Here's pictures! Most are self-explanatory.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
It's time for an update!
The last few days have been really positive, for the project.. yes, but also for me during this process of getting used to Peru.
This past week, my host-mom started treating me more like a member of the family, rather than just a guest who needs to be waited on hand-and-foot. My friends at university know that I am fiercely independent when it comes to taking care of myself. This morning, she allowed to me to do the dishes... and then after that she allowed me to wash my own laundry. It may sound strange that I am actually happy about this, but its nice to be able to help when someone is allowing you to stay in the house, give you a comfy bed, prepares all your meals etc. That was a good turning point for me because I am starting to feel more at home and regaining my sense of independence.
I am starting to really appreciate where we are living. We are living in the countryside near this town called Cieneguilla. Cieneguilla is where all the richest of the rich have their country homes and chacras. We are living in a pueblito where the people who work the farms live. Its very strange for me being in this position. Everyday we walk by the gates of the richest of the rich, locked out and shielded from view with very tall, concrete walls. At home, I used to live in an estate, guarded by gates and had friends who lived in similar houses. When I went to the Phillipines, Dad and I used to stay the weekend with people who lived in similar houses. It is strange for me to be on the other side, but I appreciate where we are living.
Life here is much slower, more normal. Meat and Vegetables are always fresh. Yesterday for dinner, I had chicken with a salad of lettuce, avocado, tomato, carrot etc. It had all literally come from a market about 2 or 3 hours before. Where we are, there are far fewer people and it is much quieter. The air is much cleaner as well, I can breathe. These were all the things I came to appreciate, especially after we went to Lima.
Earlier in the day, we went to the centre of Lima. It sounds really exciting, but from where we are and depending on where you need to go, it can take between 2 and 3 hours to get into Lima. We travel by Combi, packed in like sardines and the game is positioning yourself so that you can a) hold on for your life if there are no seats b) grab the first free seat that is available. Once you get there, its really foggy and polluted with people everywhere!!! (atleast to the places we need to go) That makes Lima sound really horrible, but it is a gorgeous city in certain parts, but surrounding all the old colonial architecture and plazas, there are poor neighbourhoods and slums that cover the mountain sides as far as the eye can see. When I am there next, I will take a picture to illustrate the contrast. The other thing that struck me after walking around Lima all day, the air is very dirty (I'm really spoiled because I am used to Canadian air haha) Our trip made me really appreciate our simple life. I miss Canada, but just my home comforts and I am starting to really feel at home here. After a few more weeks, the cold showers and lack of washing machines will feel normal too, I'm sure.
I will give an update later about the activities and our lessons. The inauguration at Villa Maria is in a week, soon the project will be completly up and running.
Hasta Luego
Katie
The last few days have been really positive, for the project.. yes, but also for me during this process of getting used to Peru.
This past week, my host-mom started treating me more like a member of the family, rather than just a guest who needs to be waited on hand-and-foot. My friends at university know that I am fiercely independent when it comes to taking care of myself. This morning, she allowed to me to do the dishes... and then after that she allowed me to wash my own laundry. It may sound strange that I am actually happy about this, but its nice to be able to help when someone is allowing you to stay in the house, give you a comfy bed, prepares all your meals etc. That was a good turning point for me because I am starting to feel more at home and regaining my sense of independence.
I am starting to really appreciate where we are living. We are living in the countryside near this town called Cieneguilla. Cieneguilla is where all the richest of the rich have their country homes and chacras. We are living in a pueblito where the people who work the farms live. Its very strange for me being in this position. Everyday we walk by the gates of the richest of the rich, locked out and shielded from view with very tall, concrete walls. At home, I used to live in an estate, guarded by gates and had friends who lived in similar houses. When I went to the Phillipines, Dad and I used to stay the weekend with people who lived in similar houses. It is strange for me to be on the other side, but I appreciate where we are living.
Life here is much slower, more normal. Meat and Vegetables are always fresh. Yesterday for dinner, I had chicken with a salad of lettuce, avocado, tomato, carrot etc. It had all literally come from a market about 2 or 3 hours before. Where we are, there are far fewer people and it is much quieter. The air is much cleaner as well, I can breathe. These were all the things I came to appreciate, especially after we went to Lima.
