Gifts

Hello everyone,

I am really enjoying my time in Chiclayo and Peru. I have it much better than Megan and Shawn because they are both very blonde and have blue eyes. They are both finding it a little difficult in Peru where the majority of people have brown hair and dark eyes. I fit in a little better because I have darker skin, hair, and eyes and my spanish is better so I am able to communicate better as well. On Sunday Megan, Adam, Jodie, and I went over to one of our English students houses for a BBQ Peruvian style. We walked to the house from ours, which was about a 30 minute walk (there is a lot more walking in Peru than in the USA and most people, unless they are very rich do not own a car). People use public transportation, the combis, moto taxis, or taxis. A ride across Chiclayo in a moto-taxi costs about 2 soles for 3 people (total) which is less than a dollar US. Gas in Peru is much more expensive than in the US, it is about 11 soles per liter which is about 1/4 of a gallon so about $10 per gallon and these people are making 2 soles for about 15 minutes of driving...they are barely breaking even. Life is difficult for many people, the combi drivers have it better because they can fit many more people in their vehicle per hour (up to 27) and they try to fit more than that! 27 people in a combi does not make for a fun ride. At the BBQ we ate chorizo, a pink sausage that looks like bratwurst and another kind of sausage which I found out after I was done eating it, was blood sausage...it didn´t really matter because I thought it quite good. And steaks, potatoes, and corn. The corn in Peru is much different...it is tougher and bigger and not sweet (not my favorite). After eating we had some sangria and danced for hours to Peruvian music. I am learning to salsa and meriengue and samba. I really like dancing. On Monday I was again at school in Culpon. The students are very nice and I really like them...they have a great passion and desire to learn.

On Tuesday I went to market with our cook, Eugenia because she needs help at the Market with the bags and reaching over the stalls as she is a very short woman. The market is a very, very busy place. I enjoyed it because there is so much to see. Eugenia is an amazing woman, making sure she got the best deal and the best quality. She bartered for almost everything she bought. I went back to school at Culpon yesterday (Wednesday) and when I got there was swarmed by my students, screaming my name and coming to give me hugs! I was really excited. I think Adam, who has been here longer and has been working with the students longer was very disappointed that he didn´t get the same reception that I did. It was Johana´s birthday on Wednesday, and Adam brought her flowers, a card, and pictures to put up in the classroom. When the students found out it was her birthday, they started to sing happy birthday to her and come up and give her a kiss on the cheek. She started to cry because she was so happy! After that she went through all of the new school supplies that I had brought from the US for the class. She was pretty excited and so were the students. She gave them rules about the use of the supplies. To receive a new pencil they had to bring their old, short pencil stub to her and then she would give them a new one. Many students clammered for a new pencil and held up almost new pencils, covered by their hands asking for a new one! There is a brother and sister, Flor and Segundo, who are little devils and try to get things and take and take. Segundo left the classroom and went and found a pencil that was little outside and brought it in to try to get a new one. He did the same thing today when he came to class. Then they got their new clothes. They were pretty excited for all of them, but not as excited as I thought they would be...probably because most of the clothes were a bit too big for them, Peruvian children are a bit smaller than the average college student (imagine that!) One girl cried because the shirt she got was way to big for her to wear and when I asked her why she was crying she told me that she wasn´t going to get to keep the shirt, that it would stay in her house (her mom or someone would take it from her and wear it since it was too big for her). I felt really bad and want to give her a shirt that will fit her better, but at the same time I am torn because I have already given them so much and I don´t want them to become accustomed to gringos giving them things and rely on gringos.

Today at class I brought puzzles for one of the students (a little one) to work on...he liked them, I don´t know that he learned too much. I also got to teach the students English this morning. I did numbers, time and colors because they always ask me what time it is and they needed numbers to do that and then after we were done with that they asked me what certain colors were and I told them. After that they wanted to know what my parents names were and so I told them. Their next question was, what are their names in Castiaño...a little more difficult, I told them DeeAnn would be Diana (said Deeana) and Dwayne, well it doesn´t translate! They also asked me how old I was and how many babies I had, I don´t have any babies and I am not married, but I have a boyfriend and his name is Chris (Cristopher in Castiaño). They were shocked that I didn´t have any children and was not married at 21 because almost every girl in their community is married or has a baby by that time.

After class today the students invited us to the river with them. They really wanted us to swim in the river with them, but we had to refuse as we would get sick if we swam in the water, it took a lot of explaining, but I think they finally understood why we would swim. We did however go to the river with them so they could swim. That was an experience...I don´t think I have ever seen so many naked little boys. Many of them just stripped off all of their clothes and jumped in, not seeming to care that there were other people around them, very different from the culture I was raised in. They ran and jumped and swam in the water for about 30 minutes, and then we had to leave, so they all had to get out of the water. The area by the river was so beautiful. I took some pictures, but with my disposable, much to the dismay of the students. They really like having their pictures taken and being able to see it right away afterwards. We walked home and were hailing a moto when one of the girls told Johana that if she went home wet like she was, she would be beaten, but if we went with and explained everything, she would not be beaten. We went with and dropped every student off at home and Johana explained to the parents where they had been and why they were wet and asked that they not be hit for going to the river to "bath."

The English classes I teach are going well, but my students run on Peruvain time, which means they don´t show up until 30-45 minutes of the classtime is gone. It is really quite frustrating because it is hard to teach in so little time, but oh well.

I must get going. You will be receiving another e-mail with a website that has all of my pictures on it, there are a lot of them and I haven´t been able to put captions on all of them yet, but I am working on it!

Love,
Kathy