3-10 en Cusco
I need to keep this short because it is late and the internet keeps going in and out.
My mother asked me if it seemed like I was in Peru or if it was like any other big city. It´s definitely not. It doesn´t look like this computer has a USB port, so I can´t upload pictures. There is definitely poverty. The buildings are old, and while the city has paid people sweeping on the sidewalks, it still seems rundown.
Today was my first day of class, and it was very hard. I had two different teachers, kind of like two periods with a break in between. The first teacher was very unorganized. Mostly we talked about my job and my family. I know the people at Vandover can appreciate that it is hard enough to explain what we do in English much less Spanish! Holy cow. It doesn´t help that I can´t find the word for proofreader, so I am calling myself un editora. But then it is hard to explain that it is not for a newspaper or magazine. I have learned many words regarding my job from looking them up and conversation, like to correct, to revise, research, resume etc.
My second teacher was much better, but he moved fast. I told them I remembered a lot of the present tense and wanted to learn past and future. He jumped so fast into past that he was even teaching me irregular verbs that are SO hard like hice, estuve, tuve, pudo etc. Those are all in the first person. Dante, the second teacher, asked me many questions about St. Louis. It was hard to explain the arch. I told him we were fans of baseball, american football and hockey. My homework tonight was to write a short biography of my life. The purpose it to practice my past tense. It won´t be more than a couple paragraphs.
I asked many questions about volunteering today. Again, it is hard to explain that I want to see many different opportunities in order to learn about them and decide if I would want to do them long term. Things in this country are not well planned or organized, much like Bosnia as my sister would understand. People just seem to think everything will work out, but it doesn´t always. I am not here long enough to volunteer at some of the places, like the orphanage with the babies. I am going tomorrow to see a place called Mother Teresa de Calcutta. There the children have parents, but they are malnourished. Unfortunately, one of my housemates said she tried to volunteer there but they weren´t needing anyone at the time. She showed up 5 days in a row and they couldn´t use her. It´s all very frustrating, but this is why I am here. To see what it is like. I believe it is possible to plan successful ventures, but it takes a lot of patience and tenacity. I might have to accept that I won´t be able to do a lot of volunteering on this trip, but I want to see as many options as I can.
Honestly, I´m fairly stressed about being able to do it all… Three weeks should be a long time, but it´s not. I want to study and volunteer and see the sights. It´s important for me to do the latter because who knows when and if I will return. I still need to plan my Inca Trail hike. A girl who has been living here but who I had not yet met returned from the Trail tonight. She said that Dante will help me set it up and that I shouldn´t worry about being able to do it. But it does sound challenging and I need to buy rain pants and a fleece at least. There is so much to think about and decide, but I have to remember this is only my third day here and everyone says the first day of classes is overwhelming.
I need to finish my homework and get to bed. Blessings!
