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Happy St. Paddy's Day!!!! Here's to Lael Raymer! Here's to green beer and bagpipes and much more! I will definitely miss being in the states later this evening when we go out as a group to sing karaoke with our Spanish professors (I don't really get what Spanish class has to do with karaoke but I'm going to do my best to get some green food dye to have a green beer tonight!)...
As far as classes and things go, I have been in daily Spanish class since late last week and we honestly don't have much time left when we are taking Spanish classes. The revision of different tenses has been helpful and difficult at the same time. It is REALLY helpful to have a revision of the rules of when to use certain tenses, etc. since I haven't done anything like that since high school, actually (yikes!) but it's also starting to feel a bit mundane the way we do class... it is pretty much the same structure every day for three hours with a half hour break stuck in after the first hour and a half... First part of class we do grammar review/overview homework and then have our break. After the break, we form into groups and discuss different topics and then present on our group conversation on butcher paper. It feels like a bit of a waste of paper as well as time since not much critical conversation is coming out of the discussions when we discuss the different things as a whole group (today was the environment, we've talked about the health care system, education system, etc. and it's interesting to compare the US to Peru and all but I feel like there are more profound things we could be discussing in these discussions... but I do get that part of the purpose is to practice grammar, etc.)...
Other than that, I have been mostly working on defining my question for the independent investigation that I'll be conducting from home base here in Cusco during April... and I've been finalizing details for living situation during that month, etc. I will be living in an apartment with three other students during that month in a different part of town... We have to finish up signing the papers for the apartment but are all set to move in April 7 or 8 when our ISPs start. It will be nice to live with other students again. I love my host family but I do miss being around other students my own age who have the same biological clocks, etc...
As far as the independent research goes, I have decided on researching the difference in social processes in indigenous amazonian and "campesino" communities (Andean) in choosing whether or not to integrate bilingual education into their education system... There are a lot of different ways that I want to approach this question and am excited to start doing the research itself. I'm hoping that I can use this research to either help me or basically work as one of the two theses I have to write next year (regardless of which thesis it goes towards) to help make senior year slightly easier for me... (i don't want to take fewer classes in order to make sure I'm getting stuff done with my theses, etc.)
It is the one way that I feel like I'm really challenging myself and getting challenged by going through the process of asking a large number of critical questions about my proposed research project, the groups involved, defining critical terms for the investigation, etc. However, I find it really frustrating that I'm not really being given access yet to the Centro Bartolome de Las Casas library or thorough access to our library here where we take classes. I am also frustrated by knowing of a number of articles and books from my PAGS education mostly that I wish I had here with me to be using for the investigation. I'm hoping to get some electronic copies of articles, etc. where I can and maybe getting my hands on a copy of Pedagogy of the Oppressed in Spanish while I'm here - but books are so expensive in Peru!
I am also starting to work out details for my internship this summer in Rosario, which is really exciting! The woman who is sort of in charge of me is finally back from her vacation, so I will be able to talk with her more regularly to finalize any details that we have to figure out before I can actually start working with them. I'm not sure if I expanded at all on what I'll be doing this summer in Rosario... I decided that I wanted to work with organizations that deal with alternative economies as it's something that has interested me since last academic year when we did a short section on the gift economy, etc. in places and times where capitalism has failed. Alternative economies fascinate me and I want to learn a lot more about them... They inspire me to alternatives to capitalism and the system that we live in, which I believe will someday collapse (whether it is 5 or 50 or 500 years from now) and it gives me a lot of hope... so I'm going to work with the Sub-secretary of Alternative Economies in Rosario, which is an office of the City of Rosario. The idea is to work in and/or learn from one of the recuperated factories that exist in Rosario from the economic crisis of 2001 and get some hands-on learning besides doing whatever they need and want from me... I hope to help them with whatever projects they want my help on and are working on but also hope to get the chance to develop my own learning and understanding of the processes that allow for alternative economies to emerge, etc.
I am hoping to start doing some of the required readings I'll have to do about alternative economies while I'm here in Peru (of course, once the independent project starts, I don't know how much time I will have...) in order to get a bit of an intellectual self-challenge going... I am feeling a bit of a lack of my brain working on a daily basis, as it does at Earlham... overworks almost I'd say (but that doesn't bother me and I actually miss the feeling like my 'brain is on fire' as Leslie would say) so I've been reading José Carlos Mariategui's Siete Ensayos de Interpretación de la Realidad Peruana (Seven Essays on the Peruvian Reality) that focus on a number of social problems that have faced Peru for some time and gives explanations and historical background for them... for his time, he was a really radical thinker (and even for now, I think), a socialist, a Marxist, and much more. I have really been enjoying reading from him and letting my intellectual mind whirr a little bit with the concepts, but I do really miss having some of the academic and intellectual guides that I have at home to help me continue to challenge myself, etc.
For now, I suppose that's a pretty good update on things... Newell's has been losing a lot recently, and I have been told it's because I'm not able to watch the games that we are losing, so I'm trying to figure out the best way to watch the games online, etc. but I just hate having to pay for crappy internet in a cyber cafe to watch a soccer game! The games aren't put on cable here - even the channels that play soccer matches all day and all night long, basically - teams from BAires are put on, of course, but nothing from Rosario is put on really... In any case, I'm trying to get a handle on that situation and am just starting to get over being annoyed with weather, some cultural, stuff etc. and am starting to enjoy myself again this last week or so in Cusco. So yay for that!!!!
I hope everyone is good in the states, make sure to keep me updated on anything you don't think I might have access to here (goings-on in the world, etc.)... I have been keeping myself as updated as possible about the situation in Japan and what was happening in the Middle East, etc (it will be interesting to see how media coverage changes, etc. as a result of what is going on in Japan...) but I'm sure there is a lot I'm missing out on...
I love you all and have a WONDERFUL St. Paddy's Day! Make sure to sing old Irish songs at the top of your lungs for me, drink a green beer, and here's to Lael on one of the best days of the year!
Besos
Ps. Picture is a sunset I watched with some friends in Lima towards the end of our stay there :)
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