Thanksgiving Feast

We managed to pull off a delicious Thanksgiving dinner Saturday night.  We found a turkey in Asuncion and cooked it up at the school.  The past few turkeys that we've cooked have been amazing.  The secret?  Cooking it in a bag for all but the last 30 minutes.  The meat is so moist and delicious.  Since we couldn't find a turkey bag here I had to improvise and make one out of 30 feet of tin foil. 

We also made homemade apple stuffing which turned out awesome.  Cooking around here is always an experiment, and unlike some of our previous experiments, this one turned out great.

We invited a handful of teacher friends from the school and enjoyed a great meal together.  I love thanksgiving.  We missed spending time with family, but we'll be home soon.

A Poem of Thanksgiving...Sort-Of

So strange.  I only remember one poem from elementary, and it is a Thanksgiving poem that I will now type completely, yes COMPLETELY, by memory.  (Are you getting so excited?)

Gobble, gobble,

Says the turkey.

Soon 'twill be Thanksgiving day.

Will you eat me?

How you treat me!

I will run away.

Do you love it?  I do.  Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.  Wish we could be with family on this delightful and delicious holiday, but alas we have run away.  

But we'll be back soon!

Living the Slow Life

In Paraguay, life is slow, and not just for us.  No one ever seems to be in a hurry for anything.  Neither are we.  Each morning, we go about our lives, slowly wake up, slowly read the news, slowly work on projects.  Slowly slurp soup for lunch.  Then everyone at the school has an hour break to nap or chat with friends.  A few hours after lunch, Tay and I slowly walk down to the store on the corner.  We eat empanadas and salad.  We drink chocolate milk or soda.  We can't help watching the novella that the store workers have gathered around, full of suspense.  After we pet the puppies on the way home, we slowly work on projects a little more, slowly play cards, or slowly read.  Slowly slurp soup for dinner.  Maybe chat with family online.  Slowly fall asleep.

That's all.  Maybe it's a little too slow at times, but I must admit there is something wonderful about living the slow life.  

Sometimes We Just Do This

Six Weeks Late...English Classes

Funny thing.  I originally came to Paraguay planning to spend most of my time working on an English curriculum and teaching English classes here at the school.  Once we got here, the school director informed us that the students would be taking exams for a month.  The school year was almost over, and it really wasn't a good time to begin a new English class.  So, I've focused on creating the English curriculum and working on other projects with Tay. 

Here's the funny part: six weeks later,  I have been asked to teach English classes.  Not sure why, but here we go.  Tay is my trusty assistant and fellow English expert.  We've taught two lessons so far.  It's quite a challenge, actually.  The students are on such different English levels, and English is a bizarre language compared to Spanish.  All the weird stuff like "ph" making an "f" sound etc.  How do you explain that?  Luckily the students are excited to learn, and it's been fun spending more time with them.