Monday, March 28, 2011
Day 6
Note: The next 4-5 posts (not counting this one) will follow our weekend adventures and will likely be the most interesting.
This was the last day of class (Monday and Tuesday are ‘working sessions’ where students bring in their projects and we help them) and it was Chan’s day to teach, so I got some work done and helped with the workshops. After 4 days of being the main teacher, it was a welcome reprieve. Our host planned a field trip to the dam the next day which was slated to start at 4:30 am, yet evening festivities were not planned to start until 8 (and did not actually start until 9). It was a fun evening, but a short sleep. First our host took us on a little tour of downtown. Our hotel is in the newer and safer part of town.
Downtown definitely feels less secure, but it is more interesting. It is attractive, clean, and scattered with art, parks, historical buildings and monuments. One thing I have noticed is that the book I am reading is not a very good gage of Paraguayan perspective on the country’s history. Most of the Paraguayans I talk to have a modicum of respect for their past leaders. Gimlette (Author of The Tomb of the Inflatable Pig) seems far too cynical. He sees very little that is beautiful or redemptive in the Paraguayan story.
We stopped by this seemingly unremarkable pub:
Downtown definitely feels less secure, but it is more interesting. It is attractive, clean, and scattered with art, parks, historical buildings and monuments. One thing I have noticed is that the book I am reading is not a very good gage of Paraguayan perspective on the country’s history. Most of the Paraguayans I talk to have a modicum of respect for their past leaders. Gimlette (Author of The Tomb of the Inflatable Pig) seems far too cynical. He sees very little that is beautiful or redemptive in the Paraguayan story.
We stopped by this seemingly unremarkable pub:
But it overlooks the Lopez Palace, the centerpiece of downtown:
After a little downtown tour, we made our way back to new town to a bar/restaurant. Over half of the class eventually showed up. This class has been unique in a number of ways…but mostly that we are hanging out with the students every night. It was fun despite the fact that very little English was spoken.[1] I find that in these situations, I try my best not to be an impediment to conversation by trying to remain engaged and pick up as many words as possible, even though the conversation eludes me.
I have a strange relationship with the Spanish language. I studied it in high school, but was so bad at spelling that I did pretty poorly. I got an 18 (out of 100) on a major test about the time I was diagnosed with a learning disability,[2] giving me the excuse I needed to give up. I dropped out of Spanish 2 via the ‘fine arts’ loophole that said if you took enough art and music classes you only needed one year of foreign language. But I was so disgusted with myself for giving up that I retook the class as a senior[3] and got an A. I have been surprised at how much of this very modest background, untouched for 15 years, has come back to me. I think next time I teach a class in a Spanish speaking location I’ll try to study a little before I go to see if I can make some progress.
Also, on the topic of Spanish, Amanda and I are having trouble deciding where to send our daughter to school. There is an excellent elementary school very close to our house. It is on my way to work and you can get there by bike, on the green belt without crossing a road. It would be incredibly convenient. But we also have a Spanish immersion school that is about a mile out of the way.[4] It teaches exclusively in Spanish through grade 6. Immersion students lag average test scores for the first three years, but exceeds them by grade 6 and children come out fluent in Spanish. With so much emerging economy and so many interesting cultures and opportunities to serve Jesus in South America these days, I think that the decision to open this 20% of the world up to my kids could really be in their interest.
Anyway, back at the bar, Chan had a birthday on Wednesday and had forgotten about it. Word got out, and everyone agreed that it was not ok that they missed the opportunity to celebrate. There was a birthday tradition that involved a ceremonial drink of sorts. About an hour later (midnightish) our host left and Guillermo and I left with him. Chan and Alex stayed and eventually joined a crew who went dancing and got back in time to shower and catch our bus. The weekend was eventful and I’ll have a lot to write about it, but first, a couple…
Paraguay Fun Facts
As I mentioned, Paraguay is the only officially bilingual language. Everyone speaks Spanish and Guarani, the indigenous language, and seem to prefer the latter. This makes them the only country in the world that still speaks the language of its original inhabitants. Some of the students have said that after decades of wanting to be more like their neighbors, there is a movement toward the things that make them distinctly Paraguayan. Guarani is described as an extremely expressive language. For example, the Itaipu dam was built at a place of the river known for its rapids, called ‘the rocks that sing’ – Itaipu.
But it also seems to be an extremely precise language. In particular the Guarani had an amazing number of words for specific animals. Because of this taxonomic precision, the use of Guarani for the scientific names of species is second only to Latin (pictures from the weekend zoo visit).
Paraguay is the only country in the UN with a flag that has a different pattern on each side.
In the last 150 years Paraguay has fought all of its neighbors including “the bloodiest war modern man has ever known” according to Gimlette.[5]
Paraguay reminds me a little bit of Alaska. Because Alaska is hard to get to, out of the way from everywhere, has plenty of room to spread out, and early on was accompanied by tumors of gold and riches, it collected an eclectic group of people who did not belong anywhere else. Paraguay was hard to get to for years. Not only did you have to cross the ocean, but you had to spend nearly as long navigating the great southern rivers of the continent. So it attracted second rate conquistadores and later, communities as diverse as Mennonites and Nazis, each seeking the anonymity of isolation.
