Peru thus far

 Ok so I have not been able to get on the internet for the past couple of days so here is a recap of everything so far! sorry it is so long!

Saturday: My first day in Peru was crazy! Traveling was a bit frustrating because I had never traveled alone before and I was nervous and scared the whole time. It was pretty miserable flying through the night, and then arriving in Peru not to be excited but tired an frustrated with the many airport employees who seemed to disapprove of my inability to speak fluent Spanish. I just kept telling myself that in 2 months when I travel back it will be a different story!

Peru is a lot colder than I anticipated and a lot of the other volunteers agreed as well. We also all agreed that we did not pack warm enough clothes! I am hoping I will adjust to the temperature because today I have been shivering all day! I also probably should not have brought any flip flops and brought more closed toed shoes because right not I think I might have to go buy some more.

I can definitely tell a difference in the altitude but I think I am adjusting well, and being so tired from traveling helped me take a long nap. I arrived in Cusco a little after 9am and proceeded to get my bags whiles being hounded by hotel representatives and taxi drivers. I think I seriously had 20 different guys ask me if I wanted a taxi, and they would not take no for an answer. It was kind of annoying cause I was trying to fumble out in Spanish that I had a ride while trying to get away and finding the ProWorld representative. I eventually found my group and we left to go to the ProWorld office. One of the girls in the car is actually from Harrisonburg and goes to JMU! And we know a few of the same people. Small world! When we got to the office everyone just talked and one by one we went in for an interview completely in Spanish to see what our speaking level is. I did not think my interview went that bad. I of course made mistakes here and there, but I was not disappointed with my performance. After that my host dad (Ricardo) came with his son Carlos to pick me and another volunteer named Ellen up. Ellen is staying in the house with more for only a month, and then it will just be me in the house. She and I have separate rooms though and we share a bathroom.

I am getting used to really quickly kissing people on the cheek when you greet them and say goodbye. I just kind of find it funny right now cause I am meeting all these people for the first time and already kissing them! Haha My host dad does not speak any English, but he is really easy to understand in Spanish. I am actually quite proud of how I can understand him, and I am also learning new words and such from him already. He and Carlos showed Ellen and I around the house and they were so nice about everything. They constantly emphasized the notion of “mi casa es su casa.” Hah. I really like house and the family is so hospitable. I have so much room in my room! The only problems I have found are that there is a chair blocking a door in my room and it smells really bad around there, so I think it is like a broken bathroom or something. And the other thing is I found two gigantic spiders in my room and to kill them, and I am really scared they will come back!

Besides that I really like the family as well. They have two daughters as well Alejandra(17) and Abigail(8), and they both seem really shy. Alejandra and Carlos both speak a little English, so they have been helping us out some, and they said they wanted to practice their Spanish as well. My host mom Gaby owns a restaurant and that is where we ate lunch. It was really good food and they said we would be eating lunch there every Tuesday-Sunday. I think Ellen and I really lucked out on the food part then. The interesting thing is that our host family just really expects Ellen and I to learn to travel around Cusco ourselves. We were told all about the different methods of transportation and where to go, but honestly I am really scared to go anywhere without someone who knows the area right now.

The presidential elections are going on tomorrow and everything is shutting down for it. They are not even having church because of it. Also they are having a “dry” time until the election is over meaning no one can sell or drink alcohol without getting a fine, and I thought that was really interesting. I had read a little about the election before I came and I asked Ricardo his opinion on the matter, and he said originally when they were first trying to decide on the 2 final candidates there were 5 in the running and he liked the 3 that did not get picked better. I had read the country itself does not really like either candidate, and they do not think either one will do much good, so it was really interesting hearing it directly from a Peruvian. Ricardo said if he had to pick one it would be the daughter of the former president who happens to be Asian, which I think is weird to have an Asian president of Spanish speaking country.

Well we will see how that goes, and I am looking forward to my time here! After having lunch and dinner with the family I can already tell my Spanish is improving, which is awesome! Hopefully the worries and problems I have will be resolved.

Sunday: This day was not too eventful. Ellen and I walked around Cusco in the morning and then went to lunch. They gave me this juice at lunch that I thought was grape juice, but it was actually corn juice made out of black corn! it was really good. After that I went to orientation where I got a lot of good information, and then had dinner at the house at 8:00pm which is a normal time for them to have dinner! It was really good though. My host mom Gaby is a wonderful cook!

Monday: I did not have to go to my internship this morning because the schools were closed because of the elections, so me and another volunteer went to La Plaza de Armas, which is like the historical part of Cusco. It was beautiful, and I liked it a lot! I wanted to buy so much stuff because it is a big tourist area so they have a lot of souvenirs, but I decided to wait since I do have two months to buy stuff. After that I just hung out for the day and then in the evening I have Spanish classes. They were good cause it is just me and one other volunteer and the teacher is really nice, and I really need these classes!

Tuesday: This is today so far! I went to my internship at the school and it was very stressful. I am working with another teacher to teach computer classes and he is really hard to understand. He did not seem to have to much patience with me either, hopefully things will improve. The kids really liked me though and we excited to learn english. Well thats pretty much all that happened so far today! I have to go to a meeting now! I will update soon!