Another Day

After three weeks of being here in Ayacucho, I have settled into my daily life here. It is a nicely simple life free of cell phones and having to be anywhere or get things done by a certain time or date. I like it.

During the week, I wake up at about 7:00 am. Amy's little alarm clock beeps politely and I quietly pull my warm blankets off. It is quite bright at this point, and light fills our room. Many people say they can hear a roster crowing next door, which wakes them up, but I have yet to hear it. Our big window looks out to all of Ayacucho, as well as right into the house next door. Only one morning have I woken up to two men standing on their balcony several feet away from us with only the glass of the window in between. I put my feet on the cool tile floor and get out of my bottom bunk bed (it is a little like being back at camp). My jeans have become my uniform as well as my trusty gray New Balances. T-shirts and my black fleece complete the look.

I head downstairs to breakfast after packing my little bag with my wallet with about 10 soles (slightly more than $3) in it, my plastic water bottle, my miniature Spanish-English dictionary, and my sunglasses. It is nice to need so little. The dining room has two large wooden rectangular tables with 10 places each and a smaller table that holds an extra 8 people when the house is full (right now it is home to the tea, coffee machine and toaster). I have some hot tea, of course, and usually some cornflakes (boxed cereal is apparently a luxury here) with a banana on top. Though, yesterday I tried the big rolls that are always set out in a basket (but I've never bothered to try them until then). They are the traditional bread from the area. The round rolls are a toasted brown color, about 6 inches across, and are mostly hollow. Warm and toasted with a little of the salty butter from here and they are wonderful. Can't believe I have been passing on them this whole time. I have also discovered the amazing coconut yogurt. So delicious!

At about 7:45, Alejandro drives about 8 of us to our placements in the white van (the other volunteers either walk, ride with a different driver, or go later). Logan, a blond-haired senior at Alfred University in New York (state), and I get dropped off at Mercedes School. I have since found out that our school is actually a public school, not private, which I originally assumed because of the order, facilities, and uniforms.

I have come to love this placement. We help two different English teachers teach various middle and early high school classes. The students all stand up when we (or the teachers) come into the room and sometimes sing a greeting song. We smiled and tell them they can sit down. They also usually stand up when asking a question or giving an answer. How respectful!

The students have English workbooks that keep us on track and Logan and I usually conduct the lessons, helping a great deal with pronunciation. We did a fun lesson about vegetables the other day. We drew different vegetables on different sheets of paper with their names labeled in English. After reviewing them, we made different girls come up and hold the papers and everyone practiced saying the names and we cheered. They laughed and had fun.

I am able to speak to the classes in Spanish, explaining directions and translating what I am asking them to do. The students are very timid about speaking English (except like 3 per class) and I try to encourage them to practice. I tell them that while I can't speak Spanish well, I still just go for it. When I am speaking to them in English, I look at their faces of concentration and slight confusion. Then, it is funny when I translate what I am saying to Spanish and they all smile and say, "aahhh" and then seem to understand what I am saying. The teachers usually sit quietly at the back of the class, as we are able to manage things by ourselves. I think they are learning from us too. I feel like I am really helping.

During the 20 minute recess break, Logan and I walk around the school's big courtyard and the girls dressed in their navy and white uniforms are eager to come up to us and either talk or a lot of times they just stare, content with being next to us. We are certainly different than everyone else in the school. Sometimes we visit one of the two little stores inside the school to get a lollipop or a piece of fruit, which usually costs us about 10 centavos (like maybe 3 cents).

Logan and I wait outside the main gate and cement walls of the school for Alejandro to pick us up at about 12:00 pm. We hop in the van full of volunteers coming home from their various medical clinics and schools and ride back to the house. The little bell signifying lunch usually rings a few minutes after we walk in the door. All of us starving, eagerly rush into the dining room and sit down at our places.

