So, I´ve been teaching all my classes the meaning of fever as I have clearly come down (along with a true case of throat nastiness) with some World Cup fever. It is very exciting to be in a place where all the kids and teachers are so excited that they find every little moment and way to watch what they can (I had some kids today during recess run into the room I was teaching and then hold a cord up in the air for 15 minutes - for some reason that made the TV work - to watch just a little of the Spain and Switzerland game).
I personally have been sacrificing sleep to get up at 5:30 to run before the early game and have made some grand and somewhat clever plans to work it into my own classes (especially since the next United States game will be during my fourth and fifth year class). These include having kids announce the game, do exercises using the past tense with passages about what has happened, and teaching the song Wavin the Flag (which I have also become addicted to). I saw one of the primary teachers I work with teaching about conflict resolution using a giant picture of Zidane´s headbutt from four yeard ago. Pure brilliance. Anyway, I am open to any and all ideas - I LOVE HELP - to incorporate this even more and spread my fever.
Oh, and I watched the entire game against England this past Saturday with a mixed group of American high school kids (a volunteer group from Arizona was down building a house), their host families, and our neighbors. It was so exciting to share that with everyone while eating lots of popcorn and canchita (basically popped corn kernels, but of the bigger, more solid type). The Peruvians have definitely taken on the United States to root for (despite my students jokes that Slovenia is going to win on Friday) and in turn, I have taken on Chile as a new team after being invited to wake up and breakfast at 6:30 this morning with our music teacher/pastoral director extrodinaire.
Go Team US!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Just Visiting
As the summer descends on the Northern Hemisphere, it means the start of cold and damp weather (not fun) and of all the different college and high school visitors (more fun) down here.
Next week, a delegation from the University of San Francisco will arrive to do different teaching through dance workshops as well as organizing the painting of a mural on the outside wall of the school. Two of the coordinators have already arrived. With them, today we are busy organizing the kids to do drawings of what service means to them and then we will also put up the primer coat of paint to have everything ready to go when the muralist arrives in town tomorrow.
Also next week, a high school group from a Jesuit school in Arizona will arrive to build a house out in the invasions on the outskirts of Habitat. They will be staying with families here in Habitat (who are very excited to recieve them) as part of their volunteer experience.
The plethora of gringo visitors is a wonderful boon and boost to us Jesuit volunteers down here. As I have mentioned before, being able to share this experience and just in general connect with people from our own cultural and with similar values helps us to step out of the every day routine in which one can sometimes become stuck. Whether it be discussing American politics, striking aspects of Peruvian society, or simply life plans, these visits definitely remind me both why I am here and to take advantage of this unique time in my life. Additionally, having some graduate school of education professors and students amongst us (the two coordinators that are currently here are professors) has offered some great new perspectives and ideas to apply to the classroom.
So, all in all, its an exciting time right now despite the coming onslaught of winter. Hope you all are enjoying your toasty days up there.
Next week, a delegation from the University of San Francisco will arrive to do different teaching through dance workshops as well as organizing the painting of a mural on the outside wall of the school. Two of the coordinators have already arrived. With them, today we are busy organizing the kids to do drawings of what service means to them and then we will also put up the primer coat of paint to have everything ready to go when the muralist arrives in town tomorrow.
Also next week, a high school group from a Jesuit school in Arizona will arrive to build a house out in the invasions on the outskirts of Habitat. They will be staying with families here in Habitat (who are very excited to recieve them) as part of their volunteer experience.
The plethora of gringo visitors is a wonderful boon and boost to us Jesuit volunteers down here. As I have mentioned before, being able to share this experience and just in general connect with people from our own cultural and with similar values helps us to step out of the every day routine in which one can sometimes become stuck. Whether it be discussing American politics, striking aspects of Peruvian society, or simply life plans, these visits definitely remind me both why I am here and to take advantage of this unique time in my life. Additionally, having some graduate school of education professors and students amongst us (the two coordinators that are currently here are professors) has offered some great new perspectives and ideas to apply to the classroom.
So, all in all, its an exciting time right now despite the coming onslaught of winter. Hope you all are enjoying your toasty days up there.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Peruvian Cultural Fun
While admist an impressive stretch of birthdays (Saturday was that of a 10-year-old student of mine from last year, Yessenia, who has an incredible and welcoming family; Sunday the lunch for our school psychologist, whose actual birthday is today; and yesterday we celebrated with an ex-JV volunteer who has been down here for awhile with her husband, J. P., who was a Peruvian volunteer a few years ago) a fun Peruvian cultural experience surprised me yesterday.
When I arrived at school, the fourth grade teacher came looking for me and began to ask me about my schedule. Uh, oh, I thought, she was going to ask me to take over her class today. I don´t mind helping out a collegue at all, but this particular class can be a bit movido (all over the place), especially when their regular teacher is out or their schedule is thrown for a loop. Any anxiety, however, was for naught, as she asked me if I wanted to be the judge for a contest.
