Jesuit ruins

Take a bumpy bus ride into the farm country, passing “urban zone” signs where only one farmhouse and a field of cows is visible, and you will be on your way to the Jesuit Reductions of Trinidad and Jesus. These two UNESCO world heritage sites give a glimpse into the role the Jesuits played in introducing the region to Spanish rule and the Catholic Church. Located in the middle of farm country, the most you would say is that they are peaceful spots, the sort of place I would go to escape from the hustle of a city. But in their day they were home to over 6,000 Guarani, along with 3-4 priests. The settlements seem to take a standard format, even if the architecture of the two churches is different. There is, of course, a large church calling your attention as soon as you approach the site – you can never forget these were religious sites. But you will also find school rooms, artisan workshops and housing for those higher up in the local culture along with fields and irrigation. These were self sufficient communities which just happened to also send back a great amount of crafts and wealth to Spain.

The skill of the Guarani craftspeople is visible in the stone carvings which decorated the church, some now stacked on shelves at Trinidad, others still gracing the walls behind the altar a silent testimony to the musical ability of these people. The immenseness of the project to build the church becomes evident when you see the baptismal fount and pulpit carved out of enormous blocks of stone, and when the provisional church in and of itself impressive is pointed out as being built a just a temporary measure until the main church was finished. A tall tower served as a connection in between Trinidad and Jesus, allowing communication by mirror, bell and fire – even though Jesus is an unfinished mission. Begun as the Jesuits were losing favor and never finished due to the Jesuit withdrawal, today it sits in a peaceful spot off a dirt and cobblestone road. Rising out of the fields the church remains seem to make a statement about the strength of Catholicism in the country. With the half columns standing within the shell of the church it is clear that the time of glory for the Jesuits has passed in Paraguay, but there is also no denying the impact that was made on the country in both the religious and political arena.

Boogie Woogie

One of the things I love about working at a school is that sometimes you get to see performances or hear speakers that are amazing, and that you wouldn't normally run into on your own. A few weeks we were told our schedules would be rearranged a bit because we were going to having a short concert and lecture about the boogie woogie genre of music. Turns out we were being given a lesson by one of the best boogie woogie piano players in the world - Axel Zwingenberger from Germany. All I can say is that his fingers flew over the keys! I had a difficult time staying still, and some of our students even got up to dance a bit. I'm still not sure what a boogie woogie player from Germany was going in Paraguay, but I'm glad he chose to stop in Asuncion and included the school among his stops. What a foot tapping, clapping good time. Enjoy a bit of it below:

In the paper

I had to laugh a bit when shortly after I arrived at school on Monday someone excitedly came up to tell me that my picture was in the paper. What?!? Oh yeah, that’s right. When I was at the school “Extravaganza” a parent-alumni-teacher celebration a woman asked if she could take a picture of me and two of my friends and then had us write down our names. Turns out the newspapers in Asuncion still have a society page (or entire section) and we were at the front of it on Sunday. This will tell you a bit about the type of circle our parents are in. Especially when I tell you that they also appeared at our school picnic the week before (during which my roommate was also photographed and put in – she’s now been in the paper twice having been in Paraguay less than two months). The whole thing just seems a bit odd to me. It seems that we were the token foreigners to be included to give an idea of how “international” our school is. I can’t say I ever would have thought I’d be in the society pages, which just goes to show that you should never say never. At least I had a fairly enjoyable evening with a mini Chinese buffet and a DJ to dance to after 1 am. I’m beginning to think that I will never be able to predict what will come next.

Football fever

“Are you going to watch the game, Ms?” was a question I heard several times this past week. Each time I had to stop and think a minute before I realized what my students were talking about was the match between Paraguay and Bolivia. The national team was playing as part of the World Cup qualifying and it has become clear to me that this country gets behind their team. As I was walking around today I noticed the red and white stripes of the Paraguayan national team jersey swaying on a line at almost every main intersection. “Buy here, support your team today,” they seemed to whisper to me. I walked into the grocery store only to notice that every single cashier was bedecked in red and white instead of their normal uniform polo. Out on the street cars flew past with small Paraguayan flags sticking up from a window. A few enthusiastic individuals had huge flags completely over their cars, making it seem as if they were just waiting for an excuse to use the cap to fly away. Even some of the guard stands were sporting the red, white and blue stripes of the Paraguayan flag. Clearly there is much love and pride for the football team here (and don’t even doubt for a moment that I’m speaking of what North Americans would call soccer). I had to laugh when an email went out on Friday saying that the school extravaganza that is going on tonight will be starting a bit earlier than planned so that you can come “watch the game on the big screen.” An acknowledgment that the only way to get people to a competing event is to draw them in with match. I’m still not sure if I’ll watch the game, although I have no doubt I’ll hear of the result soon enough. And I still don’t have my own red and white striped jersey. I have a feeling it is just a matter of time before I give in and buy one, around the same time I manage to score tickets to watch the team play (hopefully).

[I talked to a few people after the game, they were quick to inform me Paraguay won 1-0 but they were a bit disgusted that they could only win by one goal. At least it was a win!]

This is the southern hemisphere

For the most part, I don’t really realize that I am in the southern hemisphere now. Sure, sure, I know that the water is suppose to swirl the other way when it goes down the drain, but honestly I can’t say I ever watch the water whirl down the toilet bowl. I did think that I might get to see some of the constellations I learned while living in Australia that aren’t visible from the northern hemisphere (the southern cross being the one I know I could pick out) only I don’t seem to the stars very much. I’m not sure if it is because there are too many lights in the city, because the stars aren’t visible or just because I’m not looking up at night. So it is kind of a relief to get the occasional reminder that this is below the equator. And that reminder has come out in full bloom this week. We are entering spring here in all the color and fragrance that means. If it weren’t for all the plants flowering I’d say we skipped right from winter to summer (it reached 91 degrees today, I’m not sure what that means for the summer to come). As it is I’m fully enjoying the trees covered in pink – the lapacho tree is the Paraguayan national tree, and after they burst into full bloom this week I can understand why. The walk to school has definitely gotten prettier, and I’m hoping all the flowers will stay around a bit longer to keep adding color to my day.

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.