I found a job working as a graphic design intern with a tiny (and I mean tiny) publicity firm. It's me, another intern, and the boss. I am very blessed that I had to learn Corel Draw to make the signs for the Tuti museum; knowing Corel Draw is what has helped me most get this job in publicity. They use the program for just about everything, from making brochures to posters to CD covers... everything! Not too shabby. Unfortunately the pay is minimum, doesn't even quite cover rent, but I hope the experience helps me get into museum design or something related once I get back to the States. (Not that I'm homesick by now, no, not at all :P).
(I did have a dream last night, though, that my mother invited me out for a treat at the Homemade Pie Kitchen in Louisville, and it was one of the best dreams ever. Not only for the ice cream, but seeing family was nice too!)
I decided I'm not going to be an English teacher, at least not for high school students. I gave that a try for a bit, but without a book, any audiovisual tools, and a classroom full of thirty rambunctious teenagers, I've admitted my defeat. I might give it another go if I have the chance to work with college students or adults, or even elementary kids, but the teenagers... I have a whole new respect for all the Middle and High school teachers out there. They truly know how to tame the jungle.
Juan is waiting on paperwork so that he can start working as a Civil Engineer here in Arequipa, and I couldn't be prouder of him. He's really been patient, waiting for this company to get all their contracts and legal requirements in order, so I hope the job gives him experience that he wants. Plus, there's a chance he may be able to work his thesis for the Master's into his full time job. The thesis projects here in Peru tend to be really practical and usually are catered to fit the student's work stituation.
In my spare time, I'm going to dive in to studying French and Chinese. It will definitely be a challenge, but I see this as an opportunity I'll never get twice. The language schools here meet four times a week for one or two hours, and are approximately 30-40 dollars US a month. Not cheap in soles, but cheaper in dollars than anything I could find once we get back to the States. I'm hoping that with the Fulbright and my language recs done, I'll be able to find a great Masters program that won't require me to incur any more debt!
We also have a new addition to our family. Her (original) name is Pelotita, because of her big round, white tummy, but has since become Grem Grem (Gremlin), Yoda, Snow White... the list goes on. She is the only kitten of her litter to survive, out of five or so. They were all born at the orphanage where our British friends volunteer, and the mother cat abandoned them. The majority of the kittens died without their mother for food and warmth. When we found out, only two were left. We decided to take them in, letting everyone at church and the orphanage that this would only be for a week! ... That was a month ago. One of the kittens died the first night, but our Pelotita is a survivor. She went from being a timid little newborn that cried all the time and had to be fed with a bottle, to a jumping, biting little kitten, who climbs up everything and still doesn't know how to get down! She's eating solid cat food, using the litter box, and playing with everyone and everything she finds (except, of course, other cats. She's still not too sure about them.) Do I sound like a proud Momma, or what?
Juan has also fallen head over heels for our new little kitty. Even though I've promised we'll get him a dog once we get back home, I think he's enjoying have a kitten for the time being. And he definitley enjoys spoiling her, just like a good Papa.
Winter is settling in here. It's still bright and sunny as ever, but there's a cold wind that blows all the time, and the nights are freezing. We went for a walk around town last night, thinking it'd be a cheap, fun outing, but we were all frozen to the bone after half an hour and came back to our house to curl up under some blankets. We'll have to look for cheap, indoor fun from now on, or keep all our play dates during the day.
Found a wonderful book in Spanish just by chance, and that has really made my day. Its called Para que no me olvides, and is about a woman who has a stroke one day which results in afasia. Basically, her brain function is not affected and she can think completely normally, but the communication centers of her brain were damaged, so now she cannot talk or write or read. She describes it as being locked inside a prison of your own body. In between, the book descibes her life before the illness, as a well-to-do housewife in Chile, and her women friends from differnt walks of life. You get to see the class differences, how much women sacrifice, what there best and worst memories are. Really interesting, just what I was looking for. I'll be honest, I'd bought Rayuela while I was in Colombia just because I had heard what a great and inventive storyline it had. But I had difficulty following! Maybe I have to set my literary sights a bit lower in Spanish for the next few years :). Best part about finding Para que no me olvides was that it was in a clearance book sale in a tiny office, which I just happened to walk by one afternoon. All the other books were about politics and social struggles, this was the only one that really caught my eye. And, it only cost 3 soles. I was sold!
I'm considering going up to Tuti one more time next month, to see how things are being handled. When I left, after the inauguration, I had given the mayor my version of a contract, divinding management responsibilities for the locale between the municipality and the tourism committee. (It was really apparent that neither wanted to work with the other, it seems some still don't trust the new mayor.) But it remains to be seen whether they took the initiative to work together or not. I did my best to push them together; I even left my set of keys for the museum with the mayor, knowing the tourism committee had the other set. The reaction from the tourism committee wasn't great, but I felt like I was doing the right thing.
Unfortunately, when I went up for the inauguration, I brought my camera but not the memory chip. Now I have six photos from the inauguration stuck on my internal memory, and I have no way to get them out. Bugger. The inauguration, overall, went smoothly. The mayor strung a bottle of cider from the doorway, and had me break it open with a wrench, and it sprayed everywhere and people clapped. There were plenty of attendees. Not too many from out of town; no one we had invited from Autocolca or Arequipa showed up, but the townsfolk were there. Everyone came in, drank cider, thanked me and looked around a bit.
It was really nice overall, but I was still recovering from that morning's hike up the mountain! I had arrived from Arequipa that same morning, and immediately met up the mayor and some other guests to go on a 'touristic' hike of the mountain and see some unique views. It was really beautiful. You can see the Misty, all majestically snow-topped, and a few cities down in the valley below. We even did a ritual to the Pachamama, where the mayor and his delegates burned grains and plants, and even an alpaca fetus (yes, there is a photo), on top of a rock and each person in turn blew three times over the smoke and passed the rock on. Interesting to see the ritual in person. However, about halfway through the hike, I got a bad case of saracha, altitude sickness, and had a pounding headache that would just not go away. I couldn't eat, I couldn't hike, I just sat there with my head in my hands!
Finally they took pity on me and sent me down with a security guard to go back to Tuti. It was the longest, worst hike down you can imagine. When I reached Tuti, I went straight to the posta and had the nurse, who luckily is a friend of mine, give me a pill and let me sleep a couple of hours. When I woke up, all the festivities were all ready under way!
Well, it's Saturday morning and I'm enjoying my new non-travelling weekends! I might go study a bit, get some coffee, and relaaaax with my furry kitty. Hopefully I'll have photos of the inauguration soon, as soon as I find someone with a compatible camera cord! Oh well!
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| Pelotita, the newest Polo family member. |
