Going strong as usual. Not much to say, seeing as how I've been here for over 6 months going on 7. This is probably going to be my shortest report to date because there is just very little to say.
How is school?
Good. Portuguese classes 'recomeçaram' on the 5th of March. I'm still attending Esdit, thus learning to cook. Honestly, not much to say here, but I guess I can outline my weekly class schedule in terms of Cooking and Portuguese.
DAY A (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)
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8:30 - 12:30 Cooking in Esdit
1:00 - 2:30 Portuguese
DAY B (Tuesday, Thursday)
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1:00 - 2:30 Portuguese
Problems?
There are always problems :)
The pattern for attending school and post-secondary options seems to be that the exchange student arrives in July to August and attends 4th or 5th year (the equivalent of Gr. 11 or Gr. 12) in school until school ends (around Dec. 15). This is expected to be paid for by the host parents. For me, I arrived Aug 20th, but two of the other exchange students did not arrive until later; then together we entered school and, taking into consideration the trips taken with Rotary, we ended in early December with only about 2 months of Peruvian schooling under our belt.
Then, afterwards, it seems the norm is to enrol in language, art, cooking, instrument classes or something else along those lines (this is not to say that there is not the option to go back to the same school to repeat the same courses over again). These post-curricular courses are not expected to be paid for by the host parents, meaning the parents at home must pay if their child is to do anything. Rotary does not pay for the schooling. As previously discussed, an American did not elect to do any courses, and so her parents (seeing she was to do nothing else for several months) brought her back home.
So, in summary, the problem is that Rotary at this end is not fully communicating the true future financial situation and schooling situation to our end.
How is the Rotary Club there?
As it always has. My host councillor is supposed to bring me to Arica and back soon so I can renew my passport days, yet this has not come to pass.
Also:
- The biggest trip (to Machu Picchu) is currently being discussed. We should be leaving in a few weeks.
- My camera was either stolen or lost (more likely). I have resorted to using my camera phone, so I don't have many photos to show :(
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