Tilting at windmills

Since it is still the month Independence, so I'll post some photos from the flag raising at the Embassy, which I patriotically attended. I was unsurprised to hear a prayer near the beginning, and took it is a sign that indeed religion is becoming more powerful in the world. It was quite cliché to see a man there with his cowboy hat and Wranglers--he looked more American than I could believe. And what do you know, all I could think of, with a touch of nostalgia, was Nebraska...

This is my lunch afterward, which I enjoyed with a beer and coffee for the grand sum of $4-5.
After all that talk of corn in my dad's post, I must mention that here in Paraguay they also eat loads of corn flour, though I am not too sure where they grow it. The most traditional Paraguayan food--chipa--is made from it, as are many other traditional foods. The yellowish stuff on the further plate in the image is mandioca, which a root that more or less resembles a potato but more fibrous. Although very bland, I eat it when I can get it, since for the most part the food is carbs, carbs, carbs. And from the other night, I post an image of a small meal that is also fairly typically Paraguayan--a burger and a Brahma.

Still looking into the Fulbright grant, which has a deadline of August 1st. Although of course it never hurts to apply, there are some things that make me think that I wouldn't be able to go through with it. I have said for long enough that I would have to think about professional prospects in the second half of my trip, and here we are. I would rather have a job, though, for a government organization that does work in developing countries, and in that way benefit from the funding and infrastructure that they would be able to provide. In any case, I've got to get some sort of applications out there, and start looking around for what I'd like to do next. Any ideas from the reading crowd? Certainly, though, I will be back in DC, bound by what they call the "golden handcuffs" of the Library of Congress. There is plenty of time to see what options end up on the table.

I still have this crazy idea about raising some money down here. The horrendous distribution of wealth means that there is a community of Asuncenos who have money to support public project such as libraries, but they have not yet been provoked. Several
worthwhile projects need attention, and I think that people somehow intuitively realize that libraries are good for cultural and social health. If we can show that donations and investments complete projects--since in a thoroughly corrupt country the people have seen so much money wasted--we may find success. I say we, of course more in a poetic sense, but there are several allies I hope to enlist. Well, I did run into Cervantes down here, so in the quixotic spirit of his valiant Don...