Some Recent Antics and Reflections

Hola y besos con todos, it’s blog time again!

Things have been hectic, and I probably haven’t documented as much as I should have here, but can you blame me for getting caught up in life here? My routine is strictly sleep, work, eat, repeat during the week, and I have little energy for blog-writing when I am busy binge-watching Modern Family from start to finish, a very important task. 

There are officially less than two months til I return to the States, and I’m feeling both scared and over-the-moon about it. If I’m honest, I think I’m more ready to leave Chalhuanca than I was to leave Oxapampa, but the one thing holding me back is my students, of course. They’ve woven their way into my life, and I hate the thought of leaving them, and no longer experiencing the joy of walking into a classroom and hearing “Miss Chelsea!” from a chorus of excited students. But in the meantime, we’ve been having so much fun together.

A few Fridays ago, for example, was a huge day at work because the president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, was supposed to come visit to inaugurate the school’s new building grounds. When I arrived at the COAR, everyone was in a tizzy, students lining up all in uniform, teachers trying to organize buses to the ceremony site, the directorial staff talking to militares dressed in faded fatigues. It took a hot minute, but soon we were all crammed in a bus zooming to the terrain where the ceremony would take place. Some students were dressed in traditional skirts and hats, ready to dance for the president, while others had prepared speeches to honor her and the COAR.

When we got to the site, we had to cross the most rickety hanging bridge I’ve ever been on, which rocked from side to side as we walked across the rotting planks, and left us all with spinning heads. As we walked, groups of police and military men passed us by, heading back to the road, which should have been our first sign that something was off. When we finally had walked across the rocky terrain to the area where the other classes, the director, parents, camerapeople, and other random stragglers were all converged, I got a call from Aiden. “My class wasn’t allowed to board the bus,” he told me. “Apparently the event is canceled; the president isn’t coming.” 

“You’re joking,” I replied, glancing around at my students, who were looking at me with concern. We reached the others, milling around, taking photos under huge signs of the new COAR’s finished design, and slowly a ripple spread through the crowd, confirming what I had just heard. The president hadn’t shown up, and the event was canceled. 

The students were quick to express their disappointment and scorn, frustrated by what they told me was “typical” of the Peruvian government. I felt for them, having gotten all dressed up and excited for nothing.

We ended up walking back, cracking jokes and venting frustrations, but the day ended up not being such a bust. When we returned to the COAR, my class (4B) had gym, so we ended up playing 6v6 volleyball together for an hour until lunch. The students got really into it, and I am very competitive, so there I was in my boots and white button down, heckling the other team and high-fiving my teammates when we scored a point. When the lunch bell rang, some of the students filtered off to grab something to eat, while others stayed to practice their hitting skills, with me acting as their setter. It was super fun, and though I ended up being late for a meeting afterwards, I have no regrets about the day. It’s always fun to throw off the mantle of work and teacher-status and just hang out with the kids. 

A few weeks ago, the fourth grade classes finally presented their roleplays of “Animal Farm” that we had been working on together since the end of August. The past few months, the students had memorized lines in English, built their own sets, constructed paper animal masks, and practiced twice a week on four different plays, one for each class. Finally, on a Thursday in mid-October at 6:00, all the other students rounded up chairs and set them up in the gym, ready to see this long-awaited ceremony. Aiden and I were given the jobs of master-of-ceremony/emcee. I usually wear the same black trousers and sweaters to work, nothing special, but for the fun of the event, I put on a long white skirt and some lipstick, ready to orchestrate the ceremony. I’ve never blushed so much, because when I got to the COAR, all dressed up, the students would not stop exclaiming over my new look. “Wow, mira la Miss,” one kid said, while a group of girls carrying chairs chorused in unison “ooh que guapa,” grinning at me. It’s silly, but I don’t really go out for special occasions here in Chalhuanca, and it was nice to feel pretty and dressed up for once. When everyone was seated and buzzing with anticipation, Aiden and I began addressing the students, introducing the director to say a few words, and then a group of students who were to perform an opening song before the plays began. Six students, two on guitars, one on percussion, and three backup singers, sang “Money for Nothing” by the Dire Straits which absolutely cracked me up, but they did a wonderful job. 

