Month of Giving Thanks

As we celebrate my favorite holiday by giving thanks, I make note of something I've been thankful for each day this month:

1- Improvisation skills

2- Artwork

3- Music to dance to

4- Learning

5- Smiles

6- Supportive colleagues

7- Cupcake tins to bake cupcakes with the women in San Borja

8- Time to get together with Sarah

9- Having functioning internet to call Tammy and the warmth of amigas here

10- The opportunity to taste a coconut (even if I'm not a huge fan)

11- Patience that God has given me and taught me to use

12- The man down the street who repairs broken shoes

13- the talents of students and the work they put into their graduation ceremonies

14- International volunteers and North American jokes  

15- Sarah, who always makes the not-so-good workshops go better

16- a windproof jacket at the beach in the early morning hours

17- Sunshine

18- cellphone to keep in touch with friends

19- fun, intelligent students who show up for conversation groups

20- Igor, who went for a walk with me after a long day at work

21- donations from a Canadian group to provide plastic stools for the group of women in San Borja

22- cousins and friends and country music

23- the green-grassy median of the Pan-American highway to lay down and relax

24- mangos at the market

25- My parents (and host parents) and their 30 years together

26- having the chance to watch the Juegos Bolivarianos (pre-olympic competitions for South America) right behind my apartment!

27- not having class in the morning so I can correct assignments

28- a flight to Lima

In learning you will teach and in teaching you will learn. ~Phil Collins

   I came to Peru on as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant.  My role was defined on a piece of paper, but the reality is that although I have been a teacher in some capacities, I have been a much better learner throughout my time here.  As the year winds down, I am left to reflect upon not only what I have taught, but also what I have learned.  
   Time has flown.  This was a busy, but more productive semester for me at the university and language center than the first semester that I was here.  I have been involved in a variety of activities, providing most of my support to students who will be studying English to an advanced level, using it as international business majors or studying English to become foreign language teachers.  My job has therefore included helping with a translation course, reviewing and helping to develop curriculum, designing and conducting oral English evaluation activities and exams for university students.  I began conversation groups with foreign language majors and have enjoyed getting to know them better in those more intimate moments when we can laugh, look at photos, and discuss cultural differences, life experiences and ask/answer questions that have nothing to do with the teaching objective as we are limited in some of their other classes.  I also developed and facilitated a teacher training course for English professors at the university.  It will soon be coming to an end along with numerous other activities with which I've been involved at Pedro Ruiz Gallo National University.  While I look forward to new experiences, I realize that I still have much to do, but that I have also gained a lot.  Throughout these different activities and spaces, I have met new people, learned about the Peruvian public education system, bureaucracy, politics, teaching, and language learning.   
   Aside from my work as an ETA, I have learned many things by partnering with the NGO Centro Esperanza.  The projects and workshops with the organization will also be coming to an end in a few weeks for the year of 2013.  
   I have thoroughly enjoyed working with a women's group in the pueblo joven of San Borja just outside of Chiclayo.  Throughout the five months that my friend Sarah and I have been working with the women, we have focused on good practices for small businesses and baking.  With one workshop a week, we have been able to share ideas, build trust, taste a variety of baked goods, analyze team work, and get to know one another better.  We spent numerous weeks teaching the women to bake, a task that seems second nature to us, but quite complicated to those who have never had to measure flour or sugar in their lives.  The majority of our baking workshops focused on Peruvian desserts that the women requested, but during our final two baking sessions we taught them to make North American treats: cupcakes and Christmas sugar cookies.  Thrilled with the new brightly decorated treats, cultural exchange was rich.  
   We have also been able to share our cultures with our youth group in Chosica del Norte.  Last week we taught them to line dance to Cotton Eye Joe for an upcoming talent show.  We (2 Americans, 2 Canadians and 1 Peruvian) are gearing up for a gathering of about 50 youth from pueblos jovenes around. It should be a lot of fun for the youth to get together, try some new activities and perform in a talent show.  
   Although I have been a leader, facilitator and teacher in many ways in these projects, I have also been a learner.  The women at Centro Esperanza have taught me a great deal about leadership, service work, compassion and dedication.  The mothers in San Borja have taught me patience, resilience, and reminded me to take life one step at a time, and the youth in Chosica del Norte have taught me about their generation, have shown me yet another perspective on life and have given me experience in dealing with challenging situations. 
   This year has been a blessing and a great learning experience.  In a few more weeks, my grant will expire and I'll see where things go from there.

