Hi! So I´ve finished teaching all my regular courses, I just have to go in on Saturday. It was a pretty sad and heartfelt goodbye. I got an awesome toque with a tail, bag, scarf and a party and it was very nice! :) It´s been an awesome experience because I´ve met so many great people, I´ve taught between 4-500 different people and earned a level of respect here. It´s lovely to have people come to you with questions, asking advice. 2 of my students are going to study in the USA with full scholarships and 1 other is pre-selected. I will definitely miss seeing all these lovely faces everyday. However, when I go to Canada I get to see other lovely faces everyday so really it´s a win-win situation! Yesterday I went to have lunch with Rosanna, and I am going back again on Thursday. She was telling me about a project she is working on in one of the shanty towns in Lima. Sounds like awesome work! Apparently on the national education survey Cajamarca scroed such a low grade that it ísn´t even on the bar graph. Pretty sad when there is a billion dollar gold mine so close and the development in education and health is 0. The only thing that has changed is the number of trucks, and the introduction of franchises like Pizza Hut and KFC. Not exactly susttainable development. Of course, that is not only the fault of the mine but also the fault of the governments not having infrastructure and ability to distribute the money sensibly. On Monday I had lunch with some students to say goodbye :( On Thursday there is going to be a strike again by the pro-miners and on Friday by the anti-miners so the roads will be blocked. I am not sure how that will affect my ability to leave the city, so Cuzco will have to wait.!

So yesterday my taxi had a seatbelt for the first time in a few weeks and I had forgotten how much they restrain you while moving, it felt like a huge constraint which is obviously the point but it´s the first time one has felt odd to me. In other news, César´s 5 yr old cousin got hit by a car and fractured his ankle. The car belonged to Yanacocha the gold mine so the family is starting to look somewhat suspicious. At least they get hit by cars that have insurance though! It seems that Conga, the new gold mine project will go through much to the anger of many people (although not really surprising) land has come to an all time high with sales at $1-3000 per square meter. Ridiculous! Turf wars have begun, a recent news story says that a rich -(though humble at first sight) land owner left his family for his lover and then died. The lover claimed that she had land rights and the family said she didn´t. So she plotted to brutally murder the family with an aunt and chopped them up. I guess money makes people go mad. In other headlines, a drunk cop hit a woman with her two kids in his car and then drove away. Since Cajamarca recently installed 40 security cameras it was captured and all over facbeook within a few hours. Controversial is that there were other cops in the car and then didn´t even lose their jobs, only the driver. Good thing I own very few things of value and don´t walk very much during rush hours. Dad´s birthday was last week and Mother´s Day is on Sunday. Happy day Mum! It´s huge here! Students keep missing classes for dance practices and dinners. Apparently Father´s Day is not nearly so big, which doesn´t seem fair really. Well apart from that I keep teaching which is usually wonderful even though I lost my favorite groups :( I went to see The Avengers after work on Tuesday (cheap night) but I was so tired that I couldn´t pay enough attention. Looked like the same earth invasion prevented by superheroes story as always though. However due to all the hype I may have to see it with both eyes open sometime. Last night César´s friend Wesley came back from his months working in the desert with the new perspective on life that one gets when they have to work. His baby is getting big! There appears to be some kind of dying cat next door, it´s very loud! Well I only have about 6 weeks left here, which is a mixture of saddness of leaving and excitement to see everybody again! Here are a couple of goofy pics of us! See ya soon!

A quick update

Hi there folks! Well, not much has happened since I last wrote. Last night César and I went to see the Trujillo ballet company which was nice, since Cajamarca doesn´t have many theatre or dance events. The attendance was dreadful though and it was so cheap so that´s a shame since they probably won´t return. There were a couple of terrific male dancers there though. They started with the Cajamarca children ballet dancers who were about as good as the Rivers ballet dancers but they had better tutus. The seats in the theatre were so cool because they all had pull up tables like in aeroplanes!

Apart from that we have just been working hard. The April cycle ended on Saturday and I rushed to correct a large amount of exams and calculate final grades. We are planning to travel in June before my trip back to Canada so it is necessary to save lots of money! César has met with the lawyers about his mother so now he just has to wait for the legal processes to get going. Hopefully some money comes out of it so buy his mother a small house to live in where she can be herself and not have to worry about landlords. On Friday I went for lunch at my old host family´s house so that was nice. Always an eye-opener re. class differences. Well, I´ll update when something actually happens, I have a couple of days off and no money so that is never exciting! See ya!

Rumbo a Cajabamba!

