Yesterday I didn't update my blog because I left the house at 8am and didn't get back until after 10:00. We woke up early to head to Pachacamac which is a site about an hour from Lima that has some Inca Ruins. It was kinda hard to get excited about them because next week we're going to Cusco to visit Machu Pichu which is going to be far more exciting and amazing. Afterwards we went to a food fair and ate soem really good Peruvian food (in case you didn't know Peru has been named the second best country for food behind France). After we got back we went to a soccer game between the Club team from Lima and a club team from Ayacucho. In my head I was rooting for Ayacucho but everyone else there was for Lima so I didn't let it show. Lima ended up winning and then we headed back to the house and came back in a little after 10:00, ate dinner, and then at that point I was exhausted and decided to got to bed.
Then this morning we went to visit a church and got to tour the catacombs there. On my way over there I past a protestant church and they happened to be playing a song that I knew (todo poderoso). I only know 4 or 5 songs in spanish and so for them to happen to be playing one of them at the moment I was passing by was a pretty cool experience. Other than that not much has happened since my last post and I'm pretty tired so I think I'm going to go take a nap.
Chao,
Brandon
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
What really is best?
So I've said a million times that i was going to try to update more often and so I'm going to follow up this time (at least for today). A lot goes on each day, some things that are very interesting and others...well...are just plain boring. As I mentioned in my last post I've started my second class on Politics, Society, and Economics of Peru. The class has been very informative and although I would love to share everything I have already learned I'm going to stick to one topic at a time.
Today in our class on Peruvian Society we watched a short film on schools in Peru. First i need to start off by explaining that in Peru there are many different indigenous languages with the predominant one being Quechua which over 4.4 million people (19% of the population) speak. Indigenous languages, however, are often looked down upon and people who speak Quechua are considered lower class. Because of this, many schools (and even parents) are trying to phase out Quechua by only teaching and speaking Spanish in their schools. Imagine for a second if you were raised speaking English and then when you when you made it to Kindergarden you walked in to only hear Spanish. It would be a little difficult wouldn't it? Like most countries there are certain goals that kids are supposed to achieve before they can move on to the next grade. In second grade Peruvian children are expected to read a 60 word story in under 60 seconds and comprehend what it is they read.
The video showed 3 different schools, a private school in Lima, a public school in Lima and a bilingual school in Cusco. The children in the Private school read the story in well under a minute and were able to answer all of the corresponding questions to the reading. The movie then transitioned into the second school where many of the children struggled to read and obviously were not comprehending what they were reading, in fact, a statistic was even shown that 19% of the school could not even read a single word. This was due in part to poor education but also due to the fact that many of these children had been raised speaking Quechua and so they had much difficulty transitioning into Spanish speaking schools. The final school that was shown was the bilingual school in Cusco in which, instead of Spanish, the kids were given a story in Quechua and all were able to read it within the time limit and answer all the questions. The next part was the most surprising. The kids were then given a story in Spanish and again all were able to read it in the designated time limit and answer the corresponding questions. When interviewed, the teacher explained that it is important to first teach the kids in there primary language, and once the kids have developed a capacity to learn they can then be taught Spanish. So while the rest of the schools are trying to cleanse the country of Quechua they are in the process hindering these childrens ability to learn while the schools such as the one in Cusco are raising children to be bilingual and developing a capacity to learn that is even greater than that of the private schools in Lima.
That's great but that's Peru, it doesn't affect us right? We know what's best. Our way really is always the right way, we never surpress someone who could develop better if they did things their own way. There isn't a better way to do things than the way we've always done it. We don't need to be open to other peoples ways of thinking, to other people's cultures, or to other peoples languages.
Maybe every now and then we should take a step back from the way we've been doing things. If we're not getting the results that we want then maybe we've been going about business the wrong way. Maybe we should look at what other people are doing and see if their way really is better. Maybe we should be open to other peoples ideas. Maybe we shouldn't be so afraid of change. Maybe we should give the other guy a chance every now and then. We have a choice, we can go about life the way we always have, we can stick to what we know or we can open our eyes, open our minds, and see what's going on in the world around us. I bet we'd be surprised to see how little we really know.
