Poco a poco me voy aprendiendo...

I've been in Peru for about 5 weeks now, and life has settled into enough of a routine that I forget I'm in Peru sometimes. Other times, I am acutely reminded that I am living in a completely new environment, and that I still have a lot to learn. But since it's been a while, here are 10 things I've picked up on since I've gotten here (complete with anecdotes)!

1. I'm sure that a mototaxi ride by yourself is luxurious. But a mototaxi ride squished in the middle of two other people on a 20-minute ride that seems like it will never end and there's also a dog to your right panting on you and there are no windows to roll down but there are holes so enough of a breeze passes through to keep you alive but it's not enough to cool you down so you slowly go insane because you can feel other hot, sweaty bodies touching you on either side and it feels like there's no escape and this is how you'll die, is hell on earth. So I've rented a bike...

2. We are learning how to cook rice/anything when our teeny tiny gas stove range only has two settings: boiling, and more boiling. Until this past week, I've been too afraid to turn on the oven because it's literally just a hole in the bottom of the oven you stick a lighter into while gas flows out of it, but we've made some roasted veggies and everything turned out delicious. I've been suffering a teeny cold lately, so I made a very spicy noodle soup last night, and I am working my way towards actually baking something soon!

3. I've learned to say buenas tardes/buenos días approximately a million times a day. It's expected that you greet everyone who passes you, especially within the COAR (the school), even if you've already seen them like 5 minutes beforehand. I actually really like it, because it makes you connect with people more, and I also love the custom of greeting someone by kissing cheeks and giving a small hug. It's been an adjustment getting used to this greeting style again, but I don't mind! The students especially are so sweet about saying hi when we pass in school, and they all call me "Miss" but they all pronounce it "meess."

The English department at COAR Pasco!

4. Bugspray, sunscreen, and umbrellas are quite literally the top 3 items you must have on you at all times. ALL. TIMES.

5. I'm becoming an excellent bug killer. I've squished 3 spiders, stomped on a few flies, and smushed about 3,000 gnats. It's a war I fear will never end. I'm constantly feeling phantom brushes on my legs I'm convinced are blood-thirsty mosquitos and it's driving me crazy. They love to gather around my bedside lamp and fly into my eyes while I'm desperately trying to write blog posts. The bugs here are built different, and this is just one example: 

6. I’m learning how to give feedback to my students and it feels really rewarding when I see them take it and improve bit by bit. We’ve been helping the fifth grade students this past week with their individual oral exams, and their abilities to answer questions about IB themes like migration, protests, the environment, and how to live a healthy life. They have to integrate idioms and expressions into their responses, and I am already very tired of hearing “on the other side of the coin” as that seems to be the most universally used. They will record their oral exams starting next Monday, so we’ve been working with them one-on-one to make sure they’re on the right track and keeping up with their memorization and comprehension. 

7. Last week, during semana santa, my friend Yennifer invited me to play volleyball with some locals who regularly play mixed teams. I went into it not knowing what to expect, and it ended up being one of the odder afternoons of my life. Firstly, when we arrived at the school court, no one could locate a ball, so I spent the 20 minutes it took to find one with a gaggle of elementary-aged girls. I was sitting minding my business when one of them very bravely and yet very shyly asked me what my name was. When I struck up a conversation, more and more children came out of the woodwork and started flocking around me, and before I knew it, I was being pulled by both hands to the playground so I could see-saw with them. Once they found out I was an English teacher, things really started to go crazy. Imagine you’ve been expecting to play volleyball with adults and all of the sudden a group of 7 children aged 3-9 swarm you and start bombarding you with questions about how to say random words in English. That’s kind of how it went. “How do you say kiss in English?” “How do you say spider in English?” “How do you say orange in english?” “How do you say nose in English?” over and over and on and on overlapping until you can’t remember who said what and your brain is desperately trying to remember what any words are, regardless of language! I will say, it was incredibly cute to play with the kids, and one of the little girls even offered me her bracelet as a gift, which pleased me immensely. They even wrangled me into sitting down on the grass, criss-cross applesauce, to tell them stories. I don’t know if you realize, but recalling the details of Little Red Riding Hood or The Ugly Duckling at a moment’s notice, not to mention in Spanish, is pretty tricky, but I managed to tell about La Caperucita Roja and El Patito Feo with minimal corrections from the audience. At this point, I was too exhausted to continue storytelling, much less play volleyball, but I geared up and had a really fun time playing with Yennifer and her friends, who are very talented, very competitive, and very foul-mouthed when they play. 

8. This past week was Semana Santa, and while we didn’t go crazy partying like some of the tourists from Lima did, we had a fun time exploring the mercados of Oxapampa and buying lots of coffee and chocolate. We also took a brief trip to the indigenous community of Tsachopen, where the Yanesha people live. La Comunidad Nativa de Tsachopen, as it is called, is only 15 minutes from Oxapampa, and is split into four sectors: Quillázu, Sipízu, Miraflores, and Gramázu. We were in Sipízu, which means “river of ants,” apparently. The Yanesha community are well-known for their artesanías, like hand-woven clothes painted with local dyes in distinctive, trapezoidal patterns. Our little group showed up in time to participate in some of the traditional dances and taste some of the local products, like honey and coffee. We also decided to participate in an aromatic sauna, which was a very calming, if a bit claustrophobic, experience!

Our sauna experience! I was clowned for being the palest one....

9. Aiden and I are in the process of establishing two clubs at the COAR Pasco! Aiden is going to start a club on how to make zines (which are like little hand-drawn booklets), and I am planning on introducing a club on creative writing. A few students have already come up to me to ask when my club starts, which is incredibly gratifying as I was worried there wouldn’t be any interest. We start next week, and our clubs will alternate Saturdays so the students can participate in both. I’m excited to see how it goes!

10. It feels like the first two weeks we were in Chontabamba, the earth decided to behave itself. Now that we’ve shown that we’re staying for good, Chontabamba seems to be revealing her true colors. I know we’re currently in the rainy season, but I woke up this morning at 6 am to such torrential rain I was scared we’d be flooded! I’ve had to buy an extra-large, extra-sturdy umbrella because the weather here changes on a dime, and the clouds seem to pour down whenever they feel like it. This week alone, I don’t think I’ve seen more than one consecutive hour of sunshine before rain clouds come in and soak the school in its entirety. When it’s not raining, however, the earth is trembling. The first time I was reading in bed at night, and the lights started flickering and my bed began to shake from side to side, I was terrified that I’d have to run out of our second-story apartment because the floor would cave in beneath me. Now, however, I’m completely accustomed to what I am now calling the 10:00 Nightly Tremor. It’s not large enough to cause things to fall off the shelves, but it lasts a few minutes and, if I were a baby, it would rock me right to sleep. So I am happy to report that things, while settling into a routine, are not becoming completely familiar yet! But I am still very delighted to live here, and eagerly anticipating each new adventure as it comes my way.

Aiden and I have been doing lots of cooking lately! Here's our knockoff trucha a la parilla.