Kids really make things easy. They really like to talk to me and find out if that bald headed monkey walking around town is actually real. They might not have ever met me, but they will ask, “where are you going?”, and then, “why are you bald?” You really learn to appreciate their directness. The other afternoon I was in the Plaza de Armas in Arequipa City and I saw two separate guys wearing Spider-Man outfits (yo-yo vendors in disguise), each playing with a yo-yo as they strolled down the sidewalk. They actually crossed paths at a street corner, which I had to stop and giggle at as I watched them stop in mid step as they saw the other, and from about 10 feet from each other they had a stare down while they flicked their yo-yo’s up and down. The sidewalk was busy with weekend traffic, and the pedestrians walked through this scene without a head turn or a slight notice to the event that seemed so foreign to me. My point is, me to the kids in Tuti is the equivalent of two yo-yo vendors in the middle of heavy urban pedestrian afternoon traffic wearing Spider-Man outfits and staring each other down while they flicked yo-yo’s like they were web-slinging training wheels, are to me. That might be a slight exaggeration because truly how can a baldhead compete with a Spider-Man outfit and a yo-yo? But you get the jist of it.
I taught summer English classes in the elementary in Tuti, and will start classes there next week. I continue to teach in the high school and have also been teaching in a high school/elementary school in the provincial capital. Because of my teaching, all of the kids in Tuti know me, and are quick to run after me and greet me. Sometimes they want to talk, or have me lift them up and toss them in the air or give helicopter spins, and other times they just want me to hold their hand or give them a hug. No matter how my day is going, it is a nice feeling when the pure and good spirit of a child is comforted by my presence or a simple touch. The people in the mountains are not very touchy, but no matter what a child always needs to be held. Whether it’s because my skin is a different color, or because my head is bald, or they just want to make sure I am real, I’m just happy that they want me to be the one to hold them.
I taught summer English classes in the elementary in Tuti, and will start classes there next week. I continue to teach in the high school and have also been teaching in a high school/elementary school in the provincial capital. Because of my teaching, all of the kids in Tuti know me, and are quick to run after me and greet me. Sometimes they want to talk, or have me lift them up and toss them in the air or give helicopter spins, and other times they just want me to hold their hand or give them a hug. No matter how my day is going, it is a nice feeling when the pure and good spirit of a child is comforted by my presence or a simple touch. The people in the mountains are not very touchy, but no matter what a child always needs to be held. Whether it’s because my skin is a different color, or because my head is bald, or they just want to make sure I am real, I’m just happy that they want me to be the one to hold them.
1 comment:
Tonight in Arequipa, get your tickets to see "YO YO BATTLE ROYAL!"
The kids in this photo are just too darned beautiful. Nice job getting this picture.
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