the middle of Week Eight

Sunday March 26, 2006

A Few Animal Questions…… in case there are any zoologists or farmers or something out there.

-Why do girl cows have horns? Isn’t that something that only the male cows, ie. bulls, should have?
-What is the difference between a rooster, a hen and a chicken? In Guarani, the word for rooster (ry’guasumena) means “husband of the chicken,” so is that how it works? I vaguely remember some episode of Seinfeld where the crazy father is trying to figure this out and yells, “So who’s having sex with the hen?”
-And what’s the deal with female dog’s teats? It’s something I’m so not used to seeing, since in the States dogs get neutered (or spayed, whichever it is for girls) and don’t have those big nipples hanging down. Do the dogs just get them after they give birth, the number equivalent to the number of babies they had? Do they then keep them forever? Or do they grow a new set for every litter? And in comparison, why then do female humans get two breasts, always, before they ever give birth, no matter if we have only one baby (or none)?
I hope someone out there can shed some light on this stuff for me.

Practicing Guarani Sentences
Che ermana ojohei che aokuera. (My sister washes my clothes)
Che sy ococina ka’arura. (My mother cooks lunch)
Che aguata che amigokuera ndive. (I walk with my friends)
Ore roguatakuri petei hora. (We walked for an hour)
Ore korapype oi mokoi vaka, kurekuera, ryguasukuera, ryguasura’ykuera, ha ryguasumena. Petei ryguasumena one’eekuri la porupi pyharevepe. (In our yard there are two cows, some pigs, some chickens, some baby chickens, and some roosters. One rooster talked at five in the morning)
Che aikota otra familia ndive. (I will live with another family)
Ko’aga ascrivihina che kotype. (Now I am writing in my room)
Che areko 6 hermano paraguaype. (I have 6 brothers and sisters in Paraguay)
Che sy hera Pastora. Imena hera Jose. Ha’ekuera oreko 10 mitakuera. (My mom’s name is Pastora. Her husband’s name is Jose. They have 10 children)
Sapy’ante che kotype oi kyjukuera. (Sometimes in my room there are crickets)
Che familia ohenduse radio. (My family likes to listen to the radio)
Cada pyhareve, che ajahu, che arambosa kafe ha pan, ha aguata escuelape. (Every morning, I take a shower, I eat coffee and bread for breakfast, and I walk to school)
Sapy’ante pyarepe, che ajuga che ermanakuera ndive. Ore rojuga cartas tera rolei. (Sometimes at night I play with my sisters. We play cards or read)
Mba’epa nde rambosakuri. (What did you have for breakfast?)
Ko’a’ga che aporanduta che ermana. (Now I will ask my sister)
Ikatupa che pytyvo. (Will you help me?)
Che astudiahina che ermana ndive. (I am studying with my sister)
Te revy’aiteke. (Happy birthday)

The Ludoteca
We went this morning to the coolest model classroom, set up by the Ministry of Education, to demonstrate the kind of materials you can make from recycling things. We saw flowers and mobiles and shovels made from soda bottles, kitchens and doll houses made from cardboard, and pretty much anything you could ever imagine. Teachers here have quite literally no resources, so a lot of volunteers spend time helping them create simple teaching materials from stuff they can collect at home. Makes me feel bad about complaining that we had "no" resources back in New York...