I jumped at the opportunity - I love interacting and being involved with my students in non-teaching (or rather, non-class hour) activities. This particular contest turned out to be better than I could imagine as the teacher had done a contest with the class for Day of the Potato, which had come and gone this past Saturday with little fanfare in my life (too many birthdays, I guess).
When I arrived for the event just before lunch, I was stunned to see that each student (32 in total) had prepared a dish made in some way with potatoes. The culinary variety (almost assuredly prepared by the parents in probably 95% of the cases - one or two unintentionally funny students even mistakeningly said something along the lines of ¨my mother fried the potatoes¨ when we asked how they prepared it) included different types of pastel de papa http://imagenes.mailxmail.com/cursos/imagenes/5/3/pastel-de-carne-y-papas_24935_1_1.jpg, papa rellena http://peru-recipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/papa-rellena-stuffed-potato.jpg, causa https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqlnnJU4NMbw-fLQTu4qOJlxhNn3lea96vRaj0M2jvG2BtUeISpbPFIOP4-vXy94i7AgmoBnq4eX3_1LQ-7jLoS4iNAy-GX0X9R8wvMiGuU5wwWXg4hzXPxuIuHexxKZlTf1vkgy4g3Inf/s400/causa-peruvian-cuisine-01.jpg, and many more.
As the judge, I listened first to a short explanation of why the potato rocks as the nutritional base for any meal (so many varieties and so many vitamins!). Then I had to judge each student in three categories: presentation, exposition and flavor. I sampled each and every plate. Oh, to be a food critic! Though in all honest, I don´t have the palate for it and yesterday I think I gave almost everyone at least a 5 out of 7 in flavor because I was too happy and enjoying myself.
The two joint winners turned out to be the first and last dishes, which were a papa rellena prepared with much detail by the daughter of the school cook (hmmmmmm, surprise surprise) and a pastel de papa that went along with its rocotto relleno (which is one of my infrequently eaten, but favorite dishes down here....). Also, as more than half of life down here focuses on food (those Peruvians love their food and are quite proud of it as I have noted before), I of course went from judging this contest straight to lunch.
When I arrived at school, the fourth grade teacher came looking for me and began to ask me about my schedule. Uh, oh, I thought, she was going to ask me to take over her class today. I don´t mind helping out a collegue at all, but this particular class can be a bit movido (all over the place), especially when their regular teacher is out or their schedule is thrown for a loop. Any anxiety, however, was for naught, as she asked me if I wanted to be the judge for a contest.
I jumped at the opportunity - I love interacting and being involved with my students in non-teaching (or rather, non-class hour) activities. This particular contest turned out to be better than I could imagine as the teacher had done a contest with the class for Day of the Potato, which had come and gone this past Saturday with little fanfare in my life (too many birthdays, I guess).
When I arrived for the event just before lunch, I was stunned to see that each student (32 in total) had prepared a dish made in some way with potatoes. The culinary variety (almost assuredly prepared by the parents in probably 95% of the cases - one or two unintentionally funny students even mistakeningly said something along the lines of ¨my mother fried the potatoes¨ when we asked how they prepared it) included different types of pastel de papa http://imagenes.mailxmail.com/cursos/imagenes/5/3/pastel-de-carne-y-papas_24935_1_1.jpg, papa rellena http://peru-recipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/papa-rellena-stuffed-potato.jpg, causa https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqlnnJU4NMbw-fLQTu4qOJlxhNn3lea96vRaj0M2jvG2BtUeISpbPFIOP4-vXy94i7AgmoBnq4eX3_1LQ-7jLoS4iNAy-GX0X9R8wvMiGuU5wwWXg4hzXPxuIuHexxKZlTf1vkgy4g3Inf/s400/causa-peruvian-cuisine-01.jpg, and many more.
As the judge, I listened first to a short explanation of why the potato rocks as the nutritional base for any meal (so many varieties and so many vitamins!). Then I had to judge each student in three categories: presentation, exposition and flavor. I sampled each and every plate. Oh, to be a food critic! Though in all honest, I don´t have the palate for it and yesterday I think I gave almost everyone at least a 5 out of 7 in flavor because I was too happy and enjoying myself.
The two joint winners turned out to be the first and last dishes, which were a papa rellena prepared with much detail by the daughter of the school cook (hmmmmmm, surprise surprise) and a pastel de papa that went along with its rocotto relleno (which is one of my infrequently eaten, but favorite dishes down here....). Also, as more than half of life down here focuses on food (those Peruvians love their food and are quite proud of it as I have noted before), I of course went from judging this contest straight to lunch.
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