Settling In

Wow I have a lot to report from the last few days. Hopefully I'll remember it all...

Saturday was my very extensive orientation. I will be working in one of two schools that GVI works with, called Triunfo. The school has a preschool, called Inicial, and then grades 1-6, with one teacher for two grades. I'll be with the 1's and 2's (ages 5-7, I think). GVI's aims are to encourage the kids to attend school, even though the teachers tend to be crappy, and reinforce the lessons that the teachers are teaching (because they don't do a great job the first time around). We do the lesson planning and teaching for art, gym, and English, and then hold our own study hall after the school day to help with homework. We also provide lunch and a piece of fruit, celebrate birthdays at the end of the month, and bring in dentists and doctors for health problems(although this part can be very difficult). The moms in the community tend to work in fields, and the dads tend to...drink all day. For this reason, we were explicitly told never to come to work in the morning hungover, because they associate blood shot eyes and the smell of alcohol with violence. Many of the kids are beaten by their drunk fathers, and there is literally nothing that we are legally able to do about it in Peru. The communities that they live in aren't recognized by the government, because they built them themselves, and their human rights organizations aren't strong enough to deal with issues of child abuse. The teachers tend to be very strict, so the volunteers are supposed to be very patient and show lots of affection.

After orientation, the GVI group (about 15 right now) all went out to dinner and dancing to celebrate our awesome program manager's birthday (Carla). We had quite a hilarious time at the club, including a gross Peruvian man who asked me if I was Asian due to my "large forehead and slanty eyes." I felt right at home in the club when the DJ started playing "Sexbomb," a Connors family favorite.

Yesterday we had a BBQ (or barbie, as the British call it) to celebrate Carla's bday and to watch the "football" game between Germany and Spain. We also went to some local markets to pick up art supplies for this week's projects and were wrapping sweaters for all of the students that were generously donated by friends of a GVI volunteer (it gets REALLY cold here at night and I don't think the kids have sweaters).

Then at 5pm I was told that my host family arrived, which over the course of the day I had gotten a little nervous about. Well there was no need to worry. My host mom is WONDERFUL. Her name is Martha (Marta). She's probably in her sixties and lives with her daughter and two granddaughters, who I have yet to meet but are in elementary school. She is so sweet and I can't even count the number of hugs she has already given me. She lives in a gated community, has a maid, and I have my own floor of the house to myself! It is about a thirty minute walk from where I need to be each day, but it'll probably be my only exercise, so I suppose that's okay. Marta is really sweet and has traveled a lot. Last night she told me to travel the world before getting married. Ha.

This morning I made my way from the house back to Casa de Avila, the place where I've been staying and GVI's headquarters. I made it, following the map, with only a slight detour! I clearly stand out here (it probably didn't help that I was wearing my orange pants), but on the walk this morning I got at least two honks, a police siren, and an "I love you" from a random guy in a car. Lovely.

Just got back from my first morning of Spanish classes. It's funny how even though I supposedly majored in Spanish, during the last four years, grammar is something that I have neglected to review very often, so there are a lot of things I need to brush up on. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on my Spanish, but I still don't know that I'll ever be at a level where I can teach bilinugally or to native speakers. Boo.

Now I'm off to lunch and then I'll come back for a GVI workshop given by one of the teachers in a school we work in. Her name is Ediluz, but apparently she has such big boobs that people actually call her Eddy Boobs, I think to her face. I will probably stare at her boobs throughout the workshop since that is all that I know about her at this point.

I think that's all I have time for for now, although I'm sure I'm forgetting something. I'm really enjoying Arequipa and am so excited to meet the kids on Wednesday!