Peru #7: Estudiante and Profesora

My new schedule started this past Monday.  My Spanish class is now from 9am to 11am Monday through Friday.  There are four students in my class - one guy from Washington, DC, one girl around my age from Minnesota/NYC, and one younger girl from Manchester, England.  Our teacher is a Peruvian named Robert, and he seems to be in his mid to late 20s.  He is a great teacher and makes the classes very fun, allowing us to joke around a lot (in Spanish and English.)  All of us seem to be at similar levels with our knowledge and mastering of Spanish, so it has been a great fit for all of us so far.

View from my new classroom, on the third floor.  There is actually a green bird (loro) that is a pet that hangs out at the house across the way.

This week, we focused a lot on pronouns and possessive adjectives. This was all stuff I learned before, but generally was confused about, so it was good to go over it greater detail.

If you can actually read this conversation that my classmate and I made up, you'll have a laugh.  (I was Rafaela.)  Can't promise there aren't any spelling or grammar mistakes.

My volunteering program is located on the outskirts of Cusco, in a district called Saylla (sigh-yah.)  From the school, it is about a 40 minute bus ride.  Along the way, the scenery changes from the busy inner city, to farmland, to small towns.  This part of town also seems to be located closer to the mountains.

On the bus to Saylla...with a coughing toddler sitting next to me. 

Farmland and mountains.  The orange-looking fields are quinoa.

View from the bus stop in Saylla. 

Walking there with some of  the volunteers from another program. 

The building where my program is located.  We're on the second floor. 

A park across from the building.

I am volunteering at an after-school program from 3pm to 6pm Monday through Friday.  I was completely overwhelmed when I first arrived there.  A few kids came up and greeted me, but I felt like I couldn't understand anything anyone was saying, as everyone there, including the two employees, only speak Spanish.  After getting a little acclimated, I decided to grab a seat near the youngest kids, who I found out were 6 years old.  I asked if any of them needed help with their homework, and so I began to "work."  Once I got started, I began to feel more confident in my ability to be a good volunteer, though some of the homework confused me.  It also surprised me when the some of the kids starting calling me "profesora."

So glad I have a smartphone that works here, because I had to google to make sure I was doing the "cuadros magicos" (magic squares) correctly.  (Side note: This girl was very sick and coughed constantly.)

Someone else's math homework.  Based on the varying homework, I think most of these kids go to different schools. 

Good thing I am a tiny person!

Once the kids are done with their homework, they are able to have some free time.  This week, they played games, such as Memory, read, colored and drew pictures, and played hand clapping games.  I was able to partake in all of these fun activities too!

I was asked to draw flowers...so I drew a daisy for one girl and a tulip for the other. 

I really impressed one girl by being able to trace the cover of a book, and finish off the drawing freehand. 

Writing homework that someone hadn't finished yet.  She later caught a mistake she made.  (Side note: I am really glad that cursive writing is still taught here.)

The kids love playing with my phone camera.

I did not meet the director/principal of the center until my second day, and our interaction was very brief, though she did take a photo of me drawing a picture for one little girl.  (I only knew this because I happened to look up right after she took it.)  On Wednesday, there was a big meeting between the employees and volunteers of this center and a sister program, which is a center specifically for girls.  I guess there have been some problems when the two groups of children get together, so that was the motivation for meeting.  Us volunteers also brought up ideas we had to offer to both centers.  Overall, the principal was not happy with anything we said, and I started to feel like us volunteers were not even wanted if we didn't speak perfect Spanish.  It was a rough day!

I certainly didn't think I would sit through 3 hours of meeting while in Peru!

The center was closed on Thursday due to a teacher's strike.  (When the kids don't have homework, many of the parents don't even send them to the center, so the center did not feel it would be worthwhile to open that day.)  It ended up being a good thing for me because I was sick that day.  Plus, I really didn't want to face the principal again quite so soon,

A strike earlier that week, which may or may not have been a teacher's strike.  Strikes are very common here.

Friday was a much better day, partly because the principal wasn't there.  The other two employees were much more friendly and talkative with me than they had been.  I did my usual tasks of helping the children with their homework and helping them draw pictures to color.

Hooked on phonics worked for me! 

Another book cover tracing, by request. 

Taken by one of the girls.

I also brought some supplies to the center that were lacking.  The center is located in a commercial building, and shares a bathroom with other businesses.  There is no toilet paper or soap in the bathroom.  In the center, there was one bottle of soap.  The kids are supposed to pump the soap into their hands and then go to the bathroom.  This made absolutely no sense to me.  How on earth is anyone supposed to "go to the bathroom" while you have liquid soap in one of your hands?  So, I bought a second bottle of soap, and want to implement a new rule that everyone can take the bottle of soap with them into the bathroom, and then bring it back when they are done.  I also bought a few rolls of toilet paper.

I felt the cleanliness of the center was a little lacking also.  Everyday, the floors are swept by the employees or volunteers, but that is about all.  I thought at a minimum that the tables should be cleaned everyday also.  I saw a bottle of cleaner, but there weren't any paper towels.  So I bought a roll of that too.  One little girl was very excited to help me clean the tables today.  And an older boy asked about the paper towels when I took them out of their packaging.  I told him that they are for hands, the face, or cleaning the tables.  He asked if he could use one, and I said yes.  He immediately used the paper towel like a tissue to blow his nose, like this was the greatest thing ever.  It made my heart melt a little.  Tissues are the next thing on my list to buy, along with pencil sharpeners, erasers, and paper.

The two trash cans in the room continued to fill up all week.  So, at the end of the day, I asked where I could take out the trash.  I have a feeling this does not get done too often, and no one else would have done it if I wouldn't have asked.  Now I know where the trash goes and where the extra trash bags are, and I will pass this information along to the next volunteers.

There were two young male volunteers (American and Canadian) there with me this week, but this was the last day for both of them.  So, next week I will be the "head" volunteer I suppose.  Today, I was able to put some ideas on the agenda for the coming week.  If we actually follow through with them, I will be very happy, and can't wait to share them with you!

Some of the kids with one of the volunteers that was leaving.