I have a strange relationship with the Spanish language. I studied it in high school, but was so bad at spelling that I did pretty poorly. I got an 18 (out of 100) on a major test about the time I was diagnosed with a learning disability,[2] giving me the excuse I needed to give up. I dropped out of Spanish 2 via the ‘fine arts’ loophole that said if you took enough art and music classes you only needed one year of foreign language. But I was so disgusted with myself for giving up that I retook the class as a senior[3] and got an A. I have been surprised at how much of this very modest background, untouched for 15 years, has come back to me. I think next time I teach a class in a Spanish speaking location I’ll try to study a little before I go to see if I can make some progress.
Also, on the topic of Spanish, Amanda and I are having trouble deciding where to send our daughter to school. There is an excellent elementary school very close to our house. It is on my way to work and you can get there by bike, on the green belt without crossing a road. It would be incredibly convenient. But we also have a Spanish immersion school that is about a mile out of the way.[4] It teaches exclusively in Spanish through grade 6. Immersion students lag average test scores for the first three years, but exceeds them by grade 6 and children come out fluent in Spanish. With so much emerging economy and so many interesting cultures and opportunities to serve Jesus in South America these days, I think that the decision to open this 20% of the world up to my kids could really be in their interest.
Anyway, back at the bar, Chan had a birthday on Wednesday and had forgotten about it. Word got out, and everyone agreed that it was not ok that they missed the opportunity to celebrate. There was a birthday tradition that involved a ceremonial drink of sorts. About an hour later (midnightish) our host left and Guillermo and I left with him. Chan and Alex stayed and eventually joined a crew who went dancing and got back in time to shower and catch our bus. The weekend was eventful and I’ll have a lot to write about it, but first, a couple…
Paraguay Fun Facts
As I mentioned, Paraguay is the only officially bilingual language. Everyone speaks Spanish and Guarani, the indigenous language, and seem to prefer the latter. This makes them the only country in the world that still speaks the language of its original inhabitants. Some of the students have said that after decades of wanting to be more like their neighbors, there is a movement toward the things that make them distinctly Paraguayan. Guarani is described as an extremely expressive language. For example, the Itaipu dam was built at a place of the river known for its rapids, called ‘the rocks that sing’ – Itaipu.
But it also seems to be an extremely precise language. In particular the Guarani had an amazing number of words for specific animals. Because of this taxonomic precision, the use of Guarani for the scientific names of species is second only to Latin (pictures from the weekend zoo visit).
Paraguay is the only country in the UN with a flag that has a different pattern on each side.
In the last 150 years Paraguay has fought all of its neighbors including “the bloodiest war modern man has ever known” according to Gimlette.[5]
Paraguay reminds me a little bit of Alaska. Because Alaska is hard to get to, out of the way from everywhere, has plenty of room to spread out, and early on was accompanied by tumors of gold and riches, it collected an eclectic group of people who did not belong anywhere else. Paraguay was hard to get to for years. Not only did you have to cross the ocean, but you had to spend nearly as long navigating the great southern rivers of the continent. So it attracted second rate conquistadores and later, communities as diverse as Mennonites and Nazis, each seeking the anonymity of isolation.
I will talk about the Nazis later, but there seems to be broad respect for the persistent Mennonite community that seems to be making a living out of the notoriously unproductive Chaco region by ingenuity and shear tenacity.[6]
Students from each country represented (with the possible exception of the Brazilians and Chilean) bring a special regional drink to class. The concept is similar to tea, but the herbs are packed into a cup, water is added, and the drink is consumed and filtered thought a special straw. Apparently the Paraguayans drink it cold and everyone else drinks it hot. It is nearly as common to see someone carrying around a jug/cup set like this as it would be to see someone carrying around starbucks.
This post was written while driving too fast, in hard tropical rain, through the jungle, in Argentina listening to Rise Against._________________
[1] I think that if the restaurant is loud my friends are less likely to try English because it makes it harder to understand. However, more English is spoken deeper into a night after more drinks are consumed, because most of them speak much more effectively than they think they do, so mitigating inhibition is all they need. One guy in particular was aware of this declaring “My English gets better with beer.”
[2] Which I am not convinced, in retrospect, was real…but I did spell on a 4th grade level when I graduated high school.
[3] I was in my brother’s class.
[4] Which seems inconvenient until I think about how I used to ride the bus 45 minutes to school.
[5] Not exactly a “fun” fact, but a remarkable fact none the less.
[6] And it doesn’t hurt that they have a modest expectations about what constitutes ‘a living.’
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In the fun facts, you indicate there were tumors of gold and riches. I guess if you have to have a tumor....:)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I love the image of second rate conquistadors. Like rent-a-cops in plate mail.
"its not a tumor" -former CA gov
ReplyDelete