Month 14: Cristiano Ronaldo comes to Paraguay for the Olympics

 Hello!!!

I'm so late. I know. I'm sorry.

Truthfully the end of the school year and the beginning of the holiday season has been so much more hectic than anticipated, so it's only now - halfway through December - I find myself holed up in a cafe with WiFi and able to recount my experiences.

With the end of the year comes exams!! And also...the Olympics?

There were two very notable events at my school to close out the semester, first of which being English exams. After a year of teaching my classes, I was able to finally put them to the test to see if they actually learned anything, or if they just liked playing games with me. Thankfully, the answer was both!! I administered exams for grades 4-9, and promised them a certificate if they scored higher than a 70%. Out of my 90 students, I printed about 70 certificates! It was very rewarding to see my work paying off, and to see the excitement on their faces. 

Although there was one slight mishap.

I try my best, but with so many classes and students - including those that I don't teach myself but have befriended - I sometimes struggle with remembering all their names. Due to this, when making the certificates, I simply typed up whatever name the student had put on the top of their exam. Seems logical and simple enough, right?

Wrong.

In my whirlwind of grading and creating certificates, I didn't realize that one of my 6th graders had put a fake name on the top of their exam. So...imagine my surprise when I'm standing in front of the class asking for "C. Ronaldo" to come forward...only to realize my mistake in real time. 

Don't worry, I printed him a new one. The class got a good laugh...his mom less so. I got a very apologetic text message later that day. I personally thought it was hilarious.

The second event to happen was the Olympics! Or rather....Los Olimpiades.

Now, this phrase means something different to most volunteers in Paraguay, because every school has their own version of Los Olimpiades. For some, it means competing against other nearby schools in volleyball and futbol tournaments. For others, it may mean a presentation on different countries in the school.

For me, it was a little bit of both. My entire school was split into 6 different South American countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Ecuador, and Paraguay), and over the course of several weeks competed in tournaments of futbol, volleyball, running races, and other such events. The Olympiades finished with a large dance event, during which every country paraded around the school courtyard with their own mission, mascot, decorations and music. They then each had a stand and judges came to sample traditional foods from each country. A beauty pageant was incorporated into the event as well, with a representative from every grade and country (yes, including the kindergarteners) competing for the crown. This was followed by a dance number from each country that included some element of physical education - hula hoops, jump rope, and marching band batons were very common. The event finally ended with a goodbye ceremony to the high school seniors, and prizes awarded to the beauty pageant participants, as well as crowning a winning country.

What was my role? I paraded with team Paraguay (much to the dismay of every single student I had who were on the other 5 teams), and carried the "anti-drug mission statement" of the country. It was so fun to see all my kids dressed up and excited, and I got my makeup done and redone about 3 different times - each time with more and more sparkles.

On a non-school related note...there was a very special birthday this month!! Or should I say birthdays?

Martina and Martin - my host niece and nephew from my 3 months of training - turned 3 and 6 this year! I was able to come back and celebrate with them, and it was so lovely to see my host family again, and be able to spend some time with my little kiddos.

I've also been able to spend some much needed time with Maria Liz and her family, including a night our for one of her friends' birthdays!

The heat is finally kicking back in - although it's only a calm 91 degrees here today. The heat gets old very fast but one thing that never does are these gorgeous sunsets from my front door. Sometimes if I get lucky, I'll catch an equally gorgeous sunrise on my morning walk to work in the garden with Nora.

Finally...I got to see my parents!! 

Mom and Dad took a trip down to meet me in Costa Rica, where we spent a lovely week exploring the forest, going on zippiness, hiking a volcano, and enjoying some much overdue family time. Although Veronica was very unfortunately absent from this trip, I was constantly reminded of her wherever we went, especially in the sloth park.

Hi Veronica!

Overall, it has been a very crazy month, and December hasn't been much slower.

The next post will probably come out sometime in January (I knowwwwwww BUT I'll have holiday updates for y'all!!)

Loving and missing you all a little extra this holiday season!

See you next time💝