Brandon
P.S. If you haven't seen my video of the kids in Peru check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf5r7w5x-MI
Today in our class on Peruvian Society we watched a short film on schools in Peru. First i need to start off by explaining that in Peru there are many different indigenous languages with the predominant one being Quechua which over 4.4 million people (19% of the population) speak. Indigenous languages, however, are often looked down upon and people who speak Quechua are considered lower class. Because of this, many schools (and even parents) are trying to phase out Quechua by only teaching and speaking Spanish in their schools. Imagine for a second if you were raised speaking English and then when you when you made it to Kindergarden you walked in to only hear Spanish. It would be a little difficult wouldn't it? Like most countries there are certain goals that kids are supposed to achieve before they can move on to the next grade. In second grade Peruvian children are expected to read a 60 word story in under 60 seconds and comprehend what it is they read.
The video showed 3 different schools, a private school in Lima, a public school in Lima and a bilingual school in Cusco. The children in the Private school read the story in well under a minute and were able to answer all of the corresponding questions to the reading. The movie then transitioned into the second school where many of the children struggled to read and obviously were not comprehending what they were reading, in fact, a statistic was even shown that 19% of the school could not even read a single word. This was due in part to poor education but also due to the fact that many of these children had been raised speaking Quechua and so they had much difficulty transitioning into Spanish speaking schools. The final school that was shown was the bilingual school in Cusco in which, instead of Spanish, the kids were given a story in Quechua and all were able to read it within the time limit and answer all the questions. The next part was the most surprising. The kids were then given a story in Spanish and again all were able to read it in the designated time limit and answer the corresponding questions. When interviewed, the teacher explained that it is important to first teach the kids in there primary language, and once the kids have developed a capacity to learn they can then be taught Spanish. So while the rest of the schools are trying to cleanse the country of Quechua they are in the process hindering these childrens ability to learn while the schools such as the one in Cusco are raising children to be bilingual and developing a capacity to learn that is even greater than that of the private schools in Lima.
That's great but that's Peru, it doesn't affect us right? We know what's best. Our way really is always the right way, we never surpress someone who could develop better if they did things their own way. There isn't a better way to do things than the way we've always done it. We don't need to be open to other peoples ways of thinking, to other people's cultures, or to other peoples languages.
Maybe every now and then we should take a step back from the way we've been doing things. If we're not getting the results that we want then maybe we've been going about business the wrong way. Maybe we should look at what other people are doing and see if their way really is better. Maybe we should be open to other peoples ideas. Maybe we shouldn't be so afraid of change. Maybe we should give the other guy a chance every now and then. We have a choice, we can go about life the way we always have, we can stick to what we know or we can open our eyes, open our minds, and see what's going on in the world around us. I bet we'd be surprised to see how little we really know.
Brandon
P.S. If you haven't seen my video of the kids in Peru check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mf5r7w5x-MI
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Sorry
Sorry it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post because to be honest I completely forgot about it. I'm really enjoying Lima and I can tell that my Spanish has gotten better. I am still far from being fluent but I can get around pretty well. I've also gotten to know the city and can get around pretty well on their bus system (which although the drivers here are crazy they have a very good public transportation and you can get pretty much anywhere for 2 soles or less which is about 65 cents American). I have 2 classes which are really like 4 because while one of my classes is all Spanish grammar my other class is social, economic, and political reality of Peru. I just started my second class on Tuesday and am really enjoying it because I'm learning more about Peru and it's past. My days mostly consist of going to classes and going on a few mini excursions here in Lima. I've also gone out to some dicsotecas and although my Salsa dancing has gotten better it is still far from good haha. Next week we'll be leaving for Cusco and visit the ruins and Machu Pichu so I'm really looking forward to that.
On another note, I've unfortunately felt my faith slipping a little bit since I've arrived here in Lmia. Lima has a busy lifestyle much like that of the US and so I have found myself with less free time and have not been reading my bible or praying near as much as I did in Ayacucho. This makes me kind of sad because my faith was growing so strong in Ayacucho despite being surrounded by other volunteers who were mostly Athiests or Agnostics, but now that I'm in Lima it has grown stagnant. It also happened right under my nose and it probably would have continued if I didn't stop to reevaluate myself and this blog is helping a little bit too. I do have a lot of free time here but unlike in Ayacucho I have more distractions here such as TV, internet, other English speaking people (HAHA) and just general distractions that come with a big city. The good thing is that I've made myself more aware of it so hopefully after writing this I'll discipline myself to try to get back to where I was in my faith in Ayacucho.
