Ahhhhhh!! I'm starting to freak out. I felt like this week would NEVER end and now I only have two more days of teaching. I am freaking out. I have met SOOOO many amazing people in this process and the mix of trying to keep up with my school work and teaching AND spend as much time with the AMAZING people I've met here is overwhelming. I have made so many good friends here at Maximo- people that I have looked forward to seeing on a daily basis & in two days I have to say good-bye. I am NOT good at goodbyes at all and I'm dreading it. It just blows my mind at how complete of a life you can make in 5 weeks. This place feels like home to me. I know it is not and I'm excited to go back home, but the mixture of all these emotions is draining. I couldn't sleep last night just thinking about everything that I've experienced here and all the amazing moments I've had. I've been blessed.
The fact that the TEFL has been one of the most challenging things I've done in my life has allowed me to grow that much closer with the people around me- the people that have carried me through the hard moments.... those people mean the world to me (not just here in Peru, but some of you have been such a strong support from back home with your encouragement through e-mails, verses and quotes, help with my school work- thanks Dad, I needed your creativity! and little messages to let me know you had thought about me). I'm blessed to have such wonderful people in my life back home.
I LOVE life. Can I just say- I love meeting people along the way, there are so many amazing people in this world. The hard part is when they only cross your path for a moment in time. But you take a part of everyone you meet & try and remember the unique strengths of each person and try and make yourself replicate that image just a bit & in doing that you are sharpened & become a better person each day. I try to anyway :).
Today I struggled to get going as I was just trying to take in every moment.. just the routine of it all & capture it in my mind. Waking up to the morning air that is in my room and the smell of sewer (there are some parts that are better then others) of the bathroom & getting in the shockingly cold water as I stare out my window that doesn't close :). Sounds rough.. but that is what I've become used to and it has become my comfort. Do I love the smell of sewer water? No. Is that my norm now, yes. Then my walk to school through the mercado de Confraternidad where I live. Seeing the people opening up their shops and starting their business of the day- all the street vendors that try to sell me fresh bread, juice, jello, meat... everything they line up along the streets to sell in the mornings. There are always people and kids to dodge as I make my way up to the main street. Then I turn onto the main street and it is quiet for the first stretch as they have torn out the street and are doing construction on it. It isn't until I get up a little ways that I walk along Avenida del sol with all the traffic of the taxis and the hussle and bussle of people commuting to work. I'm always on guard & crossing to the opposite side of the street is an art somedays as there is so much traffic... and believe me just because you are a pedestrian does not make you safe here.... you are at your own risk crossing the street. I pass the policia randomly standing about they way blowing their whistles... it still cracks me up.
Then I get to Maximo and have my morning warm-up where I study and work on my lessons before class starts. I get interupted consistantly but it is welcomed as I've made a lot of friends here. Everyone that works here knows who I am now and like I said it will be hard to leave them. Class all day long... our class is quite international. Lots of different English accents. Yesterday I was talking in class and this girl said to me "you have the cutest accent". I HAVE AN ACCENT? Who knew? ha ha- i think the word for that is ethnocentrism....aye Lindy. I suppose I do :).
It was today, as every day, a long day at Maximo but I'm really starting to be able to have FUN. I really like my class... & the professors of the course are great (except when they are critiquing me :)). Today was a good day! I was dreading it all week long as it was my day to teach grammar. My class turned out to be the best one I'd had so far. It was awesome!!!! We laughed, had fun and ENJOYED learning grammar. Weird. It felt sooo good walking out of the classroom today- It was a rush! I felt so good and successful because they learned the grammar & we had such a great class. I taught them the Future Perfect tense (which is known to be hard to understand). We learned the formula is subject + will have + past participle= future perfect. There has to be two different times and two different events to make this tense, such as "By the time you arrive, I will have cooked dinner" Two times=by the time you arrive & will have cooked. Two different events= arrived and cooked.... both happening in the future at two different moments but simontanously. Hmmmm... we had fun though. For my main task after doing practice I had them plan a wedding. I gave them a calendar of the months and then all of the tasks they will have needed to complete before they get married. They had to make sentences about how they would plan the wedding. For example, "By January 4th I will have picked a cake." They had a blast with it and one of the guys took it even further and added his own tasks such as "by March 4th I will have picked out the alcohol". Aye boys... but we all laughed a lot and I paired them in "couples" and they were all having fun joking with each other about the weddings- they got a kick out of it. One kid, Borris (the class clown) even went so far as to change the subject and told me "teacher, by the time WE get married....." pretty creative. I'll give him points for that one :). They are fun. We have a blast.
My reviews so far have been great! That has been encouraging because this place does not try to sugarcoat ANYTHING. They are pretty hard on you- which is good, I guess it will make me a better teacher in the long run. But I have surprised myself & am having fun with it. It has been great! Not to mention countless hours of work and not many nights of sleep. This blog is my daily break from "reality".
So yeah- today was hard, but really good. The best part of the day was when I told the students "I'll plan something fun for tomorrow since it is the last day" and they responded "Teacher, don't leave here"... it was an awesome moment. In some ways I wish I was sticking around here, but there is the real world and my purpose in coming out was so I could teach back in the US and I'm excited for what is to come of that. Lots to look forward to in the near future!
Off to plan "a fun lesson" like I promised my students. The final part of this blog will probably be about the journey home. Hopefully it says..."I caught all my flights and it was eventless". Here's to that- I could use some prayers over the next few days that I make it home by Sunday. That would be great. Love you all! Thanks for being by my side along this journey :).
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Back to the HUMP day....
