The First Shot.....

The first basketball game this town HAS EVER seen....how cool is that!

does he know how to do it, or does he know how to do it.....

basketbal court update.....

and now we have something to put it into...

oooo.....

abd the camp is called

ñande hae tenonderá...


this means ´we are the future´ pretyt much in guarani

been a while....

so yes i know its been a while since my last post.......wellll december was a month filled with visiting other volunteers, other cities, but nothing dramatically exciting

this past week however was the youth leadership camp in Itaipu, resort Tati Yupi. (itaipu means the sound a rock makes, and tati yupi means rising smoke). Side note, itaipu is THE largest functioning hydro electric dam in the world....haha and located in such a tiny middle of nowhere place. crazy.

anways for four days 20 volunteers from all over the country brought 3 or 4 jovenes or youth ages 15 to 19, to this resort for a leadership camp. i brought jorge, hernan and jose. there were a variety of speaches and presentations from youth to the youth and also done by volunteers. we taught them a variety of things pertaining to what it takes to be a leader in their community. there was also a number of activities done.

there was a lot of down time too, to play futbol, volei, talk and walk around exploring the amazingly beautiful park, forest, lake. friday night we took a fieldtrip to the dam to watch them light it up at night. it was pretty intense. amazingly huge. one second there was just darkness and the next, BAM a huge lit up dam.

but anways, more importantly was that the kids loved it!!! they had such a good time, learned a lot, and made a ton of new friends! the goal is that they go back to their communities and do a community project within the next 6 months. then we have another camp where all the same jovenes meet up to present the projects they have complete. this is only the second time the camp has been done but from what it seems like, it will be around for a while. awesomeness!!

so this is how you know your in peace corps paraguay...

my mom sent me a basketball in the mail. but in my pueblo there is nowhere to play....so what do you have to do?

you have to build yourself a basketball court.


and thats wat i have recently started doing. i got the support of the mayor to place it next to the highschool. the carpenter made me the backboard which i am in the middle of painting and the father of the family who i am living with is going to make me the hoop out of iron.....

i will keep you updated on this and hopefully post pictures!!!

...btw

in the background of the photo on the blackboard is a crazy little story that i wrote in perfect Guaraní....how freakin awesome is that!!

Colación de mi primera Clase de Inglés

so yesterday was the last day of english class and this morning we had our little graduation party. only three of the five kids could make it but still everybody brought food and we had a good time. i handed out certificates and we took pictures. it was awesome. i feel like this picture pretty much expresses how everybody felt.

i am planning on starting class again in january after the holidays and all the kids showed interest in coming and entering my class again. I am excited to see their enthusiasm.

it was an awesome morning!!

......

this last weekend was the celebration of the foundation of my town of fulgencio yegros. it turned 119 years old. wow!!
haha the festival started thursday ngiht with a play and talent show in the amphiteatre. friday night there was a festival in the plaza along with bull fighting in the amphiteatre. afterwards there was a concert until about 5 or 6 in the morning.

sooo many people came from all over to be here and the town was hopping.

saturday night was the big night though. there was bulfighting followed by a dance party followed by a concert given by the most famous singer in paraguay right now.

her name i La Kchorra which means the puppy. but her songs are heard alll the time everywhere!!! so to have her come to our little town was a big deal. she didnt end up going on stage until about 5 am which meant that almost the entire town was up to see the sunrise together. kind fo cool

i think i ended up making it back to my bed around 1030 the next day.

then sunday night was one last night a bullfighting.


the bullfighting is pretty awesome. its not the one where they kill the bull but there are guys in nice outfits with the red capes and a clown and cowboys. like a bulfight slash rodeo almost. but was really neat to see.

cant really right too much more write now. but more to come soon!

love you all

charley