You know, for some reason, time seems to fly in another country.I´ve been in Peru for a little over two weeks and my brain feels as stuffed as a collectivo in mid morning traffic. (picture) It feels attacked, and all I want to do is SLEEP.
Our group, Peru 21, consists of 35 people from all across the states, and with all sorts of degrees and experiences. We have a lot of small group projects, so that´s how I am getting to know everyone.
I live in Yanacoto, a small community literally on the side of a mountain (which are only the ¨foothills¨of the Andes they say.. yeah). My host family consists of Rita and Jorge and their daughter, Lily 19, their son Richard, 28, and Richard´s wife Pilar, 27. It´s muy tranquilo here since these three don´t get home until 9 or 10 at night. Sundays are a good day for hanging out, though.
Training runs from 8am to 5pm, and we cover so much stuff. Safety, culture, history, etc. I´m in the Advanced language class and we have 5 girls in total. It is 4 hours long in the morning (sometimes im like ughhhh) but what´s great is that we do excursions and encorporate many learning styles.
We had our first day in the classroom today. We had a dianamica (game/skit) and two informational charlas (sessions) on papalote (big paper). We did the lesson with three different classes, two middle school age and one high school age. Strangely enough, the older group responded more to our ¨Self Esteem¨charlas. Our group maintained control of the classroom (easier said than done), interacted with the students, and felt that everyone understood the message. As a result, we felt really empowered. I´m excited to get back into the class and try other methods.
Don´t forget to write down my new mailing address. It´s in the CONTACT ME section. This is for letters and small packages ONLY. (Less than one pound). Anything bigger than that I need to know about so we can work something out if need be.
Pictures will come in a few days.
Cheyenne