Paulina, the cook, does a great job and fixes a variety of meals (only a few have been repeated since I have been here). There is usually rice, potatoes and some sort of meat. She carefully makes soy meat prepared like the other meat for me every meal too. There are a lot of vegetables and we have salads a lot. We have had soups and different veggie patties. One of my favorite meals has been the fried potato chips that she makes. I also loved the huge bowl of guacamole she made. We had that with big fried wonton chips (because they don't have tortilla chips here) which was a surprisingly good combination. At every meal there is also fruit for dessert. We have pineapple or watermelon a lot and at dinner usually a basket of assorted fruit. Kiwis are the hot item and I have to claim one early before they are gone. I also love the mandarin oranges.

After filling up on lunch, the afternoons are mostly free. A few days a week I lay out in the warm sun on the roof and read my book. I am averaging a book per week. I'd be lying if I said that doesn't usually turn into a nap too. Other days I spend the time after lunch blogging at the little internet cafe next door. Sometimes I walk with someone the 10-15 minute walk into town. We run various "errands" like getting money from the bank or buying a plane ticket back to Lima. I have also enjoyed walking around the markets looking at the various handicrafts or food. The rows of fruits and veggies are fun to walk around and the rows of meat sort of make me nauseated. There are slabs of beef and pork and whole chickens (with yellow feet and sometimes heads still attached) exposed to the open air. Piles of bread and cheese line other aisles.

Once a week we have a speaker come to tell us about various topics. Last week's topic was coca leaves. The older professor told us about the amount of coca leaves produced in Peru and how people use the leaves in legal ways. He spoke in Spanish and Rudy, our program manager, translated to English. Many people chew the leaves which helps with altitude sickness, gives people energy and helps with a variety of medical needs. Others are used for tea. Some for Coca-Cola. These coca leaves are also important in offerings to the apus (mountains) and Pancha Mama (earth). I remember Pancho scattering some coca leaves on the mountain when we were on the llama trek. The professor said there is an enormous discrepancy between the amount of leaves produced and how much are accounted for. Thus, the rest makes up the cocaine industry. He did not talk as much about this as I had hoped, because it seems so interesting that such a large "industry" goes so unregulated or unaccounted for.

The speaker this week spoke about the Shining Path terrorist movement that lasted twenty years. He told us about the history and how another terrorist movement was active during this time. What a terrifying era...so many murders, power outages, bombs and chaos. It was quite an interesting talk but it lasted about two hours by the time the translator told us everything in English.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I got to intermediate Spanish lessons at 5:00. Gustavo, our twenty-six-year-old Peruvian teacher, is really friendly and speaks nice and slowly so we can all understand. We usually speak for the first half-hour and then he helps us practice some sort of skill. Last week we worked on speaking in the past-tense and this week we practiced the subjunctive. We also ask him various questions about things we have encountered or heard during the day. It is actually quite fun. I am enjoying improving my Spanish (a New Year's Resolution 2009). By the time Spanish ends, it is usually dark outside.

Dinner is at about 6:30 and the little bell rings again. Everyone rushes into to the dining room like at lunch. Meals are similar to lunch, but we more often have some type of pasta. I enjoy sitting around hearing about people's days. It is funny how a lot of our days here revolve around meals.

After dinner, I usually brave a cold shower. It feels good to be clean, but it is usually more refreshing when I am hot and sweaty in the afternoon. At night it is just a little painful. Sometimes I luck out though and the water verges on warm. We have also started watching movies before bed. They are all new movies--thus, boot legged of course. You can buy the latest releases here for the bargain price of something like $1. Confessions of a Shopaholic and Star Trek are among two recent viewings. I also like to read a lot before going to bed. I finished a autobiography of an autistic savant and am now working on a novel about a guy who dies and relives his life over and over again.

I usually go to bed about 10:00pm, but the first two weeks I was here it was more like 9:00, exhausted. My bed is warm and it usually doesn't take long to fall asleep.

Another Day, Django Walker