End of Teaching, The Inca Project, & Namaste Nepal

Blog- End of Teaching/Inca Project/Namaste Nepal

Hello all!  Lengthy absence from Anna yet again.  Last you heard from me, I was sick as a dog and trying to recuperate while still teaching my class at Colegio Chavez Chaparro.  I got well in a timely manner and am now feeling great.  Also, I’m in Kathmandu.  After flying for over 30 hours and skipping Thursday, I landed with my group in Nepal.  I have 3 main things I need to address: the conclusion of the teaching project, the Inca Project, and my arrival in Nepal.  I have pictures that correspond with only the first two items but will be producing some photos of Nepal in my next post, which will hopefully be made in two weeks as opposed to the one month that has passed between this post and the previous one.  Okay.  Let’s get this show on the road!

 

End of Teaching

Classes ended after 6 weeks of classes from Monday through Thursday for 4 hours each day.  My class was incredible throughout the entire month and a half.  They were always ready to learn and enthusiastic about my lessons and whatever else I had to say.  I am proud to say that 17 students graduated from my class with a proficient level of English, gaining their certificate of completion.  By the end of the class we had covered many topics.  The tenses they learned were present simple, present continuous, past simple, past continuous, present perfect, past perfect, and future.  The vocabulary I taught was extensive.  I think this is all that I gave them:  places, food/drink, school supplies, animals, colors, family, numbers, months, days of the week, weather, professions, parts of the body, health, emotions, and popular descriptors.  Other grammatical concepts they learned include articles, plurals, prepositions, much/many/a lot of, there is/are, forming questions, possessive adjectives, possessive pronouns, possession with an apostrophe, and more.  Needless to say, my class absorbed a lot of info in a very short amount of time and I am so happy for them. 

At graduation, each class performed something for the other graduates and teachers to enjoy at the ceremony.  My class and I wrote a song together called the Learning Song.  Each day at the end of the 4 hour block, I would whip out my ukulele and we would practice the Learning Song with my accompaniment.  The teachers I taught absolutely loved when I incorporated music into class, so it became a regular thing.  I would type up lyrics with blanks replacing some words, bring that and my uke to class, and would have them fill in the blanks as I sang the words to the song accompanied by my ukulele.  It was awesome being able to use music to keep the adults engaged and comfortable.  Anyway, at graduation be performed the song and the audience loved it.  We were the only group that 1. Sang something 100% original and 2. Didn’t use a track.  We were praised on our creativity and musical prowess (lol).  After all of the classes performed and some board of education speakers addressed the teachers who were graduating and my fellow volunteers and me, the certificates were distributed.  First, the volunteers (acting as teachers and including myself) were given our certificates.  Then we were handed the certificates of our graduating students.  We were allowed to give our own students the certificates.  Each of my 17 students had the biggest smile on their face as I gave them their long-awaited certificate.  The graduation ceremony was great, but it was also bittersweet as it meant goodbye to all of my students.  We said our goodbyes and they gave me a gift (a purse, vest, and gloves) and we went our separate ways. 

The teaching project was super fun as well as fulfilling.  As I travelled to work each morning by taxi, even when I was sick, I was happy to be doing so because I knew I was positively impacting the lives of my students.  They continuously expressed their gratitude for my efforts and care with gifts of fruit, bread, candy, cookies, and even a nice bag.  And I too expressed my gratitude for them by letting them know how easy they were making my job, singing for them, and buying them cake on our final day of class (wooo  fiesta).  I will never forget this experience and I am so thankful to have been able to teach my students.

 

 My class treated me and Alec to dinner at Chili's for Valentine's Day.

The empty classroom after I dismissed class on the last day.

 

 The door into my classroom.

 

Alameda Pachucutec (a monument to an Incan King)

 

 

 

 Baby Fatima.  My new host family had a newborn baby girl!

 Cute cat that I pet after class almost everyday.

 

 

Our graduation performance.  I have a video of the song, but I couldn't get it to upload =(

 

 

My class moment after receiving their certificates.

