In short, my responsibilities are to be an English Teaching Assistant (E.T.A.) at two different Peruvian high schools, Colegios de alto redentimiento (C.O.A.R.s), and to help out the Peruvian English teachers and students.
For the first five months of my time here in Peru, from March to July, I was placed in Oxapampa and Chontabamba, in the Pasco region. Oxa and the surrounding villages are unique in Perú as they were founded in the 1800s by Austo-German settlers, and they still maintain some of that heritage to this day through architecture, sausages and beer, and even the German language, which is taught in Pozuzo. Pozuzo is where the German emigrants settled, and as such is the most Austro-German of the area, so much so that when Chelsea (my E.T.A. partner and friend) and I visited in July, we ate strudel and drank craft beer at a local brewery. If you're curious about my time in Oxapampa, you can read the nine articles I wrote for Reach the World last spring, which share my life in the high jungle region. If you're not curious, let me sum it up: coffee and chocolate and gelato and meat and bike rides!
Now I find myself in Chalhuanca, Apurímac, an Andean city located 2,800 meters above sea level and eight hours away from Cusco. Despite its small size of only 3,000 people, I have greatly enjoyed my time here so far. I have been busy between working at C.O.A.R. Apurímac, directing my pen pal program C.A.U.S.A. (in which I'm sure some of you are participating), going for hikes and learning Quechua, which is the South American indigenous language once used by the Incan empire.
In following articles, I'll be able to share more in-depth details about Chalhuanca, but here's a short list of things that I've been up to.
