One week down

Volunteering Week One: Check!

Time is truly flying here in Cusco. Josh's construction group finished up at the police station, and they're moving on to an orphanage next week. Teaching English is still great - these kids are so cute, too. I took some pictures of one of my second grade classes this week! They love having their picture taken, so there will be many more to come. Unfortunately, Josh and I are both sick today - I have some kind of stomach bug, and we both have bad colds (Josh's is worse...), but apparently this inaugurates us into the Cusco volunteer club. Everyone in our house says they got sick their first week here. It's certainly not fun, but we took things easy today so that we'll hopefully mend quickly! We did get some much-needed rest and did lots of reading; I finally finished The Invisible Bridge (Josh read like 5 books in the time that I read this one)!

Tonight is Nadine and Fred's last night, so we're having a kind of party, hanging out, drinking wine, and listening to some of Nadine's hysterical and entertainingly crude stand-up routine. We'll miss these characters! Jessica and Michael leave tomorrow night, but we'll get to hang out one last time on Monday night when they pass through Cusco again. We had some seriously amazing pizza here a few nights ago, and since Jessica and I are both pizza fiends we're excited to go back soon! We've also been to Paddy's Pub in the Plaza de Armas a few times for some snacks and drinks. (And, yes, we do eat Peruvian food daily!) We are gradually venturing further into Cusco, and through my bus ride to and from the Virgen de Fatima, I'm getting to see new sides of the city as well!

Josh and I are looking forward to exploring some this weekend. On Sunday, as long as we keep getting better, we're hoping to take a tour of the Sacred Valley - a highly rated day trip among the volunteers. There's also a tour on horseback that we wanted to do tomorrow, but I think we're going to put that off until we're absolutely better. All in all, we're having a great time (despite our illness)! I can't believe that we're already a week in; I hope the next three weeks don't fly by too quickly!

Projects & People

Well, our projects are in full swing! We work from 8-something in the morning up until lunch, but it's amazing how exhausting those few hours of work can be. Afternoon vegging and naps are crucial to our recovery, especially with all of the walking and exploring we do on top of our work. Josh's project is currently at the police station where they're rebuilding dog kennels and concreting walls. He really likes the work so far, and the construction volunteers are all set to play a soccer game against the police officers on Friday!

I am really energized about my project and teaching! Monday, I had a crash course in teaching English - basically the TEFL certification curriculum condensed into an hour. They gave us some teaching techniques and a brief about what to expect from the students. While Maximo Nivel has a steady flow of volunteers, there isn't a set curriculum in any of their projects. Many of the Teaching English placements are in orphanages, and it's essentially up to the volunteer to gauge the students' ability levels and plan lessons accordingly.

My placement is at the Virgen de Fatima - an all-girls school encompassing students grades 1-6. I rotate around the school teaching 3-4 classes per day so that I reach every class once a week. I have about 360 students, and I get lots of hugs and stickers! It would be nice if the girls could get English lessons more often than that, but that's all the school can accommodate right now. I'm supposed to be team-teaching, but the guy assigned to be my partner bailed after the first day - says it's not his thing. The kids are great, but a little rambunctious here in general; their classes are much less structured and disciplined than in the States. While I like being able to take the lead and plan the classes I want to teach, having a partner would make reaching the kids and keeping them engaged much easier. I may talk to Maximo Nivel and see if they have someone they can transfer to my school. All in all, we're really enjoying our volunteer projects!

Also, Josh and I are happy to report that we are still pleased with our house! We've made some friends - Michael and Jessica, my kindred spirit, from LA, as well as an older couple, Nadine and Fred from New York. Nadine used to do stand-up comedy, so she's quite the entertainer! Unfortunately, they're all leaving after this week, but we're having fun in the mean time. We have one picture of us in Cusco so far, and the flash washed out the background, but there are still plenty of photos to come!

And we're here

It's hard to believe that we arrived in Cusco just this morning! The journey was long, though fairly smooth apart from a sunglasses tragedy, but well worth it. Josh and I are already enamored with this cool city.

Again, it feels like we've been here longer than a day. After a quick tour of the Maximo Nivel headquarters and our accommodations - "The Family House III" - we had breakfast and crashed for a few hours. Exhaustion was inevitable after our trip, but hopefully we won't fall prey to altitude sickness, which is quite common for volunteers. Advice abounds among our housemates, though, so we're in good hands if that happens. Overall, we are really pleased with our house so far. Everyone is friendly and fun, the food is phenomenal, and it's really accessible to the nicer and more historic parts of town. Josh and I went for a walk and explored a bit this afternoon. We ambled through a huge market, selling everything from meat and fruits to woolen goods and toys, and then spilled out into streets and streets of outdoor vendors. Though at first we got a little lost in the more "local" parts of town, we eventually found our way to the Avenida El Sol (the main drag in town, also where Maximo Nivel is located) and some of the more popular plazas. We took a few photos on our walk, though I wish I'd gotten one of a lady arranging her wheelbarrow display of oranges with her baby colorfully wrapped and dozing in the same wheelbarrow! I was wary of taking pictures of the locals and making spectacles of their everyday life, but I'm working up my courage to ask to take their picture - apparently they like that. The most interesting is how the older women all dress in their quintessential Peruvian skirts, vests, and hats, completely untouched by fashion evolutions. No photos of us just yet, but enjoy the few we have so far! Many more to come, especially once I get over my inhibitions about being too obnoxiously touristy.

We have our orientation tomorrow (and I have an English teaching crash course), and we will get to view our projects tomorrow and Tuesday, so more updates soon to come!