Real teacher for a day

Julia was not feeling so well this morning so I covered for her at the school today. This is a big deal because Julia has the most advanced class. I, on the other hand, teach the youngest class with Danni. That is, not actual English grammer or syntax. So today I got to be a real English teacher for a day. It was hard but I did enjoy it. Only Gustavo, Lizet and Elisabeth showed up so the class was smaller than usual but perfect for role play and such and together we practiced the present simple, past simple and irregular, and of course everyone´s favorite, the future conditional. It was strange having to name and give examples of the things I naturally just say nevermind having to explain exactly why I say them that way. I realize how I completely have no idea. Fortunately, the students didn´t seem to really care or mind and were happy to just be practicing conversation.

Since today was also Wednesday, we had our weekly 8 pm meeting at the house to discuss how things are going. We usually split into 2 groups, between those that are volunteering at the Flora Tristan school and those volunteering at the orphanage (another key project). Those of us at the school have lots of ideas about how we can help improve the structure and cirriculum for the kids and also the handover to new volunteers, with so many coming and going every week and month. So we are creating documents and pulling together resources that can be centralized and regularly updated for years to come... Hopefully they will prove helpful.

The house itself is getting fuller by the minute. This week so far seven new volunteers will have arrived: Laura and Ombretta from Sardinia; Kath from Brighton (46 year old mother of 2 college boys who has been traveling since July and has another 5 months to go. How so very cool is she??) ; Sarah from northwest France; and apparently three 21 year old Icelandic girls who arrive tomorrow. The general rule is that volunteers staying for more than 1 month go directly to the orphanage where the tias need all the help they can get. But we are hoping some of the new volunteers will opt to come to the school, as we will soon be very shortstaffed. Julia, Danni, Kerri, Victoria and I will all be gone after next week. Which just leaves poor Jim.

Ah, my first inkling of this leg of my trip coming to end. The Arequipan leg, if you will. Already feeling a bit sad to think of it so near. Unsurprising for easily wistful nostalgic me. But we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Meanwhile, the house has turned dark and everyone has gone off to bed and now so shall I (yes it only 10:49 pm). Buenos noches.

Touristy things

This has been a mostly relaxing weekend. Our weekdays have been so full with classes in the morning and the school each afternoon, that everyone in the house was excited for some personal downtime to focus on Spanish homework, napping, sunbathing (not me!) and the like...

But since this has also been my last weekend to really enjoy Arequipa (as I have assorted trips planned for the next two), I wanted to tackle the shortlist of things I knew I really wanted to see and do while here. On Saturday this consisted of a leisurely morning at the house, followed by a walk into town with Julia to visit the Museo Santury where the famous ¨ice princess¨ Juanita lies enshrined in her freezer display case. Discovered only about 15 years ago at the summit of Nevado Ampato, Juanita (as she has been named apropos the archeologist that found her) was the young girl sacrificed by the Incans to appease their gods five centuries ago. Other child sacrifices have been discovered since, but Juanita is considered the most well preserved thanks to icy conditions on top of the mountain and it was a strange culmination of the solemn 30 minute guided tour through Incan burial artifacts to come upon her small icy body in its fetal position behind so many layers of glass.

Back at the house, everyone was gathering for our slated 4 pm departure to ¨Tradición Arequipian,¨a local restaurant recommended to us by Lonely Planet for its typical regional cuisine. Mostly I´ve been eating what I´ve been making at the house ie lots of avocado sandwiches, pasta, eggs and toast, etc. etc. along with the occassional super affordable Italian, Mexican and Chinese meal out. Clearly it was time for some fried guinea pig! Just kidding. Actually this was not on my tasting to do list (though Julia had one in Cusco and said it was not so bad). Instead, I sampled the rocoto relleno (spicy meat, rice and potato stuffed red pepper) and the rancho al horno (yup roasted suckling pig) and finally got to try some chicha, a popular sweet corn drink which was really nice and refreshing though it could have been colder. Jim ordered the chupa de camarones so between us all we were pretty covered in the recommended cuisine sampling. It was a fun time, followed by café and tortas at our favorite neighborhood chapel-run coffee shop, where we played Uno and Connect Four.

