Vacaciones Utiles 2012

This was my second week of English classes.  The first day only 5 kids showed up; including my brother and cousin, now my class is somewhere around 32 kids.  It’s getting a little crazy.  I like to think that it is most important that the kids are having fun and socializing, because if I focus too much on how their English is progressing it gets depressing.  The older kids are great.  They can focus on a topic, they aren’t afraid to raise their hand, volunteer, or say words out loud to practice pronunciation.  The younger kids can be very timid or very wild.  I get boys that can’t sit still and girls that won’t make eye contact or answer direct questions.

I get most frustrated with the kids that won’t speak during class.  I try to be patient, but it really bothers me.  For example on Tuesday a fresh group of new kids showed up and one little girl wouldn’t tell me her name.  When I asked her in Spanish ‘what’s your name,’ she would just look away and not respond.  I don’t really know what to do with her and I still don’t know her name!  The other trouble with the class is that new kids are coming in everyday, which means that they are more than a week behind the rest of the class.  This is why my focus is on making my class fun. 

Most days after class we play fútbol, the llama game (which is a sort of a competitive elimination style dancing game), or watch cable t.v.-yes, that’s right at the primary school in my little town they pay for expensive cable.  I’m not really quite sure how spending money on a big t.v. and cable benefits the students, because from what I can tell the kids are not usually allowed to watch television.  I try to keep the classes light, but it would be really awesome if the students did retain some of the topics we learned. 

In trying to be the ‘fun’ teacher I pass out lots of candy when kids volunteer answers and participate in a positive way.  Bingo gets kind of painful, especially when the kids don’t even bother to learn their numbers in English.  They go wild for bingo, go figure.  I had no idea that bingo was so much fun.  I don’t even give out prizes for the winners and they can’t get enough.  I keep threatening to take bingo away if they don’t really learn their numbers, but I haven’t followed through yet-so I don’t think anything will change. 

I’m still working on the encuestas.  It seems like every time I go out into the community for an afternoon of door to door surveying I meet more of my extended family.  I’m starting to wonder just how many siblings my grandparent’s have, because it’s getting somewhat ridiculous.  In Peru, and latin culture in general, people have two last names.  One name from their father and one from there mother.  So the only people that you could share your two name combination with are your siblings.  Parents have different names than their kids.  For example, my host mom’s last names are Bazan Medina, my host dad’s last names are Caraujulca Garcia, and my host sibling’s last names are Caraujulca Bazan.  When I explain to people in my community how last names work in the states; typically women change their name when they get married and kids usually only get their father’s last name, they always say they are sorry for me.  They are sorry, because I lost my mother’s name and when I get married I will loose my father’s name too.  Their concern was kind of oddly sweet.  I also sort of agree with them.  Their system, however annoyingly long the names become, seems better.

On Thursday night the rain was so strong that it started coming through the ceiling during dinner.  Before we knew it the dirt floor in the kitchen was streaming with water and we made a run for it back to the sleeping area part of the house to check on the rooms.  My room was fine only some water on my cement floor, but for the water to pass to my room on the first floor my sister’s room was flooded on the second floor.  My family says that the volume of rain we have been receiving is due to the El Niño effect, which sounds familiar and yet I feel the need to google it when I have internet. 

On Friday I was invited to the swearing in ceremony for the mayor about 15 minutes before it began.  The mayor won the election back in November and has been working in the position for the past 2 months, yet the official swearing in was yesterday.  I was the only gringo in attendance and one of the few females that had been invited.  I stuck out, to say the least.  An elderly woman sat behind me and spent the entire time touching my hair and holding my hand, but she talked to me and none of the men would.  She put her shawl on me because she said I looked cold.  She came on very strong.  However, I put up with her and now I have a new friend.  When I got home after the 2 hours of speakers and the giant lunch of guinea pig, rice, potato, and beer, my sister Diani told me that this lady keps fruit trees.  Diani and I are planning on going over to Nellie’s house to visit her on Monday and we’re crossing our fingers she gives us lots of fresh fruit.  Now, that is how to make valuable contacts in your community!

I posted two new videos on youtube; the links are below.  I’m a little embarrassed about the video of my room, because it is really super messy.  I am planning on buying some more shelving or something-I think that will help.  I’m not such a dirty person, I swear!

http://youtu.be/vY-SsBfEykA

http://youtu.be/EhHl3sFBdcc

Jennifer and I at the serpost in Chota with our special deliveries from the U.S.; twizzlers and bacon.