I can´t believe it is Wednesday already... yet it feels like it should be Friday. The fact that my days are SOOOO long yet at the end of this week I´ll be DONE throws me off quite a bit. I wake up sometimes confused about where I am, what day it is, and why I´m trying to wake up after only a few hours of sleep..... but it is FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I´m starting to enjoy this a LOT. Not the sitting in class all day- but the teaching part is becoming more enjoyable. I´m able to enjoy being up there a little more then worrying about how it is all going. Tomorrow will be the BIG test when I have to teach a lesson on the grammar of the Future Perfect tense. Hmmmm.... how can I make grammar fun? That is tomorrows challenge.
BUT I´m CONVINCED that THIS DAY, Wednesday, Feburuary 11th (I think?) is going to be a brilliant day. Lots of good things in store for this day and I´m excited to see it all!
So here´s to a beautiful day in Cuzco, Peru... the sun is shining & there is learning and teaching to be had. Let the good times roll :). Bring on this day.....
I´m starting to enjoy this a LOT. Not the sitting in class all day- but the teaching part is becoming more enjoyable. I´m able to enjoy being up there a little more then worrying about how it is all going. Tomorrow will be the BIG test when I have to teach a lesson on the grammar of the Future Perfect tense. Hmmmm.... how can I make grammar fun? That is tomorrows challenge.
BUT I´m CONVINCED that THIS DAY, Wednesday, Feburuary 11th (I think?) is going to be a brilliant day. Lots of good things in store for this day and I´m excited to see it all!
So here´s to a beautiful day in Cuzco, Peru... the sun is shining & there is learning and teaching to be had. Let the good times roll :). Bring on this day.....
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
¨Teacher¨
The worst moment and the best moment! Ha ha- let´s start with the worst because it is pretty darn funny when I think back on it. Not in the moment though. It was a cold and rainy day here in Cuzco, which really doesn´t affect me in any way now that I´m inside the entire day. One of the mysteries of Cuzco has been how the women walk around SO much wearing high heels. Now that I´m officially a teacher I have to dress up like one and I wanted to feel local so today I set out to do the impossible.... I took my walk to school in my heels. Shouldn´t be too hard... except those few places where I go through the dirt and the places where the roads aren´t even, or the hills I´m going up, or the cobbled stone that I walk on (that stuff is slippery!!!)..... I can do it!!!! And I DID! But... as I got to one of the corners just out side of the school a taxi goes flying by. Less then a foot away from me was the biggest puddle I´ve ever seen & I see it coming but can´t do anything about it. It splashed ALL over me... all the way up to my face. I look down at myself covered in wet mud from head to toe... and thought to myself-¨damn I looked good in these high heels¨.
The good... after drying off a bit later in the day we had a five minute break and I ran up the street to buy some water. There was this kid across the street yelling that caught my attention... ¨teacher! teacher!¨. I felt kind of bad because at first I didn´t acknowledge him until I finally realized.. HE IS TALKING TO ME. I almost broke down in tears in that moment it was sooooo sweet. I think that moment will pull me through the rest of this class this week just hearing him call me- ¨teacher¨. They are so sweet in class when I ask them to read or describe a word and they can´t and they look at me with these huge brown eyes and tell me ¨no teacher¨and I can´t get frustrated with them. They have a LOT of respect for the teachers here... they are held very highly. My class is about 8 students the youngest being 18 and the oldest I would guess is 50. Good mix.
Today class was great... we had to talk about how the Minoan civilization was destroyed. Not the most exciting topic... but tomorrow should be fun. I´m going to have them create their own civilizations in groups and then each group will have to present their civilization and convince me that their civilization is the GREATEST civilization in the world. So they will have to do some persuasive writing. Should be fun. They will get into it quite a bit I think. Thursday will be hard to spice up as I´m teaching grammar.. the Future Perfect tense. Blah! I´ll have to figure out a way to make it fun for them.
Well it is 8:00 and I just took my daily break of writing.. and now I have to get to my lesson plan and homework for class tomorrow so I can make it home by midnight and be up and at em tomorrow morning for another day. There are 8 people in my host family right now and I´m always the VERY last one home and in bed and the VERY first one up in the morning... The only time I see my host mom Marina now is at breakfast (which I wish I could skip so I could set my alarm 20 mins later.. but missing breakfast is the highest sin here so no-can-do). She thinks I´m crazy. Haven´t seen the boys since the weekend and I don´t know if/when I´ll see them again??? It is going to be hard that this is all going to end so abruptly. I´m teaching until 7:30 on Friday and leave at 7:00 am on Saturday. I´m planning on taking my host mom and whoever is around out to dinner on Friday after teaching to tell her thanks for all she has done for me. She is cooking 24/7 it seems like & sometimes I feel so bad that she never takes a break from it, so I´m going to try and treat her to a night off. Should be a good last night.
Planning.... right.... back to work....
The good... after drying off a bit later in the day we had a five minute break and I ran up the street to buy some water. There was this kid across the street yelling that caught my attention... ¨teacher! teacher!¨. I felt kind of bad because at first I didn´t acknowledge him until I finally realized.. HE IS TALKING TO ME. I almost broke down in tears in that moment it was sooooo sweet. I think that moment will pull me through the rest of this class this week just hearing him call me- ¨teacher¨. They are so sweet in class when I ask them to read or describe a word and they can´t and they look at me with these huge brown eyes and tell me ¨no teacher¨and I can´t get frustrated with them. They have a LOT of respect for the teachers here... they are held very highly. My class is about 8 students the youngest being 18 and the oldest I would guess is 50. Good mix.
