Rafting!

I went rafting this past weekend with some of the other English teachers. It was so much fun. We went to the Urubamba River in the Sacred Valley about two hours from Cusco. The rapids were amazing! We were on the river for about two hours. Parts of the rapids were class four. Fortunately we were all safe; no one went overboard. After rafting they provided us with lunch and saunas to warm back up!

Finally!!!

After over four months living in Cusco, I finally made it to Machu Picchu! It was incredible. I arrived there early on Saturday morning around 7:30. At first when I entered the park, it was super foggy and I could not see all of the ruins. ¨Where is Machu Picchu?¨ I thought to myself. However, an hour or so later, the skies began to clear unveiling all of the magnificent ruins. Machu Picchu contains various ancient Incan areas for things such as agriculture, urban living, and ritual ceremonies. Everything is so beautiful and there is something new and interesting around every corner. Around 8:30 a.m. I began the hike up Wanupicchu. It is the taller peak behind the ruins. It took one hour to climb; mostly climbing up stairs. It was pretty tiring, especially at altitude. The views from the top were incredible and totally worth the effort to climb the mountain. I spent the rest of the day walking around the ruins. I also had a chance to visit some hot springs here too! Very relaxing!

Feliz Halloween!

Happy Belated Halloween! October flew by in an instant. I kept busy teaching and trying to stay healthy. I think I had the flu two or three times in October, allergies, and stomach problems. I am hoping November will be a better month. I am feeling much better so far. Thinking positive.

Also, one of my roommates moved out this month. She (Amanda) is traveling in Argentina right now then will head back to the States. Josie and I have a new roommate that we found on Craig´s list. However, he has been having medicial problems and is in the hospital with pneumonia. So he has yet to move in. The altitude in Cusco often produces lung infections to those who are not used to the high elevation. We are hoping he will recover soon!

We had a Halloween party at our place last Saturday then went out dancing! Thanks for the decorations! This is me as a fairy godmother in my apartment.

Volunteer Service Day!

My friend just posted some pictures from my work service day a few weeks ago. My co-workers and I went to a community center outside of Cusco. We mostly did painting and a little construction work as well. At the end of the day, we played soccer with the kids from the community. It was a fun and exhausting day. In this picture, one of the kids is ¨helping¨ me carry a bucket of dirt.

Juegos Mecanicos

Things are going pretty well in Cusco, other than getting the flu last week. My roommates and some of my students and me have been enjoying the carnival (juegos mecanicos) right by our house. There are crazy rides, fun games, cotton candy, churros, and much more! It costs three soles (one dollar) to go on each ride. I also LOVE playing this game where you need to roll down eight balls into different numbered slots. You get a different prize depending on the sum of the slots where the balls entered. Anyways, it so fun because you always win and I have won some great stuff such as bowls, hangers, juice boxes, toys, and a plastic piggie bank! It is fantastic!

What´s new?

So today I officially finished my second month of teaching ESL! I am a little fatigued from grading dozens of quizzes and exams, but it feels good to be done. Overall, my students did very well. I have the rest of the day off and tomorrow I have a volunteer service day for work. We are meeting at 8am to take a bus to a town outside of Cusco to do some construction work and play soccer with the kids in the community. I think I will mostly be painting inside. We´ll see!

This past week or two has been busy and fun. I joined the gym (for 15 dollars a month). It is no Primetime, but at least I can go there to do some exercises and take a warm shower (which can be difficult to find here!).

Also, my roommates and I discovered a carnival right down our street and have been going there a lot! Some of my students from my Basic 1 English class have gone with us too.

I continue to take a Spanish class for an hour everyday.

Oh ya, and I went to a birthday party for one of my students this week. It was a lot of fun. We ate chicken and fries, danced, and ate cake. The cutest baby was there named Eduar (see picture above!). He is my student´s nephew. He is turning one this Saturday and my friend Josie and I are invited to his birthday party! He is SO cute!

Now I am off to eat some lunch!!!

Hola!!!!