That's about it for now, there have been many fun and interesting things that have happened but I probably couldn't put it into an interesting story and it would be hard to pick out which events to tell so instead I'm just going to try to do a better job of updating frequently so I can go into detail about some of the smaller things that happened.
Later,
Brandon
On another note, I've unfortunately felt my faith slipping a little bit since I've arrived here in Lmia. Lima has a busy lifestyle much like that of the US and so I have found myself with less free time and have not been reading my bible or praying near as much as I did in Ayacucho. This makes me kind of sad because my faith was growing so strong in Ayacucho despite being surrounded by other volunteers who were mostly Athiests or Agnostics, but now that I'm in Lima it has grown stagnant. It also happened right under my nose and it probably would have continued if I didn't stop to reevaluate myself and this blog is helping a little bit too. I do have a lot of free time here but unlike in Ayacucho I have more distractions here such as TV, internet, other English speaking people (HAHA) and just general distractions that come with a big city. The good thing is that I've made myself more aware of it so hopefully after writing this I'll discipline myself to try to get back to where I was in my faith in Ayacucho.
That's about it for now, there have been many fun and interesting things that have happened but I probably couldn't put it into an interesting story and it would be hard to pick out which events to tell so instead I'm just going to try to do a better job of updating frequently so I can go into detail about some of the smaller things that happened.
Later,
Brandon
Monday, June 22, 2009
A little bit different
Sorry that I'm only updating once a week now, it's manly just because I'm being lazy. The first week in Lima has been pretty fun, we went dancing a few times and have been out to get some Peruvian cuisine which is really good. My family here is really nice and they are always making sure that I am not cold and that I am well fed. So far I have visited the point which is a piece of land in Lima that juts out so it's completely surrounded by water, the Plaza de las Aramas in Lima, the orphanage I visited last time in Lima (and they said I can't work there so I need to look for another one) and a couple of other little suburbs in Lima. I want to go to go visit some cities in Peru this weekend but everyone that was going to go with me backed out at the last minute for different reasons and so now I'm not sure if I can go. A lot has gone on the last week but at the same time not much has gone on so it's kinda hard to write a blog. I promise I'll try to update more often
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Lima so far
First things first, I guess the US is ignorant to whats going on in Lima b/c apparently some people thought that I was in some kind of danger. The unrest that is going on is only in the Amazon areas so in otherwords I'm about 1000 miles away from where the people were killed. There are protests going on close to me but the most danger they really possess is the cops throwing some smoke and or/ gas grenades to clear the crowds.
I made it to Lima on Saturday morning and have already gotten adjusted to where I'm staying. It is super nice here, I have my own room, there is a nice living room with leather furniture, a super nice kitchen with a large TV and the bathrooms have hot water and bidets. The family is also nice with the Grandmother, 2 guys one in his 20's the other 17 and 2 ladies in their late 20's early 30's. The mother here is really sweet and also is constantly shoving food down our throats (it's good but she keeps piling it on and I can barely finish it all). This time there is no disclaimer because this is actually how I'm living. I'll try to upload some photos for everyone later.
Also, I've only had one day of classes so far but they seem like they will be easy and on top of that my 5 weeks consist of a 3 day week, another 3 day week, a 4 day week, a 3 day week, and then another 4 day week with my final on the fifth day. Needless to say, the classes here should be pretty lax allowing me to enjoy my; stay more. I also might start looking for orphanages this weekend because my classes end at 3:30 so I could spend a couple of hours each day at an orphanage if it's not too far away.
Chao for now,
Brandon
I made it to Lima on Saturday morning and have already gotten adjusted to where I'm staying. It is super nice here, I have my own room, there is a nice living room with leather furniture, a super nice kitchen with a large TV and the bathrooms have hot water and bidets. The family is also nice with the Grandmother, 2 guys one in his 20's the other 17 and 2 ladies in their late 20's early 30's. The mother here is really sweet and also is constantly shoving food down our throats (it's good but she keeps piling it on and I can barely finish it all). This time there is no disclaimer because this is actually how I'm living. I'll try to upload some photos for everyone later.