Today class was great... we had to talk about how the Minoan civilization was destroyed. Not the most exciting topic... but tomorrow should be fun. I´m going to have them create their own civilizations in groups and then each group will have to present their civilization and convince me that their civilization is the GREATEST civilization in the world. So they will have to do some persuasive writing. Should be fun. They will get into it quite a bit I think. Thursday will be hard to spice up as I´m teaching grammar.. the Future Perfect tense. Blah! I´ll have to figure out a way to make it fun for them.
Well it is 8:00 and I just took my daily break of writing.. and now I have to get to my lesson plan and homework for class tomorrow so I can make it home by midnight and be up and at em tomorrow morning for another day. There are 8 people in my host family right now and I´m always the VERY last one home and in bed and the VERY first one up in the morning... The only time I see my host mom Marina now is at breakfast (which I wish I could skip so I could set my alarm 20 mins later.. but missing breakfast is the highest sin here so no-can-do). She thinks I´m crazy. Haven´t seen the boys since the weekend and I don´t know if/when I´ll see them again??? It is going to be hard that this is all going to end so abruptly. I´m teaching until 7:30 on Friday and leave at 7:00 am on Saturday. I´m planning on taking my host mom and whoever is around out to dinner on Friday after teaching to tell her thanks for all she has done for me. She is cooking 24/7 it seems like & sometimes I feel so bad that she never takes a break from it, so I´m going to try and treat her to a night off. Should be a good last night.
Planning.... right.... back to work....
Monday, February 9, 2009
Monday, Monday
Here it is... the big final week. I'm not sure how much I've written about this class... probably avoided it at all costs. All day I think to myself "why am I putting myself through this???"!!! BUT this is me accomplishing a big part of my dream. I have to remind myself that & push through. There are so many moments that I think I'd rather be back in college in the worst part of my finals... I'd do anything to go back to that. BUT it is good to be pushed and stretched. I just never knew how much taking the TEFL class could do that. There have been numerous moments that students have been in tears & I'm thanking my past soccer coaches Armando & coach Evans for teaching me about mental toughness...or else I'd be crying too! But with hardship comes a sense of accomplishment and on Saturday when this is all said and done I will feel accomplishment like never before.
When we got here we went through a briefing and they warned us that we couldn't imagine what we'd be put through... they were right. You walk around Cuzco and meet people that are from here or any of the 1,000 English learners that are part of this institute and there first question is what are you doing here? Of course I answer ¨TEFL¨and the look on their face says it all! Everyone in this city knows who the ¨teflers¨ are and has sympathy on us... it is a commonly known thing that we are being TORTURED! Eh... it isn´t that bad, just draining in every form of the word.
Mini-lessons.... Monday was my last one. The title sounds so harmless. NOT! A mini lesson is where I´ve had to prepare a class curriculum & they bring in a group of English learners and I do my class with these ¨guinea pigs¨(although I certainly don´t call them that here in Peru- bad connotation) who I teach. Pretty simple eh? Yeah.... if I didn´t have 20 people observing my teaching. Not just my lesson plan, but techniques and methods- which this school is very strict on. There is a right way to teach (according to this school) and NO OTHER WAY. I´m learning but it is a LOT of pressure as you are thinking about 300 methods, strageties that you HAVE to follow along with all the do´s and don´ts.... all the while trying to remember exactly what you have planned & following the steps. It is a lot of pressure. But good. My last one was a teaching on song lyrics... ¨where is the love¨by black eyed peas. It was a listening class & we had a bit of fun with it. The students looked at me like I was crazy when they heard how fast the song was.. but I ended up pulling them through it a bit and it turned out quite well. The hardest part for me is that I can´t do any of the talking. The students have to come up with EVERYTHING. My only job is to stand up there and try to pull EVERYTHING from them. It can be tough when you have words like I had in my class today...¨sustainable¨. That is a hard word for them to get without me being able to tell them anything about the word.
Practical teaching! Today was my first day of practical teaching. I took over a class at Maximo Nivel.. the institute that I´m studying through. My class is a Intermediate 1-2 class, which means they are on their second year of English classes. They are great. They were a little intimidated when a new teacher walked in but I got them going and my first day of officially teaching went well! I was being observed in this class as well- but only one supervisor so it is a little less pressure. This school has VERY high standards of their teachers and for them to hand over a class for a week is a huge responsibility. In this class I have to come up with my own lesson plans but the curriculum that we have to cover is provided.
My class is covering a reading on the ¨mysteries of the lost civilization¨about the Minoan culture and the people of Crete. We have to work on reading aloud and then understanding all the vocabulary. WOW! Let me just tell you some of the vocab I had to get through in my class today... ash, Tsunami, shores, crescent, ruined. Magma, active.... about 20 similar words. It would be easy if I could just translate the words... but NO!!!! Big no. I used to be intimidated to teach an hour class but now I wish I was teaching for about 4 hours.... after the vocabulary I have to do a comprehension check activity where they answer some form of questions and then I have to have them do an interactive activity. I am sweating by the time it is all over trying to get through all of my material. It is HARD work. BUT my class is fun and they try hard and we try to have some fun while learning about how the Minoan civilization disappeared.
One day down and four more to go... it has been hard work. It makes for a long day when I have class all day and am thinking in my class and feel drained but have to get the energy to go teach a class & then my body and mind want to crash.... but then it is time to plan for tomorrow. Haven´t slept much lately.... I guess that will be for the plane ride home.
When we got here we went through a briefing and they warned us that we couldn't imagine what we'd be put through... they were right. You walk around Cuzco and meet people that are from here or any of the 1,000 English learners that are part of this institute and there first question is what are you doing here? Of course I answer ¨TEFL¨and the look on their face says it all! Everyone in this city knows who the ¨teflers¨ are and has sympathy on us... it is a commonly known thing that we are being TORTURED! Eh... it isn´t that bad, just draining in every form of the word.