Then it was time for the plays! Each of the four 4th grade classes was to present a brief acted synopsis of “Animal Farm,” and each play was absolutely killer and hilarious in its own way. Some classes had practiced a lot, and others not so much. Some of their costumes were so elaborate, we couldn’t hear them behind the intricacy of their masks. One student played the wife of a farmer, and all the students hooted and hollered when he came out in a minidress and a long blonde wig, mincing and batting his eyelashes. Despite some forgotten lines or ripped sets from the strong wind blowing, the students were excellent and I was so proud of them for all the hard work they’d gone through to make it possible! Aiden and I definitely did not do as great a job as emcees...

My poetry club has also been a huge source of fun for me, because I’ve been using it to introduce my students to the culture of Halloween, both through poetry and other forms of media. For one workshop, I had the students watch the entire music video for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” which was so much freakier than I remembered–neither the students or I were prepared for some of the jump-scares or special effects. I also had them watch an old episode of the original Addams family where they celebrate Halloween, and it was fun to see them laugh along with the sitcom. Last week, I cut out a bunch of little ghosts and jack-o’-lanterns and decorated them. I added Halloween-themed poems on the back, and taped a strawberry Starburst to each of them, and then hid them along one of the hallways. I then told the students they had to find the ghosts and pumpkins, and let them loose on their scavenger hunt. It was hilarious to see how quickly they found each one, and how intense they got about searching for them. Afterwards, I gave a little presentation on the history of Halloween, and then I had them write their own poems using spooky vocabulary in English. One student got a pumpkin with Shakespeare’s famous “Witches Song” from Macbeth on the back, and asked me to translate it. “Double, double, toil and trouble, cauldron burn and cauldron bubble” is something I now know how to sort of say in Spanish! By the end, he was still as confused as before, and told me “English Halloween poems are weird.” I had to agree with him. 

I left for Lima last week for a quick trip, so I wasn’t with the kids on Halloween, but I did have the privilege of being in Cusco on Halloween night, and it was definitely an insane experience. The city was the most crowded I’ve ever seen it, and everyone was dressed up in some very elaborate and often gory costumes. The Plaza de Armas in Cusco was the hot spot for Halloween celebration–October 31st is also the day Peruvians celebrate música criolla, which is creole music that originally comes from the coast of Peru. The plaza was jam-packed with kids hunting for sweets, teenagers in large groups, and older couples dancing to the música criolla. Along the steps of the plaza’s main fountain, families, elderly people, and tourists were all sat watching the buzz of activity, and I saw regular flocks of children swarm adults who were sitting and handing out candies, rather than trick-or-treating like we do in the US.

It was really cool to just blend into the crowd and people-watch and costume-watch. I had such a blast, and it really made up for being away from home for Halloween. I’ve really been missing autumn in North Carolina, and I’ve tried my best to share it with my students, which has led to some presentations ending in google image searches of Franklin Street on Halloween, or the colorful leaves on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and I was a little sad I couldn’t celebrate as much as I do back home, but sharing it with my students has been almost as good. 

I’ve made a few lists on my notes app to remind myself of crazy or funny things that have happened this semester, and it’s been pretty entertaining to look over them or add to them. One list is comprised of “Things I’ve had to explain to my students,” and includes things like:

-what rootbeer is

-geography of the United States

-Exchanging Valentines in primary school 

-Commercialism of holidays

-the college application process

-how long it takes to become a doctor in the States

-the AP system

-How last names work in the US

-Things you can do when you turn 18

-The legal consequences of underage drinking

-the electoral college and the voting process

-if I believe in God

It’s been interesting trying to communicate these things in a mixture of Spanish, English, and online diagrams or pictures. The students are really curious about how things work differently compared to Peru, and we often get sidetracked on long conversations because one thing leads to another, and the next thing I know, I’m talking about feminism and machismo. I always try to preface my rants by saying this is just my perspective, and my opinion about these things, explaining that these are my beliefs and I am a product of my upbringing. In turn, the students share with me their traditions, details about their hometowns, celebrations, dances, and other things they find interesting. I love my little chats with the kids, because we both end up learning something new, and I always always get to challenge the extent of my vocabulary in Spanish. 

So, despite the rurality and isolation of my town, I enjoy it here. The fact that I onlhy have two weeks left as a teacher is something I still need to come to terms with, so I'm trying to soak each moment up with gratitude and good humor. There’s always something different happening every day, and the people are getting used to my presence, always greeting me with a wide smile or asking me questions in Quechua, which I try my best to understand. At night, I go up to the roof and watch the most gorgeous sunsets of orange and pink clouds drifting across the mountaintops, and I relish the time I have left here, though I’m yearning for home. It’s an eclectic experience, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.