Teaching Art in Ancash

It’s been almost a month since my last blog update! I’m actually writing this blog at my site so that tomorrow when I head to Huaraz I’ll just have to upload it. Whenever I go to Huaraz it’s just a whirlwind of activity- picking up my mail and packages at Serpost (the part I look forward to most!), catching up on 2 + weeks of emails, calling home and skyping, doing errands like making business cards and stamps, Britney Spears’ latest music video blunders on youtube, taking as many hot showers as possible, etc. I actually have a hard time sleeping when I’m in Huaraz because there’s always so much I want to do! This week I won’t be in so much of hurry because I will be in Huaraz a whole week taking Quechua classes. The last week in February I’ll be back again for another week of Quechua. Two full weeks of Quechua boot camp!

Fortunately the Superbowl and Quechua week coincided. I’ll be watching the big game somewhere in Huaraz imagining that it’s actually Patriots jerseys I see on the TV.

So what’s new at my site? I started teaching art classes in the elementary school in San Marcos. It’s summer right now, so I’m teaching vacaciones utiles, or summer school, Monday through Wednesday from 8 am to 12:30. They paired up all of the professors and even though I told them I just wanted to help out, they paired me up with a professor and have me teaching first through sixth graders. I have no real teaching experience so I didn’t want the full responsibility of being a profesora, but it’s actually been a great experience so far. I sat down with my teaching partner and told him my ideas for some projects, and we essentially just built a curriculum around my projects. He got assigned to teach art with me, but I’m pretty sure he has no art-teaching experience (for the week that I am in Huaraz, he’s planning on making the kids memorize a song). He also is not very reliable. I had to go to Huaraz last Monday for an Ancash regional meeting, and I left him with all the materials he needed for the 3 classes on Monday. When I came back on Tuesday, he told me he had forgotten the envelopes I bought to make envelope puppets and the photocopies of the Mapa Mundial activity I had made. I was not pleased. But that is the absolute worst that has happened so far, and I’ve really loved doing the art classes. The little kids see me around town now and will run up and give me a hug and a kiss or will call my name/Senorita/Profesora from across the street. I’ve met a bunch of moms that have told me I teach their little ones and that they come home saying that the gringa taught them how to finger paint. I’ve also made friends with some of the professors and even made ceviche at Prof. Olga and Roger’s house two weeks ago. It’s a good feeling to have somewhere to be and have people counting on you, as well as to have some new friends, even if they might only be 6 years old. Here are some pictures of my art activities so far:

My 5th graders

My 2nd graders

Popcorn Wreaths

After school gets out, I usually walk home with my host-nephew Emerson. Then I help my host mom with lunch. Since school started, we’ve had a really good system of collaborating on lunch. One day I brought a can of tuna and made an onion and tomato salad, and my host mom boiled potatoes, and made mazamorra de calabaza (kind of like mashed up squash) and rice. Another day I helped her carry food up to the workers in the chacra. If a neighbor or friend is helping you out in your chacra, you get a free lunch from that person’s family. Carrying lunch up the mountain was not easy. It took us over an hour. I have no idea how my host mom could possibly carry everything by herself on a normal day. But I was glad I helped and I even provided a few laughs for the workers when they made me ride the donkey. I like spending time with my host family, whether it’s fishing for trout unsuccessfully or playing superheroes with Emerson.

Two major improvements have been made to my house since the last blog update. I finally got roofing put on! YAY. Only took two months and a third of my monthly stipend, but it got done. My room is finally starting to feel like home. I even put up my Georgetown men’s basketball poster that Maura sent me and Congressman Earl Pomeroy’s DC calendar. All I need now is a bureau so I can unpack my clothes. I’m waiting for February’s stipend for that big purchase. We also have a cement hole that is functioning as a toilet/latrine. I prefer the bucket in my room, but at least we have a hole now where I can do my business and simultaneously watch the cuyes scuttle around my feet.

I was a little bit bummed that I missed all the inauguration activities. I would have killed to be in DC this year! I watched Obama’s speech on youtube and some of the performances at the Lincoln Memorial. All you Hoyas that are still in DC I am so jealous of you! Apparently Obama has pledged to double the size of the Peace Corps by 2011. I feel like there may not be enough room in this year’s budget for that.

Speaking of youtube, you should all check out Tyler’s latest video (tylerspeaceofperu.wordpress.com). He made a mock J.Crew photo shoot with very trendy Quechua clothing. My hours spent watching Tyra Banks on America’s Next Top Model finally paid off (Maura you will be so proud! And Pat, now you can see that I watched the same episodes 3 times for a reason. I knew this day would come.). I’m just waiting for all the modeling agencies to call now haha.

So, in short, life in Peru is good and I am healthy and happy. There are, of course the down days, when things are just frustrating and Spanish just won’t come out of my mouth and French fries with rice for lunch is just not appetizing. But there are always way more up days, like going to a Peruvian wedding and dancing way too much Huaino or managing to grid the entire Mapa Mundial project despite the doorman locking the school on you. I wouldn’t trade where I am or what I am doing for anything. Thanks for all the support from home- it makes being here that much more feasible. Mucho amor de Peru!

Prep for My Mapa Mundial Project

“Your eyes show the strength of your soul.” –The Alchemist