Mini-lessons.... Monday was my last one. The title sounds so harmless. NOT! A mini lesson is where I´ve had to prepare a class curriculum & they bring in a group of English learners and I do my class with these ¨guinea pigs¨(although I certainly don´t call them that here in Peru- bad connotation) who I teach. Pretty simple eh? Yeah.... if I didn´t have 20 people observing my teaching. Not just my lesson plan, but techniques and methods- which this school is very strict on. There is a right way to teach (according to this school) and NO OTHER WAY. I´m learning but it is a LOT of pressure as you are thinking about 300 methods, strageties that you HAVE to follow along with all the do´s and don´ts.... all the while trying to remember exactly what you have planned & following the steps. It is a lot of pressure. But good. My last one was a teaching on song lyrics... ¨where is the love¨by black eyed peas. It was a listening class & we had a bit of fun with it. The students looked at me like I was crazy when they heard how fast the song was.. but I ended up pulling them through it a bit and it turned out quite well. The hardest part for me is that I can´t do any of the talking. The students have to come up with EVERYTHING. My only job is to stand up there and try to pull EVERYTHING from them. It can be tough when you have words like I had in my class today...¨sustainable¨. That is a hard word for them to get without me being able to tell them anything about the word.
Practical teaching! Today was my first day of practical teaching. I took over a class at Maximo Nivel.. the institute that I´m studying through. My class is a Intermediate 1-2 class, which means they are on their second year of English classes. They are great. They were a little intimidated when a new teacher walked in but I got them going and my first day of officially teaching went well! I was being observed in this class as well- but only one supervisor so it is a little less pressure. This school has VERY high standards of their teachers and for them to hand over a class for a week is a huge responsibility. In this class I have to come up with my own lesson plans but the curriculum that we have to cover is provided.
My class is covering a reading on the ¨mysteries of the lost civilization¨about the Minoan culture and the people of Crete. We have to work on reading aloud and then understanding all the vocabulary. WOW! Let me just tell you some of the vocab I had to get through in my class today... ash, Tsunami, shores, crescent, ruined. Magma, active.... about 20 similar words. It would be easy if I could just translate the words... but NO!!!! Big no. I used to be intimidated to teach an hour class but now I wish I was teaching for about 4 hours.... after the vocabulary I have to do a comprehension check activity where they answer some form of questions and then I have to have them do an interactive activity. I am sweating by the time it is all over trying to get through all of my material. It is HARD work. BUT my class is fun and they try hard and we try to have some fun while learning about how the Minoan civilization disappeared.
One day down and four more to go... it has been hard work. It makes for a long day when I have class all day and am thinking in my class and feel drained but have to get the energy to go teach a class & then my body and mind want to crash.... but then it is time to plan for tomorrow. Haven´t slept much lately.... I guess that will be for the plane ride home.
Overview of the weekend....
This weekend seems like a blur... tried to cram in so much! I did accomplish ONE MAJOR TASK which was to find cookies & cream ice cream. That was pertinent to my ability to function this week. In all honesty it wasn't really cookies & cream- but it was a variation of it and when you are in a foreign place you make do with what you have. I ordered a hot fudge sundae without the fudge and saw that they put an oreo cookie on top... so I mixed my sundae minus the fudge with my oreo and VAH-LAH! Cookies & cream ice cream!
Saturday after working for a good part of the day at Maximo on my lesson plans and my last mini lesson for Monday morning I headed to the Plaza and ran into a few students and we took a walk to one of the ancient temples... beautiful. They worship the God of the Sun here and there are all kinds of buildings that are symbolic of their belief in worshiping the Sun. I've decided that I'm a fan of that.... I mean I LOVE when the sun is shining & if their temples help the sun come out cheers to that :). I spent more time walking around Cuzco and met up with a girl from school and we walked back to the house. After hanging out for a bit I discovered that I might need a bit more then the 3 hours of sleep that I was living off of to get through another night in Cuzco so I took a quick nap. I woke up and for the first time really got ready. I haven't spent more then 10 mins (shower included) to get myself ready since I've been here so I treated myself to a hair straightening session. One of the girls at my house had the transformer so I was able to use my flat iron (oh the luxuries... I know, I'm vain). It did feel good to be put together for once though. I felt like straightening my hair was equivalent to putting on an evening gown for a quick moment... that was until I had to put on my dirty jeans that I've worn 8 times now without washing.... and a semi-clean shirt (only used twice). The next step of course is putting on deodorant & a splash of perfume with the high hopes of covering up the fact that my clothes are dirty. Gotta love getting a little dirty every now and then eh?
One of my big debates this weekend was: To do laundry or Not to???? Hmmm... the only solution that I have to any debates presently is: "but I'm leaving in a week....I can survive a few more days". That was the answer I stuck to this weekend. Should I go see a doctor if my bug is still in me??? Eh- I'll be back home in a week. Should I go to the bank and get more money??? Eh- I only have to survive another week. Probably not the best solution but I'm banking on the fact that there will not be a natural disaster between now and then that prevents me from leaving.... or else I will be wearing some DIRTY DIRTY clothes.
The good thing is that this week is all FORMAL week. I have to be dressed to teach in the finest teachers clothes I can find in that suitcase of mine... so I'm digging deep into the bag for some fresh clothes.
