to go to when I arrive in Paraguay in mid-July. The house seems nice enough from the pictures, as you can see.