 Thanks to good will from Canada, the women 

no longer have to sit on buckets and stones but just 

recieved stools and an oven in which they can bake!

        

Pictures of the Week

 Youth making a banner for their youth group in Chosica del Norte

 Making and decorating cupcakes for the first time

Waiting patiently for a sweet treat: Cupcakes!

Color of a Donkey's Belly

   This morning, I awoke to one of those rare days on which the people around me say in Spanish, "The sky is the color of a donkey's belly."  It's not often that weather in Chiclayo is dreary and grey, but this morning, it certainly was.  Fortunately by this afternoon, the sun decided to shine.  When I look up and the sky looks like a donkey's belly, I feel sluggish and not as cheerful as when I'm blinded by the glaring sun.    

   On my 25 minute walk home to make lunch after the university and my bus ride back to Chiclayo, I began to think about things that are grey around me.  There really isn’t much that is black or white.  Donkeys are grey.  Sidewalks are grey.  One of my suits is grey.  People with a lot years under their belts have grey hair.  Smoke is grey.  Sometimes dogs are grey. 

  There are a lot of other things that I find to be neither black nor white, but rather some shade of grey in between.  Sometimes it is hard to know when to lend a hand, when to place a few coins in someone’s hand, to give a few more examples in class, to ignore someone, or to share your criticisms.  Does she want your help?  Does he need the money for food or will it go to drugs?  Are they calling out to you as a greeting or to make a harassing comment?  Will your comments be taken and used for motivation to improve, or will they create a sense of resentment in the other person?   

   One incident this last week reminded me that we are all made up of shades and grey; we’re all a little bit good and a little bit bad.  One of my friends had to take a taxi from classes at the university to arrive punctually at the hospital for practical hours in an operating room.  When getting out of the taxi, his wallet fell out on the seat.  He noticed as he was beginning to shut the door—but so did the driver.  My friend tried to open the door, but the driver stomped on the gas pedal and sped away.  A wallet full of important documents and money: gone.  Three days later after having been very distressed about losing his wallet and reapplying for a national document of identity and preparing to reapply for other documents, a mototaxi driver dropped off a document void of money, but with all the documents at my friend’s house.  Who took the money?  The mototaxi driver, the taxi driver or someone else? That was a thankless act; however, there was certainly a bit of good in that young mototaxi driver who decided to deliver the personally documents to their rightful owner.   We are all a bit distracted at times.  We all err and we all do good.  And then, there are many more actions in the middle that are neutral, not necessarily bad nor good, neither black nor white, simply grey and play out in unknown ways.  Like it or not, we’re all a bit like a donkey’s belly. 

Blessed Bits

A few shots through a lens at great moments in the pueblos jovenes:

Children playing in our "kitchen"

My treat...

I prefer shopping at the markets where I can buy fresh produce and grains at fair prices in a lively environment much more quickly that in a supermarket where it is always necessary to wait (sometimes up to a half hour) in line.  Thus, I seldom go to the large supermarkets here in Chiclayo, with Tottus and Metro being the most well-known.  I get used to eating typical Peruvian dishes which includes rice often with lentils or beans.  Additionally I eat salads, bread from the bakery with an avocado or olives and cheese, typical pastas or papa a la huancaina.  Despite the huge variety in Peruvian gastronomy, sometimes I get tired of the food here.  This last week, as I was telling Igor how I miss certain foods from home, he suggested we go to a supermarket for un gusto.  It was a great idea and we even got through the checkout line in 15 minutes!  Even though I think some of the prices are outlandish and I'd prefer to support small businesses, I must admit that my $8 box of cereal, $7 jar of peanut butter, and other over-priced foods taste great.  Making stir-fry, french toast and pancakes have been a great touch as well.  I long to have an oven again, but at least, this week my palate has had a treat!  :)

Peruvians Love to Party

If there is any special date be it a birthday, anniversary, the16th year since the language center began, the week of medicine, Women's day, a wedding, day of the volunteer, an engagement ceremony, holidays or whatever it may be, you can be sure that their will be a celebration full of food, pictures, a toast and dancing.  This last month has been full of celebrations at the university, at the language center, with friends, and a small ceremony for those with birthdays at the NGO and at our work sites.  Below is a glimpse: