Happy Easter! The past few days have been spent with my Paraguayan family/neighbors for Semana Santa or Holy Week. In the United States we recognize Holy Week but in Paraguay and most of Latin America it is a big deal. Kids get a few days of vacation and people aren’t allowed to work. More importantly chipa is heavily consumed and family from all over comes back to the countryside to spend the holiday with their parents and relatives. This past week starting on Wednesday the kids were off from school and the people began to prepare for Viernes Santo or Good Friday when meat cannot be consumed and chipa is the main course. This preparation means washing all the laundry, getting the house in its cleanest state, and making lots and lots of chipa and sopa. Chipa is a popular food in Paraguay sold in the streets and on buses from baskets. It is made from pig fat, eggs, cheese, buttermilk, mandioca flour, salt and anise. This is all mixed together then rolled out into rings, wedges, or whatever shapes you feel inclined to make. Then this is placed on top of banana leaves and then into the tatakuaa or wood fired oven. Once it comes out the chipa is at its softest most delicious state. Then once Friday comes around when chipa is the primary meal for the day the chipa is rock hard. On Thursday a giant meal is prepared for the Last Supper and is generally and asado, sopa, mandioca, rice salad and beer. While this time is filled with traditions it is primarily a time for family to be together and to catch up and luckily for me my neighbors invited me to spend the Holy Week with them and they made me feel like I was part of the family.
Now that we are well into April, the kids are well into their school year as well, which has meant a great deal of work for me. I am now a few weeks into my computer classes which at one school have grown to include kindergarten through 3rd grade as well as my traditional 4th grade through 9th. These young kids have created another challenge for my teaching as I learn how to teach young kids who are afraid of the big strange looking and strange speaking teacher but also have very short attention spans. At my other school I have integrated English lessons into the lesson plan which breaks up teaching computers every week. As of right now my student count is at 180 or so students; kind of overwhelming to say the least. In other news my fish project is taking off and about 2/3 of the entire cost is has received funding and ground will be broken in the next few weeks on the 10 new fish ponds that we have asked for. But there is still funding to find and this will probably require even more work as I try to find alternative sources of money for our project. From here on out I will continue to work on the Fish Project as well and my Chicken Project but my primary focus will be on my schools and preparation for my classes.
Cultural Integration Note: In Paraguay, a popular term that is often thrown around is letrado which literally means literate. While we understand the meaning of the word literate to mean being able to read in Paraguay it generally means devious or sneakily smart. I have come across the term letrado in two main contexts one referring to the ability to learn and the second one referring to being flirtatious or good with the ladies. People generally use this term for me on a daily basis with different people using its different meanings depending on the context of the conversation. Upon meeting someone for the first time and the find that I can speak Guaraní or that I know some agricultural technique will often call me letrado. Inevitably, every conversation comes to the topic of women and then letrado becomes a completely different word and refers to be sneaky or even womanizing. In this context letrado can be a damaging term as it can lead to mistrust. In my personal experience the use of letrado is entirely innocent if not used in a jokingly manner and has become a humorous part of my daily life. I have one bus attendant that will call me letrado on cue, essentially whenever I get off the bus he will say, ‘Gregorioooo letradooo.’ All you can do is laugh. In other contexts the best response is to laugh it off and say, ‘I am not letrado, I am stupid,’ and that generally will get a laugh. But as in any situation where I don’t know the culturally correct response I just ignore it or laugh it off and then change the subject.
