How to cut a banana cake

For the auspicious occasion of my 22^nd birthday, Demetria made a colossal banana cake which we consumed following the traditional Paraguayan asado (barbecued meat). Demetria’s sons Hector and Alfredo, Alfredo’s wife Liza and son Leo, Peter the other volunteer and Margaret the manager of the English courses were all there.

Here is the festal spread:

Note the British touches: flags, snowflakes and reindeer!

I was sung to in Spanish, English and Guarani and made to blow the candle out three times so that Demetria could take a photo to her satisfaction.

In South America people have reached a whole new level in the art of cake-cutting, pictured below. It makes so much sense!

Seeing the sights with Leti

On my first day in Santa María I was introduced to Leticia, one of the Education Fund’s scholarship students, who also does cleaning and crèche work for the Institute alongside her degree.  

[For more info on the Santa María Education Fund, the organisation I am working for, see here: santamariadefe.org]

Since then we have been for a few outings, either walking or on the back of her motorbike. Motorcycles are far more common than cars, and almost everyone uses them (without helmets, needless to say). 

From one edge of the town you get a great view of the sunset and also of the smallest aeroplane I have ever seen, which makes deliveries.

Plane just about visible

On the opposite side of town is Ykuateja, a spring with the magical property that anyone who drinks from it will return to Paraguay…

In Guarani, Y=water and kua=hole,  and in Spanish teja=roof tile.

 

Yesterday was even hotter than usual, so we made the longer trip to the Chorro – half an hour on the motorbike along the dusty red road and then a grassy track. This was the destination:

 Quite idyllic!

And we're off again... my home in Paraguay

I arrived safely in Paraguay on Friday 6th February, and in Santa Maria, Misiones - my home for the next six months - on Sunday.

I am staying with Demetria, a mother of five grown-up children who no longer live with her, and her chickens, ducks, three dogs, cat and budgie. The dogs and Mimi the cat all come and prostrate themselves at my feet at mealtimes or whenever they have the least suspicion that I might have something to eat. I never give in, but hope springs eternal. Demetria is very kind and laid-back with an excellent sense of humour - we laugh a lot.

Demetria and the house

My room

The kitchen

Out the back, with dogs and duck.

Retrospective: To the ball!

My last Friday in Vienna and final day of work happened to coincide with the BOKU ball, held in the imperial residence of the Habsburgs, the Hofburg.

Main ballroom - the dance floor was full all night, here people are starting to disperse because it's 4.30am...

Smaller side ballroom , with a more representative number of people dancing.

Due to its strong links with rural Austria, the BOKU ball has a dual dress code: either floor-length evening dresses or Tracht (traditional costume).

Steph and Ianthe modelling the dirndl.

Determined to dance as much as possible, I had selected a hapless victim and subjected him to waltz lessons in the Türkenschanzpark (yes, in January...) with excellent results. We had a wonderful evening featuring a lot of dancing interspersed with happy encounters with friends (from Austria, Oxford, America...), colleagues, and Erasmus students I had helped induct.

With Luca, the hapless victim. For the record, he did volunteer himself.

Retrospective: Taizé prayer and the Ruprechtskirche

Most of the Wednesday evenings I have spent in Vienna I have been to the Ruprechtskirche, the oldest church in central Vienna, for a Taizé prayer service. According to traditional belief, the church was founded in 740, although other evidence suggests it may have been 50-90 years later, and the first documented mention of it appears in 1200. The inner decoration is very simple, with coloured light streaming in through the modern stained glass windows at the sides as well as ancient panels dating back to 1370 at the east end.

Taizé prayer features a lot of singing of simple, repeated chants - also where I got my choral harmony fix as I didn't have a choir there - and silence. Around 30-50 people attend, ranging from students to pensioners, and after the service a group always goes to a nearby restaurant for a drink. This group is essentially my church community in Vienna and I have made many dear friends through it.

Here they are singing "Leaving on a Jet Plane" on my last Wednesday in Vienna. In parts, with instruments. What have I done to deserve such wonderful people in my life?

Just to confirm that die Welt ist ein Dorf, the first time I went to this service, shortly after my arrival, I (re-)encountered someone I had danced with at a lindy hop social four days before. The next time I went to the lindy hop event, a girl approached me and asked if we knew each other, and whether I perhaps went to the Taizé service in the Ruprechtskirche. The next time I went to the service, the person I was talking to afterwards turned out to live on the same street as me. Wednesday evening Taizé is clearly THE place to be.

Big Taizé prayer at the European Meeting in Prague over the New Year

Retrospective: My day job in Vienna for the last five months - an overdue mention

One might easily get the impression from this blog that I spent all my time in Austria tripping the light fantastic and going to the theatre. I did in fact spend 30 hours per week in the office...

I was an intern in the Centre for International Relations (read Erasmus/international office) of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna (BOKU). This involved being on reception in the afternoons, general admin work relating to the various exchange programmes offered at BOKU, planning and running of events, student advice, etc.

It was excellent work experience and an interesting insight into the work that goes into keeping a large educational institution up and running. The working language of the office was German, but I also had the opportunity to do some proofreading and translation work into English. Inevitably, not all tasks were highly intellectually stimulating, but my lovely co-workers more than compensated for the occasional monotonous morning.

The whole team, including my successor as intern, with one notable exception...

namely Manuel! Chocolate runs in his veins. Or possibly wine.

For most of my tenure there was a second intern, Manuel, a fellow literature student from Belgium. We got on very well, his only flaw being that he abandoned us in mid-December. The picture gives you a little view of the kitchen at my flat, as a bonus.