Saturday, February 7, 2015

I had another rocky day last Thursday.  The parasite and I were fighting for control and unfortunately
the parasite won for that day.  I couldn't lift my head from the pillow until well after noon.  But by the time evening arrived, I believe that my body had taken back over.  You know the feeling when your fever finally breaks and you just know that you've weathered the worst of it...that's what I felt. I was finally able to make and eat a bit of rice before heading back to bed for another night of healing sleep.

Friday morning, I was up by 6 and out the door soon after 7 am to print the materials to teach my last mini-lesson on Gerunds as object nouns using like/enjoy.  I let all my classmates go first and then I mustered my energy and got up there and had FUN! I hope the learners had fun too. I was finally able to get through all I'd planned in the 20 minutes allotted and we played a game.  I'd printed out pictures of ING words - swimming, shopping, biking...you get the idea.  I had the students put them on the board and then drew blocks around them to make the spaces on the board.  The learners picked a number 1-6 from a cup and moved that many spaces and had to used the word in a sentence.

Ok, so it wasn't the most fun game, but it got them moving and involved.   The rest of the day yesterday I got caught up on some of my work and planning for the upcoming week which is our practical teaching week and my last week in Cusco.  I can't believe that I'll soon be leaving here.

So I want to talk today about how crazy the drivers are here.  Boston is calm and orderly compared with the Cusiquenos!  Those most obey the street lights, the lanes are suggested driving paths. They float freely between them whenever there is anything stopped or moving slower than them in their path. As a pedestrian trying to cross the road, you take your life into your own hands every time.  They will gladly run you down while honking for you to get out of their way!  Let's talk about the use of horns.  They honk at every corner, intersection, person on the side of the road, dog, cat, other car or just because they feel like it! This happens at all hours of the day and night.  I my neighborhood, it is especially loud around 5:30 or 6 am when all the trucks are bringing produce from the farms to the Mercado.

I'm quite lucky to have that market next door.  There is a ready source of fresh vegetables. Most of them are root vegetables or vine fruits like watermelon and cantaloupe.  I always buy the whole fruit and clean it and cut it up myself.  The flavor is like these fruits should taste.  Not like the tasteless stuff we get in the US.  I haven't trusted things like green beans there, so I'll be pigging out on vegetables when I get home.