Chicken has never tasted so good!
After a fun New Years celebration with fellow volunteers in Piura city, I returned to Tunal (from where I am posting this update) to prepare for my first major work endeavor. It’s always a bit tough returning from the city, after enjoying a break from speaking Spanish and catching up on the news with cable tv. I generally get pretty frustrated for a couple days as I return to a world where I know about as many words as a toddler. The longer that I’m here, though, the easier it gets.
The 7th of January was my little sister’s 6th birthday here. We didn’t have much of a celebration besides inviting some of her friends over, BUT.. we did consume my prize winning rooster! Not only did it taste good, but I no longer am awaken at 4:30 in the morning… at least not by that rooster.
I was to begin on the 8th of January teaching computer classes, but since there has been a change in local government (the mayor was not reelected) it was tough to coordinate with the new group in the municipality. Finally, I spoke with the mayor and his crew and we arranged for the course to begin the following week. One gentleman in the meeting insisted that we invite all of the surrounding towns to enroll in the classes… I didn’t want to be the closed minded on, so I didn’t say anything except point out the fact that there were only to be 24 students in each course.
The big day arrived…and I was pretty darn nervous!! I spent the entire previous day planning the lesson, learning terminology, and drawing pictures. I was to teach three courses, one at 9am, 3pm and 5pm. At 8am I went to the computer center to prepare. I didn’t have a table or stand or anything (let alone a projector!) so I fashioned my own table out of the computer boxes that had been stacked in the corner of the room. I was able to find a marker board which has come in very handy.
Here in Peru one must have a ton of patience. In general, the Peruvian concept of time is very different that ours. The hour given to begin an event or meeting is merely a suggested time to consider whether you’re going to attend of not. 9 times out of 10 a meeting begins at least an hour or two late. I was expecting to have to explain to the kids the importance of punctuality and that they had to show up on time or they’d have to pay (by dancing in front of the class). Instead, at 8:30am I looked outside to see a mob of people… just a few more that I had planned for… people had walked for more than 3 hrs for the class… in all, 106 people showed up. We have 12 computers here… minus one which never worked, minus one that recently went on the blink, and minus two which do not turn on due to minor problems… so that leaves me with 8 computers for over a hundred people. In the end, I added another class at 11am and there were at least 3 people to a computer.
The first week surprisingly went really well. The ages of the students range from 6 yrs old to late 40s. It’s been quite challenging, being that it’s all in Spanish, but I’m making it through. The ability level is also somewhat varied… imagine teaching computation to a person who doesn’t even have electricity in their town… I’ve been using a lot of pictures and requiring that the students participate, cutting down the amount of talking that I have to do. It really is good practice though. All day long I am interacting with people of all different ages. I know have 5 classes, each meeting Monday Wednesday and Friday. I begin the day at 8am and finish at 9:30pm… quite a long time. Maybe a worse schedule that I had in the states!! But in the end, a lot of people will hopefully learn a little something and develop new skills.
The 7th of January was my little sister’s 6th birthday here. We didn’t have much of a celebration besides inviting some of her friends over, BUT.. we did consume my prize winning rooster! Not only did it taste good, but I no longer am awaken at 4:30 in the morning… at least not by that rooster.
I was to begin on the 8th of January teaching computer classes, but since there has been a change in local government (the mayor was not reelected) it was tough to coordinate with the new group in the municipality. Finally, I spoke with the mayor and his crew and we arranged for the course to begin the following week. One gentleman in the meeting insisted that we invite all of the surrounding towns to enroll in the classes… I didn’t want to be the closed minded on, so I didn’t say anything except point out the fact that there were only to be 24 students in each course.
The big day arrived…and I was pretty darn nervous!! I spent the entire previous day planning the lesson, learning terminology, and drawing pictures. I was to teach three courses, one at 9am, 3pm and 5pm. At 8am I went to the computer center to prepare. I didn’t have a table or stand or anything (let alone a projector!) so I fashioned my own table out of the computer boxes that had been stacked in the corner of the room. I was able to find a marker board which has come in very handy.
Here in Peru one must have a ton of patience. In general, the Peruvian concept of time is very different that ours. The hour given to begin an event or meeting is merely a suggested time to consider whether you’re going to attend of not. 9 times out of 10 a meeting begins at least an hour or two late. I was expecting to have to explain to the kids the importance of punctuality and that they had to show up on time or they’d have to pay (by dancing in front of the class). Instead, at 8:30am I looked outside to see a mob of people… just a few more that I had planned for… people had walked for more than 3 hrs for the class… in all, 106 people showed up. We have 12 computers here… minus one which never worked, minus one that recently went on the blink, and minus two which do not turn on due to minor problems… so that leaves me with 8 computers for over a hundred people. In the end, I added another class at 11am and there were at least 3 people to a computer.
The first week surprisingly went really well. The ages of the students range from 6 yrs old to late 40s. It’s been quite challenging, being that it’s all in Spanish, but I’m making it through. The ability level is also somewhat varied… imagine teaching computation to a person who doesn’t even have electricity in their town… I’ve been using a lot of pictures and requiring that the students participate, cutting down the amount of talking that I have to do. It really is good practice though. All day long I am interacting with people of all different ages. I know have 5 classes, each meeting Monday Wednesday and Friday. I begin the day at 8am and finish at 9:30pm… quite a long time. Maybe a worse schedule that I had in the states!! But in the end, a lot of people will hopefully learn a little something and develop new skills.
posted by Ryan Nelson | 12:33 PM
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