Monday, February 28, 2011

A Photo Blog: Machu Picchu

Breakfast menu on the train. Train travel is the way to go!!












Creepy crawler I noticed climbing a wall.



Return trip train snack!!





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Thursday, February 24, 2011

Grammar - uggggghhhhh!

Today was the worst TEFL day ever. We started grammar. In high school I took an English class from a grammar pirate. We took the test and I did miserably. It counted for a large portion of our grade for the grading period, so if we did poorly we were given the opportunity to retake the exact same test one week later. During that week the teacher stayed after school every day for 2 hours to work with us. I went everyday. I took the test again... and did WORSE!!! Me + grammar = disaster. We spent the ENTIRE class today on grammar, and Tuesday and Wednesday will be the same (today and Monday are teaching days).


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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Quechu-what?!?!

Super awesome day of class!!! Most of it was just standard class time, but after lunch, the tables were turned. Most people in the class speak some Spanish, some of us more than others. All of keep wondering what it is like that VERY first day when a student walks into an English class. They know NOTHING, and we're not allowed to use Spanish to help them. How does that work? Today we found, but from the student's perspective.

This afternoon we had about a one hour Quechua lesson. Quechua is a native language used in some areas of Peru. (Many of the people we met last weekend in Lake Titicaca spoke Quechua). That was certainly a fascinating hour!! I didn't learn Spanish using the same method we use to teach English, so this was truly a new experience. The teacher came in and just started speaking Quechua. I had no idea what he was saying! Couldn't really tell where one word stopped and the other started, but he seemed excited to teach us! Within the hour he had us asking one another "What's your name?" "Where are you from?" and "How are you?" AND RESPONDING!! Now.. I don't really remember any of it, but I could probably go back to my notes and get some words flowing. It was SO much fun and very insightful! I'm glad there is little to no chance that I will teach a beginner class anytime soon, but it was really interesting to get a feel for what the students feel like on that first day. WOW!!!

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Random Cusco facts

I started this blog a week or two after I got to Cusco. I´ve continued to add to it regularly and decided that since I´ve been gone for over a week now, it is probably time to post.

1. There are dogs roaming the street - everywhere - all the time. I've seen TONS of dogs, only counted 3 on leashes.

2. Have only seen 2 cats since my arrival.

3. You can buy DVDs (not exactly legal copies) for about a buck a piece on the "black market" - not nearly as scandalous as you think.

4. Sometimes you find a random chicken roaming the street.

5. Taxi's don't always have the nice little identifying "taxi" light on the roof.

6. Taxi's are not all the same color.

7. Taxi's do not have meters. Anywhere within the central area of Cusco (both the school and my house fall within this area) is supposed to be 2.50 Soles (this is written S/. 2.50 and is pronounced two-soles-fifty, which I find funny. This is just under $1) though sometimes the drivers try to get more. If you are going somewhere else, you just ask the driver what it will cost, and sometimes that rate is negotiable.

8. Sometimes they just turn off the water supply. On more than one occasion now, this has led to a conversation with housemates (keeping in mind we'd known each other a week!) in which one stated, "I guess if someone needs to take a dump, we should just dedicate a toilet for that."

9. Fireworks are ALWAYS appropriate. 4am on a Tuesday? Perfect!!!! 1am on Thursday? Why not!?!?

10. The sewer system lacks bit here. Toilet paper is NEVER thrown in to the toilet, but rather in the trash can!!!

11. Speaking of toilet paper... think more along the lines of very thin sandpaper...NOT Charmine.

12. Napkins are apparently very expensive here, as most restaurants have the paper napkins that are typically folded in 4ths, except you only get 1/4 of the napkin. I'm not sure if they are sold like this, or if they cut them, either way, super annoying.

13. Toilet seats, I'm pretty sure, cost more than diamonds. We have them at home and school, but most public bathrooms do not.

14. Few streets are paved.

15. Children of all ages walk the streets at all hours selling things like gum and handmade crafts.

16. One night, I saw a boy who couldn't have been more than 10 years old, walking down the street with a 40 in each hand.

17. The kids who run around on the streets selling stuff will ask you where you're from and then tell you the capitol and name of the president (or prime minister or whatever your country happens to have). I don't really know what they hope to accomplish by this.

18. You can buy a full meal for around $2-3. And that´s for a decent restaurant that you can be fairly certain you won´t get sick from. If you like to live dangerously, you can also find full meals for around a buck.

19. Cuy is one of the typical foods eaten in Cusco. If you own a guinea pig as a pet, I suggest you don´t look up the meaning of cuy. In one of the cathedrals there is a painting of the last supper in which cuy is being served.

20. You should never EVER pay for a rum and coke (cuba libre) at a club (discotech). If you do, you´re just dumb.

21. If you enjoy good beer, Cusco is not for you.

22. If you enjoy good wine, with rare exceptions, you should avoid Peruvian wines.

23. Cusco is swarming with gringos, yet Cusquenians rarely speak English. I only find this interesting, because here (in Costa Rica) the moment someone realizes you´re a gringo, they only want to speak to you in English (even if they only know 5 words).

24. In Cusco, they love their coca. Coca is a plant. They use it to make tea, put it in food, and even just chew on the leaves. It´s said to have all kinds of great medicinal qualities (I´m pretty sure they believe it will cure everything). It´s also what cocaine is made out of.


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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

A TEFL Day

Today was a loooong day, I don't think they are going to be getting shorter anytime soon. Class only goes from 9-4, but there is so much other stuff to do. Writing up the formal lesson plan and post-class notes for last week's class, preparing for Monday's class (my students will be learning about football -American Style!!!), observing 5 other teachers and writing the 5 corresponding papers, and of course just the daily reading assignments.

We actually had a workshop in class today, which was fun. These are different than our mini-lessons where we have to have a lesson plan and are teaching on our own (sink or swim) for 20 minutes. Today we had students come in again, but we were just working vocabulary. We each picked a word (charades style) out of cup and then had to teach it and concept check it. The whole class was there and could actually help out if we got stuck. I lucked out and got the word "hungry" which was pretty easy. It was really fun though. I wish we could of have done a few more words. I found myself catching my mistakes the first time I made them, and quickly adjusting. Still, I feel like I need a lot more practice to stop my stupid "echo-ing" habit. (In my defense, everyone does it, some of the teachers I've observed did it, and the teacher said it is very common). I just wish I had more time to practice before we start our practical teaching... two weeks from yesterday!

After class I started working on my plans for Monday's lesson. It will be a vocabulary lesson. I'll be teaching a few football related words like helmet, field, football, shoulder pads and protect. Kinda silly but should be fun. The students that come are really sharp and always have good questions and seem genuinely interested. I think they will enjoy the lesson.

I went down to the common area and started writing up the first of my observation papers. It's funny, now that we've been in the school a few days, the English students have seen us observing and some have come to the mini-lessons, they recognize us as "teachers" and have no problem asking for help when they are studying. As I was typing up my paper a guy I had never seen before leaned across the table and asked me for help understanding some words. It was kinda cool. While I wasn't using TEFL sanctioned methods to help, I also decided not to just translate the words for him. I had to laugh because after trying to describe the word "slum" to him I watched him write "barrio." Can't really argue!

Now I'm back at the house watching The Fighter with a couple of housemates. Should probably be reading or writing or planning... but my brain needs a break!

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Monday, February 21, 2011

Island Hopping!

I feel like I just crammed a weeks worth of experience into 2 days! Such a great weekend! At 9:30pm on Friday night a car came to pick up me and a couple other people in the house to take us to the bus station. We met up with the other 6 people from Maximo that were taking the trip, hopped on the bus and settled in for a six and half hour overnight bus ride to Puno. We arrived at about 4:30am and were greeted by rain and cold (note the mittens and hat I have on in later pictures). We were shuttled to hotel where we had about 3 more hours to sleep and grab breakfast (typical Peruvian breakfast of coffee and bread) before hopping on a bus for a short ride to the dock.

At the dock, our group of 9 and about 15-20 others climbed aboard a slow moving boat with a bilingual (actually, he spoke some French too) guide and starting heading to the islands. It was still pouring down rain when we started out and the guide suggested we alter the itinerary a bit, but lucky for us it clear up and we were able to make our first stop, as originally planned, to the floating reed islands of the Uru people.


Greeted by the Uru people as the boat comes in.


Adorableness!

This is what the islands are made of. We stepped off the the boat and onto a "ground" made of reeds that must constantly be replenished.

Reed house

Tiny homemade representations of island life. House on the left is the family house. The middle structure is where they cook when it's raining, the house on the right is the "suegra's" (mother-in-law's) house. And the little thing in the front is where they normally cook.

Uru people selling their hand made goods to our group

These guys were just hanging out on the island.

Large reed boat coming in to take people for a ride.

Another set of reed islands across from where we docked.

Reed houses

Adorableness!

Smaller reed boat coming in to take us on a ride.


On our little reed boat, ready for a loop around the islands.

The woman who took us on our reed boat ride.

Reed boat ride photo op!

Adorableness!

Saying goodbye to the reed islands!


Next we were off to Amatani, where we met our home-stay families. Most of us were greeted by the mother of the house. (In a conversation with the mother in our house, I found out that most of the men spend about 6 months out of the year working in factories in Lima because they just can't make enough money on the island. Farming and selling their handmade goods to tourists are their only means of income). We (myself and AussieChef - from my class) had about a 20-30 minute uphill hike in which we huffed and puffed the whole way, while the mother nearly sprinted up with an 8 month old baby strapped to her back.

Map of the island

When we arrived at the house (which I, sadly, did not have time to take pictures of) she made us lunch, DELICIOUS quinoa soup with all kinds of fresh, local, veggies and herbs that I couldn't identify, along with some cabbage salad, rice, and trout. (Yes, I ate the trout and actually rather enjoyed it). After lunch her husband (who will head to Lima in March) walked us up to the community center where some of the group played a little "futbol" with people who were there with a different tour group, and a few locals.


Adorableness!


Once we were all there, we started the trek up to the highest point on Amatani island to watch the sunset. Sadly, it was VERY cloudy, so the sunset wasn't actually visible, but the trip up and the hang out time at the top made for some great photo op time.


The Dentist (here with Maximo on a volunteer trip working in a clinic) strikes a pose in one of the many stone arches on the way to the top.


If I remember correctly, the land right behind me is actually Bolivia.



We made our way back down and met our families who fed us dinner and then helped us get into traditional clothing for to head to a fiesta.

SalsaGirl and the Officer's Wife in traditional clothing

AussieChef

The Dentist and The CrazyBrit

The band

AussieChef tears up the dance floor with our host dad.

Adorableness! This is actually the 6 year old from the house I stayed at. She was SUPER cute and fascinated by my hat, my nose-ring, and my flashlight. Seriously wanted to bring her home with me.

Locals. The woman who is standing next to the woman who is sitting is the mom from the house I stayed in.

Me and the adorableness from my house.

The next morning we had breakfast and then jumped back on the boat to head to Taquile island. It had poured all night and was still coming down pretty hard when we got on the boat. To say the water was choppy would be a huge understatement. The boat rocked in every direction for the entire hour it took us to get to the other island. I've never been sea sick before and managed to hold it together, but others weren't so lucky. By the time the boat docked we were all grateful to be on solid ground. We hiked to top where we had lunch, more trout, not as good as the stuff in the home-stay, and then climbed the over 500 treacherous steps back down to the boat.


At the top of Tequile getting ready to climb down.

The trip finished up with a 3 hour boat ride back to Puno. Luckily the water had calmed and I actually spent most of the trip sleeping and reading on the roof of the boat. We killed time eating and having a few drinks (I tried Peruvian wine! - not bad - fruitier than anticipated) before getting on the overnight bus back to Cusco.

Today I slept in, had breakfast, watched "Love and Other Drugs" took a LOOOONG piping hot shower and blogged. Now it's off to watch other people teach.

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