Starting in the Kindergarten

September 20, 2012 6 pm

            I am feeling 150% better – thank God (at least that´s what my host mother attributed my health too).  Yesterday morning, I started my kindergarten placement in a small town called San Salvador, 10 minutes outside of Pisac by collectivo.  It is a much smaller town than Pisac (which is saying something!) and pretty poor.  Yesterday, I was picked up at my house at 9 am by a woman named Yessika who is the Projects Abroad supervisor for all of the volunteers in care placements around the Sacred Valley.  We took a collective together to San Salvador and she introduced me to my teacher and my class.  She also showed me around the school and introduced me to the other teachers.  Today I spent the day at the kindergarten alone.

So, here´s the description of the school:

The school consists of three classrooms that are in one small building with an adjoining bathroom and there is a smaller building perpendicular to this larger building that contains a kitchen (aka a dirt floor, a stove, and some pots and pans).  These buildings look out onto a small playground and some construction – the government has given money to build a new school.  The playground has a wobbly pole, a big rock, and three seesaws that are propped up against a wobbly fence, and the unguarded construction.  The rest of the playground is covered in dirt and woodchips.  It is not a safe area for the kids to play in and most of the time the kids are out there, they are unsupervised – makes me uncomfortable.  My classroom is pretty big with three circular tables, one green, one yellow, and one red, which each fit 6 to 8 students.  There are 18 students in the class and they are all five years old.  There is a whiteboard at the front of the room and a small Dell TV with a DVD player in the corner next to the teacher´s wooden desk.  The walls are colorful with a mural on the back wall and a poster that says, Leer es divertido (reading is fun).  Next to this poster on the adjoining wall are cut out colorful numbers from 1 to 9.  There are also numbers in the front of the room, but they are missing number 6 and 13.  In addition, there is a poster near the door at the front of the room that says Limpio (clean) and has other words for soap, toothbrush, etc.  Good hygiene and nutrition is a big issue in San Salvador and poor communities all over.  The classroom is dark and feels kind of dingy and has a general foul smell.  Most kids have at least one rotten tooth and I only saw one kid that had a different pair of pants on today than he had on yesterday, the rest were wearing the same clothes and smelled pretty bad.

It´s really too early to describe what I think of working in this classroom.  My teacher speaks English, which is nice, but I kind of feel like I am cheating by having an English speaking teacher, but I will still learn a lot because she only speaks Spanish to the kids and none of the kids speak English, I think at least half of them speak Quecha at home.  The teacher seems nice, however she was not there today, so I don´t have much of a sense of her yet.  Today, I showed up and the teacher was not there.  When the whistle was blown and the kids came into the classroom with no teacher, I began to worry but decided she must just come in a little late because the kids all knew to get puzzles and play by themselves for 10 minutes.  Then the kids started asking me things and it is incredibly difficult to get a 5 year old repeat themselves slowly, so I tried to tell the children to wait for the teacher, but that didn´t work.  One boy brought me a DVD of Alvin and the Chipmunks in Spanish to put into the TV, so at first I refused, but after 20 minutes of being alone I agreed.  Luckily, as I was putting the DVD in, a substitute came in.  The substitute is the man that watches the playground and generally helps out around the school.  He doesn´t speak any English and I think we both felt pretty awkward with each other.  The kids watched half of the movie and then we practiced numbers, had recess, had lunch, watched the same part of the movie again (the sub couldn´t figure out how to fast forward), and practiced more numbers – this time learning if 0 comes before 1 or after 9.  Lunch is prepared by a different mother each day.  Yesterday it was a chicken and rice soup prepared by a mother who only spoke Quecha and today it was meat with french fries and rice.  Yessika told me not to eat the food for the first week because of my stomach issues, but then to eat it starting next week…I don´t really want to because the classroom/school feels so dirty.  We´ll see.  The school day is from 8:30 to 1.  At 1:00, I take a collectivo back to Pisac and join my family for lunch.  Then I have Spanish class from 3 to 6.  I am really enjoying my busier days!

There´s so much more to say about the kindergarten, but right now I don´t feel able to put my thoughts into words, besides to say that I am very intrigued by this education system.  It is extremely different from the (overly?) organized and cautious United States education system that I am used to, but a lot of the things they do make me cringe!

