Noche de Películas, Chocolatadas y Falta Promociones.

This week was a busy week for me! It’s the last week of school for the students of Catache - which means a full schedule for little ole me…

This week, I finished up my two “Noche de Películas” (“Movie Nights”) courses with the students of Segundo Grado A and Segundo Grado B in the Secundaria (students from the two second grade classes in the High School). My 6 week course taught them how to raise funds locally by doing a movie night in the Municipality. I taught them how to write solicitudes, create Junta Directivas (a Board of Directors), plan, promote, and execute their movie night - step by step. I only taught them the “hows,” and they were to do EVERYTHING - from writing and presenting the solicitudes, which movies to show, the prices, and times - to making and selling popcorn, preparing and cleaning the auditorium, and handling the money. To make it fun, I told them that they were having a little competition on which class can raise the most money - and with the money they raise, they were to buy snacks for their class for our closing ceremony / fiesta on Thursday afternoon. Last Monday, Segundo Grado A was to show “Rio” at 5:30pm for S/. 0.50 per person, and “The Indestructibles” at 8pm for S/. 1.00 per person. And on Tuesday, Segundo Grado B was showing “Alvin and the Chipmunks 2” at 5:00pm and “Castaway” at 7:30pm. They decided to charge S/. 1.00 for children and S/. 2.00 for adults.

Segundo Grado A - Junta Directiva

from left to right:

Treasurer: Jesus / Vice President: Jose / President: Pastor / Secretary: Elisa

Segundo Grado A - the class:

Segundo Grado B - Junta Directiva

from left to right:

President: Carmen / Vice President: Angello / Secretary: Juan / Treasurer: Leysi

Segundo Grado B - the class:

Well, Monday finally came, and it was a complete nightmare. They decided to meet at the Municipality an hour and a half before showtime. Of course, they were late - and even then, only a handful of students from their class showed up. They had problems with everything - aside from the popcorn sales. They forgot to pick up the projector from the Secundaria that afternoon, so between getting that and finding chairs and benches - it took over an hour.

Preparing the board for the movies:

I was (happily) surprised to see the President and Vice President from my other “Noche de Películas” class (Carmen and Angello) arrive and pay for tickets, just to observe and begin discussing a game-plan for their night for tomorrow.

Angello (VP Segundo B) standing up -

Carmen (Pres Segundo B) sitting in the blue shirt:

The children paying for their tickets for the movie:

The kids from my first class were finally ready to start at around 5:45pm, and there were problems with the speakers - no sound! - and all of the employees had already left the Municipality!!! They were so disorganized, wasting about 30 minutes just talking about what they were going to do - and to top it all off, there were 40 antsy 4 - 7 year old children running around the auditorium, complaining about not having a movie. Finally, the Vice President, Jose (who also happens to be the son of the Principal of the Primaria) went to ask his dad to use a speaker from his school. His dad came with the speaker, and a little after 6:30pm, they started the movie. Well, they didn’t test the movie out before putting it in, and “Rio” didn’t work! Luckily, the only mother of the 4 - 7 year old children who came to see the movie with her son ran to pick up a movie from her house - so at 6:50pm, they started playing some penguin movie for the antsy children - - whew!

But, the problems didn’t stop there… In the middle of the penguin movie, the Principal of the Primaria returned to say that he needed the speaker back before 9pm to use it for a presentation that night at the Primaria. This meant that they couldn’t show their second movie.

At the end of the movie, the disappointed 4 students who were left in the Municipality cleaned the auditorium, returned the chairs and speaker, and had to explain to the people that they sold pre-sale tickets for “The Indestructibles” that the movie was cancelled. What a night! So needless to say, I was dreading my second movie night with Segundo Grado B…

Segundo Grado B decided to meet on Tuesday 2 hours before showtime - and they were EARLY - with chairs in all of their little arms!!! Carmen (President) and Angello (Vice President) were totally taking control - giving directions to each group of students. The had the room cleaned and organized, the equipment setup and tested, and the popcorn ready to sell - with 45 minutes to spare! The difference between the two classes was like night and day, and I was more than relived!!! Since we had time before the movie, I asked Carmen to run to the houses of the President and Vice President of my other class and ask them to write down for my how much money they made from the night before, and to remind them to put someone in charge of buying snacks for their class for the closing ceremony / fiesta on Thursday. She quickly returned and told me that they had NO IDEA how much money they made - and they didn’t even know WHERE THEIR MONEY WAS!!! Ugh!

“Alvin and the Chipmunks 2” started on time to a full room of young and happy children!

The children paying for their tickets for the 1st movie:

The movie finished at around 6:30pm, and they had the room cleaned and ready to go for the second movie in less than 15 minutes! Carmen ran back to her house with a group of students to prep and bring more popcorn, while Angello stayed with another group of students in the auditorium. I felt so secure with them, that I could even leave them in charge for about 20 minutes and run back to my house to grab a jacket and relax for brief moment. I called Andrew to tell him how organized this class was, and how surprised I was to know that I didn’t have to worry about a darn thing!!!

