Cariño

Today was wonderful day here in Cusco.  I slept in, felt very recuperated, and accomplished a few things that needed to be done before going to the school.  After breakfast and my morning Skype with Mom and Dad, I went to find the market, which is quite a sight behold.  It is an enormous enclosed building that takes up at least two blocks lengthwise, and is filled with little stores and counters selling everything from meat and spices to scarves and key chains.  I found myself a scarf to keep me warm at night when the sun goes down, and I saw many other things that I could have purchased on the spot.  The quality of wool of course is amazing due to the Alpaca and Llama, and the women are so talented at knitting and sewing hats, scarves, sweaters, socks, mittens, etc.  I will definitely take some pictures of the beautiful array of colors that they produce as well.

One thing I would like to mention again, in more detail, is the sense of peace that I have here in Haydee’s house.  (By the way, her name is pronounced “eye-day,” and is a Quechua based name, which is why I pronounced it incorrectly at first.)  I must say that she is just so sweet to me.  She is very easy to talk with, and is easy to understand.  She uses plenty of gestures when talking which always helps.  She has complete understanding of how tired I have been, and what I might need to stay warm/cool/calm/etc.  She calls me “cariño,” which means “dearest” and “mi amor,” which means “my love”.  Of course, the Spanish language is full of everyday phrases that convey love and empathy more ardently than in English, but still it is nice to hear.  Another thing I love about Haydee is that she is very liberal, and has modern ideas of a woman’s place in the world, which is hard to find in many Hispanic countries.  We already talked quite a bit about women’s rights and importance of education.  She also told me yesterday that the best thing she ever did was to convert from Catholicism to Protestantism.   She told me it made her life so much easier without all the saints to remember and confessions to make!  I couldn’t help but laugh, and she did too.

So, I suppose I should begin to write about the school, Aldea Yanapay, the reason I am here J.  I am so pleased to be part of it, and I know that I will be able to bring a lot of new ideas into the classrooms.  Yesterday was my first day, and Igor, the man in charge, told me that I should help out in the library with children who need to complete their homework.  I was in there with another volunteer, and she was very helpful to me. The children that came in were all so polite, said “Buenos dias Profesoras,” and gave us each a kiss on the cheek, the customary Peruvian greeting.  I started mostly by observing, and encouraging the children to complete their homework without worrying about others, but I quickly fell into a routine and the children were not shy with me at all.

Between yesterday and today I had several children that need more one-on-one time with their work, and it was very satisfying to know that I was helping them.  It seems to me that I have a stronger background in education than most of the other volunteers, so I took it upon myself to step in where I was needed to establish control or to reassess a method of teaching. 

While some of the children are in the library with me finishing homework, others that do not have work are allowed to go to the games area, the art studio, and the sports activities.  It is not as well organized as I would like for the sports activities, and I think I may start heading a few age-appropriate activities like “Simon Says” or “Red Light, Green Light”.  I am currently working with the younger students, age 4-8; the older students are in the secondary school, which is just next-door.

After about two hours both schools come together to meet for circle time, a time for reviewing rules, talking of activities, and sharing of opinions.  It’s so cute listening to their tiny voices speaking Spanish and just begging to be heard and appreciated.  They all try to crowd around the nearest “Profesor,” and it’s hard to tell them that we cannot have them on our laps for circle time.  They all want hugs and kisses and to be held and listened to.

Finally, during the last hour we break into small groups, or families, to learn about and discuss the theme of the week.  This week we are learning about Judaism.  (Apparently, though, it’s been two weeks because they all know way more about Judaism than I do.)  I was in a family with one other volunteer (Sam, from Australia), and he was nice enough, but had no control over the nine boys and two girls in our group.  It was CHAOS.  I mean, they were moving chairs around, standing on stools, throwing paper at each other, yelling and pushing and playing with broken antennae from the radio and not even acknowledging that Sam was at the front of the classroom asking them questions.  So, when Sam left to get something I quickly tried to take charge.  I clapped a rhythm and had them repeat after me several times.  When they were semi-quiet I moved all the tables and chairs to one side and had them form a circle and sit on the floor.  The kids that refused to listen or be quiet had to sit on my lap for one minute.  I tried to speak in whisper to get their attention, but that only worked for a while.  After the hour was up I had used almost every tactic in the book to control the crazy children, and I could tell that it was having an effect.  Those that were praised for doing well continued to do even better, and were immediately on my side.  I am hoping that tomorrow we will not have to start again from scratch, but I am prepared to do so if necessary.

I think it is very understandable that these kids act this way.  They have already gone to school for a full day, and then to sit and listen and behave for a few hours more is very difficult.  But I can tell they all really enjoy coming, and that they would much rather be there than anywhere else.  So, I guess the best we can do is make it fun and organized for them, with a good routine and some heavy duty rules to follow.  I know that kids thrive on having order and rules, as much as it seems to be the opposite most of the time.  They really respect and adore all of us volunteers, and that will have to be our biggest leverage in getting them to behave.

Here are a few pictures:

The hostel where I end up every morning sending emails and talking with other volunteers.

 

Also at the hostel; they have hammocks, pretty birds and lots of sunshine.

 

This is "Juashinton," yes, Washington.  He is the son of one of the ladies that works here at the hostel and he is the happiest baby I have ever met.  I could take a hundred pictures of him a day.

Love love love,

Maia Jo