Inca Ruins

Tuesday September 18, 2012 4:00 pm

This weekend, Mariska and I went to visit three different Incan ruins.  We went to the Pisac ruins on Saturday and the Ollantaytambo and Chinchero ruins on Sunday.  The Pisac ruins were great, but hiking through them was extremely difficult.  The altitude of the Pisac ruins is higher than Cusco´s altitude.  Because of the high altitude, the steep climbs and because of my extreme fear of heights – it was the hardest hike I have ever been on.  Also, we went with a guide who kept hurrying us along, even when all I wanted to do was sit for a few minutes.  Comparatively, the Ollantaytambo ruins seemed easy, although they too were pretty steep, but the altitude was lower and there were more flat paths.  We also decided not to go with a guide and therefore took more time to sit and enjoy the views.  After visiting Ollantaytambo, we took a bus to Chinchero, which has a Spanish church built on Incan ruins.  There is also a market in Chinchero on Sundays, which was fun because there were different kinds of crafts than they sell in Pisac.  Chinchero is very different from both Ollantaytambo and Pisac.  It feels much more indigenous and less touristy.  While visiting all three of these ruins, I was constantly amazed by the Incas, they truly built on the sides of mountains.  This may seem like an obvious revelation, but I had to see it to believe it.  The sights were beautiful and I can´t comprehend how they were built.  To get to all of these ruins, we had to spend a lot of time on busses and in collectivos (large vans used like busses for local transportation).  I didn´t mind all of this traveling time though because I got to see so much of the Peruvian landscape and I also got to do a lot of people watching!

Unfortunately, I must have eaten something bad at a restaurant in Ollantaytambo because I woke up with a bad stomach bug on Monday morning.  It is no fun being sick away from home.  But, my host family has been very nice to me and I think that I will be back to normal soon.  It´s funny all of their ideas about what´s good and what´s bad for you when you´re sick.  For example, my host father poured out my bottle of cold water and told me I was only allowed to drink hot tea.  This morning, my host mother made me this weird tea with strawberry jello in it.  And at lunch I was told I was not allowed to have any lemon in my soup because it is not good for my stomach, however they made me drink caffeinated tea…who knows, at least they care about me!  Now that I am feeling better and not so upset that I am sick, I am finding it interesting to learn about being sick in a different culture.  But, I am mostly looking forward to being healthy again!

Moldy Lima Beans on a Cold Day

September 14, 2012 5:30 pm

Yesterday morning, after eating a breakfast of tea, bread, and cheese, Fortunata asked me to peel peapods and lima bean pods in order to take the beans out.  At first I thought she was giving me the peapods to eat, so I peeled one pod and ate a couple of peas before realizing what she actually wanted me to do.  I’m glad she didn’t see me eat the peas!  The peapods were pretty easy to peal, but the lima beans were much harder.  The lima bean pods had much tougher skin and were moldy, which was gross.  But the beans themselves weren’t moldy, so I had to peel off the pod, and then peel off the outer layer around the bean to get to the edible part.  Many of the beans had my finger nail marks in them.  It was a lot of work for not very many beans.  I hadn’t realized how much work it takes to just cook peas and lima beans (coming from my privileged, canned world).  I don’t really like peas and lima beans, so I hadn’t been eating them all when we had them for lunch, but now I know how much work it takes Fortunata to prepare everything, so I will eat my peas and lima beans!

Yesterday was rainy and cloudy, so it was freezing.  After peeling the peas and beans, I went back to my room and put on a ton more layers and warm socks.  Then I burrowed under my covers for an hour until my Spanish class.  After Spanish we had lunch, which was cabiche – cold vegetables and chicken in a vinegar and lemon broth.  It was good, but I was mostly excited that we had tea instead of our usual juice for lunch because it was so cold.  After lunch I got in bed and stayed there until dinner –  reading, writing, using my ipod, sleeping, etc for four and a half hours.  I’m pathetic, I know, but I usually don’t spend any time in bed during the day, it was just SO cold!  Thankfully we had soup and more tea for dinner and then it was bed time – I don’t think if I’ve written about what time we go to bed in previous posts – dinner is over by 7:45 or 8 and then it’s time for bed, which means I am usually asleep by 9 at the latest.  I love it!

Today was a better, more productive day.  Although it was still pretty cold, it was not nearly as cold as yesterday.  Today, after breakfast, I helped take the leaves off of various herbs.  Nothing smelled familiar, but it all smelled good.  Fortunata used the herbs to make a cream of corn soup that was green because of the herbs and had cheese, potatoes, and the lima beans from yesterday in it.  It’s fun doing these little things to help out with the food.

