January 11th, 2012

SALUD Medical Spanish: First Days in Cusco!

By Nichole D., Guest Blogger and SALUD Medical Spanish in Peru participant

Finally I have made it to my final destination of Cusco, Peru. I was greeted at the airport by my gracious house mom, Nancy. She has many children and two grandchildren Fabio and Francesca who are over at the house all the time and are so fun! We take turns singing the alphabet (them in English, me in Spanish) and practice our colors, shapes, numbers etc. It´s like I´m in 1st grade all over again!

In the morning, my roommate, Dalya, and I walk to our school which is about a 20 minute walk. We have spanish classes from 8-11:15, which can be a little long, but on our half hour break, its fun to meet the other students who have come from all over the world to be here. There are 2 girls from Belgium, a guy from England, one from Switzerland and several from all over the US, but so far, I think I´m the only California girl!

After our classes, we go back home for lunch which is the biggest meal of the day here. Usually 3 courses consisting of these huge corn kernels that you are supposed to eat whole, cheese, a hearty soup, and a main dish of rice and some sort of thick potatoe stew. For drinks we have Maize Jugo (purple corn juice) which is pretty plain but good. After lunch, its back to school for tours….yesterday we had a walking tour of the city and while the whole thing was in spanish, surprisingly I learned a lot! Today we go back to have a tour of a huge market here called Market San Pedro and are also going to be given a tour of several medicinal plants.

The main center of the city is the Plaza Del Armas and it is absolutely gorgeous! I want to go there every day and just take in the beautiful churches, fountains and parks.

It´s crazy how completely immersed I´ve been in spanish here…you really have no choice! Today I even had a slight politcal discussion with Nancy´s son as this Sunday is Peru´s independence day from their socialist rule to their new communist government. Wish I could have talked to him more, but the communica tio n barrier was a little tough talking politics. But we both definitely agreed that we hope things will change for Peru in this upcoming year!