No class = normal

Today I showed up at one of Cajabamba's high schools to teach one of my regular weekly classes - this one is a volunteerism project with seniors at an all-girls school. When I arrived at the school, it was immediately clear that I would not be holding class: all the girls were gathered around the central patio watching as each grade level put on its own performance of songs related to caring for the environment. I found my supposed-to-be students, and they explained to me that today the school was holding a class competition in honor of "environment day" (pretty sure they invented this particular holiday).

Unfazed, I sat down with the girls and watched for a little while, and then went along my merry way. Occurrences like this, i.e., random non-academic events that interrupt significant amounts of class time, are completely normal in Peru. Not only are they normal, but they are frequent: at least one of my classes is randomly cancelled at minimum once a month, and often more than once. The past month has been particularly full of such examples: yesterday the last two hours of school were cancelled because the teachers had a training; last week my volunteerism class didn't happen because the girls were attending some assembly at another school; the past three weeks there have been multiple kids missing from any given class due to the swearing in of the "school police," various school anniversary parades, and during-school-hours practice sessions of the sports teams competing in the inter-school olympics.

In addition to these seemingly random interruptions, Peru's schools also celebrate the country's inordinate amount of nationally sanctioned holidays. The Friday before Mother's day, 100% of Cajabamba's schoolchildren were occupied in putting on honorary shows for the moms. A significant portion of the two weeks leading up to said shows was also shot to hell, as the kids of course had to prepare and practice these maternal spectacles. This coming Friday is the national "Day of the Flag" - apparently four days of independence day celebrations in July is not sufficient; Peru also needs a specific day just to honor those special red and white stripes. As it so happens, the town of Cajabamba also celebrates the town's own founding day and flag day - two additional days without school and work. Anyway, you get the picture. All these ceremonies are just part of the Peruvian reality, and all you can do is go with the flow and sit back and enjoy the parades.