A touching trip

On Friday, I went to a very poor area on the outskirts of Arequipa and visited a Catholic school there. I went with my boss and my four TEFL students. The area has no running water -- each day residents go to a well locked in a shed (they need a key to get in) and fill up their jugs. The area is above the city with a great view of Volcano Chachani, and it was incredibly dusty. It's hot in the day and very cool in the night and morning. More than half the children suffer from malnutrition and have lung and skin ailments because of the dust and dirt. The teachers there really do God's work, and the kids from pre-school to high school have very little, but are always smiling, laughing, playing, and in the end, learning. The visit was part of the cultural awareness portion of our TEFL class. I played soccer with the kids, and got schooled. A 7-year-old twice deflected my shots away from what appeared to be an open goal. Soccer is in their blood, and the kids are fearless. Yet, when the younger students see a gringo, they flock to you, and you feel the love. Most of these children have very difficult home lives as well. I'll be going there each month with my TEFL classes, and I'm really looking forward to the next visit.
They say bad things come in threes, whoever the hell THEY are. On Thursday this past week, THEY were right. First, I left my USB in a computer after downloading and printing out some teaching materials. I went home, remembered my USB, went back to work ... and the USB was gone, never to be recovered. The office secretaries joked that my porn collection and compromising videos of me were on the USB. Ha ha. Sorry, but I keep those on a disc (just kidding, of course!!). No. 2: After losing the USB, I went to my corner store to get a soda. I was wearing my backpack, which was loaded with books and stuff. When I turned to pay the owner, I knocked over an entire display of drinks -- at least 25 plastic soda containers were all over the floor in the crowded store. The owner (the guy pictured on the right in the dark photo) helped me pick up the drinks. Everyone else in the store looked at me and laughed, and then scowled because they had to wait for the owner to help me before he could take their money and complete their purchases. No. 3: I taught a lesson on the subjunctive to my 7 p.m. class and got kinda lost for a moment. One of the students corrected me, and then pointed out another error I made about possessive adjectives. I tried to defend myself and got a little more lost. I had to suck it up and say that I blew it. It ain't the first time! The student, Daphne, speaks flawless English and obviously, knows her grammar. I had to eat crow twice. The students were cool about it, though, only snickering at me for about seven minutes or so. I joked that on my deathbed I would mumble "Daphne", and then die, leaving any witnesses to my death to wonder who Daphne is. Of course, if those are the worst things that happen to me here, then I'm living right.
My 5 p.m. class is a total hoot -- youngsters (between 13-18, and one adult) who chat, sing and laugh all class. But when it's time to bear down, they're great. Really enjoy my 7 p.m. group as well, even with the subjunctive and possessive adjectives. I'll be teaching both groups again next month, and we're all happy about that. I'll also be teaching TEFL pedagogy and grammar, so I'll be a busy boy. Keeps me out of trouble.
I had lunch at La Pata the other day, and the soup was fantastic. But the main dish, pork leg of some sort (it looked like a human knee), was pretty gnarly. No meat on it, so I guess you're supposed to gnaw on the skin and whatever else was there. I tried, but gave up after a minute or so. Nasty business.