Back to Saturday.... After getting ready I walked up to Maximo to meet up with a friend of mine that works at Maximo but is Peruvian. He told me he'd show me a good meal... not the tourist restaurants but a locals place. He wasn't off work yet when I arrived so I took a little walk and met a police officer who wanted to chat. Everyone here has so many questions for me... who I am, what I'm doing here, how long I'm staying. I'm pretty sure every shirt I wear has a sign that says "I'm not from here". There is no blending in for me. He was nice and at the very least I allowed him to have a break from standing on the corner for awhile. That is what the police do best here.... stand on the corners. There are MANY kinds of police and they are all in different places each day... how that is arraigned or who arranges it is beyond me. BUT as long as they look important I guess that is all that matters. They are always in twos as well & I've witnessed (this time from the outside) them pulling cars over by foot. They blow their whistle as loud as possible and run after the cars.... totally legit... and hilarious to witness- when you aren't the one being chased :).
After talking to the officer I went back to Maximo and sat on the step waiting for Andy and a little boy who was four years old sat next to me and we carried on a good conversation for about 10 mins. I asked him questions about him, his school, and his family- his answers were priceless. He told me he was the smartest boy in his entire class and that he has two older brothers... but they are "little boys". I asked him if he was a little boy and he told me he is a grown-up (even though he was younger then his brothers). All of a sudden he decided he was done talking to me & ran off down the street. I had NO IDEA where his parents were, if he had parents.. nothing. I was quite disturbed to see him running down the main street in between people until he got out of my sight... but I guess that is normal here? My first though was- did he steal from me? But I had nothing that he could've taken on me... just my jacket (and a few soles for dinner on the inside of my jacket). Hmmm... maybe that is why he got bored with me, because i had nothing to steal. Sad but true.
Andy and I had a great night. I LOVE the fact that you walk everywhere here. We walked to a restaurant on the opposite side of the city- up some cobbled roads and into a little place called "juanitos". Good grub! They make any kind of sandwiches or burgers and I got a chicken sandwich that was to die for! Really good. We walked around for a few hours and enjoyed a beautiful Cuzco night. He showed me a different part of Cuzco.. more residential but it was good to see because I've kind of been stuck in the main parts.. I live just off the main street and take the 40 min journey back and forth between there all the time. We took a bus off the main roads and saw some parks and scenery that I'm glad I saw. Changed my perspective of Cuzco quite a bit.
Skipping right ahead... Sunday morning I woke up bright and early and set out to walk. I really love walking around here. This walk was a bit tiring though. It was up up up hill for about 2 1/2 hours.... way outside of Cuzco into the country-side. Just took a road that I knew and walked my little heart out. After 2 1/2 hours of peace and breathing in some fresh country air I realized that I'd have to go back all the way I'd come. Ops. I ended up walking back to the city and treated myself to "jugo de fresa" my FAVORITE. Fresh strawberry juice and rested and people watched in a different plaza for a bit. I made it home around noon and my host brother was about to leave to run (walk) some errands and convinced me to walk with him. So we walked some more. He is a riot.. good to spend some time with him because I hadn't seen anyone in my host family other then Marina in days. I feel bad for just sleeping there sometimes, but that is my schedule these days. We went to find a carpenter to fix a door who lived about 30 mins away. Juanca decided to take me a different route back home so I could see more of Cuzco... yet another part I'd never seen and once again completly unique. I loved it! We got back and made some lunch and I hung out with a few of the girls from the house. We took a walk- that is when i found my ice cream & forthe first time checked out some of the tourist markets. I got home, watched a bit of soccer with Marina's realitives that she had over and then went out again with Andy and a few friends to get some dinner. Once again we walked around and enjoyed yet another night in Cuzco. I'm seriously LOVING this walking around and seeing things. I'm going to miss living here for that reason. Your form of entertainment is to walk around the city & there are always SOOO many people out and about. It is a beautiful city. I am seeing more and more how much I'm going to miss it!
Then off to bed... this coming week will be my biggest week for sure. Stress... like never before. I'm intimidated but just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Here we go... the final stretch....
Saturday after working for a good part of the day at Maximo on my lesson plans and my last mini lesson for Monday morning I headed to the Plaza and ran into a few students and we took a walk to one of the ancient temples... beautiful. They worship the God of the Sun here and there are all kinds of buildings that are symbolic of their belief in worshiping the Sun. I've decided that I'm a fan of that.... I mean I LOVE when the sun is shining & if their temples help the sun come out cheers to that :). I spent more time walking around Cuzco and met up with a girl from school and we walked back to the house. After hanging out for a bit I discovered that I might need a bit more then the 3 hours of sleep that I was living off of to get through another night in Cuzco so I took a quick nap. I woke up and for the first time really got ready. I haven't spent more then 10 mins (shower included) to get myself ready since I've been here so I treated myself to a hair straightening session. One of the girls at my house had the transformer so I was able to use my flat iron (oh the luxuries... I know, I'm vain). It did feel good to be put together for once though. I felt like straightening my hair was equivalent to putting on an evening gown for a quick moment... that was until I had to put on my dirty jeans that I've worn 8 times now without washing.... and a semi-clean shirt (only used twice). The next step of course is putting on deodorant & a splash of perfume with the high hopes of covering up the fact that my clothes are dirty. Gotta love getting a little dirty every now and then eh?
One of my big debates this weekend was: To do laundry or Not to???? Hmmm... the only solution that I have to any debates presently is: "but I'm leaving in a week....I can survive a few more days". That was the answer I stuck to this weekend. Should I go see a doctor if my bug is still in me??? Eh- I'll be back home in a week. Should I go to the bank and get more money??? Eh- I only have to survive another week. Probably not the best solution but I'm banking on the fact that there will not be a natural disaster between now and then that prevents me from leaving.... or else I will be wearing some DIRTY DIRTY clothes.
The good thing is that this week is all FORMAL week. I have to be dressed to teach in the finest teachers clothes I can find in that suitcase of mine... so I'm digging deep into the bag for some fresh clothes.