Then this afternoon I ventured out alone (yeyeyeyey some alone time!) to see the beautiful Monasterio de Santa Catalina. It was another perfect summery day and I would have enjoyed the stroll through the Sunday quiet streets of Arequipa more if I hadn´t awoke feeling a little bit sickly (was it the horno ... or the apple ... I ate??). But the colonial style convent,virtually a city within a city founded in 1580 for the nun-aspiring daughters of wealthy families throughout Spain and closed off from the public until the early 70s, was peaceful and worth it and I was glad to have a quiet afternoon to myself there.

Now back in the house it is 7:30 and we are gathered round the telly to watch ¿Qué Pasa Ayer? ie The Hangover, which I am quiet happy to be seeing again because it was so funny the first time. I will make some toast and take some aspirin and hope that I am in fine condition to start the week anew come the ´morrow.

Muchos besos.

An Areriqipian night on the town...

... Is not so much different from one in New York. If you show up at the karaoke bar at 10:30 pm you are a loser and there will be nobody there. The music will be hopping though when it all does finally pick up at around midnight, the dancing will be great and you will break out a sweat and be glad that you are getting an unexpected late night workout. You will fit right in even though you didn´t bring any clothes for a night on the town with you on this trip, because you will be wearing jeans - just like everybody else. The rest of the girls though will have slightly more glammed out tops and jewelry, which you left at home. And they will not be wearing hiking boots. You might play a game of foozball and lose ... or you might win. The beer will be plentiful and you might do a few shots of tequila and take a bunch of stupid pictures of yourself and your friends dancing on the dance floor and making faces as if you were 23 again. Just like in New York. Only the beers will be a shocking $1.50 each and the taxi there and back will cost just $2 between the four of you sharing a ride home. And the Peruvians might stare a bit before they proceed to ignore you because you are just another gringa having a grand ol´time out on a Saturday night.

Friday morn

It´s Friday morning and I don´t have Spanish today because Sylvia, my 24 year old Arequipan tutor, had to take her baby boy to the hospital for his vaccinations. So I am lazing about the house a bit, practicing my lessons and may head to the local market soon to buy some vegetables and toilet paper - if I can rally to leave in time. Need to be in town by 1:15 to meet the gang and take our bus. Today is ¨Fun Friday,¨the day we bring fruit to the school and also try to organize a group game for the kids at the cancha. Jim thinks we should try kickball since it´s suitable for a wider range of ages. Danni and I also have some ideas for our class, though we haven´t yet bought the supplies we would need to execute them. Hmmm maybe I can pick some up at the market (did I mention it has everything)?? Joel needs a new puzzle and the glitter glue is running out fast. Amazing how the week has flown, so so fast. Any yet I feel like I´ve been here so much longer. So much to see, do and process. It is summer outside. Is it really actually almost November?

¨Hello Teacher!¨

So now it´s time to tell you about the classroom I´ve been visiting at the very outskirts of Arequipa this week.

Every day Jim, Julia, Victoria, Danni, Keri and I board a cambio near Plaza Des Armes that takes us about 45 minutes outside the town. The cambio in itself marks the beginning of our passageway into another world. Comfortably seats about 25, can feasibly fit in about 50 - with enough sheer determination and the earnest effort of a ¨conductor¨who clings to the cambio´s folding door and bellows out the name of our final destination in a seeming attempt to lure people in
who might not have otherwise considered heading that way. ¨Villa Fontana! Villa Fontana!¨ So that by the time we reach our stop, the 6 of us pile out relieved to have arrived at last and begin our short walk up the dirt road to the school. It is as refreshing a beginning to the rest of the afternoon as any.

The Flora Tristan Community School where we teach is not really a school. It is a self-made compilation of 4 rooms with poured cement floors, brightly painted walls and tin roofs at the very dusty foothills of some mountains. Before previous volunteers built it, there was nothing. A handpainted sign on the blue cement wall out front says ¨Welcome to the Wonderful World of English¨above a picture of the globe and the kids who come from the nearby communities of Flora Tristan and Villa Chachani range in ages from 2 - 20. Our mission as their self-appointed teachers for 2 hours each afternoon is to ¨provide them with a marketable skill (speaking English) while keeping them off the streets and out of trouble.¨

But the kids that come to the Flora Tristan School come as much for our company as access to ¨the wonderful world of English.¨Doors open at 3:30 and those that have decided to show up that day usually greet us with an ebulliant ¨hello teacher!!!¨and kiss on the cheek. In many cases, this is the only thing they actually can say in English, and the littlest ones say nothing at all but love it when we give them crayons and stare in awe while we do the hokey pokey. Danni and I together lead Class 1 - the youngest class - and depend mostly on dances and songs to help us expose our students to English. If we are lucky, and their attention spans have not waned, we might get them in a circle to practice ¨Hello, my name is...¨