As I was walking back to the Municipality, I could here music playing in the streets of Catache and Angello’s voice announcing their upcoming movie - - the kids had somehow found a microphone and figured out how to use the equipment while I was gone! I almost cried happy tears! I arrived to find them singing and dancing around the room with excitement, giving each other high-fives!

announcing the movie:

Before 7:30pm, the people started pouring in. There were younger kids, high school kids, and even a ton of adults - all dressed up for the movie. It was a full house!

Coming in for the 2nd movie:

Waiting for the movie to start:

They even ran out of chairs, and people were standing in the back! I overheard Angello whispering to Carmen, “Carmen, look - the room is full! This is so cool!” The Directora (Principal) of the Secundaria came with her husband - she was so proud! The movie started on time, and about halfway through it, all of their popcorn was sold!

At the end of the movie, the kids got busy cleaning - not just the auditorium, but the entire Municipality! The Directora stayed behind to tell me what an awesome job I did - which of course I responded, “It wasn’t me - it was my amazing students!” She said that the residents were telling her that they’d to have more movie nights like this a few times each month! I was so thrilled!!! - - SUCCESS! As my students were leaving, they were so happy - yelling, “Thank you sooo much, Ashley!!!” What a great night!

On Wednesday morning, I went for a run and showered, had a quick lunch, and then I was off to the Inicial in Munana to help them start preparing for their Chocolatada.

What is a “Chocolatada?” Every year thousands of students from all over Peru get together in their local communities to participate in a Chocolatada with their school. Simply put, a Chocolatada event is when children descend from all corners of local communities at the end of their school year (right before Christmas), to drink hot chocolate and eat panetón (panetón is like a fruit cake, but made with actual bread - as I stated last year… I don’t like it). Often there are games and dancing, then follows the giving of gifts and toys.

Panetón:

The Chocolatada was fun… but exhausting. I helped to set up the tables, chairs, food, and hot chocolate at 2pm, and I got home at around 6:45pm.

Marleny and one of the moms making sandwiches:

The kids:

On a completely different subject, later that night, I was eating a lollipop - just getting to the gum part, so I impatiently started chewing the candy part away. Well, I got to a pretty hard piece of (what I thought was) the candy. I was chewing and chewing - thinking, “That’s weird - this piece of candy just does not want me to eat it…” So, I spit it out - and out came my cap from one of the 2 root canals I had done in Lima a few months ago!!! I immediately called the Peace Corps doctor, who said he would make me an appointment for this weekend to get it fixed.

This ruins ALL of my things scheduled for the end of the week!!! This means I can’t go to the promoción (graduation) for the Inicial in Munana on Friday night - and, more importantly, I can’t go to the promoción for the Secundaria (high school) on Saturday night!!! UGHHHHHH!!!!! Luckily I could stay until Friday - I told the doctor that I HAD to stay for the closing ceremony / fiesta I am throwing for my “Noche de Películas” kids on Thursday. So, I was stuck with my cap-less nub of a tooth for a couple days before my appointment, and I had to be SUPER careful of what I ate!

On Thursday, I woke up early to eat breakfast and write out my list of things to do for the day. I gave my solicitudes to have the closing ceremony in the Secundaria to Angello to give to the Directora. Then I bought my Chiclayo ticket, went for a run, showered, and had lunch. Afterwards, I had to break the news to the Directora of the Inicial that I couldn’t make it to the promoción for the kids on Friday. How terribly sad.

I spent the rest of the time before the closing ceremony preparing everything… filling out and signing the certificados (certificates) for the students who completed AND PARTICIPATED in my “Noche de Películas” class, wrapping the prizes of candy for the winning team (Segundo Grado B, of course), and getting dressed for the event.

4:00pm came, and I walked up the hill to the Secundaria to meet the kids in the winning team’s classroom. With their earnings from the movies, the winning class had chicken, panetón, hot chocolate, and bread rolls - not only for themselves - but for the other class, and for the principal and all of the professors of the Secundaria, too!

Dishing out the food and hot chocolate:

Carmen (the President of the winning class) gave a speech before we ate, thanking me and her classmates for everything, and all of the teachers thanked me for the success of my course and the outcome!

Group shot of my students and i:

Some of my students at the closing ceremony:

Afterwards, we sat around, and I played some music for them on my computer. They all crowed around me, asking to see some of my pictures of my family and friends back in the states. We did that for about an hour, and I told them stories about the US.

At around 6pm, one of the students brought in a stereo, and they all started dancing…

Angello’s moonwalk:

Dancing, happy kids:

All in all, it was a success - - the course, the movie nights, the closing ceremony, and all of their smiles!!!

and now, for your viewing pleasure...

a video - in summary:

Now, I just have to worry about my own smile… alas, another dentist appointment - ugh! I can’t wait to get back to that fluoride water in the states!