During lunch today, I was not able to follow what Ricardo and Fortunata were saying at one point and I must have had a very confused look on my face because Fortunata turned to me and explained that she and Ricardo had been speaking Quecha (at least I think that’s what she said).  She then explained to me, in Spanish, that she had told Ricardo that there were not many tourists at the market today because of all the wind.  I think that either my Spanish is improving or Fortunata is more patient with me (well, probably it’s a combination of both) because today we were able to have a short conversation that I understood and I think she actually understood me without either of us repeating what we had said.  It was only a few sentences, but I am very happy with my Spanish progress.  However, even though I am happy with my progress, my Spanish classes are starting to feel very difficult – we have moved past the basics and are talking about the various past and future tenses.  It’s frustrating, but practice makes perfect, right?

Caminar

         Wednesday September 12, 2012 - written at 4:30 pm 

           I just got back from a great walk with Ricardo, my host father.

           This morning, Tatiana, one of the Projects Abroad staff, came to check on me and the family to see how things are going.  Tatiana will be coming to my house and/or Spanish lessons at least once a week to check up on me.  It’s nice to have that support.  Anyway, this morning I told Tatiana that I am not sure what else to do to interact with the family and that I really like them, but I am not sure what else to do to get to know them.  She asked me what I’d like to do with them and I said cook, go on walks, go with them to the market, whatever.  Tatiana told me that she thinks that both the family and I are shy and it’s hard with the language barrier but things will get better as I learn more Spanish.  I guess she must have told the family what I said though, because after lunch Fortunata asked me if I would like to go on a walk with her.  It turned out that Fortunata was busy and Ricardo took me on a walk, which I actually preferred.  He tries harder to make conversation, repeats things several times so that I can understand, and is more patient than Fortunata with my Spanish.

            Ricardo, Yonyo (the dog – I just learned his name), and I walked to the outskirts of Pisac.  We passed the Royal Inca Hotel, which seems very fancy and is about 15 minutes outside of the main town, and then we walked down various dirt roads.  It was fun to have Yonyo there because he kept going up to stray dogs (there are so many!) and trying to play with them.  Sometimes they would play with him and sometimes they would just stare at him – I think they were probably sneering at him for being so clean.  We also passed a couple of pigs on the road that Yonyo tried to play with, but the pigs got scared and took off running (this was especially funny because Yonyo is less than 15 pounds and these were big pigs!).  In addition to laughing with Ricardo every time the dog did something like chase a pig or pee on a wall for the fiftieth time, Ricardo pointed out sights such as various cafes, the direction San Salvador is in (the town I will be teaching in starting next week), and we were even in a place that we could see parts of the Incan ruins on top of the mountains.  Much of the conversation consisted of Ricardo saying things to me and then me repeating words – after I repeated the words he would think I understood.  I’d say I actually understood about 50% of the time.  My best Spanish moment today was asking Ricardo what the word “wasi” means.  The word is everywhere – restaurants, hotels – and has been driving me crazy because it’s not in any dictionary.  He said that it is a Quecha word and means “casa” (house) – that would explain why it’s not in my Spanish-English dictionary.  I was also able to explain to Ricardo that there are no mountains in Chicago.  He seemed surprised!

            Pisac is such a beautiful place.  Since the city is in what is called The Sacred Valley of the Incas (and it really is a valley) there are towering mountains in every direction.  And the mountains are almost always accompanied by clear, blue skies.

            Although I was nervous before taking this walk (How would I communicate? Where were we actually going?), it was great to be able to have this one on one time with Ricardo speaking only Spanish and I loved seeing a new part of Pisac.

Descriptions/Answers to my Mom's Questions

Alright, so my mom asked me some questions about my house, host family, etc.  So here we go:

My House

I walk into the door off a busy side street filled with souvenir shops, a drug store, internet cafes, a grocery store, places to buy cell phones, a bakery…basically anything I could possibly need during my stay.  Over the door there is a sign for the restaurant my family supposedly runs (that’s another story, see below) as well as a list of what they offer: juices, desserts, lunch, etc.  After I walk in that first door, there is a short, covered hallway that leads onto the open patio, which is the center of the house.  The patio is a reddish/brown cement floor and there are various planted pots with flowers growing and a few different kinds of herbs.  There are also clotheslines along two sides of the patio to hang laundry.  As I stand at the end of the hallway looking across the small patio, there is a green wall with two brown doors, one on either side of the wall.  The door to the left is my room.  My room is very big and has orange walls.  There is a bed in the corner, a window opposite the bed, an alcove in the wall next to the bed, a bedside table with a lamp, five pegs to hang clothes from next to the window, a large table, and a bench.  There are no drawers, so my stuff is on the table and the bench, which are on their own walls, perpendicular to each other.  In my room there is a door that leads to Mariska’s room right next door.  We each have our own doors that lead outside, but it is nice to have the middle door open when we are both in our rooms.  As I exit my room, the main house is to my left.  The small building that my room is in and the main house join to make a 90 degree angle.  There is no door on the main house, just a large open space.  As I walk in, there is a staircase that goes to three rooms where my host family sleeps (I have not been up there).  To the left of the staircase is a kitchen with two stoves, an oven, a refrigerator, a sink, a cupboard, and a counter where there is a blender and two jugs with clean drinking water that my host mother boils every morning.  In front of the kitchen are two round tables that each has two wooden folding chairs.  Next to the kitchen is a small bathroom, which is the only one in the house.  Parallel to the kitchen and bathroom are two couches and an arm chair with a coffee table in between.  In the next room, there is a dining room table which is opposite a TV set.  The four chairs around the table face the TV.

My Family

I have not written about my family in any detail yet because it is not clear what the story is.  My host mother, Fortunata, is always there for meals.  My host father Ricardo is always home for lunch and I usually see him at the house after my Spanish lesson and before lunch, which is only a two hour window, and then I don’t see him for the rest of the day.  On the Projects Abroad page that told me about my family, it said there would be five people living at the house: Fortunata, Ricardo, their daughter Judith, and her daughters Chaska and Lidia.  I met Chaska this past weekend.  Chaska is about 17 and studies in Cusco, so she is there most of the time, but lives with her grandparents when she is not in school, so she was home for the weekend.  I think that Judith is a doctor in Calca, which is a nearby town, but it is not clear.  And I have no idea about Lidia.  However, a girl named Norma lives with the family.  I think that she must get free room and board because she is constantly cleaning and doing chores, except Fortunata always cooks.  When Norma is not working around the house, she goes to school in Calca from 8 to 1:30, Monday to Friday.  Then there is a boy who is always at the house around dinner time.  I don’t know his name and I can’t figure out his story, but he does not live with the family.  I think his connection is that he helps the family run two booths at the market, where they sell various crafts.  It is weird because Norma and this boy are always at the house for dinner, but never eat with us.  They eat on the couch while we eat at the table.  I think it’s a way for the family to show their higher status, but it is very weird and makes me uncomfortable.  I really like both of these teens (I don’t know how old they are), so it would be nice if they could eat with us so that I could get to know them more. 

Also, like I said above, my family supposedly runs a restaurant, however I have only seen one person eat in their restaurant and that was this morning.  When I came in for breakfast, there was a tourist sitting at one of the round tables near the kitchen and drinking something.  Fortunata proudly told us at breakfast that he said he would try her milk and quinoa (basically, heated milk with sugar, thickened with quinoa – it was surprisingly good).   A few days ago, two tourists came in and wanted to have lunch, but Fortunata said something that I couldn’t hear/understand and they went away.  I think that Fortunata must only offer what she has already made.  Maybe it used to be a bigger restaurant.

And, of course, I can’t forget the snoring dog.  He is ugly with a pushed in face and floppy ears.  He has orange fur and his tail is shaved except for the end, which is bushy, so he looks like a lion.  During the day he lies on the patio and spends five minutes in the sun and then spends five minutes in the shade.  He spends the whole day going back and forth between sun and shade.  Sometimes he goes out into the street to walk one of us to where we are going and then returns on his own to the house.  When he has come with me to Spanish lesson, he keeps his distance in front of me, but continually looks behind him to make sure that I am coming.  Today Ricardo happily told me that the dog knows and likes me.  I think I pet him more than anyone else in the family.