Back to Saturday.... After getting ready I walked up to Maximo to meet up with a friend of mine that works at Maximo but is Peruvian. He told me he'd show me a good meal... not the tourist restaurants but a locals place. He wasn't off work yet when I arrived so I took a little walk and met a police officer who wanted to chat. Everyone here has so many questions for me... who I am, what I'm doing here, how long I'm staying. I'm pretty sure every shirt I wear has a sign that says "I'm not from here". There is no blending in for me. He was nice and at the very least I allowed him to have a break from standing on the corner for awhile. That is what the police do best here.... stand on the corners. There are MANY kinds of police and they are all in different places each day... how that is arraigned or who arranges it is beyond me. BUT as long as they look important I guess that is all that matters. They are always in twos as well & I've witnessed (this time from the outside) them pulling cars over by foot. They blow their whistle as loud as possible and run after the cars.... totally legit... and hilarious to witness- when you aren't the one being chased :).
After talking to the officer I went back to Maximo and sat on the step waiting for Andy and a little boy who was four years old sat next to me and we carried on a good conversation for about 10 mins. I asked him questions about him, his school, and his family- his answers were priceless. He told me he was the smartest boy in his entire class and that he has two older brothers... but they are "little boys". I asked him if he was a little boy and he told me he is a grown-up (even though he was younger then his brothers). All of a sudden he decided he was done talking to me & ran off down the street. I had NO IDEA where his parents were, if he had parents.. nothing. I was quite disturbed to see him running down the main street in between people until he got out of my sight... but I guess that is normal here? My first though was- did he steal from me? But I had nothing that he could've taken on me... just my jacket (and a few soles for dinner on the inside of my jacket). Hmmm... maybe that is why he got bored with me, because i had nothing to steal. Sad but true.
Andy and I had a great night. I LOVE the fact that you walk everywhere here. We walked to a restaurant on the opposite side of the city- up some cobbled roads and into a little place called "juanitos". Good grub! They make any kind of sandwiches or burgers and I got a chicken sandwich that was to die for! Really good. We walked around for a few hours and enjoyed a beautiful Cuzco night. He showed me a different part of Cuzco.. more residential but it was good to see because I've kind of been stuck in the main parts.. I live just off the main street and take the 40 min journey back and forth between there all the time. We took a bus off the main roads and saw some parks and scenery that I'm glad I saw. Changed my perspective of Cuzco quite a bit.
Skipping right ahead... Sunday morning I woke up bright and early and set out to walk. I really love walking around here. This walk was a bit tiring though. It was up up up hill for about 2 1/2 hours.... way outside of Cuzco into the country-side. Just took a road that I knew and walked my little heart out. After 2 1/2 hours of peace and breathing in some fresh country air I realized that I'd have to go back all the way I'd come. Ops. I ended up walking back to the city and treated myself to "jugo de fresa" my FAVORITE. Fresh strawberry juice and rested and people watched in a different plaza for a bit. I made it home around noon and my host brother was about to leave to run (walk) some errands and convinced me to walk with him. So we walked some more. He is a riot.. good to spend some time with him because I hadn't seen anyone in my host family other then Marina in days. I feel bad for just sleeping there sometimes, but that is my schedule these days. We went to find a carpenter to fix a door who lived about 30 mins away. Juanca decided to take me a different route back home so I could see more of Cuzco... yet another part I'd never seen and once again completly unique. I loved it! We got back and made some lunch and I hung out with a few of the girls from the house. We took a walk- that is when i found my ice cream & forthe first time checked out some of the tourist markets. I got home, watched a bit of soccer with Marina's realitives that she had over and then went out again with Andy and a few friends to get some dinner. Once again we walked around and enjoyed yet another night in Cuzco. I'm seriously LOVING this walking around and seeing things. I'm going to miss living here for that reason. Your form of entertainment is to walk around the city & there are always SOOO many people out and about. It is a beautiful city. I am seeing more and more how much I'm going to miss it!
Then off to bed... this coming week will be my biggest week for sure. Stress... like never before. I'm intimidated but just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Here we go... the final stretch....
Saturday, February 7, 2009
My last weekend...
This is my last weekend in Peru so I´m trying to cram in as much as possible... unfortunatly most of it will be studying and preparing my lessons for next week. Yesterday was a good day- I worked a lot but also got out to take a break. Walked up to the plaza and sat on a bench and enjoyed the beauty of Cuzco. If there is one thing I´ll miss about Cuzco it is the Plaza de Armas- I could go there and sit and watch people and think all day long, every day. It is a beautiful place.
I had lunch with some friends as well and after enjoying the day and getting some work done I went home and had dinner and got ready to go out. I really haven´t gone out much here... but I´d be itching to dance for awhile. All of the TEFL students (they call us teflers) met up at a little pub and hung out and then we went to dance. The first place we started at was kinda boring in my opinion- just a bunch of reggetone... so I headed out with a few people to venture out for SALSA. Salsa we found! It was brilliant. So brilliant that we shut the place down. Ha ha.. I do that pretty commonly in Denver, but ¨shuting down¨La Rumba means 1:30/2:00 at the very latest. Here... ha ha- we left at 5:30 am. I walked home as the sun was rising... it was quite peaceful. I said I was deprived of dancing.... well I got my fix. It keeps me young :). There is nothing I love more then dancing & my feet can tell you that I danced it up!
This morning I had to set the alarm because I have studying and work to do- so I´m working off 3 hours of sleep right now but actually feel great. Sometimes dancing is better energy then sleeping.
Today I´ve spent the whole morning in the computer lab working on my lessons and assignments. Hopefully I´ll get a lot done and get out of here to enjoy some of the sunshine. It is BEAUTIFUL here today. Off I go to work....
