With our time coming to an end, we spent the morning in the hotel meeting room debriefing our field experience. Using such sentence starters as "Experiencing _____ inspired a new perspective because ______" and "Before my time in Peru, I thought _______, but now I think ______" we sought to deepen our understanding of what we have seen. We made notes of our memories and thought about how we will craft the stories we will tell when we return home. We revisited our guiding questions and tried to answer "What outcomes did you find?" and "What do you still wonder?" Whitney Hough, our deputy project director, and Tiffany Hwang, our program coordinator, walked us through our last steps in completing our field experience and what resources will be available to us as alumni. After this, we had time on our own to pack for Friday's departure, or to sightsee. I decided to walk to the next neighborhood of San Isidro, where an American I met on the plane ride to Peru, told me to visit Park Olivar where 400 year-old olive trees brought by the Spanish still thrive. The walk gave me time to contemplate the morning session. It has been strange being surrounded by a group of peers all day, every day. While dinners were on our own, we often went out in groups, as we did this night. Colleague Pedro Trivella of New Jersey had served as our ambassador during most of the trip. As a native Venezuelan, he was the most fluent Spanish speaker in the group and when he suggested we get Venezuelan food, we all got on board. While Los Angeles has nearly every food imaginable, I had never seen a Venezuelan restaurant before and had never tasted the cuisine. I order capacha, a corn pancake filled (in this case) with beef, cheese and plantains. It went well with Venezuelan Polar beer, but the portion was so big I couldn't finish it. Now I am on a mission to find Venezuelan food in Los Angeles. From front to back on the left: Sara from Portland, Kate from Florida, Adriane from Texas, Agnes from Oakland, and Cassie from Wisconsin. At center is Greg from New Jersey. At right front is me, Avani from Washington, D.C., Greg from California, Paul from Michigan and Kat from Florida. Photo by Pedro Trivella, Asbury Park, New Jersey.
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Karen CusolitoI am a National Board Certified Teacher of English at Hollywood High School in Los Angeles. I also advise the student newspaper, which is an elective class. When I am not teaching, you can find me traveling, hiking with my dog, or doing yoga. Guiding Questions:
How common is it for girls in Peru to attend universities? How does their rate compare to boys? How has the rate of university attendance changed over the years? Archives
July 2022
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