It's Peru, Baby.

I just realised yesterday that I am really fed up of being whinged at all the time. I guess it's just another layer of culture shock, as I suppose the Japanese and the British are not known for being big whingers (keeping face, stiff upper lip and all that). Peruvians, however, are. There's a lot of dire poverty, and people beg from you all the time here. Not just on the street and public places, they enter cafes, restaurants, shops, internet places, etc. to ask you for change in a tone of voice designed specifically to be as grating and pathetic as possible. "Griiingiiita - pooor favooour... No tengo plataaaa. No tengo naaaada. Dame plata por cooomeeer..." (Little foreigner, please, I don't have any money, I don't have anything, give me money to eat...). Of course this makes me feel terrible, but it's tough to know what to do. I, frankly, resent being constantly interrupted in private establishments, so much so that I don't wish to encourage the beggars even more by giving them money. It's a rock and a hard place situation.

The whinging doesn't stop there. It continues, albeit in different vein, at work. "Teeaaacher, nooooo, no exam, pleeeaaaseee, teeeaaacher..." Or my personal favourite, "Teeeaaacher, sooorry, I miss class X times, teeeaaacher, sooory, no es my fault, teeeaaacher..." Well, no es my fault, either, is it? Let's make a deal, you can miss class as many times as you like, but then I will fail you, OK? That seems fair to me. Interestingly, I am finding that the students with more than the six absences I will allow (a cycle is only 18 days - surely this is fair) almost always use the excuse that they didn't know about my rule. You didn't know that isn't isn't acceptable to miss over a third of the cycle?? I must have announced the rule on one of the XXX days that you didn't make it??? Here's your F, dunce. And for the love of dios, stop whinging at me.

Right, I am almost done, but there is one more place where I must endure great whinging. This is at home (how relaxing!). For some reason, Keila (six) has developed a way of talking that I thought was reserved for teenagers. "NOOO, no me gusta veduuuurrraaas. Son horrrriiibles!" (I don't like vegetables. They're horrible!). "Estoy abuuuurrrriiido." (I'm bored). And the like. It's hard living with a six year old that you cannot discipline in any way, due to the language/culture barrier, yet who tags after you, and whom you are expected to entertain. She's a cute little girl, whom we are pleased to take to the park or the beach now and then, but as I may have previously mentioned, I did not come to Peru to be a live-in babysitter.

I'm fed uuupp! Eveeeryone bugger oooff! I want some peeaace and priiivaaacy!!!