Earlier in the day, we went to the centre of Lima. It sounds really exciting, but from where we are and depending on where you need to go, it can take between 2 and 3 hours to get into Lima. We travel by Combi, packed in like sardines and the game is positioning yourself so that you can a) hold on for your life if there are no seats b) grab the first free seat that is available. Once you get there, its really foggy and polluted with people everywhere!!! (atleast to the places we need to go) That makes Lima sound really horrible, but it is a gorgeous city in certain parts, but surrounding all the old colonial architecture and plazas, there are poor neighbourhoods and slums that cover the mountain sides as far as the eye can see. When I am there next, I will take a picture to illustrate the contrast. The other thing that struck me after walking around Lima all day, the air is very dirty (I'm really spoiled because I am used to Canadian air haha) Our trip made me really appreciate our simple life. I miss Canada, but just my home comforts and I am starting to really feel at home here. After a few more weeks, the cold showers and lack of washing machines will feel normal too, I'm sure.
I will give an update later about the activities and our lessons. The inauguration at Villa Maria is in a week, soon the project will be completly up and running.
Hasta Luego
Katie
I think I'm giving myself a personality disorder.
It stems from the fact that English and Spanish have very different feels, so in some senses I become a different person in each language. I'm used to my English self while in Canada and my Spanish self here in Peru, but when those barriers break down strange things happen inside my head. Normally I would speak 100% Spanish here, except for a half-hour phone call once a week or so. But with Katie, I've got the opportunity to use English almost any time of the day. Joseph is also trying to practice, so I speak English with him. Switching languages throughout the day takes its toll. It isn't just the mental effort, either: I've realized that emotionally I'm jumping around as I switch my mode of communication, so that these two versions of myself are meeting each other and so far I don't know what to make of the encounter.
People who know me as an English speaker now see me as a Spanish speaker, and vice versa. I wonder what will come of this.
Matt
It stems from the fact that English and Spanish have very different feels, so in some senses I become a different person in each language. I'm used to my English self while in Canada and my Spanish self here in Peru, but when those barriers break down strange things happen inside my head. Normally I would speak 100% Spanish here, except for a half-hour phone call once a week or so. But with Katie, I've got the opportunity to use English almost any time of the day. Joseph is also trying to practice, so I speak English with him. Switching languages throughout the day takes its toll. It isn't just the mental effort, either: I've realized that emotionally I'm jumping around as I switch my mode of communication, so that these two versions of myself are meeting each other and so far I don't know what to make of the encounter.
People who know me as an English speaker now see me as a Spanish speaker, and vice versa. I wonder what will come of this.
Matt
Friday, May 21, 2010
Matt said a lot in the last post, he actually said most of it.
Everyday we face many new challenges and for every down there are many ups.
Yesterday, we learned an important lesson. To get the best response, you need to reach out to the people at a personal level if they don't know you. My Host Mom and I were talking about the project (as we do everyday) and in general, she is very excited about it. I had shared my worries about the project about getting a good response from the parents. To that, she suggested we go door-to-door to invite each family and introduce ourselves. Once we did that, it was a resounding sucess and got over 30 people to come to our first meeting. All in all it was a good day, and as Matt said, we went from having too little, to having too much.
With the current schedule, we are giving computer classes to around 80 students (algo asi) in Villa Maria. Then in the afternoons, we return to Cieneguilla to give classes to the students on M, W, Thr, to the parents W, Thr at night, and then we're giving classes to the Mothers in the town who are partially illiterate 3 times a week. We are reaching out to people in the community at every level, and that is amazing.
The last week had taught us some important lessons. We did not realize what level the majority of the town are starting from. They are starting at the level most of us started at when we first got our computers, as in, learning how to use a mouse or learning the correct way to type. This was not something Matt and I thought about on our thousands of hours of Skype calls.
I am (I can't speak for Matt on this one) realizing as well that we need to lead many programs at the beginning, and then throughout the next few months we need to continually look for someone to hand the programs over to. We also keep stressing that although we are leading the programs now, in August, we are leaving and for the computer centre to continue beyond August, the parents need to step up and organize themselves. We will see what happens.
On the up side, I got to put my feet in the Pacific Ocean today.... it has been awhile.