Well, remember how I said that we were going to go to the Rock Forest? Well, César´s friend invited us to go to Aguas Calientes with them in his truck so we decided to go there instead! It was a bit uncomfortable with 5 people in the back of the cab but at least we didn´t have to pay to take the bus! It was raining so the bags got a bit wet even though they were covered with plastic, go figure. When we arrived to Aguas Calientes (natural hot springs) we ate some overpriced food and then went off to someone´s country house. The house was made of mud and very simple but it did have electricity which shows the mining influence in the area since we were in the middle of nowhere. The outhouse was a hole in the ground with a mud wall on 3 sides. The hole was super deep, you couldn´t even see the bottom, and I was scared I would fall down. I asked César if he thought anyone had ever fallen down there and I think that should be on the show 1000 ways to die. He just gives me that look in the moments when I come out with things like that. Anyway, we were just hanging out in the yard with lots of people who I didn´t know and someone got the idea that we should have duck for dinner because there were ducks in the yard. One man tried to catch a duck but just kept bringing back geese. Finally he caught a duck and MURDERED IT IN FRONT OF OUR EYES! Then he got told it was the male breeder duck and that it was worth quite a bit of money. But then one of the relativies of the people who owned the house said that it was no problem because somebody stole 200 guinea pigs from their house and they showed me where the creatures are raised. That was great. They didn´t end up cooking the duck until the next day at lunch but I didn´t partake in that as I still remembered the poor thing alive. The next day we went off together to eat the famous hen and head soup (I chose hen because I don´t like my food looking at me) and then had a couple of nice beers with inca cola in a relaxing village where I also had to use the bathroom and though it was just a hole in the ground it was feces free and therefore quite inviting. Then the girls and I decided to go swimming at the pool. I was wondering why everyone was lying on the side instead of swimming since the sun was out, that is until I stepped foot in the water and almost burned my skin off. Afterwards we decided to go to the private baths but unlike Baños Del Inca in Cajamarca they had no cold water so it was too hot for me to step into. As I left after 5 minutes an older lady outside asked what was wrong, and I told her I couldn´t stand the heat. She said it takes a few minutes to get used to it and that´s okay. I think it´s only true because all your neurons burn off and you stop feeling anything. I went to a hotel to have a cold shower instead-
Well, then César and I (well, more me than him) decided to go off and see Cajabamba, we walked a bit and then took a mototaxi to a small village where we had some kind of spicy meat concoction for lunch which was disguised as hen and then I used the most disgusting bathroom I have ever seen, I mean it was BAD and even my purse around the neck squatting while holding the wooden door thing shut with one hand and trying not to step in anything or fall down the hole technique didn´t cut it and I left with a dirty feeling. Luckily the lady didn´t charge me for using that...bathroom. Then we caught a combi and were off to Cajambamba. The views in the valley were marvellous but as it was raining and the windows were dirty my photos just don´t do it justice. When we got to Cajabamba we walked around the town which was really nice, the market was clean and organized and it looked really modern unlike the really dirty market of Cajamarca. Then we had to get back because we had left our suitcases in a hotel in Aguas Calientes so as to be able to travel lighter. It was also raining and we didn´t have any jackets. We were just returning when we got to a point in the road which was totally flooded by the river and the taxi driver told us to get out because he wasn´t going to cross. So everyone in the cab got out and there we all were in torrential rain watching a tractor pull another taxi across the road river it had gotten stuck in. We waited for a bigger truck vehicle to come and they luckily conveyed us to the other side. We got our bags and waited outside in the rain, me singing and dancing int he rain and César not amused saying the delay was my fault because I wanted to go to Cajabamba and I didn´t listen to him on the way saying that if the rain continued that road would get blocked. I didn´t care cause I was happy!
Well now I am working 41 hours of in class teaching plus preparation and marking so I am really quite busy and I get quite tired. César has just left for Huambos to get his mum´s birth certificate sorted out and I am going to bed right away! Have a good one dears!

We have some catching up to do!