Also, I've only had one day of classes so far but they seem like they will be easy and on top of that my 5 weeks consist of a 3 day week, another 3 day week, a 4 day week, a 3 day week, and then another 4 day week with my final on the fifth day. Needless to say, the classes here should be pretty lax allowing me to enjoy my; stay more. I also might start looking for orphanages this weekend because my classes end at 3:30 so I could spend a couple of hours each day at an orphanage if it's not too far away.
Chao for now,
Brandon
Thursday, June 11, 2009
My Trek Up the Mountain
Sorry that it's been so long again but there have been some factors such as working overtime to try to get this movie shot, electricity was down one day, the internet was down another, but anyways here's me update for today.
On monday I went with 5 other volunteers to visit a cross on the top of a mountain. There is this lit Cross that you can see from pretty much everywhere in Ayacucho and we heard that it was a great view so we decided to go. I followed Matt because he said he new how to get there but when we got off the bus we found out that we were a little over 2 hr hike from the cross but then we were pointed to another wooden cross that was only about a half our hike. So we decided to hike up to see this cross as well as the view. It was quite a trek and was very dusty getting up there and the dust, altitude, and being out of shape were getting to me because once we got up there I felt like that cross was for me. Anyways, we got to the top and the view was amazing and the sun was setting over the other side of the mountain so it gave it an even better look.
In other news, there has been some unrest the past couple of weeks because some agreements with the US have opened up the amazon for energy research and bio development and the native Peruvians are not happy about that so they have been setting up road blocks as well as running cables across the rivers so that boats can not pass. Well last week it got violent and about 30 were killed and again a couple of days ago some police officers were being help hostage and in the process of freeing them around 35 more were killed and somewhere around 150 were injured. As a result, the whole country is on strike indefinetely so the markets are closed (and markets here does not mean stock market) as well as some other places here and there. I haven't checked the bus stations yet but if they are closed then that will mean that I wont be able to get out of Ayacucho.
Friday, June 5, 2009
A Little Update
Sorry for the lack jof updates but I´ve been trying to make these posts interesting and frankly nothing out of the ordinary has happened this past week. I leave Ayacucho next friday and I can´t believe I only have one more week because it feels like I got here yesterday, as expected I´m really glad that I decided to not just come here to study for a month because I could not imagine only spending a month here but I have a feeling after two and a half months it still wont feel like enough.
As for what I´ve been doing this past week, on Sunday I went and visited some churches but out of the 12 I visited only 3 were open but one of them was holding mass so I sat through that but had a little difficulty paying attention because the sound system was kinda fuzzy, I was tired, the kid behind me wouldn´t stop talking/kicking, oh yeah and the whole speaking Spanish thing.
The rest of the week went pretty much as normal, I worked with the Lupes 3 times and the Pequeños once and I have today and tomorrow off so I´m going to try to go visit some more sites before I leave. I also brought up the idea of making a movie to Gill, the Dad here, and he was very accepting and gave me permission to interview some of the señoritas and the kids. I also brought up the idea to the other volunteers and they are very excited about it so I´m going to start working on that this afternoon. That´s pretty much it for now, I just figured I´d give a little update since I haven´t done so in almost a week.
Peace,
Brandon
As for what I´ve been doing this past week, on Sunday I went and visited some churches but out of the 12 I visited only 3 were open but one of them was holding mass so I sat through that but had a little difficulty paying attention because the sound system was kinda fuzzy, I was tired, the kid behind me wouldn´t stop talking/kicking, oh yeah and the whole speaking Spanish thing.
The rest of the week went pretty much as normal, I worked with the Lupes 3 times and the Pequeños once and I have today and tomorrow off so I´m going to try to go visit some more sites before I leave. I also brought up the idea of making a movie to Gill, the Dad here, and he was very accepting and gave me permission to interview some of the señoritas and the kids. I also brought up the idea to the other volunteers and they are very excited about it so I´m going to start working on that this afternoon. That´s pretty much it for now, I just figured I´d give a little update since I haven´t done so in almost a week.
Peace,
Brandon
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