One of the highlights of our service here as missionaries was also the most unexpected: service as Pathway Missionaries. Pathway is an online program to prepare students to succeed in a university level US school (e.g., BYU Idaho in English). A somewhat unique feature of the online Pathway program, however, is the required participation (as in being phsyically present) in a weekly student "gathering," usually held at an Institute. That is where we come in. We host the weekly "gathering" for a group of Pathway students. We provide encouragement, answer questions, pass on annoucements and call on students to give opening and closing prayers, but the students actually lead the class; they take turns as the "student leader" conducting the class in English
For our students, Pathway, which is entirely in English and follows the same lesson plans and materials as in the US, is largely an English class. Many already have university degrees; it is the ability to function in English at a higher level that they lack.
Thanksgiving is not a holiday here and most Peruvians have only the vaguest idea of what it is. Our efforts to explain the holiday to the Pathway students resulted more or less in a discussion about traditional Thanksgiving meals (Peruvians have a keen interest in and appreciation for good food).
Without clearly thinking through what we were doing, we promised Thanksgiving "themed" treats for the gathering on Thanksgiving (gatherings are held on Thursday evenings). The problem we soon discovered was that the classic Thanksgiving foods, such as pumpkin pie, dressing, cranberry sauce, etc. are not generally available here. Turkeys are, as they are often eaten here for Christmas dinners, but this was light refreshments and we weren't baking a whole turkey in our little kitchen in our apartment to take in a small taxi to the Institute.
So, instead, we decided celebrate the day after Thanksgiving, i.e., Turkey sandwiches from the left overs (i.e., turkey and dinner rools), along with chocolate chip cookies and cranberry juice (but also with some delicious local aji sauce)
OK, it was pretty lame, but we all had a great time.
Another food experience we had was to celebrate the end of the semester with our students. So after the last class for this semester, some of us got together at a small restaurante called "Más que Arepas," owned by the husband of one of the students. (Arepas, a corn bread sandwhich, is the quinessential Venezuelan food). The food was delicious and the company was great. We are looking forward to continuing with our Pathway group for the next semester beginning in January.
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