Okay, on a second cheesey thought, maybe the most beautiful and probably underappreciated asset is the kids themselves. There are about 40 of them (3-17yrs old) and for the most part they´re like any other group of kids. You have your gossip girls, cry babies, bullies, too-cool-for-school dudes, etc. Yet they differ from your average school yard crew because they do *everything* together. Their friendships are more tolerant of each other. ...haha, to a degree.

When I met Jackson (3) he had his shoes on the wrong feet. He was trying to squirt some girls with a garden hose. Since then I´ve had a soft spot for that guy. He´s always happy and always up to something.

Miguel (17) is the oldest and it shows. He´s calm, mature and can handle a soccer ball like a woman on the dance floor. Not only that, but he enjoys chatting. He has a genuine interest in what we do and to share his life with us. In a few weeks he turns 18 and is then on his own. He told me he´ll probably be a gardener. Harry and I have told him to see Guillermo to learn karate because Miguel couldn´t have a better rolemodel.

Handsdown Steven (10?) has the best future ahead of him. It´s currently their summer vacation, so many of the others don´t want to learn. Yet everyday Steven asks for more homework. Harry started to teach him the first day and since then Steven can´t get enough. On top of that, he´s also the one who is willing to help clean after we teach or help out with chores around the compound.

Benjamin (10?) is my best student. When I see him with other kids he can be aggressive, but I´m starting to think that´s just the pecking order. He´s not as quick a learner as Steven, but Benjamin always asks to study. Lately he´s been on a big kick of thumb wrestling. I don´t wanna brag or nothing, but I can beat him with both hands at the same time.

I haven´t mentioned any girls because they are a little harder to bond with. To be frank, some of them are really needy. They want more attention then I can give (let alone want to). There is one girl who was possesive of me for a while, so I kept telling her I´m here for everyone. She got mad, but now seems to be over it.

The older girls are a little clic. Harry did a good job of busting his way into them today by singing on the playgound. I heard him from the soccer pitch singing Fat Bottem Girls, so obviously I had to join in. Queen rocks. That´s all there is to it.

[On a side note, did I mention 80´s are popular here? Well, it seems like all we here is latin music (combia, arangay, samba, reggaton (like dance hall, but with bad mixing), reggae and salsa) and 80´s. I didn´t expect that.]

Anywho, my favourate girl is probably Jennifer (pronounced Hay-nee-fer). She´s prolly 8 tops, but is just all around cool. She often just shows up and hangs out. Sometimes I catch her hanging out with the older girls to. When she wants to play she doesn´t beg like some of the other kids. I gotta admit, that´s appreciated. The whining gets annoying when there´s 20 of the anklebiters begging for an avioncito (airplane ride). I mean, they´re fun to give, but you trying giving out a few of those at 3300m above sea level and you´ll be begging for a rest.

It was Harry´s bright idea to work afternoons on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The cool part about that is that none of them will study then. It´s all play. Either soccer, basketball, hackey sack (I brought mine), monkey bars (my feet touch the ground, so I haven´t lost a race yet!!) or just chilling in the shade. I brought cards, but one abnoccious kid (the others call him chicken, but it doesn´t hold the same meaning here) took my decks. One day Michael explained the rules to capture the flag and that led to a pretty sweet game. Unfortunately Harry, the new Assie named Jimmy (23) or myself don´t have the linguistic capabilities to explain something like that.

The first week of teaching was simply chaos. The lil anklebiters distracted each other and were more interested in scoring a new pencil than writing anything down. Lesson learned. We need handouts, which by the way have worked like a charm. And tomorrow we´re bringing some candy to play math bingo. ...we gererally teach them math because it´s universal or english. I real good at it.

Cuidate por ahora!

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written by  ryanmyers on January 29, 2009 from Huancayo, Peru
from the travel blog: Ryan's First Sabbatical
tagged LosNiOs
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Sounds exhaustingly fun. Math an English are good standards-even better if you can afford handouts. I found I really got the most out of teaching when I just taught random topics I knew a lot about, call it science or social studies, and just teach them something interesting that they've never heard of I spent a whole hour once just talking about what the Internet was . Also it could be worth buying some pencils and having an art class or two.

written by  Adam on February 1, 2009

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Bud ... sounds like you are having a great time with the kids. My son taught me that kids have a lot to teach you about life. It is now my son's turn to learn from kids. I'm fascinated by the opportunity you are providing for yourself. Love ya. Tony

written by  Tony on February 1, 2009

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