2011 April » Paul and Rach Elliston

Back To Work Today

Chincha, Future Plans, PAUL, RACH, Studying Nutrition, Teaching English, Weather No Responses »

Apr 112011

Had my first class today since having time off. Kind of nice to be back, but felt quite unmotivated. I don’t like teaching people who are obligated to take classes in order to get their bachelors degree. They have to do 12 months of language in order to get their bachelors so they are hardly language lovers.

Paul very busy with about 100 projects to get done by mid-July, just in case he gets a job and we leave.

Rainy season making an obvious effort to cease, so had a few nice sunny moments – which are incredibly hot moments when it happens.

I’ve been madly studying trying to catch up on all the time i missed while on holiday and in Chincha.

Incidently, our friends in Chincha appear to be doing much better! We have only heard positive things really. I had a conversation with the wife today over the phone and she said that they are improving each day…. this is quite a miracle seeing as when I first went down to do a rescue attempt, it looked all but hopeless.

We celebrated our 3 yr anniversary of living in Peru last Saturday. What an achievement considering all the circumstances we have faced!!

An Intake Of Breath

PAUL, PCT, Training Centre No Responses »

Apr 112011

You know that strange sucking sound that all workmen make when you ask them for a quote, well we’ve all just made one here. It seems that to get the health and safety clearance which with help the Training Centre become a nationally recognised Technical Institute and registered with the Ministry of Education that we can expect a bill of around £2,200… Ouch!

It’s a lot of cash, but essential if we’re to grow student numbers (which is a key part of the plan towards becoming fully self-sustaining), since it allows us to offer nationally recognised certificates and greatly increases the perceived worth of their training. We’ll just have to bite the bullet I guess…

We’re Going Up! We’re Going Up!

PAUL, Southampton FC No Responses »

Apr 092011

A 2-0 win away at Leyton Orient has today seen the mighty Saints (Southampton Football Team) move into second place in League 1 and on the brink of being promoted to the Championship. Not much of the season left, so I hope we can hang on to our position…

Teaching Again

Business Start-Up, PAUL, PCT, Training Centre No Responses »

Apr 082011

First day back in front of class and I had 3 of them (that’s 6 hours in total) today, which makes for a very long day. The first was great. The second was a little insipid and the last, our night school group, were positively disinterested, but that is understandable to some extent since they unfortunately get the pure theory course (since they’ll leave soon and there was no time to teach them in any other way) – even I’d be bored if I had to do that.

One Of The Incredible View Of Iguazu

PAUL, RACH No Responses »

Apr 062011

We have soooooo many pictures of all the various viewpoints at Iguazu, of which there are numerous. Feast your eyes on this beauty!

Future Plans

Future Plans, PAUL, PCT No Responses »

Apr 062011

Finished my chatting things over with Manuel. He has agreed to my suggested timetable for leaving the work here and is, I think, sad at that prospect, but he agrees with me that they haven’t made the best use of me while I’ve been here and he can understand why I might want to move on to something else.

The plan is that I’ll hang around until mid-July at least, to cover for the period that he’ll be out of the country. After that, if I don’t yet have a job to go to, then I’ll continue on a more part-time basis while I job search or until we decide to leave for the UK.

The fact that my leaving has now been agreed, allowed me to announce it at the staff meeting in the afternoon. We’re going to be having a vision and strategy planning meeting in May and my decision to leave means that I can now facilitate that from a more neutral standpoint. Not much was said verbally when I made my announcement, but there were a few glum faces around.

A Taster Of Photos To Come!

PAUL, RACH No Responses »

Apr 052011

These photos are of our trip to Iguazu Falls situated on the borders of Argentina, Brazil, and very loosely, Paraguay. You can visit the falls from Argentina and Brazil and the views are amazing on both sides, though Argentina does win hands down.

This is me obviously! Iguazu Falls (or part of them) is behind me. I think this is from the Argentinian side.

You get to visit various parts at various heights and some areas take you very close to the spray – really good in hot weather as you get to cool down periodically! This is the Argentinian side.

This is at yet a different viewpoint on the Brazilian side.

And another viewpoint from the Argentinian side.
Rainbows are not in short supply!

Settling Back In

Business Start-Up, Future Plans, PAUL, PCT, Training Centre No Responses »

Apr 042011

Been down to the Training Centre to catch up on where my business related courses are up to. Seems like David, the Director of Education, has done a good job in my absence and he’s been very complementary about the materials (even suggesting that they have changed the whole ethos of the Training Centre and given the students a hope for the future) – it was a job to convince him to let me take them on now that I’m back!!

Tomorrow, I’ll be meeting Manuel, my boss, and chatting about my future here, hopefully coming to some arrangement that is mutually suitable.

Back In Huancayo

RACH, Weather No Responses »

Apr 022011

We are finally back in Huancayo having travelled all over the place for the last 6 weeks.
We started in the mountains (very cold),
went down to the coast (very hot),
went back up to the mountains (very cold),
down to the coast (very hot),
then flew to Brazil and spent a few days on the Brazilian/Argentinian/Paraguayan border (jungle – and very hot)
and then headed to Asuncion, the capital city of Paraguay … also Jungle (very, very hot),
then back to the borders for a day (still hot),
then back to Peru coast (slightly cooler),
down the coast into the desert for a couple of days (slightly hotter),
back to Lima (somewhat fresher)
…. and now up into the mountains again (very much cooler!)!

Time to cut Paul’s very long hair, shave off his beard… and start life all again…

It is still raining lots here!! Should have stopped by now…. hmmm.

Will try to get photos up as soon as possible.

All Stages Complete And Home James

Future Plans, PAUL, PCT, RACH, Visa Renewal No Responses »

Apr 012011

With the right asking nicely letter in hand, we returned to the Ministry of Justice and got our required stamp and then went back to the Department of Migrations and I was very pleased to receive the new sticker on the back of my identity card to show that I don’t have to go through this whole process for another year. Hurrah!

Actually, we’re hoping that we never have to go through it again. We decided whilst out the country that we would be looking to move on when our promised two years with the Peru Children’s Trust expires in July. Of course, I’ll need to have something to move on to, so if I can’t find a job there is still the chance of having to renew again next year but, if only to avoid all the rigmarole, I sincerely hope not!!

The bus journey up into the mountains was fairly uneventful, but I can confirm that Huancayo is still in the rainy season. It was nice to get home though!

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