I had a nice trip to Bolivia a couple weeks ago. I stayed a night in Copanabana, Bolivia, which is located on the edge of Lake Titicaca, the largest lake in South America and one of the highest lakes in the world. Lake Titicaca also entends into the city of Puno, Peru. While in Puno, I rode a boat on the lake and visited the Isla de Oros. It is a floating island built with reeds. It was absolutely beautiful; I had never seen anything like it. People live in straw houses on the island and have straw boats too. There is a tiny restaurant on the island and tons of arts and crafts to buy.

Otherwise, I busy with work and I am still enjoying it. Last Friday night some of my Basic 1 English students took me out to dinner for pizza. It was a lot of fun speaking Spanish with them and hearing them practice English with me.

My cats are growing very quickly. The kitten days are flying by!

I´m off to class! Today I am doing a listening lesson with my Basic 1 class. Per request, we are listening to Backstreet Boys, I want it that way!

Bolivia here I come!

I need to renew my tourist VISA in order to legally stay in Peru. I am leaving for Bolivia tonight by bus. It is going to be around a 12-15 hour trip. My Peruvian friend Rodolfo is coming with me. I am looking forward to leaving Cusco for a little bit and seeing more of South America. I will try to take some pictures and post them next week. I have a paid day off tomorrow and need to make plans for my classes! All is well!

Second Month Already!

I am done with my first month of teaching! My work schedule changes every month. Today I had work meetings and training. Tomorrow I start my second month as a TEFL teacher. This month I will be teaching Basic and High Basic English classes. I was assigned the lower level classes since I know how to speak Spanish. I enjoy them because I can see the students making progress with their English skills while using some of my Spanish skills!

The weather is starting to change here. Today it is raining and hailing. I have the rest of the day off. I am not sure what I will do! I will definitely be hanging out with my cats though. The picture above is of Blackie and Tito sitting with my roommate Amanda. Tito is the bigger one, yet they are brothers; the same age.

Extreme Ironing in Sacred Valley!

You might be wondering what the heck I am doing in this picture. Well let me tell you. I am EXTREME IRONING! What is extreme ironing? It is exactly what it sounds like: ironing in extreme places! What is the point? The point is to extreme iron and take pictures! My TEFL teacher Natalie introuced me to the sport. Last Sunday, we went to the Sacred Valley right outside of Cusco and took along an ironing board and an iron. We went to the town of Lucre. It is known for hunting duck. We were going to go duck hunting, but did not have any guns so we brought along the ironing board instead. It was a ridiculously fun day and I tried some duck for the first time: arroz con pato-duck with rice. I hope to take more trips for the Sacred Valley on the weekend. There are many more ruins to see and towns to visit. We passed the town that is known for ¨cuy¨ (guinea pig). I am hestiant to try it.

I also have a new addition to my apartment: another cat! His name is Blackie. He is Tito´s brother. So now we have two cute blacks. It is really nice because they keep eachother company during the day when my roommates and I are at work. I will post a pic of them soon!

First Week of Teaching

When nine óclock hits I will be officially done with my first week teaching. My days have been filled with classes, students, and lesson planning. I spend hours planning for my six classes. However, I am learning how to plan more efficiently so I think it will take less time in the future.

My roommates and I are still enjoying our cat. We kind of feel like we have a baby at times. He is really tiny and really cute. And ALWAYS wants our attention! He is getting better at using the kitty litter box. However, there have been some accidents on our beds. Gross! I can´t be mad at him for long because he looks so sweet and innocent.

Other exciting news, I started taking a Spanish class this week. It is awesome. My TEFL teacher Natalie told me about the class. It is just Natalie, me and our Peruvian teacher. It is bascially a conversation class. It is nice to be in the student role for part of the day and have practically one-on-one attention. Today my Spanish teacher and I discussed recent Peruvian history and politics. I learned about the horrific terrorism that existed in Peru during the 80´s and 90´s and what is going on today. For example, the current government wants to privatize water, but the farmers disagree.

This weekend I think I will be hiking some ruins around Cusco. I have spent way too much time here in a classroom. I cannot wait to get out and see this beautiful place!

