In the last month I have tried to dance salsa, pretended I am an English teacher and attempted to surf in 7 foot surf. Yes, it has been a good month!
The month started off with the 17th anniversary celebrations of the Simon Bolivar public school in El Milagro, Trujillo. This is where I teach on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The English classes are a special program that is a result of a collaboration between Espaanglisch and the school.
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| Study, Discipline, Honor, Work and Mariachi Parties! |
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| The kids at Simon Bolivar |
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| The gringos and Maria Soledad, the caretaker of the school |
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| Ghetto blaster and happy kids |
In the week leading up to the celebrations we had to teach two classes a song that they would then proceed to sing in front of the entire school and their parents. As I mentioned we decided to teach them Jimmy Cliff's "You can get it if you really want" we sang the song so often that I don't think I want to hear it again for quite some time.We thought the celebrations would be a simple 2 hour event. Ah! Only in our unimaginative gringo minds! The ENTIRE week ended up being one big, colorful, random and loud Peruvian style party, and we enjoyed every minute of it! The children also loved it because they had no school the whole week. The ceremonies involved singing national and regional anthems, raising of the flag (had to be done twice because the first time they tied the flag upside down), military style parades reminiscent of North Korea, teachers drinking cheap liquor, singing, dancing, posing for pictures, drawing contests, processions, eating fluorescent cakes, a sports day, blessing the school with holy water, reading poetry, Mariachi band playing, some kind of beauty pageant, secondary school kids performing an MTV video style dance, appointing children the title of "brigadier" and of course singing Jimmy Cliff's "You can get it if you really want". Words don't do this wonderful event justice and we all had to wonder: "if they organize all this for the 17th anniversary, what will the 50th be like?"... they will probably party the entire year!
My favorite moments:
-a stray dog wandering around in the middle of one of the most solemn parades and no one taking any notice of its presence.
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| Where is Kim Jong-il? |
-we got handed a shot of the most foul smelling booze on planet earth... a teacher approached me and said you better not drink it, it is cheap plonk* and then proceeds to drink her glass and mine :) *plonk n Brit, Austral, and NZ informal alcoholic drink, usually wine, esp of inferior quality.
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| The teachers |
- three parents asked me to please be their child's godfather in a crazy ceremony in which they received military style decorations, were nominated "brigadiers" and had to swear they would serve the school in honesty and violently repress any attempted revolutions (just kidding about the repressing revolutions part, but it felt like it). I had eventually told them I would be godfather to all three because the mothers were starting to fight over me.
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| "I award you the medal of honor" |
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| A proud godfather and the brigadier |
-the Mariachi band playing with their flamboyant cowboy style costumes and everyone dancing to the music.
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| When I grow up I want to be a singer in a Mariachi band! |
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| Dancing with the principal |
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| Do the gringo dance! |
Other things I did since my last post:
-re-visited Cajamarca and Usha Usha. I got to see all the tourist attractions that I was not able to visit during the carnival:
Santa Apolonia, a beautiful chapel on a hill overlooking the city.
Ventallas de Otuzco, an old burial site in the lush countryside
Cuarto del rescate, the room that Inca Atahualpa filled with gold and silver in order to buy his freedom from the Spanish conquistadores, they still executed him on the main square despite this
Baños del Inca, the famous thermal bathes in Cajamarca, a surreal experience that felt like visiting a cross between a public swimming pool and a hospital.
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| Ventanillas de Otuzco y turista |
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| A 600 year old fountain on the main square of Cajamarca |
Witnessed Pervian presidential elections: there were a whole 13 candidates! Peruvians have to pay a hefty fine if they don't vote! The general philosophy amongst the voters is: "I will vote for the lesser of evils". The first round of voting was not enough to reach a verdict, but at least the vote will be narrowed down to two candidates: Keiko Fujimori and Ollanta Humala, the two candidates that are most likely to turn Peru into a dictatorship :).
For the occasion I traveled to Chimbote with David. Every Peruvian has to return to the city where he/she is registered in order to vote. Chimbote was one of the main fishing towns along the Peruvian coastline. The strong smell of fish is overwhelming when walking around the center of town. It was wonderful to spend time with David and his family in the house where he grew up. David has numerous siblings and we all had lunch together and I decided to head out to the center of town with Sam to buy a cake in the afternoon. When I returned we all had cake and they decided that we might as well celebrate my birthday 4 months early and all sang "cumpleaños feliz".
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| Cumpleaños feliz! 4 months early |
We went out to an amazing disco called "El Estribo". Imagine the stereotype of the Latin American party, with a live band playing Salsa, Cumbia and Merengue and people dancing away the night! I kept on thinking that Jennifer Lopez and Enrique Iglesias would pop up at any moment and steal the show like you'd expect in some cheesy romantic/dance movie.
I am happy to report that my teaching skills have improved a lot and that both the children and the adults that I teach enjoy their classes.
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| On the way to the USDA school in Alto Trujillo |
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| Panoramic of the USDA school playground |
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| the first graders classroom at the USDA school |
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| the 5 year olds at USDA |