Mostly, though, all of the kids want to play. And we play our hearts out with them on the cancha - or playground (in our case a flat cement block that is more basketball court) - after an hour of having hopefully made some progress teaching English in our respective classes. ¨Vamos a la cancha!¨ are magic words for the littlest ones and we teachers all dutifully head out to play ball and jump rope. That is all but it is everything and for one hour the cancha is a frenzy of children from all the classes playing with nothing but 2 bouncing balls, 3 flat ones and 2 jump ropes, one of which is attached to some poles to constitute a swing. There are usually also about 5 dogs running around in the mix. A few mothers sit on the outskirts of the cancha watching us silently.

The afternoon at the Flora Tristan Community School ends with water. Once the assorted balls and ropes have been collected, the children follow us back to the school for the cup of water we dole out to them in red plastic cups. ¨Vamos a tener el agua!¨ There is no running water in Flora Tristan, a community of dirt roads and squat unfinished cement houses against the great wide open Peruvian sky. By the time we make our way back up the dirt road to await our cambio back to Arequipa the sun is setting in a red orange ball in the backdrop. And you can see the El Mistin and Chachani volcanos towering high in the distance.

About my first weekend

Just finished my first weekend in Arequipa - that is, my first 3 days living at 123 Calle de Gomez!! Yesterday, Carmen gave me my very own set of housekeys so now I can enter and depart the house through the double set of triple locked doors we must unlock and relock each time, as I please (:). Apparently, all the homes on our nicely manicured, almost suburban like street have them, along with the spiked posts and high fences that surround our yards.

Which is not to say I don´t feel anything but comfortable and happy and safe here. In only my first 3 days in Aerquipa I already feel quite settled. It´s always a revelation how time travels differently when you leave your routine - how 3 days can feel like 3 months when you are experiencing something new. A thing I remember from summer camp.

I´d also forgotten how easy it is to form quick friendships with people whilst in equally unfamiliar territory - not defined by what you do, or who you know, or how old you are, etc etc. So far we are 11. Marissa and Mayo and Kate are leaving today, but Leon and Kate (a lovely UK couple) arrived yesterday morning. And so it goes around here, with new volunteers coming and going each week. So far everyone has been lovely and it´s been a real inspiration to find myself among people all traveling with such wide-eyed enthusiasm and only a vague sense of when they plan to head home. That we are all here because we like to travel - and also wanted to volunteer - has so far made for really good company.

And in their company, this is what I did during my first weekend in Arequipa:

• Celebrated Kate´s birthday at the Mexican joint Taco and Tequila in town (even though Kate herself couldn´t make it due to some stomach thing)


• Went with Jim, Julia and Danni to the local market to pick up produce and miscellaneous household items


• Visited the cafe run by a young, hip pastor for stupendous chocolate torta and lattes on our way to town (no Starbucks in Arequipa - yeyeyeyeyeyeyey!!!)


• Did a full on grocery run at ¨El Super¨near Plaza des Armes


• Enjoyed a Sunday afternoon stroll with Jim, Leon and Kerri to the Plaza des Armes (where I bought my first but not my last bit of Peruvian jewelry)
  
• Then had cheesy pizza, garlic bread and wine for dinner


• Read some more Theroux - he is now in Guatamala City!


• Watched several DVDs with my housemates: Year One, Ice Age III, District 9 and the Curious Case of Benajamin Button

Yes the DVD phenonemon. Not exactly what I´d expect to be discussing in a report about my first weekend in Arequipa, but it´s true! DVDs are a dime a dozen here - only 2 soles so about 50 cents each and of fine quality and broad, most up-to-date cinematic range. For us at the house it has become a nice, easy way to pass the post dinner evening hours. I have yet to experience my first official ¨work¨day of Spanish lessons and teaching at the school but according to everyone here the weekdays are exhausting. Energy for dinner, some homework and/or lesson planning, and another DVD seems to be about all that remains before bed. So I expect to be watching a lot of them while I am here. Which just about cracks me up.

But right now it is Monday morning and my first Spanish lesson begins shortly so I am off to make some breakfast and start the day.

Adios and love from Arequipa.

PS. This is the tel de casa: 226738 (and I think you dial +51 for Peru followed by +54 for Arequipa first) - FYI! :)