Today was an interesting day. It started off with me washing my clothes and realizing I need to buy clothespins because there just isn't enough in this house for my clothes and their clothes. Then, I had a meeting at the school my host sis attends. I was supposed to meet basically a leadership club yesterday, but stayed a bit longer in trujillo after my sis told me that the meeting was moved to tuesday morning. Yesterday, however, was the day of the school's anniversary. There were dances, music, and all the first year boys had their heads shaved.
Yup, you heard me right.
It's tradition that all the first year boys get buzz cuts, and the girls have their faces painted blue. Sadly, I missed it, but when I showed up this morning, all the boys had on hats and they, along with the girls, were teasing each other by stealing hats of the other boys. Today, the day after, is when the entire school takes the day to clean. Students wipe down windows, help sweep floors, and so forth. Unfortunately, this meant a rather disorganized morning and I showed up at 9, didn't see my sis until 10:15, and left at 10:45 once we decided that this meeting was definitely not happening...
So I went home, until my host mom invited me to the municipality because she needed to run a few errands. I never turn down a chance to go to the municipality, just because I want to make sure the people there know my face. I happened to run into a kid named Carlos who lives up in Guadalupe (another site, with another volunteer) and my mom invited him to lunch. This kid is awesome and I really wish he was from San Pedro so that I could work with him more closely, but he has his own projects and I'm hoping Slack (the other volunteer) finds time to work with him.
So kid goes with me to eat lunch and my sis is there. I remind her that we're expected at another school to meet one of her friends because this friend recently asked me to assist her with a charla (literally, a "chat" but more like a fun lecture). Then Carlos looks at me and asks if I know what the charla will be on. I have no idea. I assumed that I'd be doing more things about cultural exchange because she had asked me to do this charla during my interview on the radio, when the theme was intercultural exchange. He warned me that I should call her and know for sure, because she has done crazy things before. So I call and leave her with a text. I'm supposed to be at this meeting at 4pm; she calls me at 4:10pm and asks where I am.
"I was waiting for your call! What do I need to talk about?"
"Ok, I'm waiting for you. You're going to be presenting the topic of Vocational Professsions."
"What"
"Yea! I have to go, but please get here soon!"
So in a frenzy, I grab a stack of my books from the PC, knowing that there's something on this topic somewhere and lo and behold! bam- papers entitled "orientación vocacional." I read frantically, pouring through the topics and skimming through the instructions, trying to figure out how to pull together a 30 min. charla on this theme. Carlos and my sis are both trying to help me, advising me to focus less on the fact that the educational system in Perú is different from the states, and more on the things that are in common, like needing to be motivated and having goals.
I decide to chuck the book for now and go with what they say. Carlos accompanies me, although my sis was supposed to originally because she says she can't leave her little brother alone (at this point, mom and dad have both left the house). I'm nearly 95% certain she just didn't want to leave, since she had been moaning and grumbling about having to go since I reminded her that she had agreed to help her friend this morning, and I know that her brother has been home by himself before without issue... change that 95% to 99.9%
So Carlos accompanies me and we arrive at this school, my brain having spent the past 30 minutes trying to come up with what to do, without having a single clue as to who I'd be speaking with, what my resources would be, how many would be attending, etc.
"Sue! Thanks for coming! So, you're actually going to be giving a charla on self-esteem. Let me introduce you to the directora."
Wait. What? What happened to the chat I was supposed to give on vocational orientation??
It went out the window. I was introduced to the director before I went to the classroom and stood in front of roughly 55 students. She introduces me and explains what I'll be discussing. Carlos has been roped into giving a talk on leadership, but he has given that talk before. I rack my brain and realize all the dinámicas I know off the bat for self-esteem require people to move around and talk, which are both terrible terrible things when the classroom is so packed, there's less than a foot between me and the kids seated up front. So I decided that I'm going to, literally, chat.
I introduce myself, ask how they're doing, and then discuss self-esteem. What do they think it is, why do they think it's important, and so forth. I had them talk to their neighbors to discuss a few things, had 2 students come up front and help write ideas and suggestions on the board about how to raise and lower self-esteem, and then ended by asking them to turn to their neighbor and ask questions about them and give compliments. They reported that they were quite happy by the end of the charla, and then Carlos took over and gave his chat.
Don't know what I did, but it seemed to work. The girl I was helping out thanked me and asked if I could give these charlas every week. I asked her to please tell me the topic and my audience beforehand, and she agreed. Although I don't think I will have much control on the kinds of things she wants me to lecture on, I'm going to work with her on trying to figure out an agenda, once she figures out exactly what is going on (this was her very first attempt at this as well).
All in all, it turned out pretty well. This is a small pueblo that exists outside of my site, and I'd rather be working in it, but the girls I was working with is super motivated and doesn't know Slack. I'm going to help her as much as possible, and this also gives me the chance to travel around and get to know my province a bit. Hopefully things I do on site don't conflict with my time with her, but if they do, I'll have to figure things out then, I supposed.
Also, did you notice that I wrote this using capital letters? I'm going to try not being lazy and being a bit more correct... I think I'm picking up some bad habits from chatting with teen Peruvians on facebook, and I'd like to continue practicing my english. (I am also forgetting words in english and it's bothering me...)
Lastly, I'm slowly but surely decorating my room. Currently, I'm using all the letters I have received (three!) like posters : D I love them up on my wall!
So keep writing me things and rest assured, I have letters to post the next time I'm in Trujillo and around a post office!
Peace and Love.
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