A very long first week

I am still getting adjusted to everything in Peru right now. It is really hard being here right now because the language barrier is a huge problem. When I talk to my host family I can understand them most of the time except when they are just talking to each other because they talk a lot faster to each other than they do to me. It is just really hard because I just feel so stupid most of the time because there is so much that I do not know how to say in Spanish, and I have to think about what I want to say so much that it takes me forever to get out whatever I am saying and I generally make a huge amount of mistakes. I almost feel like my Spanish has gotten worse since I got here. It is probably because I am always so nervous and frustrated. I feel like my host family pretty much holds my hand and walks me through my sentences, but when I am talking to other people in Cusco it is so hard to say what I want to say and get my point across. I really want to learn Spanish, and I hoping my Spanish will not continue to get worse because living in a Spanish speaking country is supposed to improve my speaking ability. People here just do not understand how difficult it is to adapt here. I have Spanish classes every night, and my teacher is absolutely wonderful, and she says she understands because she feels the same way I do when she is around people who speak English. I just feel like I am having a bit of culture shock right now.

I do not really like my internships because the people I have to work with do not have much patience with me and they act really annoyed when I do not understand. The school I work at I am actually more of a teaching assistant because there is another teacher who teaches the computer class and I am supposed to help him out. I do not mind that at all because with my speaking ability I would not be able to teach the kids anything. The hard part of working at the school is that the teacher is really hard to understand and his does not have much patience with me. I cannot understand a word that the kids say to me and I all I can really do is point at things to help them in class. The only plus side of my job at the school is that the kids are really affectionate and at recess they do not really care if I talk to them as long as they can sit on my lap and play with my hair. The kids get really excited to learn English, so I try to teach them words here and there, and they love using them. I just do not really feel like I am much help at the school because I cannot really communicate with the teacher or the kids. And schools are so different here. There seems to be a real lack of discipline compared to the United States. Everything is just really relaxed. A dog literally walked into the classroom and walked around and no one cared. All the kids are real big tattle tails though, so they are always telling me something and I do not know what to do or to say. All I can do is hope and pray things get better.

My other internship is a little worse because I am working with this organization called APOMIPE, and I feel a little more pressure here to get things right and actually be of a help because it is an actual business. My boss at this job is kind of a jerk. He can be nice sometimes, but he can be really sarcastic and mean other times. For example, he said something to me about how I am having a hard time understanding him, and I responded by saying it’s just cause he talks so fast, and his response to that was, “that is a great observation Gabrielle!” and that was loaded with a sarcastic tone of voice. I did not really appreciate that because I am just trying to learn. His name is Hugo and he asked me what his name in English would be and for some reason I thought Jugo instead of Hugo, and jugo in Spanish means juice, so I told him that his name in English would be Juice. I realized right after that that was wrong, but the man already thinks I am an idiot so I did not try to explain my mistake and just let him continue thinking his name is Juice haha. This organization is an organization that helps people start their own business, and one of their areas of concentration are flower vendors. So my second day of work we went out to el campo(the country), and visited a few vendors and they gave me a bunch of flowers as gifts. I thought that was really nice, and probably the only part of the job I have liked.

As far as experiencing life in Cusco, I have had a little trouble. My first few days here I continually got lost, which was not fun and kind of scary. The city itself is big enough where you need transportation to a lot of places. I have two options for transportation. First off, I can take a taxi which is fine, but not the most economic option. The other option is to take these little bus/van things called combis. They are super cheap and are constantly running, but they pack people like sardines into them. It is a very interesting experience being on them, and I always get weird looks whenever I get on one because most tourists don’t know what they are or how to take them. I am getting better about learning to go places and not getting lost.

There is a type of soda here called Inca cola that tastes like a mixture of mountain dew and cream soda. It is delicious and the United States seriously needs to start selling it!

 Saturday I went out to el campo and built these stoves in people’s house that are supposed to be more healthy for the people living in the house. Most of the people in the country are indigenous people and speak a language called Quechua. Some of these people know Spanish, but some don’t. It is a very poor area, and people live in one bedroom tiny houses that are just super dirty. It is actually a sad sight. ProPeru does the healthy burning stoves project because these people continually cook and the smoke circulates in the house and causes lung type and breathing problems for the family. The stoves we built help to get the smoke out of the house. It was a really cool experience, and fun making them. After we finished the people served us lunch, and they served a traditional Peruvian cuisine called cuy (guinea pig). Now having had a guinea pig as a pet when I was a child, made the idea of eating a guinea pig even worse. Also the people living in the house just let the guinea pigs run around everywhere and they have like 20 of them, and some of the ones I saw were little babies and super cute, and it was just sad to think they would be killed for food. To be polite though I ate my cuy, and I did not like it. It has a very distinct taste and it is very gamy. It was a new experience though.

Today we went to see some Inca ruins called Tipon. It was really cool to see and we had a tour guide that told us a lot of interesting facts and stuff. I just really liked just being a tourist, and being with the other volunteers and hanging out and having fun. We are all planning on going to see different places around Peru every weekend, which will be really fun and also costly, but I think it is worth it.

I am really just hoping things get better because right now I do not really want to be here anymore. I really like my host family, the other interns, learning about Inca history, seeing ruins, and learning about another culture, but I just feel like such an outsider, like I do not belong, and I am just a waste of space here. Like I said before, it is fun just being tourist. Peru does not seem like a place where outsiders can really immerse themselves in the culture, we can only take pictures and try not to get in the way. I will try to make the best of my time here by learning, experiencing, and having fun when I can. I have already learned a lot and obviously there is a reason why God brought me here. I hope this won’t be a long two months, but in due time I will be more comfortable and have a better time at my internships.

Ok that’s all for now! Prayers please!