My First Week in Cusco

I already told you about Monday, my first full day here.

Tuesday Katie and I walked to Maximo to find out more about our project. Did I tell you Katie and I are working together? Well we are. Anyway, we went to find out more about our project.  The very nice coordinator lady, whose name I have forgotten, explained to us how most of the girls live at the shelter, and some just come during the day or when they need to. The girls range in age from twelve to eighteen. She wasn’t quite sure how many girls there were. The name of the shelter is Casa Acogida. “Casa” means house in English, and my handy-dandy dictionary say “Acogida” means reception or welcome.  The shelter is in Plazoleta Almudena.  The very nice coordinator lady, whose name I have forgotten, showed us how to take a “bus” to our project.  By “bus”, she meant one of those terrifying little van things that zoom around the city faster than the taxis and are always jammed full of people. A taxi ride from our house to our project is S/3 (three soles), or about $1 (USD). The bus is S/.60, or about 20 cents. I doubt I ever get in one of those terrifying things again. If Katie and I share a taxi it costs us 50 cents each. I can handle that.

 

But I digress… the v.n.c.l,w.n.i.h.f., took us up to our project and introduced us to the ladies in charge and to the girls. There is a courtyard with a volleyball net and several chickens. Rooms line one side of the courtyard. The kitchen is a separate building on the far end of the courtyard. A small enclosed garden is along the wall across from the rooms.  The girls were sitting in a circle in the courtyard knitting. When they saw us they all got up and greeted Katie and I by kissing our cheek and saying “Hola Miss!”. They do this every day.  The v.n.c.l,w.n.i.h.f., left but Katie and I stayed and talked to the girls until lunch time. They are nice. Some are quiet, but others will talk your ear off. They are teaching Katie to knit. I play volleyball with them, and they fight over whose team I’m on. And not in a bad way either. They want me on their team! New experiences! lol They also have a variety of card games they like to try to teach us. They ask us if we could teach them anything. Turns out I have no marketable skills. Past volunteers have taught them to knit, paint, draw, sing, sign, dance, cook… the list is long. But, yeah, I got nothin. But they want to learn English, so that’s what Katie and I have been trying to do this week between card games, volleyball games, and knitting lessons. I really really wish I was taking the TEFOL class at Maximo. I mean, teaching them English isn’t that hard, but I wish I knew how you were supposed to do it. Does that make sense?

 

So, Tuesday we met the girls, Wednesday we taught English and played, Thursday we taught English and had an epic water balloon fight against the boys in the plaza. It was very… intense. The plaza was full of costumed dancers and people selling trinkets and flowers and food and beer and water balloons and colored chalk dust and sprayible foam.  Almudena isn’t in the tourist part of town, so Katie and I were the only gringas around. Needless to say, we were very popular targets. We were both completely soaked and covered in foam and chalk dust. The chalk was the worst part. We were each grabbed from behind by a surprisingly strong Peruvian man who had a handful of chalk dust that he dubbed in our eyes and around our faces. The girls from the shelter screamed and hit our attackers but the chalk dust guys got us both twice. It seemed like age groups had their favorite weapon. Really little boys ages 3-7 or so all had cans of foam. Boys 8-14 or so liked to run up with water balloons and buckets of water. Guys 15-20something liked to throw water balloons from a distance or get us with chalk dust.  Talking to other gringos, we’ve learned that we’re lucky there isn’t a big fountain in Almudena for them to throw us in. Friday was pretty uneventful in comparison, just English and volleyball.

 

I had Spanish Class everyday this week for two hours. It’s actually really fast paced. We went over ser and estar, numbers, months, regular verb conjugation, phrases, adjectives and more. I really like it and I am looking forward to next week.

 

Life at The Family House is very… interesting.  We watch movies and play games and talk and go exploring and help each other with homework. Its lots of fun. Never a dull moment. I’m really loving all the different accents. Our conversations are hilarious.

 

Hmmm… that’s my week… any questions?

 

Internet is down again, but I’ll post this asap.

Love and miss you all.