Katie
Everyday we face many new challenges and for every down there are many ups.
Yesterday, we learned an important lesson. To get the best response, you need to reach out to the people at a personal level if they don't know you. My Host Mom and I were talking about the project (as we do everyday) and in general, she is very excited about it. I had shared my worries about the project about getting a good response from the parents. To that, she suggested we go door-to-door to invite each family and introduce ourselves. Once we did that, it was a resounding sucess and got over 30 people to come to our first meeting. All in all it was a good day, and as Matt said, we went from having too little, to having too much.
With the current schedule, we are giving computer classes to around 80 students (algo asi) in Villa Maria. Then in the afternoons, we return to Cieneguilla to give classes to the students on M, W, Thr, to the parents W, Thr at night, and then we're giving classes to the Mothers in the town who are partially illiterate 3 times a week. We are reaching out to people in the community at every level, and that is amazing.
The last week had taught us some important lessons. We did not realize what level the majority of the town are starting from. They are starting at the level most of us started at when we first got our computers, as in, learning how to use a mouse or learning the correct way to type. This was not something Matt and I thought about on our thousands of hours of Skype calls.
I am (I can't speak for Matt on this one) realizing as well that we need to lead many programs at the beginning, and then throughout the next few months we need to continually look for someone to hand the programs over to. We also keep stressing that although we are leading the programs now, in August, we are leaving and for the computer centre to continue beyond August, the parents need to step up and organize themselves. We will see what happens.
On the up side, I got to put my feet in the Pacific Ocean today.... it has been awhile.
Katie
Big stuff!
Thursday, May 20
So here was a big day. Maybe you'll get to see Katie's take as well, but here's mine.
In the morning we had a meeting with the teachers and the director of the school at Cieneguilla. There are only about five of them, so it's easy to talk and find out what they're thinking. The teachers are particularly excited, and are willing (it seems) to negotiate regarding scheduling and such. The director is another story, but I'll withhold judgement for now. Right now we're a bit limited as to the number of hours that we'll actually have to work with the kids here. That said, the days will be plenty full…more on that in a moment.
Villa Maria is quite different in that there are actually far too many kids for us to work with, and the director is personally meeting with us every time we go, inviting us for tea/coffee and etc. We've got the room cleaned up, so now we're waiting for the grant money to arrive at the end of the month, after which we'll buy the computers and get them set up and ready for the inauguration there on June 2. So good things are happening, but we also have to be a bit patient because we're waiting on the money.
Today, we had a meeting with the parents. We were initially quite worried about turnout, and whether or not anyone would be willing to come and discuss the project. Katie's host mom suggested going around door to door to introduce ourselves and invite people out personally. It turned out to be a great idea. Of course the 7:00 meeting began more like 7:30, but that's to be expected here. We had so many people that we couldn't fit in the computer lab and we had to use a full-size classroom instead. I would estimate about 35 people were there. We established a schedule for teaching the adults to use the computers, and the 20 spots were filled and more still wanted to sign up. We have to try to work it out so that we can teach everyone who wants to learn while also having some hours at night of general access. Right now the classes will be 6-7 and 7-8pm on Wed and Thurs. The plan is to have access open 6-10pm every weekday, and 11am-10pm on weekends. Who opens it? Us. What does that mean? We will be overloaded. So of course it's urgent to find a volunteer or possibly hire someone to take over some of the hours, or we will collapse in a heap sometime around next Thursday. If we're exhausted, how can we possibly be good teachers in the evenings?
So many new issues are presenting themselves. I like that. It's preferable to be slightly overwhelmed than to be left twiddling your thumbs for most of the day. That was my issue initially in Villa Martha, back in 2007. It took a long time to actually be busy. Here we're jumping in with a bang, doing as much as possible and more. From there we will be asking for, and by that I mean demanding, help. It makes sense, because someone needs to take over completely by mid-August when we leave. They'll need a couple months to get comfortable, so it has to begin now.
This week is the trial. We'll have our first schedule that slightly resembles what we'll do for the next three weeks. I fully expect it to change several times, but more or less it'll retain the same format. After this week we'll also be able to truly evaluate how busy we can be and what is feasible going forward.
Oh, and it was perfectly sunny today! First time in two weeks. Last?
