American Jergas

February 3rd, 2009 by Gabrielle Armstrong

Having made it to Cusco on Sunday, my jet-lagged self has been acclimatizing to the local conditions. At 3000 metres above sea level, it can take some getting used to. So, I have been sleeping and drinking coca tea (a local herbal remedy) to ward off altitude sickness or ‘Soroche’ as its know locally and it seems to have worked.

I´m staying in the Family House which is home to about 15 other volunteers, most of which are American and so they were Superbowl mad the first day I arrived. The house is lovely, the food is great and all meals are prepared with Gringo tummies in mind, so we hopefully avoid the nasty parasites that seem to be commonplace here :-s

My teaching project is at a street shelter called Qosqo Maki, which one of the students there told me translates as ‘The hand of Cusco’. The kids pay 10 soles (about 2.50 pounds) a month, for an hours English class Monday-Friday. There are 3 classes each evening Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced and they contain a mix of street kids and local students who wish to learn English to improve their chances of getting a good job and improve their lives.

I visited the project for the first time yesterday, just introducing myself and observing how the classes work. The main teacher is called Cianna, she seems great, a little bit loca but she really knows how to get the kids engaged and interested in English! She´s from New Jersey and in the intermediate class yesterday she began teaching American ‘Jergas’ (or slang to you and me!) Stuff like ‘Oh my God, shut up’ and ‘Wassssup Dawg’ . My personal favourite was when she introduced them to the delightful phrase ‘The shit hits the fan’ which most of the Peruvians didn´t quite seem to understand what it meant or when to use it!!! Their homework is to write conversations using the jergas and present them in class later, which should be hilarious!

The Peruvians have their own jerga to describe the weather in Cusco ‘La clima es como las mujeres’ (The weather is like the women). Which although I refuse to agree with is pretty damn accurate! Already today we have had scorching sunshine then a huge downpour of rain and now its sunny with hailstones!!

I have just had my first Spanish class, which was great as there are only 2 other students and now I have teacher training after which I have to write my first essay plans for Wednesday´s class. Maybe I´ll teach the kids some Scouse jergas, although having little Peruvians running around Cusco shouting ‘Hey Lad’ probably won’t go down too well in the City of the Incas!