Well I am sorry for the long delay, my internet has been somewhat hit and miss and sometimes my blogs dont get saved and I cant find the energy to start writing again from scratch after a novel gets erased :( but thanks to my super intelligence I am now using the super safe copy and paste technique- yay!
Did I tell you about my experience in the market? César and I went looking for a wheelchair for his mother and we ask in one used goods place and they didnt have any, so we are walking through the vegetables (great, fresh and cheap mmm) and the SHADIEST man ever calls us over to the shadow. We go to meet him and he says ¨ heard you´re looking for a wheelchair¨ while looking around him as if being pursued. ¨uhm, yeah¨ ¨what kind do you want, electronic or manual¨ ¨well, manual..¨okay I got one but you cant take it to the hospital¨ ¨well, we have to take it to Limatambo Clinic¨ at this point he seems to be muttering and considering it and then he says, ¨okay give me 200 soles¨ ¨well, can we see it first¨ ¨ no you give me the money and then I will get it to you next week¨ hahaha, yeah right. He gives us his number and an obviously false name and runs off into the shadows. Me being intelligent and all I said, hey César I think he is going to nick a wheelchair from the hospital and sell it to us. César said, want to say that a bit louder? And then I was smiling because it felt like we were in a really sketchy movie.
In the end César got a used one from a friend and painted it sky blue (at his mother´s request).
I have been working lots, I have class from 3-10 p.m. and no break and for 6 hours on Saturday which is a lot of teaching hours for one week when you consider normal teachers work monday to friday from 9- 3:30 with a lunch break and often snack breaks too! I am pretty tired at the end of the week! Plus I sometimes do translations in my free time. Unfortunately due to this insane amount of hours I haven´t had time to travel. César and I bought a sofa, as you can see in the picture.
You know how intelligent people measure the size of their doors before purchasing a large object? We didn´t do that. So not only did we have to take the door off the hinge, but also the entire wooden part around the bricks which sustain the door in order to get the thing into the house. Here is a warning for all you idiots like us, use a tape measure! doh! But at least now we have a lovely sofa to sit on and watch T.V. as we have also bought a little T.V. because our pirated movies will no longer work on the laptop.
However, last week I had to travel to Chiclayo (6 hours by bus) to pick up my visa extension and since I had to get the day off work César and I took the opportunity to travel to Mancora (another 6 hours by bus) to a beautiful beach and relax! While in Chiclayo César introduced me to a man who helped him out a lot as a child and is like his father. He was a very nice fellow and I am sure we will see him again! He is with César in the photo. We had lots of fun swimming in the ocean with huge waves and even though we used sunscreen we still got very burnt. We also met a cool Argentinean man called Martín who was backpacking through South America. He is 30 and had some great stories!
It was Cesar´s birthday on March 27th and I made him this great lemon cake (with real lemons) it was delicious even though it looked a bit odd.
César´s mum is much better and living where she wanted to.
César and I are off to Chota tonight for a couple of days to see the La Bosque de Piedras- The rock forest. Sounds fascinating right? I will take some pictures to share with you! It´s Easter so we have 4 days off which is prety much a miracle and must be taken advantage of! :)
I now have classes with up to 27 students and have had to move to a bigger classroom. I have yet to receive Ron´s evaluation but I think it wil be soon.
My hands are suffering from the blue ink I use in my whiteboard pens. I am sure that chalk and a blackboard are much safer for them and then I would feel like a real teacher!
In June I am off back to Canada and in July I will take the TESOL course at ACC where Katie studies. Will be nice to see everyone after a year away!
It was chucking it down outside but now the sun is shining and it´s lovely! I continue to experiment in the kitchen and César is the victim to it! hahaha
Well, I will update you about Chota with pictures (unless my camera gets stolen of course but it has survived almost 6 years now!) next week!
Take care!

The culture trap!

My dear friends, be careful what you do! Did you know that if someone asks you to cut their baby´s nails and you do it means you will become their godmother and have to foot the bill for every need he or she may have? I didn´t either. But luckily I didn´t have any nail clippers so I avoided becoming finanically responsible for another human being!
I went to my first onsha the other day. What is an onsha you may ask? Well, cut down a tree and put it IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD and then proceed to decorate it with a bunch of random things. Add music and spend the night drinking and dancing around it. At midnight cut the tree down. That is an onsha. Here is a picture. We are currently in onsha season which means that you may frequently find your way blocked by a strangely decorated tree. You have to love this country!
Yesterday I attempted my first lasagna here and it actually turned out well! yay! The thing that looks and tastes like mashed potatos is actually a vegetable call oca. It is yummy when you prepare it correctly which I didn´t. Oh well. The other photo is César´s mother and Elsa about to eat yummy chicken in white sauce :) Everybody seems to be in a bad mood today so I am camping out in my bedroom and writing my blog!
César is off to Chiclayo tomorrow night to solve my visa problem for me, hopefully it works so I can stay until June!
Have you ever had someone in your house sleep with a giant steak knife? No? Welcome to my life! Apparently a steak knife is useful to stab your shadow if it attempts to kill you. If you happen to be haunted by your shadow you can solve this problem by firstly rubbing an egg all over your body and then cracking it into a glass. Should you see any black bits in the egg that is your shadow. Funnily enough that didn´t work as the egg was normal. The next procedure is to take the clothes of the haunted one and put grains and oats etc in it, and then procced to have him or her walk around with a knife stabbing the air. This is a deadly serious ceremony. I now have the knife under lock and key to prevent any unfortunate stabbings from occuring.
Well, work is normal. I am teaching my students manners. I now ignore all whats and huhs and will only respond to, ¨excuse me teacher, could you repeat that please?¨ which sounds lovely coming from the lips of adolescents!
Ron, the American TESL evaluator came to observe our classes last week and he said that I am a good teacher which is high praise coming from him so I was super excited about that. We don´t get our official evaluation for a couple of weeks though. We get an hour long audio commentary about our class as well as a rating from 0-5. I am hoping for a 4 or higher. I will let you know how I do! :)
I included a picture of homework which one of my students presented to me, I thought it was super cute. Good artist right! She is going to be a lawyer though, not an artist.
Well, César´s mother is still living in our kitchen while she gets better. I won´t comment on how I feel about her.
Yesterday Elsa and I walked for an hour around the market and there was no broccoli which I find extremely sad and now we must eat lunch without broccoli once again.
I suppose I should get my classes ready now.
Take care! xx

How did the world get so screwed up?