Matt
May 13
First up, here's a post I never posted, from May 13:
May 13
A whole week.
As in most experiences like this one, it seems strange that only a week has passed but at the same time I can't believe that it's already gone. Some snippets of the journey so far:
When I think, large portions are in Spanish. I have to work at keeping things in English. I didn't expect that, not this soon anyway. Strange how a language can hide away and then perk up as if it hadn't been ignored for two years.
Spanish feels like the language the world was made for. I'm not sure how to better describe it. It's the way a 25-cent bus ride on gravel straight through the river would sound if it had a language.
The sound of Lima: Subesubesubesube toalamarINAAAA! Javieprauuujavieprau! Multiply that by fourteen and add six lanes of car horns.
I avoid saying words in Spanish that contain the letter r. I worked for ages to pronounce both r and rr, and that's gone now. It's the most typically gringo mistake to make, so I'm embarrassed for myself that I can manage so well until I have to speak.
It seems my memories are very auditory. Is anyone surprised?
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Inauguration, Villa Maria photos
Here's some photos from the Inauguration at La Libertad in Cieneguilla, as well as some of Villa Martha and the state of their "computer lab"...complete with rusted machines from 1995 that occasionally rattle if you pick them up. Today we did a big cleanup effort, of which photos will be appearing shortly.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
I have been in Peru for 3 days. It was a crazy trip, one that should have lasted 24 hours and ended up lasting 38 (?) hours with one unplanned night in Miami. The other highlight was when the airline lost my bags for 4 days. Finally, I picked them up yesterday and could change into clean clothes. The last 3 days have been crazy, but I will try to sum them up.
I arrived in Lima at night on Saturday and at 6am on Sunday we set off for Cieneguilla, the place we will call home for the next 3 months.We had the inauguration ceremony to open the sala de computo. The entire town was there and the mayor of cieneguilla came down. It's actually really amazing to see the people's reactions to the computers and compare those to how I feel about my computer. They seemed fascinated... I see my computer as a necessity, but something I can't wait to free myself from when I can. After that, we got to explore the pueblito. It is very small with one main street, uno o dos bodegas (like the depanneurs in Montreal)
I am living with a pretty young family, but they've been really kind to me... always making me hot plate of rice with some typical peruvian food and I have alot of private space. Comparing the food here to the food in Canada or USA is kind of funny. For breakfast here, we eat alot of Pan or something savory, with alot of potatos and rice. I never really have sweet stuff, and very few vegetables... and some fruit. We drink alot of tea (en español se llama aguita) becuase it is alot safer than drinking water straight from the tap.
The other awesome thing about Peru is the transportation. They don't have a public bus system around Lima...so we take Combis or Carros. The Combis have specific routes and fixed prices for different distances, and there are stops but they aren't as fixed as in Canada. Bajas cuando quieras bajar y Subes cuando quieras subir. They're fun tho because its like going on an amusement park ride without having to pay alot of money. You kind of bounce around and if you're lucky, you get a seat or you can stand... and then have to hold on for dear life. As Matt said before I came, It feels abit like bullriding.
The weather is... not very nice. It{s winter here, so there isn't alot of sunshine. It's about 15-25 degrees during the day, but its very humid, so it feels alot cooler. It's always very cloudy, in peruanese, we call it Nublina. Its a very thick cloud that comes up from the sea, and doesn't go away for most of winter. APPARENTLY, where we're living, it is sunny on some days. I hope so!
We went to the other school today in Villa Maria del Triunfo, another pueblo o cuidad close to Lima. We took around the other aulo del computo and tried to salvage parts from the computers that were there before. It was pretty funny, most of them had massive screens and specs like pentium II processors at 500 ghz with 360 mb ram or something (round numbers) but it was still pretty funny. Needless to say, they were pretty ancient and of 9 computers, we decided to keep 3 or them. In the second school, we will probably get 13 computers in total- for a school of 500. This will stop me from ever complaining about the computers at McGill ever again. Hopefully the computers we're buying will last a while. They are running much better processors at 2.8 GHZ and 2 Gb Ram. Matt will post pictures from our little adventure later.
