Hey!  i was not satisfied with my last email.  So much more I wanted to say!  I still don’t have the formatting down, some how its not quite working like I’m used to it working.

But look!  It’s garlic!  It’s growing great.  Thanks Fred!  I think its a purple one you gave me, damn, knew I should have written down a name.

My garden is going great.  Garlic, potatoes, variety of greens and brassica and a tomato experiment.

It’s cold again, but this time I’m in my house, a cat on my lap, and hot water boiling to give me mate en seguida.

My cat will not save my tomatoes from the cold, but if the weather reports serve true, it is only dropping to 2degrees C, just barely keeping me above freezing.  so we shall see.  last year, the recommendations i got including covering with tarps (the plastic that touched the plants burned and killed them with cold), using old dresses and shirts (cloth doesn’t hurt, but protects, and then it will look like a party), or burning old tires throughout the garden. ew ew ew!  no! but thanks!  a man offered me a bunch of them as a solution.  the idea being the smoke will keep the frost from settling.

My learnings of what is a documentary and how to work with video is growing with leaps and bounds.  Me and two friends put on a documentary workshop for a Paraguayan entrepreneur youth group.  It was great!  At the end of the day, two three minute videos had been filmed, edited, and shared, and they were awesome.  These skills they will then teach to their friends and others in the group, and teaching this class also helped me understand the video process, planning, potential to a whole new level.

Effigie burning anyone?  I think I included this last year also, but its one hell

of an image.  For our Dia de San Juan, an effigie of Judas is made, old jeans and shirts filled with straw and fireworks.  As it goes up in flames the fire works go off everywhere.    Then, a tall, tall pole is put in the ground, maybe two stories tall, oiled up, with whiskey and beer hanging from the top.  Youth of the community dress as drunk old men, climb to the top and get the booze.  The connection?  Well, I’m not quite sure either, but its a hoot to watch!

This is my good friend Yesica, the youngest member of my new women’s

group, Kuna pirapirerehe, or women with money (or women with fish skins- that literal!)  It’s my first success with getting a committee to meet up regularly, and I’m teaching theory with practical info, a family financing class with the intention of helping them identify goals and making them realistic through concrete and attainable plans.  Good stuff!  Yesica is saving for a pink pair of shoes.  Below, she is showing a piggy bank we made out of old soda bottles and home made dish soap.  Making the soap can potentially save them nearly 70mil a month, or 20$, which is a big chunk of change here.  Diverting that towards savings for a larger goal is the intention!

Marta is her mom, and is one of my dearest friends.  I heart her big.  She is my age and has had a fascinating life, having lived in the capital and seen more of the world.  She and I share our hearts with each other, and it was her idea to start the class, saying- if its just me and you, lets still do it!  and we did!

This is a picture of what she does everyday.  Goes out to the woods to gather fire wood, which continually is a more and more challenging task. Then chops it.  Behind her to the right you can see her well where she pulls up water to cook, bathe and wash with.  To the left of that you can see her wash station, a table with a view!  And all of the clothes she washed.  that is what she washes by hand, EVERYDAY!  Her goal is to build a chicken coop, so she can raise chickens to sell the eggs and the chickens, which she wants to invest to buy a pig pen, to raise and sell and build and build and build.  she is awesome!  very inspiring…

A picture of me and grafiti in Asuncion.  Booyah!

hey there!  long time.  so i’m going to see how much i can write before my fingers fall off.  they say the polar winds are coming next week, but my shivering body thinks they’ve already hit.  eeeke!!!

thiis is me and my beer box cargo on my bike, with my friends two year old son, Sebastian.  I heart him big.

I like this picture.  This is one of the schools i work at, and it is another independence day event.  They read poems loving up the country, and then we eat pig.  no bad to come of it all!

The forth of july was awesome.  Good friends, good food, great weather!  Technically it is winter here, but the weather felt like a perfect summer day anyways.  Hotdogs and hamburgers were served at the embassy, the embassador made a little speech, ,then egg tosses, tug a wars, and face painting took up the rest of the day.  As well as some foot loose dancing, obvio….

These furry creatures needed a photo of their own.  My friends!  Kenny the kitty and Volmer the dog.  I named Kenny, not Volmer. ….  Kenny, on these cold winter nights, is found under my covers and nestled in my arms.  Unfortunately she only does little spoon…   Vomer wows everyone by not

jumping up on them, which i taught him… no one teaches there dogs tricks, except, get me a chicken!  Which the dogs do best, the master pointing out a chicken, then the dog going after it, grabbing it, and bringing it back to the owner, alive and kicking.  good boy!   Volmer sits (eguapy), stays (epyta), lays down (eneno) and comes (eju).  What a good pup dog!  So, even though he is their dog, he is still my something special…..

And finally, I’m finally starting our world map!  I’m really excited, it’s coming along beautifully.  My nearest neighbor, Abbie, came by to help get the blue up.  Then Susan and Mark, my most favorite PC ma and pa ever, came over to help with the tedious graph drawing and the start with the satisfying country drawing!  Below is me and susan with the guide we used and the successful outline we got up.  Long way from finishing but its off to a great start!

It’s official.  I’m cold.  off to walk home.  be well!  lots of love!

 

i apologize for the crappy formatting and bad spelling, but i wanted to get something up!  xx