Mi vida en Peru-My life in Peru

So some things have changed. I was offered a teaching job for August. So today was my first official day as a TEFL teacher. Actually my day is not over. I have one more class to teach from 8-9pm. I am exhausted. I taught my first class at 8am. The day went well, but I am tired now and want to go home and eat. I am teaching six one hour classes every day. Two Basic, Two High Basic, One Pre-Intermediate, and One Advanced English class. In my TEFL courses I was taught not to use any Spanish in the classroom. However, when teaching a basic level class sometimes it is necessary to use some Spanish (which I love!).

Other news, last Friday was my 24th birthday. My roommates and I got a cat! It has a few names...Emoticat, Moti, and Tito. It is an adorable two month old black cat. He is so cute (and hyper!). Then on the night of my birthday we had a get together with friends at our apartment and went out to dance. It was a great day/night!

I´m done! On to new adventures...

I am offically done with the TEFL course! Yah! Tonight is the graduation ceremony/party. I am very excited.

I have an opportunity to work here in Septemeber as a full time teacher and I am going to take it! A couple of my classmates and I found an apartment today that we all like. If all goes well we can move in within a week.

The teaching position will last for six months. I hope to take off August to travel and see Peru. I have been so occupied with the TEFL course that I have not had a chance to travel and I could definitely not leave here without seeing more of the country. Machu Pichu and the jungle are on the top of my list.

Ciao!

Un dia mas!

One more day of TEFL course! Yah! I cannot wait to be done!

After my classmates and I finish teaching we are going to have a party, make t-shirts, and go out to celebrate!

There may be some openings in September to teach here at Maximo Nivel language school. I told one of the directors I would be interested in teaching here. It is one of the best language schools in Cusco. A few other ladies from my class want to stay to teach as well.

I will let you know how things develop!

Strike = No students

Today was supposed to be my second day of practical teaching. I was all ready to go at 8 AM in my fancy teacher clothes and no one showed up. After some investigation, I found out that the students did not arrive due to a transportation strike. Some new transportation laws were passed recently by the government without consulting any of the transportation services (i.e. buses, vans, taxis, etc.). There have been protests all month over this. The protests are typically mildly successful. However, today on my second day of teaching I have witnessed one of the most successful strikes in Cusco!

I do not think the strike continues tomorrow, so hopefully I will have students. I may teach a make up class later. We´ll see. Off to class...

Weekend that is not a weekend

On Monday I begin my week of practical teaching. I will have my own class of Peruvian adult students that I meet with every day. My students will be at a pre-intermediate level of English. The practical teaching portion of the TEFL course accounts for fifty percent of my grade. I have spent all today (Saturday) working on lesson plans. I spent all last night (Friday) working on a Grammar Paper. And I will probably spend most of tomorrow (Sunday) on lesson plans as well. Thus, not much of a weekend. However, I am going out tonight with people from my class to celebrate my classmate Amanda´s birthday. We are going to meet at an Irish pub. I am looking forward to it.

Next Saturday is the TEFL Graduation party! We get free alcohol! I cannot wait!!! ;)

Long time no blog

Sorry for being MIA this past week. I came down with bronchitis a week ago, I have been putting most of my energy into getting better and attending all of my classes. Thankfully, I am doing better today. I told my teacher Natalie I was feeling better today and she said, ¨Yes, you do not look like you are going to pass out.¨ So apparently I looked pretty bad last week, but I managed to attend all my classes and get my work done.

I taught my second lesson today. The goal of this lesson was to teach a new set of vocbaulary in 20 minutes. I taught ¨cruise ship¨ vocabulary: cruise ship, cabin, deck, captain, and iceberg. To help illustrate this vocabulary, I took the class on a ¨Holiday (vacation) on the ´Titanic´ Cruise Ship.¨ The ´Titanic´ Movie/Story is well known here in Peru so I did not have to go into the story of the Titanic; they already knew it. We read a dialogue between Jack and Rose, i.e. ¨Don´t jump Rose! Take my hand!¨ Then I had them write their own dialogue between Jack and Rose, and come up to perform it. It was really funny. Some boys ended up playing Rose and had Jack say things like ¨Don´t jump Rose, you are very sexy.¨

I am preparing for my next lesson tomorrow. This lesson is about getting the students to speak.
It will consist of something like having them act out another dialogue. This time between Bart and Homer Simpson who are daring eachother to do stupid things. I love ESL. :)