In the coming days, we are meeting with the profes and the APAFA from each school to discuss the horario and the contenido for each program. We should have a good idea of what we'll be doing for the next 3 months in the coming days. After that, we have to sit down and plan the various activity sessions for the kids and parents from each school. We are all realizing that our days are going to be very long as we run sessions in each place, shuttle por combi between the two places, eat and plan.. and some how have downtime. Although, I don't think the days will be as long as during EMC summer, so at the moment, I can say that I've survived worse. In the mean time, I need to keep working on my spanish to that in 2 weeks I can do our presentation at Villa Maria and run the activity sessions. Luckily I have Matt to act like he doesn't understand me when I'm being lazy! hehe jk Gemelo!
Long post.. but alot has happened in the last fews days. At the moment, I am feeling very optimistic and excited about the next 3 months. It's going to be very hard, but so far things are going well and I hope that the trip down turns out to be the worse part of the whole trip!!!
Hasta Luego,
Katie
I arrived in Lima at night on Saturday and at 6am on Sunday we set off for Cieneguilla, the place we will call home for the next 3 months.We had the inauguration ceremony to open the sala de computo. The entire town was there and the mayor of cieneguilla came down. It's actually really amazing to see the people's reactions to the computers and compare those to how I feel about my computer. They seemed fascinated... I see my computer as a necessity, but something I can't wait to free myself from when I can. After that, we got to explore the pueblito. It is very small with one main street, uno o dos bodegas (like the depanneurs in Montreal)
I am living with a pretty young family, but they've been really kind to me... always making me hot plate of rice with some typical peruvian food and I have alot of private space. Comparing the food here to the food in Canada or USA is kind of funny. For breakfast here, we eat alot of Pan or something savory, with alot of potatos and rice. I never really have sweet stuff, and very few vegetables... and some fruit. We drink alot of tea (en español se llama aguita) becuase it is alot safer than drinking water straight from the tap.
The other awesome thing about Peru is the transportation. They don't have a public bus system around Lima...so we take Combis or Carros. The Combis have specific routes and fixed prices for different distances, and there are stops but they aren't as fixed as in Canada. Bajas cuando quieras bajar y Subes cuando quieras subir. They're fun tho because its like going on an amusement park ride without having to pay alot of money. You kind of bounce around and if you're lucky, you get a seat or you can stand... and then have to hold on for dear life. As Matt said before I came, It feels abit like bullriding.
The weather is... not very nice. It{s winter here, so there isn't alot of sunshine. It's about 15-25 degrees during the day, but its very humid, so it feels alot cooler. It's always very cloudy, in peruanese, we call it Nublina. Its a very thick cloud that comes up from the sea, and doesn't go away for most of winter. APPARENTLY, where we're living, it is sunny on some days. I hope so!
We went to the other school today in Villa Maria del Triunfo, another pueblo o cuidad close to Lima. We took around the other aulo del computo and tried to salvage parts from the computers that were there before. It was pretty funny, most of them had massive screens and specs like pentium II processors at 500 ghz with 360 mb ram or something (round numbers) but it was still pretty funny. Needless to say, they were pretty ancient and of 9 computers, we decided to keep 3 or them. In the second school, we will probably get 13 computers in total- for a school of 500. This will stop me from ever complaining about the computers at McGill ever again. Hopefully the computers we're buying will last a while. They are running much better processors at 2.8 GHZ and 2 Gb Ram. Matt will post pictures from our little adventure later.
In the coming days, we are meeting with the profes and the APAFA from each school to discuss the horario and the contenido for each program. We should have a good idea of what we'll be doing for the next 3 months in the coming days. After that, we have to sit down and plan the various activity sessions for the kids and parents from each school. We are all realizing that our days are going to be very long as we run sessions in each place, shuttle por combi between the two places, eat and plan.. and some how have downtime. Although, I don't think the days will be as long as during EMC summer, so at the moment, I can say that I've survived worse. In the mean time, I need to keep working on my spanish to that in 2 weeks I can do our presentation at Villa Maria and run the activity sessions. Luckily I have Matt to act like he doesn't understand me when I'm being lazy! hehe jk Gemelo!
Long post.. but alot has happened in the last fews days. At the moment, I am feeling very optimistic and excited about the next 3 months. It's going to be very hard, but so far things are going well and I hope that the trip down turns out to be the worse part of the whole trip!!!
