Lista.....observa! Enseña como estudiante! Escriba! Termina! Ready.....observe! Student teach! Write! Finish!

Hoy empieza la mayoría de la clase. Estoy sentándome en mi terraza ahorita, disfrutando la vista maravillosa, y preparandome para empezar en media hora. Nuestras observaciónes de otras clases son hoy a viernes, enseñando como estudiantes empieza el sábado y terminamos eso en el 25 de julio. Ay dios mío. Pues, soy una Cornellian, pero esto es nada...pero va a ser significamente menos tiempo libre que he tenido hasta hoy.  Desde la última vez:

Cosas que he hecho:
-Fui a un concierto de una banda Arequipeña tradicional 

      

Más fútbol- Argentina perdió a Chile en el final de la Copa, sobre que nadie está feliz aquí.  Peru tiene algunos problemas con Chile, y por eso todos querían que Argentina ganara.  

-Canyon de Colca- demasiada bonita, se dice que es dos veces tan profundo que el Gran Canyon.  Desafortunadamente, la agencia con quien fuimos eran solamente para turistas....y fuimos a un bus (el lugar de un camino) a través de la canyon; todavía bonita pero no tan bueno como caminando por la canyon.  Recomiendo caminar por la canyon sin una guia o hacer un viaje de dos o tres días si quieres verlo.  

-Condors- vi algunos condors volando en la distancia- son hermosos y GIGANTES con una envergadura de alas de más que tres metros. 

-Baile de Salsa! Fui a una lección que pienso que supuestamente fuera nivel básico....pero todos podían bailar MUY bien.  Pensaba que sabía cómo bailar...apenas podía bailar con ellos!   Pues, era divertido.  Conocí a un hombre israeli y bromeabamos que eramos los únicos judeos en Arequipa (que es gracioso porque conocí un chico Israeli dos días después en la tur de Colca) .

-Tur de camina de Arequipa, incluso algunos visites a restaurantes (pisco sours deliciosos, chocolates y cervezas locales, y rocoto relleno, un plato típico) y algunos hechos sobre la arquitectura (sabías tú que los gárgolas en las iglesias en Arequipa son estatuas de la puma, sagrada a los Incas pre-hispanicos?) 

Pisco Sour, una bebida tradicional de Peru (Chile dice que ellos lo inventaron, también. Los dos tienen los derechos de fabrica)
Pisco Sour, a traditional Peruvian drink (Chileans say they invented it, too; both have the original rights to it)

-COMIDA. Todavía hay mucha comida buena, por demasiado poco dinero.  Muchas papas y arroz.

Y una cosa o dos que he aprendido: 

Es muy fácil hablar inglés aquí en mi situación.  Voy a empezar hablar solamente en español afuera de clase, incluso a mis amigos americanos, para mantener mi español.

Hechos interesantes:  Yo vivo en Yanahuara.  Yana significa ¨negro¨ y Huara significa ¨ropa interior¨,  se llama por la ropa interior negra que las personas indigenas llevaban mientras pescar en el río Chili (el río frío) cuando los Españas llegaron.  

Picchu Picchu y Chachani son dos de los tres volcanes que envuelven Arequipa (todos que puedo ver de mi terraza :) ). Los dos significa ¨muchas montañas¨ en dos lenguas indigenas diferentes. 

Y la entrada de mi cuaderno de hoy, si alguien tiene interés en mi clase, está abajo en inglés! Hasta la próxima!

ENGLISH

Today begins the craziness of the class. I'm sitting on my terrace right now, enjoying the awesome view, and getting ready to GO in half an hour. Our observations of other classes are today through Friday, student teaching starts Saturday and we finish by the 25th. Holy cow. I mean, I'm a Cornellian, so this is nothing....but it'll be significantly less free time than I've had thus far. 

Since I last wrote:

Things I've done:

-Watched a traditional Arequipan band play

-More soccer- Argentina lost to Chile in the final of the Copa, which no one is happy about here. Peru has some serious political issues with Chile, so everyone wanted Argentina to win.

-Colca Canyon- ridiculously beautiful, they say it's twice as deep as the grand canyon.  Unfortunately we got tourist trapped and went on a tour bus through the place; still beautiful but not as cool as hiking.  I recommend hiking it yourself or doing a 2-3 day trek if you want to see it.

-Condors- saw some condors flying in the distance- they're a beautiful GIANT bird with over a 3 meter wingspan.

-Salsa dancing!  Went to a lesson I'm pretty sure was supposed to be basic level....but everyone was SO GOOD at dancing. I thought I knew how to dance....I was just good enough to keep up! It was a blast, though. I met a cool Israeli dude and we joked we were the only Jews in Arequipa (which is funny 'cause I met another Israeli at Colca two days later).

-Walking tour of Arequipa, including a couple touristy food tastings (some delicious pisco sours, local chocolates, local beers, and rocoto relleno, a traditional stuffed pepper dish) and some fun facts about the architecture (did you know the gargoyles on the churches in Arequipa are actually statues of the puma, sacred to Incas pre-Spanish?)

-FOOD.  Still lots of good food, for ridiculously cheap.  Lots of potatoes and rice.

And a thing or two I've learned:

It's so easy to get caught up in English speaking here. I am going to start talking exclusively in Spanish outside of class, even to my American friends, so I can practice keeping my Spanish up.

Fun facts:  I live in Yanahuara.  Yana means ¨black¨ and Huara means  ¨underwear¨, named after the black underwear the indigenous tribe wore while fishing in el Rio Chili (the Cold River) when the Spanish settlers got here.  

Picchu Picchu and Chachani are two of the three volcanoes that surround Arequipa (all of which I can see from my terrace).  Both mean ¨many mountains¨ in two different indigenous languages.

And today's class journal entry, for anyone interested in a glimpse into my class:

July 7, 2015

Lesson planning practice definitely helped with the demystifying of the teaching process. I have a much better sense now of how to walk through the steps of planning how to teach a unit.  I can tell, also, that the process will get easier as I practice.  This is clearly a J-curve for learning; I have already learned an overwhelming amount about the components of a good lesson.  Even writing out a sample plan today helped me crystallize how I would approach creating my own. At first it was really difficult to look at so much material and decide first what we wanted to teach and then how to parse it together into a cohesive lesson plan that was more engaging than simply going along with what the book says. When Evan and I read the suggestions from the bok on supplemental games, exercises, etc, my immediate reaction was to ignore it all and come up with techniques from scratch. I have to continue to remind myself, though. that I don’t have to reinvent the wheel. I can use the book as a base and add my own flavor to it instead. Grammar is still a lot to take in, but the more pieces we learn, the better grasp I have on how our language is weaved together and the better I will be at fielding student questions.