9/26/09-

September 26, 2009
I know that I am always writing about the weather and the storms here but last night we had one that was so violent I feared for my life (not because I was home safely in my room but because I was out walking in it). The day started out nicely enough. It was about 75 degrees and balmy. I spent the morning working on materials for my afternoon English class at the high school. However, when I went to the school, I found that it was a field day and there was no one there. All the students were at the covered area next to the church playing handball (it’s like soccer but you throw the ball and dribble it – kind of a combination basketball and soccer game). I took a couple of pictures and went home to do some preparation for my class at 6:30 p.m. that evening. Around 5 p.m. it started to thunder, lightning and pour down rain. However, by 6:15 it had let up a bit.
Digna told me that no one would show up for the class but I’m an American and if you say you’re going to hold class, then you just better be there. The DEAG building where we hold class is only 5 blocks away so I started out with my umbrella. Of course, it started getting worse the closer I get to the DEAG. The lightning is making the sky seem like daytime. I’m holding onto only the plastic part of the umbrella (just in case the lightning is closer than it seems). The only path is under trees but they aren’t real tall ones. I arrive a bit wet at the DEAG, unlock the door, and turn on the lights. By this time the wind has started to pick up. This is a tropical storm! I decide to wait it out because it can’t last too much longer. After 15 minutes, there is no sign of lessening and the lights have gone out (and back on) a couple of times. I figure it is time to bite the bullet and head for home. However, there is no using the umbrella because the wind is so strong it turned it inside out at the first step out the door. Now that I wasn’t worried about getting hit by lightning all I had to worry about was whether or not a tree would uproot and fall over on me. Fortunately, I made it safely home but soaking wet. It was only later that it occurred to me that I should have worn my rain jacket. Well, it wouldn’t have helped my feet – the waters in the road were so high, I had to wade to get across each street. Digna was horrified that I was so wet but I figured a little water never hurt anyone. Digna was busy sweeping the water out of the kitchen – about an inch worth.  Fortunately, none of it came from the roof into my room but there was a definite flood in the kitchen. Her only comment was that now she didn’t have to mop the floor tomorrow.
The storm kept on until the early morning – lightning, thunder, wind – and they say the weather here is mild.

I spent last weekend in San Salvador helping Bambi with an accounting program her co-op has purchased. It was as Bambi suspected – the accounting program hasn’t arrived yet and the company is just keeping the co-op busy entering data in Excel. However, we had a great time.
We took pictures of the old railway station – the hub of train transportation in Paraguay. However, I looked it up on the internet and San Salvador isn’t even mentioned in Paraguay railroading.
However, I have proof and I will post the pictures on Facebook. We also walked out to the arroyo (like a big stream) to take reflection pictures (trees in the water, etc.) only to find there was no arroyo but a LOT of water. In fact, to get some good pictures, we actually walked on the wall over to the center of the park. It was kind of fun.
I got some great pictures.

The cat, Tuli, is due to have kittens any minute. In fact, I thought for sure that she would have them while I was away visiting San Salvador. Well, she didn’t and she is spending every day in my room, sleeping on my mosquito net while I work on the computer. The first sign of a labor pain and she is out of here. I think that maybe she is faking it just to get me to feed her more food. The dog also tries to sleep in my room and beg for more food but after training Eladia’s dogs in Paso de Oro, I got wise. I feed the dog coconut biscuits outside on the patio only when she sits and shakes my hand. It took a little persuading but she is becoming well trained. At first I offered the biscuits with my left hand and had the worst time getting her to sit. It was only after a couple of weeks that I realized she is blind in her left eye. I switched to the right hand and she quickly learned how to offer her paw for a shake (more of a high-five, actually). Now we are working on Stay. This is important because this dog follows me everywhere, not because she likes me but because I feed her. I tried to teach her to lie down but we have gotten no where with that. Milo likes it so much that he is also trying to get her to shake his hand.
Unfortunately, when Milo says the English word “shake” it sounds like “sh*t” so I’m working on Milo’s pronunciation too. Everyone loves to watch me get Tiara to do tricks. If anyone knows of some other things I could teach her, I’d like to hear from you.