Random Moments in Life

This morning I was really torn when I woke up. I could go to Miguel Pro, use the internet, have a slow start to the morning, and then show up at school with enough time to plan and get ready for next week. Or I could go into the center and be there for what was explained to me as vaguely some ¨thing¨going on in the offices o the bishop. All I knew was that some of the kids from school were going, I was asked if I could help, and there was somehow some vocational fair involved.

Well, the vocacational fair almost scared me off - I am often enough here mistaken for a brother or a priest and so did really not feel the need to be recruited to be one - but my sense of responsibility and generally just being more involved in life at the school convinced me to go. It ended up being a great decision because when I arrived, I ran into our of our students who had come from school by themselves to participate in a contest on the ten commandments and other catheticism (spelling?) related subjects. Actually, it was like a city wide test that also had an oral part and some pretty sweet prizes attached to it.

Anyway, these students had no idea what was going on either and I realized that I might be in over my head or might have to take more control/responsibility than I had previously assumed. As they were called up to sign in and register, I went up with them and was berated (the woman did it kindly, but it was still a beratement) for the students not having their official documents and not having an officio saying I was in charge of them and was over seeing them. While, it was news to me that I was overseeing them and I sure as hell had no clue what was suppossed to go down, but with a little questioning and playing dumb, I was able to convince (well, she probably just took pity on me and the students) the woman to let me write out a permission slip of sorts. Well, the Peruvians love their formality and their beauracracy, so I felt pretty small when I returned with a hand written, two line thing claiming I was in charge and had been put in this place by the director of the school. All of the other papers I saw came fully decked out with official stamps, stationery of the schools, were all a page long, included the numbers and important data on the participants and the overseer, and just generally were very official. I had to laugh to myself.

In the end it all worked out and the students were able to enter, but it pretty much is par for the course down here and as soon as it happened I immediately felt like sharing. And then I got off the bus early on the way to school in order to chat it up with these incredibly nice ladies (who were the cooks for the big retreat last year and sell little sandwiches and gelatin outside this fairly large market), who kept trying to stuff me with free shredded chicken or tunafish sandwiches.

I arrived at school about ten minutes before class - not quite what I had imagined when I woke up. But I was in good spirits and had a successul and happy day. When it comes down to it, what more can you ask out of life?

Just the Second Day of School Blues...

So this afternoon finds me a bit down and a little bit shell-shocked. There is still the issue of not really having classes (even though school has started, there is no schedule because of teachers having issues with the way it was done because it leaves them with blocks in the middle of their classes where they have nothing - god forbid they have to be at school when they are not teaching, some classes only have four or five students showing up - even though school HAS begun, some classes are just left on their own for long stretches because the teachers are just sitting around talking). But on top of all that, here are two interesting, to say the least, events that took place today:

1) The beginning of the day was interrupted when the five primary school teachers that the government is trying to place in the school showed up with the police. The padre ended up having to call in the school´s lawyer and go into court, but the basic issue now is that this still isn´t resolved between the teachers from last year (who the Padre has chosen and wants in place) and the state-appointed ones. It seems to me like it is definitely affecting the school and the kids in these lower school classes. The situation boggles my mind - especially that it is still not resolved - but I am trying to remain sympathetic and supportive since I do believe that much of the school community spirit and just generally the sense of justice dictates that the old teachers should stay.

2) For the last few minutes of my last class of the day, I kept hearing some booms coming from nearby. As there is a lot of construction going on and generally random noises or smells or random assaults on the sense, I did not think twice about it. The noise ended up coming from a shootout between the police and some of the people who had set up invasiones (these are the estera homes that people just pop up) on private land. I think the police were coming to clear them out and this crazy shootout broke out. And so what does our school do? Well, we let the kids go just as this shootout is moving closer and closer to one of the compound´s sides and just tell the kids to be careful. Of course they all end up running over that way to see what was going on and I almost had a heartattack. I was sure something was going to happen and thank god it did not, but again, I am left very confused.

I mean, I keep trying to maintain an open mind and remember it is a different culture, but sometimes isn´t there a limit to what makes sense or should happen?