Volunteer Teaching Took a detour to Alaska before heading to South American and Africa for teaching...

I was told by the director of the International Volunteer Program here in Cusco, that the first week is the hardest.  I can attest to that, but not to worry, things are on the up.  First, excuse the poor punctuation. Im typing from a computer in an internet cafe, and symbols are in different places on the keyboard.  So back to the adjustments.  First housing.  I was placed in the home of a local Spanish teacher.  The room was in the attic, a winding staircase upstairs. All was tolerable, except that I felt isolated by myself and didn't feel that, alone, I had the freedom to roam the city in the evening. They warned against walking alone, so I asked to switch homes. I joined another home with a 33 year old newlywed from Las Vegas.  Her initial adjustment was terryfing for her. Her call home brought her husband on the first plane out to Peru, so now it's the three of us in the house.  The house is apparently in a middle to middle/upper class neighborhood, but to us, the house inside looks like the salvation army warehouse.  Also, there is no heat anywhere in Cusco, except for fancy hotels, and its get down into the 40s at around 5 pm.  A standard practice in Cusco is to put solied toilet paper in the garbage can. The sewage waste system can't handle the paper.  Cleanliness is also a different standard than what I<m used to.  The two homes both had maids, young local girls, maybe Quechuana girls, who washed dishes and did light housework.  But my assumption is that their standard of cleanliness was different growing up, so what I see is invisible to them.  Also, I've taken mostly cold showers in the morning.  The water system is also poor, and if I do manage to get some tepid water, it lasts for seconds.  Safety was also a big adjustment. My money was stolen my first day here.  It was in my fanny pack which was buried at the bottom of my back pack.  But this place is a haven for pickpocketers who love visitors like me.  So I quickly learned the foreigner clutch.  You can identify the foreigners. They all clutch their bags so tightly in front of them, you'd think they had their life savings in their back packs. Then on to the food. The folks here are big on carbs. It's a rather poor town, and fish and meet is expensive. Meals have been primarily rice and pasta with a topping.  They also cook in the morning and eat the same food for lunch and dinner.  One day, as the pasta was put in front of us for dinner, my housemate and I gave each other a look. We both, without verbalizing it, could not eat pasta again for dinner. We had had it for lunch.  We ate a bit and then politely said we were full and took a cab to Plaza Armas for a good meal. Cabs by the way are the best way to get around.  Buses are worse than the New York subway during rush hour. They squish in so tightly. I wouldn't dare, especially given that my money was already stolen once.  Cabs are cheap. It's three soles for anywhere in the city. That's less than a dollar, although \i was taken advantage of once.  The driver asked for five soles. Since I was already in the cab, I decided to stay iin. Then when he asked for six because it took a few detours for me to explain to him where my home was, he asked for six. I know the fee is 3 or 4 regardless situations, so I just got out of the cab and ignored his request. I generally walk both to school in the morning and in the afternoon to my two hour Spanish class.  They are about 20 minutes apart, so it's not bad.  I got lost once, and found myself next to a young Japanese traveler who was also carrying a map. We didn't share any language, just the language of the map. I should have trust my instincts, but I trusted him.  We walked through very poor neighborhoods with stores in holes in the walls and little kids sitting around their Quechuan moms selling food from carts. I eventually found my way and the Japanese guy and I gave each other a Gracias. The silence between us felt very warm and supportive. Teaching is getting into the groove.  We are a team of five right now, but down to three next week. We teach the entire school, from first grade through 11th.  They have English once a week. The older kids have a 1.5  hour lesson with no break.  The younger kids, an hour.  There is a part time English teacher who is thrilled that we are there. He doesn't even come into the room when we teach. The classes are smoother when the local teacher stays in, but with the older grades 6th and up, the teacher generally takes it as a break.  The first day, the 8th graders were totally out of hand.  I stopped spit balls from flying, a boy from carving a pencil with a knife, and two boys having a physical fight over a pencil which one was threatening to break. But the other classes have been better, and I do think we are teaching them. We generally cover numbers, colors, shapes, body parts, and simple grammar such as his/hers and theirs/ours.  The classes range from 20 to 27 or so in small rooms. I have photos, but I'll post them another time soon. I try to get out at night to see parts of the city, if my housemate wants to go.  FRiday night, I went with a staff member to Chabad for dinner.  It was quite wonderful. There were many many travelers and of course I knew people in common with everyone around me.  There are a lot of |Israelis who come. I imagine it brings back memories of Friday night at home or in the army.  The food and automatic friendship felt great, after a week of struggle in both areas. So now I enter my second week. I'm much more prepared for teaching, for being safe, for the food I need to purchase to make sure my diet is healthy *lots of bananas and oranges and other fruits with peels.  I also bought an alpaca wool sweater in the market for 30 soles to help with the cold issue.  That's it for now. It's not easy to find the time or the internet access to post, but I will do my best.   Dina