Sometimes my life seems so unreal, as I go bouncing between 2 realities. Working in an institute where I teach high class professionals and their children (apart from the classes of scholarship students who go to public schools) has taught me one crucial thing: the people here are even colder than the people I know in Canada. Most of the people I know in Canada are involved with some charitable organization, and although more than often it´s fighting cancer or numerous other diseases and not international aid (apart from the hugely popular sponser an african child organizations) the thing is that people seem to actually care about others.Now, I don´t want to shed all rich Peruvians in the same light because there are some that do some good things but from what I see the aid from the general public is much less. In fact, if it weren´t for some of the university students it would be appalling. When I teach my classes, at least once a week I bring up one of the various social problems in Cajamarca and listen to the responses from my students. One of my 16 yr olds told me she simply didn´t care and tuned out. The ignorance is another problem, I have had students tell me that in Cajamarca there are no drugs, no gangs, and no problems with illiteracy. That is not funny, that is a serious problem and you have to ask yourself if people are blind. At least in developed countries you can walk around many parts of a city like Brandon and not actually encounter any obvious signs of gangs, drugs, or poverty. I can´t walk anywhere here without being reminded that firstly I am a woman and secondly since I am white I am quite clearly rich and thus become a target for beggars. The sad truth is, if you really want to have a discussion you have to talk to the ACCESS program students or professional, well educated adults (I feel the need to use both words because there seem to be some really ignorant professionals around- but then you can pay off many teachers here so don´t be surprised). I know I am rambling but I can´t stop. The thing that really gets on my nerves is the snobbiness. One of my teenage students was saying how there were no jobs and I told her I had seen lots of people advertising for cleaners (almost all rich or middle-class people have maids). Apparently that was a really funny and ridiculous statement. They don´t believe me when I tell them that in my first year of uni I cleaned people´s houses. The worst thing is that César´s sister worked as a maid before she had the baby making 150 soles a month. That is about 50 dollars people, or 35 pounds. Sound good to you? The minimum wage here is 600 soles- about $220, which still sucks but at least you can live on that here, whereas living on 50 bucks basically means you live in a hole, literally. I can´t believe that people are so cold as to pay somebody so little to do the chores that they don´t want to do. I could never imagine having a maid in the first place, but if I did have one I´d be sure to pay her (since men don´t do this job) well. It´s a matter of respect! Once a lady told me I should get someone to clean my house for a couple of hours because it only costs 2-3 dollars and then I would have more time but I think that is just disgusting. Also I think we are more than capable of cleaning our space. I want to note that apart from being selfish most of my students are lovely people and I do enjoy teaching them and am grateful to gain such valuable experience at my age. Hopefully little by little I will be able to change their frames of mind. Another option which some of my new family does is wash cars for which you can earn up to 400 soles a month which also sucks.
Anyway, when I am not a work I hop back into my other world which is my new family. In the picture you can see César´s mum in the clinic with cousin Elsa. It was taken yesterday and after being hit by a car and having had a stroke she is now talking coherently which is wonderful although today her 18,000 soles of insurance ran out (in just over two weeks) so we had to talk to the company responsible for the accident and their insurance will cover the next part. She is still dependent on her oxygen though so she can´t leave yet although she wants to, she also doesn´t know that she can´t walk and will need a wheelchair. Elsa (16) is looking after her and we have a plan where César´s mum will live with Elsa and her older 26 yr old sister when she gets out, in a place we will rent out for them on the condition that they go back to finish elementary and high school. Hopefully their younger sister will follow them and start going to school too. The whole seriousness of the illiteracy topic has suddenly become relatable to my everyday life. We also went to visit the baby yesterday, her name is Maricielo and not Alejandra which I am assured is a girl´s name even though it sounds like a boy´s name to me.
Well, I survived carnival season although I got hit by water balloons and buckets of water with no mercy- I was soaked as you can see in the photo. It was nice because while César was in the clinic I spent time with his cousins. They are lovely really and without them I don´t know if I would have found my way to the correct bleacher without being trampled by the crowd. These are kids who know how to survive on the streets.
I suppose that in the end everybody is looking out for themselves right? It´s easier to close your eyes and block out the unpleasant things than try to promote change. I have given up trying to do anything on a big scale, but one by one I hope to help those in my new family through education and affection.