I had lunch with some friends as well and after enjoying the day and getting some work done I went home and had dinner and got ready to go out. I really haven´t gone out much here... but I´d be itching to dance for awhile. All of the TEFL students (they call us teflers) met up at a little pub and hung out and then we went to dance. The first place we started at was kinda boring in my opinion- just a bunch of reggetone... so I headed out with a few people to venture out for SALSA. Salsa we found! It was brilliant. So brilliant that we shut the place down. Ha ha.. I do that pretty commonly in Denver, but ¨shuting down¨La Rumba means 1:30/2:00 at the very latest. Here... ha ha- we left at 5:30 am. I walked home as the sun was rising... it was quite peaceful. I said I was deprived of dancing.... well I got my fix. It keeps me young :). There is nothing I love more then dancing & my feet can tell you that I danced it up!
This morning I had to set the alarm because I have studying and work to do- so I´m working off 3 hours of sleep right now but actually feel great. Sometimes dancing is better energy then sleeping.
Today I´ve spent the whole morning in the computer lab working on my lessons and assignments. Hopefully I´ll get a lot done and get out of here to enjoy some of the sunshine. It is BEAUTIFUL here today. Off I go to work....
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Little breaks...
On a quick break at school...
Wednesday night after I wrote a blog in the peak of my frustrations I went out to dinner with a bunch of people from school. We found a little restaurant that had Thai food.... that was a huge treat. Some of the teachers from the school came, which I was kinda bummed at first but it ended up being a good thing for me hanging out with them outside of the institute. I struggle with the school I'm getting my TEFL from- (although there are some really good aspects)... but it was good to see the professors in a setting outside of the school. We had a great time- a group from the school mixed with a group outside the school, mostly peruvians & we had some interesting conversation over Thai food. It was what I needed in the moment... to stop everything and not think about anything.
There was a couple that won me over pretty quickly there- she is an American and he is Peruvian & they were the a wonderful couple... I got along great with them and she twisted my arm to go to a salsa club to dance for a little while. I haven't danced much since I've been here so I took her up on the offer. Good decision. Until I had to wake up the next morning that is. Ohwell, sometimes you have to seize the moment & take a break from the ¨musts¨and enjoy the ¨wants¨. It was good to dance for a bit. I don´t particularly like the dancing in Cuzco (the style of Salsa) as it is very rehearsed. The reason I feel in love with Salsa is for the spontanous freedom that it brings me. But I did manage to find a dancing partner from Lima & for a few hours I forgot about all my worries. Those Lima boys sure know how to dance (Ï´m talking to you ¨camisa negra¨). Nah- it was good though to relax.
Waking up to my cold shower at 5:30 am was a pretty big slap in the face-but I managed and the rest of the day was LONG- but I survived. I actually did much better on my reviews of my class (although I personally felt the class went worse)- but this school is SO focused on methodology. This class has been more like taking foreign language classes then my Spanish classes were.. EVERYTHING they talk about is ¨termonology¨. The CCQ of the EPA.... . What is Method two of the E? To me the model that they use is very dry and boring.. but when I do it that way I get great reviews. So- I figure I just need to do my work here, take what I can from it and get back on the plane to head North. I´m so excited to teach in the States. I love the teaching aspect! This past week I was in class from early in the morning until early evening and then in the evenings we teach and are observed by about 15 people. Talk about pressure. The first time teaching EVER & I have my students to build report with and an audience observing my technique. I´ll be glad when I´m done with the observations. I have one more on Monday.
Monday will start my practical teaching. I have a class here at the institute. I got an intermediate 2 class... they are pretty decent at conversational English. That is good and bad. Good that they understand a bit of English but bad in that the grammar that I´ll be teaching will be complicated. Monday I have to teach them the future perfect tense. That gets confusing because there has to be two events that happen at two different times, but simultaniously. Hmmm.. should be interesting. I have to get my lesson plans for the week done this weekend and then next week I´ll be in class all day again and teaching in the evenings. I went to observe the class that I´ll be taking over and there are about 11 students when the class is full. The teacher that is teaching it now is ironically from Littleton, CO. That was kinda cool to run across her. She signed a 6 month contract but is ready to be done teaching I think- so she was happy to have the week off next week.
Everything else (if there IS anything else) is going well. I get home late at night and last night saw my host mom & brothers for the first time in awhile... they were like ¨what a miracle!¨ I have no life right now. BUT I´m hoping to get all my lesson plans done today so I can enjoy the WEEKEND!!!! My last weekend I´ll have for awhile I´m sure. I´ll be teaching until Friday night next week and then Saturday morning at 8:00 am I´m off to Lima. I´ll get to spend the day with Willy´s family one more time and then (PRAY PRAY PRAY) that I get out on my flight Saturday night/Sunday morning at 1:00 am. I´m flying stand-by so I need everyone to send their prayers that I make it out. IF I make it that far I´ll be in Atlanta on Sunday late morning and try and catch another flight to Denver. IF all that goes well... I´ll be home next Sunday!!!... and back to work & the real world on Monday. Exhausting to think about BUT I´m just taking it one day at a time for now.
This weekend I´m not sure what I´ll get into- but something always comes up. I´m going to try and take a little day trip to a market that is about an hour and a half away on Sunday. One last day in the country.
I always think about things I want to write about as my day goes on to share the experience that I´m having and often forget by the time I sit down to write. This morning I was reminded of one thing though.... Living in Cuzco I don´t trust anyone. If someone is trying to help me- there is a pretty good chance they are trying to get something out of me. That didn´t amaze me at all as I´d experienced it many times in Costa Rica. The part that DID amaze me is what you have to be the MOST careful of. The kids. I guess I always had an image in my head of the innoncence of children... that they can´t be corrupted. Wrong. The number one thing that I have to be on guard of here is the kids. They come up in groups and one will try and distract you will the others work to steal.... I encountered this this morning when I was walking to the school and a little boy who is a shoe shiner started walking with me. I knew he wasn´t interested in selling me a shoe shine becuse I was wearing flip-flops. Red flag. I watched as they tried to do their magic but told them strongly- no and went the other direction. They knew I knew & gave up quickly. Pretty amazing that the kids are so well trained. Sad.