Hasta Luego,
Katie
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Inauguración
Soon I'll get some pictures up from today's inauguration celebration at La Libertad. Let's say it included a ribbon cutting as well as a champagne bottle. Fortunately the champagne was contained away from the computers. The mayor was there, along with a good number of parents, teachers, and people from the town. The excitement was evident, as everyone milled about the computers and peeked through windows to catch a glimpse of the action. You get a sense of wonder from all of it. I really hope to take this energy and build on it with our activity program.
It was a full day: Seeing Katie as she soaks in the new country, trying to remember names as I meet everyone in the city within the space of an hour, crazy combi rides and it's all new but it has a familiar feeling to it. I've done this before, just in a different context and a couple years ago. It's been great meeting up with old friends from Villa Martha and there are stil others to track down.
It's very difficult to think in long phrases. I think switching between English and Spanish is harder than just sticking to Spanish. At least I know what to expect then...
Hasta pronto.
Matt
It was a full day: Seeing Katie as she soaks in the new country, trying to remember names as I meet everyone in the city within the space of an hour, crazy combi rides and it's all new but it has a familiar feeling to it. I've done this before, just in a different context and a couple years ago. It's been great meeting up with old friends from Villa Martha and there are stil others to track down.
It's very difficult to think in long phrases. I think switching between English and Spanish is harder than just sticking to Spanish. At least I know what to expect then...
Hasta pronto.
Matt
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
In a few days...
The last month has been a whirlwind, but everything seems so far away now. I'm making the final preparations for the trip. Over the past week, I have been visiting alot of family and meeting up with old friends and they have all asked me how I am feeling about the project. For the first time, it was very hard for me to put how I'm feeling into words. It is a strange combination of being extremely excited about the entire project, about seeing Peru which I've heard so much about, experience the culture and speak spanish for 3 months; at the same time, I'm feeling nervous about the challenge of the project, knowing that its success rests on our shoulders and that there is no manual or template of how to make the project run smoothly. I'm also nervous because unlike school where you can easily predict and know what to expect, with this project, I have no idea how it will go and I can't foresee the next 3 months. I'm leaving my "cellphone" my macbook, the deadlines and english behind for the next 3 months, it's such an awesome, liberating feeling. My Spanish is coming back... thanks to Harry Potter y Las Reliquias de la Muerte and mexican gossip shows....
There are a few things I'm not leaving behind... Books about the Midde East and English Breakfast Tea. My next post will be using the computers in the lab in Cieneguilla!
Hasta Luego
Katie
There are a few things I'm not leaving behind... Books about the Midde East and English Breakfast Tea. My next post will be using the computers in the lab in Cieneguilla!
Hasta Luego
Katie
A photo bonanza
These first photos (edit: which unfortunately appear in reverse order, so the last photos) are from Villa Maria (Matsu Utsumi school, blue) from my visit there on Friday. They have a little room that has recently started functioning as a ceramics workshop, which I think could find a way to integrate itself with the Conectados project.
There was a meeting in Cieneguilla (La Libertad school, yellow) today so I went along with Isaac to check things out. These are a bunch of photos from there. The area is much smaller than the photos make it seem--I was a bit surprised by that. Right now the connection is a bit unstable because the modem is connected directly at the computer, but the plan is to get an extension cable so that it can go up to the roof or outside and get a better signal. They're getting speeds of about 500kbps when it should be around 1300. Of course when the lab isn't open they'll keep it inside, locked behind two padlocks and a deadbolted iron-barred door. Without tempting fate, I challenge someone to break through that.
The teachers (appearing the Cieneguilla photos) are exceptionally motivated by this project becoming reality. There was a lot of uncontrollable smiling in the meeting, and they're already coming up with ideas of how it can expand into other aspects of the community and school. Word is getting out, they say, and kids from outside as well as adults have been asking if they'll get to use it. Happily the answer is yes! We just need to work out a system of when and how to teach them and a schedule, etc. The teachers joked that next year their enrollment will double because of the internet connection's appeal. Although there are still issues to resolve in regards to who takes responsibility when things go wrong, the energy is very positive and everyone wants this to work now that it's actually there and not just hot air.
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