panajachel y teaching
panajachel was great. we stayed in a lovely little place called villa lupita, in the middle of town. it was refreshing not to have to worry constantly about bugs every waking moment spent in the room, and that really goes a long way to bettering my relaxation. pana, or panachocolate, as i've begun to call it, is a fairly small town, which seems to exist chiefly as a hub for transport around the lake, and to closer towns such as quetzaltenango and antigua. aside from that, it has stalls. many, many stalls. most items for sale adhere to the traditional woven theme, whether they're hats, bags, purses, hats, purses, bags, or the very large and impressive rugs that seem to be present on every street. all are very colourful, and all are very good price for you.
haggling is literally effortless here. i had my eye on a t-shirt at one stall, and the owner immediately came over to me and named his price. '50 quetzales?', i asked, seeking to confirm what i thought was already a reasonable amount. 'ok, ok - 35 quetzales', he offered.
on the sunday, we had a very long and relaxed lunch at deli jasmine, by the lake, and i had probably my best meal so far (on these travels). we ate the amazing food, planned the following day's lessons, and watched the humming birds tend to the surrounding trees and bushes. humming birds are amazing.
we met with brittany just as we were wondering whether she was going to turn up, and got the boat back to san marcos. the journey across the lake this time wasn't quite as serene as our first crossing - but i still enjoyed it. we had been told that the lake's tide tends to pick up around 4pm, and the strength of the waves was definitely noticeable now. the group of american thirty-somethings who were seated happily at the front of the boat before departure were suddenly soaked by the spray of freshwater, as our boat clambered rather undeftly over the increasingly large waves, slamming heavily and loudly each time it landed back on the water.
meanwhile, back in san marcos, spiderwatch has been stepped up to maximum security, following a record of four spiders, two scorpions and a weird but fascinating hairy caterpillar - all in one night. i don't really have a problem with the spiders anymore, but after last night's encounter with a particularly large scorpion - during which it thrashed around violently and hideously from within the grasp of THE SCORPION CATCHER (essentially a clear plastic cup) - i think i deride them even more. however, just as i was getting used to the idea of having to remove at least one intruder every day without fail, charlie told me all about the black widows (which really are nasty) and the many types of snake that reside in these here parts. still, i think i'm getting used to it. sally tells me that more or less every night so far i've woken up and suddenly demanded 'WHAT IS THAT ON THE WALL?', before falling back to sleep as quickly as i'd woken, while she takes considerably longer to return to sleep. but yes - i... think i'm getting used to it.
the teaching has not been without its problems, and i'm beginning to get the impression that my years as a troublesome and obnoxious pupil have come back to haunt me. my main problem with classes is that the standard from one student to the next varies so massively that while i'm catering for the all-rounders, i'm going much too fast for the ones that struggle, and the more skilled students (almost always the most difficult and attention-seeking ones) are not being stretched enough. this means, perhaps understandably, that they get bored, and start to disrupt the whole class. the fact that my classes have been quite large (as big as 12 compared to sally's 5), and have been held outside in a garden next to a river means that there are enough natural distractions as it is, without there being class clowns.
it does seem that there are set roles in each class: the noisy ones who would be good musicians if only they focussed, the ones who think they can't play and therefore don't even try, the quiet ones who would really help the group if they played louder because they're actually playing very well, the ones who seem in another world and just sit there on their phones/walk off to pick jocotes...
my lacking spanish skills are still proving to be something of a setback, in the sense that i can't really get a class to do what i want if i don't speak their language. and in the planning stages, i'd thought that the whole 'music is a universal language' thing would mean that simply playing to the kids and using the odd hand-gesture would set me on the right track - but it's really not as simple as that! nonetheless, i think i'm enjoying it - or at least i will be when i feel as though i'm starting to make some progress. but i have at least one thing on my side: fear. the kids in one of my most troublesome classes are performing in the end of year show (or the 'end of the world show', as i've heard), and if they have no idea what they're doing when that time comes (21st october), then it is they who will be embarassed. still, i would hope that it doesn't come to that, and that we will start to see progress soon.
and with that in mind, i had better go and plan for tomorrow's lesson!
haggling is literally effortless here. i had my eye on a t-shirt at one stall, and the owner immediately came over to me and named his price. '50 quetzales?', i asked, seeking to confirm what i thought was already a reasonable amount. 'ok, ok - 35 quetzales', he offered.
on the sunday, we had a very long and relaxed lunch at deli jasmine, by the lake, and i had probably my best meal so far (on these travels). we ate the amazing food, planned the following day's lessons, and watched the humming birds tend to the surrounding trees and bushes. humming birds are amazing.
we met with brittany just as we were wondering whether she was going to turn up, and got the boat back to san marcos. the journey across the lake this time wasn't quite as serene as our first crossing - but i still enjoyed it. we had been told that the lake's tide tends to pick up around 4pm, and the strength of the waves was definitely noticeable now. the group of american thirty-somethings who were seated happily at the front of the boat before departure were suddenly soaked by the spray of freshwater, as our boat clambered rather undeftly over the increasingly large waves, slamming heavily and loudly each time it landed back on the water.
meanwhile, back in san marcos, spiderwatch has been stepped up to maximum security, following a record of four spiders, two scorpions and a weird but fascinating hairy caterpillar - all in one night. i don't really have a problem with the spiders anymore, but after last night's encounter with a particularly large scorpion - during which it thrashed around violently and hideously from within the grasp of THE SCORPION CATCHER (essentially a clear plastic cup) - i think i deride them even more. however, just as i was getting used to the idea of having to remove at least one intruder every day without fail, charlie told me all about the black widows (which really are nasty) and the many types of snake that reside in these here parts. still, i think i'm getting used to it. sally tells me that more or less every night so far i've woken up and suddenly demanded 'WHAT IS THAT ON THE WALL?', before falling back to sleep as quickly as i'd woken, while she takes considerably longer to return to sleep. but yes - i... think i'm getting used to it.
the teaching has not been without its problems, and i'm beginning to get the impression that my years as a troublesome and obnoxious pupil have come back to haunt me. my main problem with classes is that the standard from one student to the next varies so massively that while i'm catering for the all-rounders, i'm going much too fast for the ones that struggle, and the more skilled students (almost always the most difficult and attention-seeking ones) are not being stretched enough. this means, perhaps understandably, that they get bored, and start to disrupt the whole class. the fact that my classes have been quite large (as big as 12 compared to sally's 5), and have been held outside in a garden next to a river means that there are enough natural distractions as it is, without there being class clowns.
it does seem that there are set roles in each class: the noisy ones who would be good musicians if only they focussed, the ones who think they can't play and therefore don't even try, the quiet ones who would really help the group if they played louder because they're actually playing very well, the ones who seem in another world and just sit there on their phones/walk off to pick jocotes...
my lacking spanish skills are still proving to be something of a setback, in the sense that i can't really get a class to do what i want if i don't speak their language. and in the planning stages, i'd thought that the whole 'music is a universal language' thing would mean that simply playing to the kids and using the odd hand-gesture would set me on the right track - but it's really not as simple as that! nonetheless, i think i'm enjoying it - or at least i will be when i feel as though i'm starting to make some progress. but i have at least one thing on my side: fear. the kids in one of my most troublesome classes are performing in the end of year show (or the 'end of the world show', as i've heard), and if they have no idea what they're doing when that time comes (21st october), then it is they who will be embarassed. still, i would hope that it doesn't come to that, and that we will start to see progress soon.
and with that in mind, i had better go and plan for tomorrow's lesson!