1st Week

The first week of classes went really well. My teacher Natalie is fanastic. Definitely feel like I am back in school. I have reading every night and need to do observations of ESL classes in evenings. I taught my first mini-lesson to Peruvian students on Friday. It was a lot of fun. The assignment for the mini-lesson was to teach anything, but English. In other words, teach the class how to do something. So I taught them a basic hip hop dance routine. Hip-Hop music is growing in popularity here, but there are no hip-hop dance classes or anything. It was only a 20 minute lesson. I needed to teach them new vocabulary so I taught them raise the roof, pop the collar, and work it. I put together a very basic dance routine using the hip-hop moves I had learned through my gym classes in Burlingame. The students were really into the dancing and had a great time.

Once Friday was over, I was very excited for the weekend. I went out Friday night with people from my class. We went to see a local Andean rock band play called Pueblo Rebelde. I bought their CD after the show. It is a five man band and one of them plays the traditional Peruvian flute, which sounds beautiful. Then on Saturday I took some Salsa lessons and Sunday I took a trip to a town outside of Cusco called Pisac. I went with some volunteers from my house. Pisac is located on the edge of the Sacred Valley, which is the meandering valley below Manchu Pichu. Rivers run through it and there are Incan ruins there. We went to visit the HUGE outdoor market there. I bought way too many things, including a warm Alpaca sweater. There are llamas just wandering around the town there. I tried to take some pictures with one, but it kept turning toward me and I was afraid it was going to spit on me! Thankfully it didn´t. I did get some awkward pictures with it. :)

Now back to class ahhh!!!

Back to school!

Today was my first day of TEFL/SL classes. The class consists of 11 students (mostly women; I was not surprised by this). I am attending Maximo Nivel which is located on Ave. Sol, which is one of Cusco´s main streets. I definitely feel like we are in the hub of things. The school is really nice. English and Spanish classes are taught here; there is a travel agency; laundry service; computer lab; snack bar, a huge volunteer program, and much more. Best of all there is free coffee and tea everyday. ;) There really is so much to do here.

I will have class everday 9-12 and 1-3 and class observations some evenings. Today´s class went really well. It is a ton of information packed into one class. I hope I like the other classes as much as today´s. My teacher is verryy upbeat and really nice. SO today I had class from 9-12, lunch, then we all took a city tour of Cusco on a mini bus. I was all ready to have a tour of the historical sights. Well we ended up brushing by the famous churches, etc. and our tour guide Jonathan mostly pointed out all of the bars, discotecas (clubs), and restaurants we should check out! It was a lot of fun.

We also stopped by a few of Cusco´s largest markets. The first one was filled with food. Mostly fruit, meat and grains. I took a picture of an intact pig, which I will be sure to post for everyone. ;) I also saw some cooked cuy (guinea pig) at another market we went to called El Molino. El Molino is filled with clothes, and a whole bunch of other stuff. You can buy 3 DVDs there for 10 soles, which is around $3. Then we went to a more westernized market, where I bought some chicha morada. It is one of the most known juices in Peru; it is made from black corn (yup!), pineapple, apple, and some other fruit. It was yummy.

Oh ya and for the first time in a while I have homework to do! Chao!

Exploring

I feel like I have somewhat adjusted to the altitude now. Of course there are people who have been here a month and say they still get winded going up stairs. There is 30 percent less oxygen up here compared to sea level. I have felt a little homesick at times then I look outside the window and remember where I am. I have spent the last couple days discovering some of the main sights of the city. I visited the main plaza yesterday called Plaza de Armas. The main cathedral is constructed there. It contains the largest bell in South America. I visited some of the other churches around the city as well. They all tend to have very ornate gold altars. Practically even inch of the altars have been carved by hand. Much of the art reflects the baroque style of extravagence, curves, and gold. It is all about the gold. I also visited the Museum of Religious Art today. It contains pieces from the Cusco School of Art. The art has images of the Catholic faith brought by the Spanish infused with the religious practices of the Incas. It was fascinating.

