The first two days of school have come and gone in a whirlwind of activity. Brandon has begun to "feel out" the students (especially the middle school and high school ones who are rumored to be adamently opposed to dressing our for P.E.) and I (Stacy) am desperately trying to get Bailey to stay on her schedule during the school day. As of right now, she's not cooperating.
The school in and of itself has been a culture shock to both of us. There are actually very few Paraguayans attending the school, so, as we adapt to Paraguayan culture off campus, we are simultaneously adjusting to classes filled with Korean and American MK students who have lived in Paraguay for some time. And, while English is the official language of the school, students take classes in Spanish and Guarani (the two official languages of Paraguay) and many of the Korean students attend Korean language school in the afternoons. The third graders I'm teaching are well on their way to being quad-lingual.
Another new experience having to do with the school is all the "specials" throughout the day. In order to be ACSI certified (state-side) the school has to offer library, PE, art, music and computer lab - the usual extras we are familiar with back home. However, the school is also now certified in Paraguay, which means they have to offer additional classes to students in Spanish, Guarani, Spanish Social Studies. Now, here's the kicker: all these "specials" are taught by certified teachers and the classroom teachers have prep time whenever their students go to one of them. In third grade, there are ELEVEN blocks of prep time over the course of the week, some lasting for up to an hour and a half! On Tuesdays there is a three hour block of time where I only see the kids for 10 minutes in between lunch and Spanish Social Studies. And Brandon - as a "specials" teacher - sees five different classes on some days, and only ONE class on Thursdays. It's crazy!
Our apartment-mates continue to be my saving grace, as is getting off campus. Every time we take buses I'm getting more and more comfortable with the routes; a few more chaperoned trips and I think us "newbies" will be able to take a bus on our own. Walking around near the school has also been nice. We've found a delicious ice cream shop and thankfully it's a fairly long walk to it's doorstep, otherwise I'd be there quite frequently and feel more guilty about indulging. But after a long walk, a few scoops of ice cream can't be all that bad, right?!
There's also a nice running trail that we went to for the first time on Friday after school. It was the first workout that I've had for about a month and it felt great to get my heart rate up and break a sweat. Brandon had scoped out the park earlier in the week and thought that the whole trail was paved, but he had only walked a few yards down the path. After the first few hundred meters, though, the pavement gave way to packed gravel and our peacefully sleeping baby was awakened with a jolt. We stopped running at that point, not wanting to turn her head to mush, and walked the rest of the lap. There were other patches of pavement along the 1600 meter loop, but after one round, Brandon sat with Bailey as I ran a second lap on my own.
We visited a new church today, an Anglican church that was in English. The music was off a CD player, though they did have the lyrics on PowerPoint, and I'd tell you more about the service, but Miss Grumpy Pants (a.k.a. Bailey) decided that she wanted to be outside all morning. I'd walk her around and get her to nod off to sleep, but when I tried to sneak back into the service to catch at least part of a sermon I'd understand, she's wake right back up crying and we'd be back outside pacing the grounds. Once church was over, she had an explosive diaper (probably why she was so fussy) that got on Brandon's hand; he looked like he was going to pass out or gag or both. We all had a good laugh watching him freak out over a little dirty diaper.
Please pray for our first full week of school and that Bailey can stay on schedule while in the classroom.
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