Other Volunteers

It has been really fun meeting other volunteers.  I have run into a couple of them, one in Cusco and one in the Pisac market.  Although we don’t know each other well and range in age from about 18 to 35, we are all going through a similar experience, which makes for easy interactions.  Mariska is the other volunteer that is staying in the same house as I am.  She is taking Spanish lessons and working in a kindergarten too.  We get along well and it is really nice to have someone else going through the same experience.  It means we always have someone to go shopping with or talk to our host family with.  And we have helped each other translate countless times.  Mariska is from Holland and speaks Dutch, so she often starts speaking to me in Dutch without realizing and I just think she is really messing up her Spanish.  It’s funny, but her English is really good and I’m glad I have another volunteer with me.  I don’t think it is interfering with my Spanish or getting to know the family, if anything, having her here helps.

The Town and Where I’m Located

I live in the PERFECT location.  The only thing not perfect about where I live is that there are more volunteers living in Urubamba than in Pisac, but that is not a big deal – it is easy enough to get between locations.  I live about half a block from the main street where there are constant taxis and buses.  You take one step onto this street and you have three guys asking if you want to go to Cusco in their taxi.  In the other direction, one and a half blocks away, is the main plaza where there are a number of cafes and, of course, the Pisac Market.  Within two blocks of my house I can easily get to a countless number of cafes and restaurants, taxis and buses to a variety of places, internet cafes, the Market, grocery stores, pharmacies, bakeries, and a number of other places.  Most of the streets are stone and have narrow canals running down the center.  There is obviously a huge range in wealth: many times I will see two houses next to each other – one that is falling apart and one that looks very fancy.  There are ruins in the mountains a few miles outside of Pisac that I can easily take a taxi to and then walk back to Pisac.  It is a great place to be located.

Food

Desayuno (breakfast): We always have bread.  Usually they are fresh rolls, but sometimes it is toast that they buy pre-toasted.  Sometimes we just have jam or butter on the rolls and other times we get a 1/3 of a fresh avocado, which we salt and then spread on the bread.  To drink, we usually have hot water or milk, which we put ovaltine in.  My host mother always adds a couple tablespoons of extra sugar to her ovaltine – Peruvians use a ton of sugar!  Once we had some sort of rice drink, which we also added ovaltine to.  Another time we had coffee.  Our mugs were filled with hot water and then we added about two tablespoons of premade coffee to the water in our mugs.  I thought it would taste weak, but it was strong, delicious, and extremely caffeinated – I felt like my heart was racing and my legs were shaking for the next hour!  This morning we had milk with sugar which was thickened with quinoa.  It was very good and was the first thing we have not put ovaltine in.

Mariska, Fortunata, and I eat together at 7:30, along with their granddaughter Chaska, if she is visiting.  Our host father never eats with us.

Almuerzo (lunch):  This is the biggest meal of the day.  We usually have some kind of meat or fish and two different kinds of carbs, usually potatoes and either rice or pasta.  We have had pesto with fish, fried chicken, a stir fry of pasta and eggs and vegetables, as well as a range of other food.

            For lunch, Mariska, Fortunata, Ricardo (our host father), and I always eat together at 1:30, along with Chaska if she is visiting.  Our host mother, Fortunata, always prays before this meal.  When we are all sitting down with our food in front of us, we clasp our hands together in front of our faces, and Fortunata mutters some words and then we eat.

            After lunch, Fortunata puts the leftovers (usually bones and rice or potatoes) in the dog’s dish, and that is his meal.  It seems like a good way of composting!

Cena (dinner):  This is a smaller meal than lunch and is usually just a bowl of soup.  We have also had fried potato and veggie pancakes, as well as fried rice.  After the meal, we always have a cup of tea, usually chamomile (which I didn’t used to like, but now do) and sometimes animal crackers or a piece of toast.  Yesterday we had homemade tamales for dessert, which were delicious!

            For dinner, it is just Mariska, Fortunata, and me.  Fortunata prays the same way she does at lunch before the meal.

At the end of each meal, Fortunata gets up and says, “Probecho,” which basically means you may continue to enjoy.  Usually we are all done eating by then, so we help to clear the table and then everyone disperses.