Today I took a walk to the neighborhood of San Blas. The buildings are white washed with bright blue doors. It has recently been restored. San Blas is the up and coming ¨hip¨ area of Cusco and believe me the people of Cusco know it. I was walking up this hill of cobble stoned streets on San Blas Street and every few steps I was encountered by a person selling you jewelry, paintings, scarves, among other items. Peruvian women and children stand by in their traditional gowns holding llamas waiting for you to take a photo of them. Which you pay for of course. I found out they all charge different prices. Best to agree on a price before the photo. The poverty made me sad and I started to dread when anyone approached me because some of them were very aggressive. One lady followed me for 5 blocks or so. She had a child on her back so I eventually bought one of the beautiful hand carved boxes she was selling me for a minimal price. I learned from her not to make conversation with them because once you do that they will not leave you alone.

Today is my last free day before classes. Tomorrow I start my first day of TEFL/SL training. It is a four week course that trains you to teach English as a Foreign/Second Language. I have already met one of my teachers. She is from South Africa and has been doing TEFL classes/trainings for the past four years in South Korea, Costa Rica, Peru and other countries.

There are free salsa lessons every Saturday at my school. I took the beginner class yesterday and it was a lot of fun. I did not plan on going to the class, but I was checking the internet at the school and all of a sudden someone comes in and says in Spanish, ¨Salsa classes in 5 minutes.¨So I just jumped right in! I hope to go again in the following weeks. Please think of me tomorrow on my first day!

La llegada

Yah! I have arrived in Cusco, Peru! I have now been here for over 24 hours. My flights went okay. I left SFO at 1AM on Tuesday morning heading to El Salvador. I was able to sleep a little, but my stomach was upset, which never happens to me when I fly. Thankfully I felt better once we landed in El Salvador. And while waiting in the terminal for my flight to Lima I ran into my friend Suzanne! She also went to UCSB and we had studied abroad in Madrid, Spain together. She was heading to Cusco too and was going to hike the Inca Trail. So then off to Lima we went and I sat next to a Peruvian man from Lima who wanted me to teach him English. Apparently English teachers are in a very high demand there. I am not even trained yet and I have a student. ;) I spent a night in Lima. I had to get up at 2:45AM for my flight that was going to leave at 5AM. However, when I reached the airport I found out my flight was delayed for 4 hours! While waiting to check my bags I heard someone shout,¨Valerie!¨ I turn around and saw another girl who went to UCSB with me, Katie. She was traveling with her sisters to Cusco. She had also studied abroad in Spain the semester before me. SO crazy! We ate a free breakfast of watery scrambled eggs and toast with pineapple juice at 4AM. I did not finish my eggs. Anyways, we finally left for Cusco around 9 or 10AM. Once landed in Cusco, one is greeted at the airport by Peruvians in traditional dress that are playing Andean Music. It was awesome. I was then picked up by a one Peruvian man that works for the school I am going. He was very friendly and we took a taxi to Maximo Nivel (the school) for a quick tour. Then we took another cab to the Family House where I am staying. The city was unusally full. I asked what was going on and apparently I arrived on the day of Cusco´s biggest festival of the year, Inti Raymi. It is a procession to celebrate the Incan Tradition of the winter solstice. The celebration starts in Cusco and ends up in the Sacsayhuman (pronounced as ¨sexy woman¨) ruins not far from the city. After all of the congestion in the streets I arrived at the Family House. It is adorable. It is a modern Cusco home with 3 levels. Other students and volunteers of all ages live in the house. I am so lucky because I was given and private room and bath, which I did not expect. I love my room. I have a window with a view of the mountains that surround Cusco. I tried to upload pics, but it did not work. So to be continued. There are chefs that cook for us. The food is delicious. Too good really. I like everything we had eaten so far. Today I had a yummy potato, cheese, rice, corn, and vegeatable soup. I did not recognize the corn at first because the kernals are like 3 to 4 times the size of American corn. Everyone in the house has been super nice and friendly. The lady that runs the house is very helpful. Sometimes her 7 year old daughter Paula comes with her. Paula and I watched some of Night at the Museum together in Spanish and she invited me to her birthday party in August. ;) Ok I could keep going on, but I will same some for next time. I am still adjusting to the altitude. I am drinking a lot of coca tea. I heard there is coca candy too so I am very excited to try that. I miss everyone!