 

SO HAPPY AHHHHH

 

Our teaching coordinator, Andy.  A funny guy and a good leader. 

  

 

 Colegio Chavez Chaparro (the school I taught at)

 

The sign that told me I was at the right place.  Cuyeria is a shop that sells guinea pigs for food.  There was a sign like this on either side of the alleyway my second host family lived on.

Inca Project

After spending about 7 weeks in Cusco, we travelled 5 hours by bus to Huyro, a small town (pueblo) located in the valley.  There, my group would be partaking in the Inca Project, an archaeological project that also works with the community.  I absolutely adored this project.  We were only scheduled for being there for a week and a half, but I loved it so much that I stayed an extra week with another glap called Patrick.  We decided to miss out on the 4 day walk of the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu to stay in Huyro longer.  We still went to Machu Picchu and got to hike a bit, we just abstained from the 4 day long trek in order to get more volunteering time.  We stayed in a place called El Establo meaning The Stable.  It was a stable but was converted into a house for Projects Abroad volunteers that are part of the Inca Project.  The staff there are mostly Peruvian with the exception of the ever-so-perfect Dan O’Shea.  An Irishman married to a Peruvian woman, Dan is pierced and tattooed and an amazing leader.  I also met the Peruvian archaeologist, Jhon, at Establo.  Both are hilarious and very good at their jobs.  Their combined knowledge on the Incan sites we visited was astounding.  I’m running out of battery on my laptop so this is going to have to go faster.  Okay.  There was a schedule we followed at Establo.  It went like this.

Monday- Archaeology activity (looking for sites or clearing a site)

Tuesday- Archaeology activity

Wednesday- Clean the house and visit the local library set up by the Inca Project

Thursday- Clear the drainage ditches and work on the corn harvest (bringing it in, shucking, or degraining)

Friday-Sunday- we have off to hang around Huyro, go to Machu Picchu, or go back to Cusco.

The work was so fun.  It was very hands on and tiring, but well worth it.  I really miss it at Establo. 

 

Me and Dan

 

 

 

A  llama living at Machu Picchu

 

Selfie with a llama

 

Me and another volunteer at Machu Picchu

 

 

 Me and Jhon after the bus broke

 

 

Sharpening a Machete

 

 After a long day in the drainage ditches with Patrick

 

 So many bug bites!!  (20 minutes playing soccer without leg repellant was a mistake)

 

A site found by a roadworker who was looking for a shortcut to the road.

 

Fell while hiking. Oops

 

Cute older couple walking to Aguas Calientes (Machu PIcchu village)

 

 The little girl I played with at the library.  I taught her this.  Super useful in life.



 The desks and paintings at the library



Dan dressed in festival garb for quiz night.  My team won!!

 

 Our machetes.

 

A site we were going to clear (BEFORE)

The site after 4 hours of hacking with machetes (AFTER)

 

 The market in Huyro

 

Another site we cleared.

 

 Bella- The little girl who lives at Establo and loves to play

 

The pile of garbage they burn at Establo.  There is no other way =(

Namaste Nepal

I am in Nepal and have had wifi for the first time in almost a month.  This means blog post.  I’m sorry for my absence.  I flew into Kathmandu yesterday in the afternoon after over 48 hours of travelling.  Kathmandu is bustling and energetic, but I will be glad to leave tomorrow morning for the conservation project.  This is located in the Annapurna mountain range, which is home to the 10^th highest mountain in the world.  I may or may not be somewhere on that mountain tomorrow.  I do not have much information.  I also do not know much about the conservation project, but I know it will be absolutely stunning, will require a lot of hiking, and will be very hands on like it was at Establo.  I am so excited to be in the mountains.  It should be really fun!

 

I’ll write again in Ghandruk, which I believe is where I’ll be staying.  I also believe there will be wifi there.  Anyway, thanks for being patient with me.  I love you guys!  See you all in 2 months!!!!!  WOOOO