Busy Weekend

                Sunday September 9, 2012 2:00 pm

This weekend has been busy, but fun.  Saturday I woke up, took a shower, had breakfast, and then Mariska and I decided to go to Cusco for the day.  By the way, showering here is not fun – the water is freezing and you have to shower before 8 am.  Oh well.  Anyway, we took a bus to Cusco.  The ride is about an hour from Pisac and costs only 2.5 soles, which is less that a $1.  The bus was crowded with Peruvians, so we knew we were traveling the way Peruvians do!  We arrived in Cusco around 10 am and first went to a couple craft markets and I bought an alpaca sweater.  It was fun to bargain and use my Spanish, although many of the vendors would speak English as soon as they heard my bad Spanish.  (More of the vendors speak English in Cusco than in Pisac.)  We wandered around Cusco taking pictures of the old churches and figuring out where exactly we were.  We decided not to go into any museums, churches, or Incan ruins but rather to see what there was to see and then come back another weekend once we had a plan.  We ran into another volunteer from Projects Abroad who we had met at the barbeque last week and had lunch with her at a little café.  After eating, we wandered around a little more and then realized how exhausted we were so we got back on the bus and came back to Pisac at 2:30.  It is tiring to be in a new city, where you don’t speak the language, and the sun is beating down on you (don’t worry Dad, I wore sunscreen and a hat).  We both fell asleep on the bus, but, when I was awake,  it was fun to look out the window at the beautiful view and to see and hear the Peruvian people on the bus.  Once we got back, we dropped off our stuff at our house and headed to a nearby bakery where we each bought a different kind of pastry and brought them back to the house.  We ate the pastries (which smelled better than they tasted) and read through our guide books, so that we could plan for next weekend.  I think we will head to the Pisac ruins next weekend, which are close by and are supposed to be amazing.  After dinner I was exhausted, we usually go to a nearby internet café after dinner, but I felt like I couldn’t move, so I stayed back and read in bed and fell asleep around 9 pm.

            Today, Sunday, we had breakfast and then watched our host mother cook.  I had fun as she would show and tell us what she was doing as she put each ingredient in the pot – she does not use a recipe.  Each ingredient she showed us had a different purpose (outside of taste).  For example, one spice made you smart and the meat makes your skin healthy.  I was scolded because I do not eat enough meat!  Apparently I will not have nice skin like my host mother has when I am older.  After cooking, Norma, a girl who lives with the family and helps clean, was doing the family’s laundry (by hand) so we asked if we could join her and we did our laundry too.  It is a long process with lots of buckets of varying soapiness involved.  First I was told that my white socks were not clean enough because they have stains on the bottom.  I washed them again and turned them inside out so the bottoms of the socks could not be seen and then Norma was satisfied.  She was not, however, satisfied with the two white shirts I was washing.  She kept pointing at them and saying “muy sucio” (very dirty).  Really, the t-shirts were not very dirty, but they are old and have been sitting in my crawl space for years, so they are not as bright white as Norma expected.  I kept washing out the shirts and getting ready to hang them up and Norma would take them and put them back in the soapy water.  Eventually, I asked and she said we would leave them to soak until tomorrow.  I think she will be very disappointed when the shirts are not any cleaner tomorrow!  Oh well, I guess I should have brought more dark colored shirts!

            After doing laundry for about an hour, my hands were chapped and dry, so I put on lots of lotion, and then Mariska and I headed for the market.  The Pisac Market is always big, but it is huge on Sunday and has many more tourists wondering around.  After half an hour, it started raining pretty hard so we came back to the house, put on our rain gear, and went back to the market.  I bought gloves, a bag, and socks today.  And bargained the prices down for all three (in Spanish)!  After lots of shopping and enjoying looking at the multitude of crafts and colors, we came back for lunch.  It has stopped raining, so I am hoping our clothes will dry fast, although, as always, I brought too much so I will have enough even if they don’t dry soon.  Now, I will hang out, maybe practice some Spanish, and relax.

Here Comes the Sun

¡Hola!  I do not have too much to report today, but I figured that while I had time at the internet café, that I have already paid an hour for, I may as well post!  I spent most of the day in the sun today because I have been so cold at night – I read outside, knitted, pet the dog, walked around Pisac and took pictures, and just generally had a nice and relaxing day.  The highlight of the day was trying to communicate with my host mom in Spanish.  Again,  I was surprised by how much I understood, but also frustrated that I could not complete a sentence that actually made sense (that was more than three words).  My host mom wanted to know our schedules for the next week and we got through that part without too much trouble, but when we asked what time breakfast would be tomorrow because it is a weekend…well, we are not really sure what she told us.  By the end of trying to communicate for almost an hour, all three of us (my host mom, Mariska, and I) were holding our sides laughing extremely hard because of the struggle to communicate.  It was surprisingly fun!  And we will just be up at 7:30 for breakfast like always and see if that is right or not!