Enough for now. Just trying to capture the experience as a whole. Last weekend! Time has flown by. I´m excited to have a life for two days.....
Wednesday night after I wrote a blog in the peak of my frustrations I went out to dinner with a bunch of people from school. We found a little restaurant that had Thai food.... that was a huge treat. Some of the teachers from the school came, which I was kinda bummed at first but it ended up being a good thing for me hanging out with them outside of the institute. I struggle with the school I'm getting my TEFL from- (although there are some really good aspects)... but it was good to see the professors in a setting outside of the school. We had a great time- a group from the school mixed with a group outside the school, mostly peruvians & we had some interesting conversation over Thai food. It was what I needed in the moment... to stop everything and not think about anything.
There was a couple that won me over pretty quickly there- she is an American and he is Peruvian & they were the a wonderful couple... I got along great with them and she twisted my arm to go to a salsa club to dance for a little while. I haven't danced much since I've been here so I took her up on the offer. Good decision. Until I had to wake up the next morning that is. Ohwell, sometimes you have to seize the moment & take a break from the ¨musts¨and enjoy the ¨wants¨. It was good to dance for a bit. I don´t particularly like the dancing in Cuzco (the style of Salsa) as it is very rehearsed. The reason I feel in love with Salsa is for the spontanous freedom that it brings me. But I did manage to find a dancing partner from Lima & for a few hours I forgot about all my worries. Those Lima boys sure know how to dance (Ï´m talking to you ¨camisa negra¨). Nah- it was good though to relax.
Waking up to my cold shower at 5:30 am was a pretty big slap in the face-but I managed and the rest of the day was LONG- but I survived. I actually did much better on my reviews of my class (although I personally felt the class went worse)- but this school is SO focused on methodology. This class has been more like taking foreign language classes then my Spanish classes were.. EVERYTHING they talk about is ¨termonology¨. The CCQ of the EPA.... . What is Method two of the E? To me the model that they use is very dry and boring.. but when I do it that way I get great reviews. So- I figure I just need to do my work here, take what I can from it and get back on the plane to head North. I´m so excited to teach in the States. I love the teaching aspect! This past week I was in class from early in the morning until early evening and then in the evenings we teach and are observed by about 15 people. Talk about pressure. The first time teaching EVER & I have my students to build report with and an audience observing my technique. I´ll be glad when I´m done with the observations. I have one more on Monday.
Monday will start my practical teaching. I have a class here at the institute. I got an intermediate 2 class... they are pretty decent at conversational English. That is good and bad. Good that they understand a bit of English but bad in that the grammar that I´ll be teaching will be complicated. Monday I have to teach them the future perfect tense. That gets confusing because there has to be two events that happen at two different times, but simultaniously. Hmmm.. should be interesting. I have to get my lesson plans for the week done this weekend and then next week I´ll be in class all day again and teaching in the evenings. I went to observe the class that I´ll be taking over and there are about 11 students when the class is full. The teacher that is teaching it now is ironically from Littleton, CO. That was kinda cool to run across her. She signed a 6 month contract but is ready to be done teaching I think- so she was happy to have the week off next week.
Everything else (if there IS anything else) is going well. I get home late at night and last night saw my host mom & brothers for the first time in awhile... they were like ¨what a miracle!¨ I have no life right now. BUT I´m hoping to get all my lesson plans done today so I can enjoy the WEEKEND!!!! My last weekend I´ll have for awhile I´m sure. I´ll be teaching until Friday night next week and then Saturday morning at 8:00 am I´m off to Lima. I´ll get to spend the day with Willy´s family one more time and then (PRAY PRAY PRAY) that I get out on my flight Saturday night/Sunday morning at 1:00 am. I´m flying stand-by so I need everyone to send their prayers that I make it out. IF I make it that far I´ll be in Atlanta on Sunday late morning and try and catch another flight to Denver. IF all that goes well... I´ll be home next Sunday!!!... and back to work & the real world on Monday. Exhausting to think about BUT I´m just taking it one day at a time for now.
This weekend I´m not sure what I´ll get into- but something always comes up. I´m going to try and take a little day trip to a market that is about an hour and a half away on Sunday. One last day in the country.
I always think about things I want to write about as my day goes on to share the experience that I´m having and often forget by the time I sit down to write. This morning I was reminded of one thing though.... Living in Cuzco I don´t trust anyone. If someone is trying to help me- there is a pretty good chance they are trying to get something out of me. That didn´t amaze me at all as I´d experienced it many times in Costa Rica. The part that DID amaze me is what you have to be the MOST careful of. The kids. I guess I always had an image in my head of the innoncence of children... that they can´t be corrupted. Wrong. The number one thing that I have to be on guard of here is the kids. They come up in groups and one will try and distract you will the others work to steal.... I encountered this this morning when I was walking to the school and a little boy who is a shoe shiner started walking with me. I knew he wasn´t interested in selling me a shoe shine becuse I was wearing flip-flops. Red flag. I watched as they tried to do their magic but told them strongly- no and went the other direction. They knew I knew & gave up quickly. Pretty amazing that the kids are so well trained. Sad.
Enough for now. Just trying to capture the experience as a whole. Last weekend! Time has flown by. I´m excited to have a life for two days.....
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