If I tell you the truth about what we've been up to lately, you'll probably be bored to tears. I've been thinking I should post something about what we've been up to for some time, but then, I haven't felt like we've much of anything to talk about.
I thought, perhaps, I could write about incredible adventures like our trek through the Amazon, our swim through a rapidly rising river or our hand in the capture of infamous thieves, but then, none of it would be true. So, I'm left to share a few lines of our incredibly ordinary lives.
Both Igor and I have been working quite a lot of hours. He puts in 100-140 hours per week in the hospital and only has about a week left in his rotation of internal medicine. He will then spend three months in pediatrics. While Igor sees patients, writes prescriptions and suctions out undesirable fluids from other people's bodies, I teach language classes at the university, at my house or online. Most of my English classes at the university's language center and the private lessons I teach are for low-level English learners, so I spend a good portion of my time speaking very slowly, repeating and rephrasing, using synonyms and writing English words with Spanish phonetics on the board. This month, I also have had the pleasure of teaching Spanish to a middle-aged Englishman who is here doing volunteer work helping with youth soccer. It's fun witnessing the learning process that I went through a few years ago and being able to explain a few things that I found challenging and seeing the excitement as he finally also grasps the concept. Occasionally, I tutor Spanish and German online in the evenings when Igor is working at the hospital or busy in our apartment preparing for a presentation.
I had another strange job offer this week to teach at a school, but I prefer what I am doing now, so rather than go to the school, where I was already being offered the job, without them having met me, I told them plainly that I appreciated their consideration, but wasn't looking to teach in a school at this time.
Besides for work, I've been dealing with immigration bureaucracy again. As for my immigration paperwork, I travelled at the beginning of the month to apply for new updated marriage licenses from the Peruvian Consulate in the USA, because ours were now outdated! This weekend I received a phone call telling me the documents have been electronically sent to Peru and that I can pay some more fees and travel to collect the printed copies to come back to Chicayo to continue visiting the immigration office and getting my papers in order before the next round starts all over again in August when I have to renew my resident's visa.
Back at our house things are pretty calm for the most part, besides for the unpredictable weather. We have a small gecko that lives in our apartment... seeming to prefer the mirror in the living room, my desk or the office curtains as his primary lurking spots. I love seeing him. It's a fun thing to look for where he'll be. He makes at least a brief appearance most days.
We had been hoping to take down our mosquito net at the end of this month, but that no longer seems like a good idea, as the mosquito population has surged once again. This last week brought rain most nights as we are experiencing some of the effects of a weak El Niño system. Rain makes this city disgusting and I will be happy to see it go.. I scoop up buckets of dirty water from our kitchen and sometimes dining room floors when we wake up because if the water that runs down the steps from the roof into our apartment. I, as well as my students, have tried to avoid dirty water on the way to classes, but usually end up spattered or worse: with a shoe full of icky water- likely containing sewage.
And there you have it, folks. No exciting adventures, just mundane life. But we're happy, and the world spins madly on.
I thought, perhaps, I could write about incredible adventures like our trek through the Amazon, our swim through a rapidly rising river or our hand in the capture of infamous thieves, but then, none of it would be true. So, I'm left to share a few lines of our incredibly ordinary lives.
Both Igor and I have been working quite a lot of hours. He puts in 100-140 hours per week in the hospital and only has about a week left in his rotation of internal medicine. He will then spend three months in pediatrics. While Igor sees patients, writes prescriptions and suctions out undesirable fluids from other people's bodies, I teach language classes at the university, at my house or online. Most of my English classes at the university's language center and the private lessons I teach are for low-level English learners, so I spend a good portion of my time speaking very slowly, repeating and rephrasing, using synonyms and writing English words with Spanish phonetics on the board. This month, I also have had the pleasure of teaching Spanish to a middle-aged Englishman who is here doing volunteer work helping with youth soccer. It's fun witnessing the learning process that I went through a few years ago and being able to explain a few things that I found challenging and seeing the excitement as he finally also grasps the concept. Occasionally, I tutor Spanish and German online in the evenings when Igor is working at the hospital or busy in our apartment preparing for a presentation.
I had another strange job offer this week to teach at a school, but I prefer what I am doing now, so rather than go to the school, where I was already being offered the job, without them having met me, I told them plainly that I appreciated their consideration, but wasn't looking to teach in a school at this time.
Besides for work, I've been dealing with immigration bureaucracy again. As for my immigration paperwork, I travelled at the beginning of the month to apply for new updated marriage licenses from the Peruvian Consulate in the USA, because ours were now outdated! This weekend I received a phone call telling me the documents have been electronically sent to Peru and that I can pay some more fees and travel to collect the printed copies to come back to Chicayo to continue visiting the immigration office and getting my papers in order before the next round starts all over again in August when I have to renew my resident's visa.
Back at our house things are pretty calm for the most part, besides for the unpredictable weather. We have a small gecko that lives in our apartment... seeming to prefer the mirror in the living room, my desk or the office curtains as his primary lurking spots. I love seeing him. It's a fun thing to look for where he'll be. He makes at least a brief appearance most days.
We had been hoping to take down our mosquito net at the end of this month, but that no longer seems like a good idea, as the mosquito population has surged once again. This last week brought rain most nights as we are experiencing some of the effects of a weak El Niño system. Rain makes this city disgusting and I will be happy to see it go.. I scoop up buckets of dirty water from our kitchen and sometimes dining room floors when we wake up because if the water that runs down the steps from the roof into our apartment. I, as well as my students, have tried to avoid dirty water on the way to classes, but usually end up spattered or worse: with a shoe full of icky water- likely containing sewage.
And there you have it, folks. No exciting adventures, just mundane life. But we're happy, and the world spins madly on.
Calm, ordinary is nice for a lot of the time. You'll have more adventures which I hope will be interesting ones apposed to scary ones. Always enjoy your blog. Helen
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