Spanish Classes and Free WiFi

September 5, 2012 12:00 pm

Right now I am sitting in the Blue Llama café in Pisac – 2 blocks from my host family.  And the best part is that it has free wifi!  So, I am sitting on my netbook (Thank you SO much Beth and Bill) writing this while eating a slice of banana cake.  I am glad this works because none of the ATMs I have found work so I don’t have any soles yet, so luckily this café takes credit cards.

After lunch yesterday I took a two and a half hour nap, then practiced some Spanish on my own, and then had dinner.  Dinner was a bowl of soup and tea and animal crackers…I think I am going to like lunch better than dinner.  We also watch TV at every meal and at dinner it’s a show called “Combate” which is a reality TV show with competitions like pineapple eating contests and relay races.  Matthew would like it, but I’m not such a fan of reality television although I like hearing them speak Spanish and hearing my host mom yell at the TV.  After dinner (at 8:30) Maria, the other volunteer staying in my host family with me, and I decided to go to bed.  As I was getting ready for bed, there was knock and the door and it was Maria and my Spanish teacher there to meet us and schedule times for Spanish lessons.  We made schedules and she showed us where our classroom is – a block from our house.  Then I went to bed and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, even though there was a dog snoring very loudly outside my door.

Today I had breakfast (Nescafe and a roll) with my host mom and Maria and then went to my first Spanish class at 8.  I am going to have 3 hours of Spanish class everyday for the first two weeks and then I will do 1 to 2 hours a day along with my kindergarten placement for the rest of my time here.  It will end up being 90 hours of Spanish classes!  I really like my teacher and I think I will learn a lot from her.  However, I felt brain dead after class – it takes a lot of concentration to practice Spanish for three hours straight!

After class I wondered around the market a little bit, tried to use various ATMs and then went back to my host family to grab my computer.  I ran into my host father there and I was happy that I was actually able to exchange a couple sentences in Spanish with him.  It wasn’t much but I was able to understand that he was asking where I was and I was able to tell him that I was at Spanish class for three hours.  Baby steps.  My next goal is to start answering automatically in Spanish – right now I always say “thank you” first and then remember to say “gracias.”  Then I came to the café and here I am.

So, that’s about it.  I am still exhausted, but doing well.  No suitcase yet, but hopefully it will come soon.  After this I will go home for lunch and then go to a volunteer bbq.  Hasta luego.

P.S. My Suitcase came this afternoon!!  I am so glad I only had to wait a day for it!