Bus rides

My mom is here visiting for a while, which means I've been revisiting some of the places that are worth exploring in Paraguay. It also means that we've been taking a lot of bus rides, which reminds me of what I like about riding a bus. While I might not get a good night's sleep while spending the hours between 1 and 6 in the morning on a bus, the daytime rides to provide a great perspective to observe bits of daily Paraguayan life. I'm amused by what you might see while driving by - overfilled motorcycles, trucks filled with logs beyond expectation, the bright colors of sponsored little stores on the side of the road, stretches of green scenery which show the true beauty of the countryside, plenty of pigs and cows...I could keep going. However, my favorite part of riding in a long distance bus is the chipa. Chipa is a Paraguayan bread made out of cornmeal. Oven baked it has a crisp outside and an almost gooey chewy inside. When it is hot it is one of my favorite snacks. After several more trips on the bus I still hold that the best chipa I've had in country is what I've bought from the man who comes on to the bus between Encarnacion and Asuncion. He climbs up to the upper level of the bus with his full basket of warm chipa, chirping "chipa, chipa, chipa"and you can bet that I will be digging in my bag to find some change. He slowly makes his way up the aisle, selling something to almost every row of seats, and once he finishes the bus stops again to let him off 15-10 km down the road, where I suppose he will wait to board a bus headed in the opposite direction. In the meantime I'll keep staring out the window happily chewing on my chipa.

Tourism video

As part of everything else that is going on for the bicentinial (I got invited to march in a parade with teachers, students and their families today) the Paraguayan tourism department has published a new video promoting tourism to Paraguay. I have to admit I haven't seen over half of the things in this video but it will give you some very pretty views of the country.

Little smiles

One of the things that brings me a smile to my face consistently is taking a really good look at the warning signs along the road. How shall I say it? They lack the sophistication I am used to seeing in a sign and often make me want to laugh. If you take a look at the "watch for children crossing in a school zone" sign it is hard to not think that the two school children are pregnant. Really? That is the image we want to project to the public? And that is the best we can do? Although I suspect the answer to that last question might be yes. After all, the cross walk sign is not a whole lot better. If you take a close look at it the man appears to be made up of several circles for hands and head, and rectangles for all the rest of the parts of his body. With two triangles thrown on at the end to give an illusion of feet. I'm not so sure what I think of their signs, but I will definitely keep looking at them just to see what else they have managed to come up with!

It says a lot

The first week we were back at school we took 10 minutes out of one day to do a flag raising ceremony with the entire school. All of the students out in the front yard from pre-K to grade 12. This was one of the special events the school had planned in keeping with celebrating the bicentennial. They wanted as many of the students and staff dressed alike as possible and so asked us to wear the albiroja - the red and white striped jersey of the Paraguayan national football team. This is what I find amusing about the whole thing. Where else could you ask every student to wear a national team jersey and they would all have it? We had perhaps 10% of the students and staff not in the jersey, and some of those I know own it and just forgot. What does it say about a country that almost everyone in it, native or foreign, owns a version of the football jersey? Does it give you an idea of just how important football is in this country? I can't blame the Paraguayan department for making that call - after all almost everyone was sporting the red and white stripes as the flag went up.

Advertising

Advertising is something that often catches my attention here. I'm not sure if it is because I am no longer used to billboards after having lived in Turkey, or just because things seems to be a bit more outlandish and over the top (like the statue of liberty billboard, the giant coffee cup on top of a building, or the oversize boxes of chocolate candies that are their own billboard). Or perhaps it is just because I walk everywhere so I have time to really look around and notice things. I have to admit that some of the advertising seems to be extremely well placed for their target advertising. Such as the ads for the i-phone that went up just outside the school gates about a month before the phones arrived in Paraguay (target audience!). I'm not so sure about the three large Britanico billboards that are just across from the school, but they have been there since I arrived so I don't see them leaving anytime soon.

My favorite advertising in the city though is a wall that I walk by every day on my way to school. It is low cost advertising at its best. About every two weeks someone comes by and paints over what is on the wall and repaints information about what parties or events are going on soon in Asunción. The majority of the adverts are for parties held at one of the clubs (it is worth mentioning that this wall is directly across from another private school in the city). I've even managed to go by a couple of times when the repainting is being done and I can tell you that it seems as if it done by high school students for high school students. Why do I like these ads over others? Perhaps because they are brightly colored and hand done. The idea that they are advertisements for events rather than material good to buy is also a draw. Surely some of it is the frequent overhaul of the wall designs. But then it could just be because I spend significantly more time staring at the wall when I'm waiting for the light to change so I can cross the street.

Carrera de las Chicas

One of my hobbies here seems to be running in any road race that I can find out about early enough to sign up for and train for. There are several things that I don't quite understand about the whole system including how they advertise for a run, the process it takes to sign up for a run (the most recent required an online registration, going to the mall to pay the fee, showing up at the park the day before to pick up my race information, and then returning to the park less than 24 hours later for the run...surely at least one of these steps could be eliminated.) but I have to admit that the events themselves are usually well run. This morning I ran in the Carrera de las Chicas - a 5k run just for women put on by Nike. I will say that they clearly had the best advertising images and t-shirt design of all the runs I've participated in (although I'm still not sure how I feel about fluorescent orange). What is fun about this race is that since it is only for women you get a lot of people coming out that would not normally participate in a run, and I saw several mom and daughter groupings which made me smile. It was also refreshing to hear "Go Mama" "Fuerza mama" from the side as the men in the family encouraged their women (I do live in Paraguay where the women often play a supporting role to the men). All in all I have to admit it was a pleasant way to start a Sunday despite the heat and humidity, out for a run with some of the other women who have become part of my family here.

My big news

It has been a while since you've heard from, I know. I've been back two weeks from our long "summer" vacation which just happens to take place in the middle of the school year. 7 solid weeks of travelling and exploring (more on that later) didn't really leave much time for anything else. Some of you know that I decided that I was not going to renew my contract in Paraguay and would be looking to move on after finishing up my two years. As part of my vacation I spent a week in San Francisco at a job fair and yes, I ended up with a new job, a new school, and a new country for next year! In July I will be moving to New Delhi, India to work at the American Embassy School. I am not sure that I can tell you a whole lot, except that I now realize I'll be in the 7th largest country in the world, in a city with a population over 14 million. It will sure be a big change from Paraguay which has a total population of 5 million! I will be teaching high school math although I don't know specifically what yet. The math department is in starting a process to introduce a new curriculum which means that things are going to be gradually changing each year. However, the principal and the department head seem to have a clear idea of where they are going so I am not too worried.

What can I tell you about the school? It seems to have a good reputation in the international school circuit as everyone I spoke with that had heard of it had good things to say, from teachers to parents. There are around 1450 students from Kindergarten to grade 12 from 53 different countries. I believe the largest percentage is the 35% Americans, which means I should be teaching at a school that is actually international this time around. The high school has 418 students so it is about twice as larger as the school I have been teaching at but should still be small enough that I will know most of the students. There are 7 teachers in the math department and the school seems to offer the AP and the IB diploma programs. When I asked the director about staff retention I was very encouraged to hear that in the 10 years he has been there only three people have left after their initial contract was up. It looks like I'll have a great new school to start exploring another part of the world from!