Bureaucracy, on a good day, makes me sigh...

On a bad one, it makes me weep.

Journal Entry Seven in Peru - 21/02/10



Fortunately, it wasn't a day for crying, but there was plenty of sighing. On Friday I went to the Immigration office to get my tourist visa changed to one which allows me to sign contracts in the country. Yes, you need a special signature and stamp for that. It wasn't the first time either, as I went on Thursday, but didn't have my Andean migration card, which is a small slip of paper they should staple in to your passport (like they do in Thailand) because you need it to leave the country, but don't because they are saving money on staples and can earn more from you when you lose it. So, having returned with the required documents, you are told you need photocopies of everything, presumably they are saving on that too and making more money because they do have a convenient little booth for photocopying. After queuing for photocopies, you go join a very long queue at the bank to pay an administration fee. Thereafter, you join the correct queue, unlike us who wasted half an hour on the wrong queue, and get told to go back down to the bank and pay for the actual visa! Then you sit around waiting for the stamp and signature. You can't nip out for a bite because they don't let you in to the building without ID and your ID is now lying in a pile waiting to be processed. Fortunately, it didn't take very long and I can now legally put my signature to a document. Success! Although, I have many more similar trips to take before I get all my documents in order. Oh, bliss...

That last sentiment, reminds me of a line in the school's discipline policy: "Sarcasm has no place at S** J****." It's going to be a tough year... Rumours are circulating of a Secret Sarcasm Society in which to exhaust our pent-up sarcasm. On the topic of the school, my previous entry mentioned chaos, the reason being I had come from a meeting with the other senior teachers and the head on the switch to IB. The meeting being bilingual and switching back and forth from one language to another probably didn't help, but I doubt a meeting ever reaches its conclusion when groups of people break off and have their own discussions while the main meeting is still in progress. At the end of it, I had a pretty bad headache, only to have to go and sit in on a demonstration on how to use a SMARTboard. SMARTboards are cool and innovative, but I wonder if they actually do anything to make you a better teacher or to help the kids learn better. The tutorial consisting mainly of smart tricks and fancy side-stepping didn't lead me to think it would be more than a distraction, but it's the policy of the school to impose usage. Modernisation for the sake of modernisation, methinks. This is where my whole comment on show over substance came from and then it reminded me of the figure-skating fiasco at the Olympics (link). Yes, not everyone's cup of tea, but how can you leave out the quad and still win? Especially when the girls are doing them! (Go, Miki Ando!) Okay, unrelated sports link over.

Nevertheless, my meeting with the relevant people in an attempt to get the syllabus adjusted to reflect the ages and learning capabilities of the kids went well and I'm now starting the first year of secondary with more hands-on, practical knowledge and leaving the abstract ideas for the more senior years. Nothing much can be done for the current seniors, but this is a start. Now, I must start stocking up the lab with the basic instruments. Maybe I can sell the SMARTboard in my class on the black market and use those funds... Darn, there's that sarcasm again!

Well, it's Sunday morning, so not much has happened today, but yesterday was spent at my host's mother's house, sunning, reading, splashing around in the little pool and trying to understand the conversation. My host banned me from working as she thinks I work too hard from 7am to 6pm, but I haven't figured out how to tell her that I spend the first and last 2 hours of the day on the internet. Lunch was a special meal of beef ravioli, which was very tasty, albeit highly un-Peruvian.



Highlight of the day: Yummy McDonald's chocolate sundaes
Discovery of the day: Signatures and official stamps cost too much everywhere in the world.
Over-riding emotion: Content, but lots of work to do.
Nooooo.... : I've just realised that I have to learn the names of approximately 180 children.


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