Oropesa

Guess what everyone!? I am sick again. Argh! The flu this time I think. But I got some medicine, not sure what it does since medicine comes in only the pill case without the information. The good news is I am really excited right now because I just agreed to do a 4 day hike to Machu Picchu, on the jungle path!! (If only I had my camera)

Ok Oropesa!

We are here! Oropesa is going to be a huge growing experience for me. It is a small town of just 4000 people and only 2 white people (Gringos (guess who?)) Never have I been the minority, I mean there have been times when I have been a minority, but only temporarily. Gringos so rarely come here that when Sara and I walk around the town, we gather a parade that follows us around. And if we sit down to have some juice at the local bakery, at least 10 kids will be sitting outside watching us, their favorite prase being "Como se dice (word) en ingles?" (how do you say, (--) in English) For example, "Como se dice mono en ingles?" I respond "monkey," then everyone laughs, and we start the cycle over again.  I might start offering to have my picture taken and charge a sol.

A positive thing is everywhere we go in town we see students from school who instantly hollar "hello teacher" and "bye-bye teacher!" Teaching at the school here is a bit intimidating. 1.) Its all in Spanish, and right now my spanish still sucks when 20 kids are talking to me. 2.) I am a white giant.

So far this is how a school day goes... We arrive at 10am and walk to the director´s office to say we are here and to see which class is in the most need today (sometimes classes do not have teachers and we fill in) while we are waiting, every child who glimpsed our being will run to us, grab our arms to see if we are real, then ask if we will play. This will cause a noise and the few kids who are still in their classrooms will peek outside, see us as a still target and come running for us. Then the new-comers will grab our arms and ask us to play, teach them English or teach an art class. Somehow Roxana, the director and our housemate, says some magic words and the kids go back to their classrooms and Sara and I go to our assigned classes. The kids here are extreamly energetic and, at times violent. Anywhere from kicking and punching one another to using a slingshot to fire fruit peels at each other. This is all fine with me because the kids here are also very tough, but my problem is I do not know the words to discipline them. Little by little (poco a poco). I have also been asked to help design some murals for the school. Now some photos!


A chicken on the roof of our house in Oropesa.

Sara reading to her new friends