La Salle

The environmental education volunteers teach at 711 on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. On Wednesdays and Fridays (market days in Urubamba), we work with La Salle, an organization that cultivates and sells organic fruits and vegetables (to Urubamba and some restaurants in Cuzco). Two of us work in the market in Urubamba, selling the fruits and veggies, while the other two work in the greenhouse, taking care of the plants (then we switch).

The market in Urubamba (on market days), is ginormous! It covers at least a block-wide radius, if not more, including a 3-story warehouse full with vendors. Apparently all the vendors come from the communities around Urubamba, to sell their products. All types of trinkets, grains, bread, fresh fruit/veggie/meat, etc. can be found here, and it's an experience to just walk around and see what everyone has. La Salle has a little space outside of the warehouse, and there, we sell what's ripe and ready. People come to the market at 7 for the freshest items, and the produce generally runs out by noon. Yesterday, Emily and I sold tomatoes ("¡uno cincuenta por kilo!" - 1.50 soles per kilo of tomatoes), and it was pretty cool. The gente would come, ask about the price, ask for a set price/weight, and we would help them. A custom here, is that if they're exactly at, say one kilo, then they want to "aumentame", or add some more (for free). This happens especially with the older women of Urubamba, and if they ask for it, you just give them a smaller, slightly damaged tomato for free. That's the market!

In the greenhouse, we do weeding around the plants and generally prepare the ground to grow really, really good organic fruits + veggies.  (organic strawberries are Ah-mazing!) There are baby pigs, baby cows, regular/gigantic sized cows (only females to produce milk, they sell the males).  La Salle produces organic: tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, beets, peppers, milk, yogurt, etc. It's pretty cool!

#organicwin #babycowsarecute #markettime

Sickness Part Deux

So...I' haven't been feeling well for the past 4/5 days.  I went to a doctor today, and the mystery infection is....

(drumroll)

¡Intestinal Infection and Amoebas!

#wompwomp #seriously #ouch

711

So after teaching all three classes, I think I can comment on how things are / are going to be. All the students have a uniform, which consists of tan button down shirts with epaulets and matching tan pants (sometimes with a hat), and then a sweater if they're cold. All the students are super cute - upon walking into the school, we're immediately surrounded by students excited to see us (calling out "¡Profe!", short for profesor), and in some cases, I'm called "ProfeDavid." It's adorable :)

Emily and I are teaching 3 different 6th grade classes, the oldest in 711. What's interesting is how each of the 3 classes differ (mostly) based on the teacher. In 6A, the profesora is really strict, and the class is super quiet as a result. In 6B, the teacher is pretty chill and nice, and the class is really energetic and fun to teach. In 6C, the teacher seems good…but today when Emily and I taught his class for the first time, he kinda dipped out on us for all of the class, except for the first ten minutes. Read: Emily and I had to control one of the more inherently rowdy classes by ourselves (not that bad but still). Regardless of the class dynamic, I love teaching these kids, and I think that the next 7 weeks are going to be excellent. (this week we focused on icebreakers, trying and failing to remember names, and gauging their level of knowledge of the environment and english). After I work in the greenhouse tomorrow, I'll post about that aspect of my project work.


#socute #imateacherquestionmark #myspanishisbetterthanithought

Peru Pictures!

For those of you that want to see, all of the pictures I've taken so far in Peru can be found here.

#youshouldseethis

Project Time (here we go)

So, for those who aren't exactly sure on what I'm doing in Peru, I'm teaching the environment to 6th graders in Urubamba for most of the time. Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, I get to go to the 711 school, which is so exciting! The kids are really cute - we met them today, and they just congregated around us (due to us sticking out like a sore thumb). We were there for recess, and we got to play volleyball with them (super fun). I think this will be pretty challenging, considering that we have to make lesson plans and make sure our spanish is up to par for actually teaching for an hour and a half at a time (~1 hr for environment, ~30 min for English teaching). On the days that we don't teach at 711, we get to either work in a greenhouse cultivating plants, or selling those plants at a market! There'll be more on all of this later, but that's the basic rundown.

#socool #excited #littlenervous

Peruvian Sickness

So I got sick last night. I think it's a combination of altitude sickness and possibly something I ate. To all future volunteers, take your altitude sickness pills, and watch what you eat, since getting sick here kinda sucks. It consisted of trying to sleep, getting woken up by stomach pains, vomiting, and sleeping again. Only after consuming copious amounts of pineapple "Electrolight" branded gatorade, and taking some medicine for stomach pain, did I finally fall asleep for good. First to fall in Urubamba.

#wompwomp #dontgetsick #oofe

Peruvian Politics

From what I've gleamed from my host family, the next few years of Peruvian politics will be a bit rough. The current president has done a good job, raising the country's economic state, but presidential terms only last 5 years, and the election is this June 5th. The two candidates are Keiko and Ollanta. Choosing between the both is described as choosing between the lesser of two evils (los dos son malo y malo). Keiko is the daughter of a past dictator of Peru, who is currently banished from the country. If elected, she has clearly said that she's going to let her father back into the country, so who knows. Ollanta is described as a Hugo Chavez-like character. Thus, no one in Peru really knows who to vote for, and unfortunately, voting is mandatory here. Elections are on June 5th, so we'll see how the country reacts.

#uhoh