Home Sweet Yamanya

I have made the move to Yamanya! I am now living in a dorm with 6 other people which has already brought its interesting moments. Just today, someone moved in and one of the most interesting of my roommates had a little bit of a fit about losing a cover (of which he had four!). His name is Antonio and he is such a character. He is working as a cook here in the hostel and he is from Italy. His food is amazing and he has cooked all over the world. He is definitely the ladies man though. I am sure he will be the source of many of the adventures that occur here.

The dorm isn’t that bad. The hooked me up with an amazing feather comforter and the beds are to die for. The picture above shows my little cave. Pull down the sheet and it almost feels like I am in my own room. Too bad Antonio snores when he sleeps after drinking. I have been sleeping on such a crappy colchón for the last 6 months. It’s quite a nice change. I also have a windowsill for my toiletries which makes life a lot easier. There is not a ton of ventilation in the room so when there are more people I am sure it will get more stuffy. For now, it isn’t terrible. The most important thing is that we have lockable cubbies that roll under our beds as seen in the pic above. We don't lock our dorm door so anyone could potentially come in. Huzzah for locks!

As for my work here, I am learning the ropes of the bar. I haven’t had to make any drinks yet but I am sure I will get my chance to show my skills (or lack thereof) tonight when I work the 8:30pm to 1am shift. I am looking forward to it. It’s something I can add to my list of renaissance activities. Haha. I also had a meeting with Esther at Excel yesterday. It was a short orientation as to how things work there. In a lot of ways I am quite impressed with their system. She broke it down into hours for each unit and how the attendance and grading works. It is definitely a school and not just a private business that teaches English to its clients. A few of the things I like are the attendance policy. If you are absent more than 3 times, you don’t pass the course. The same goes for tardies, but you have 5 tardies before you fail the class. You are also not allowed to have cell phone’s in class. I also like that classes are an hour and a half long. It will give me more time to develop the lesson and give my students time to practice. I do hear that you only get one dry erase marker so I took the liberty of borrowing some from office 6. When I am done I will give them back. I will find out when my classes are tomorrow afternoon and pick up my books so I can start lesson planning. Classes start on Friday and since I specified that I can’t work in the mornings, I will only have 2 or 3 classes in the afternoon/evening. I am really glad that I am doing it because it will get me out of the hostel. It’s super easy to get caught here since everything is right here: a bed, food, drinks, wi-fi, really awesome hot showers, and interesting company from all over the world. I have promised myself that I will not let myself get sucked in and make sure to hang out with Erica. I miss living with her.

Last night I had my first run in with a bit of food poisoning. I made myself some spaghetti with veggies from the kitchen and ended up throwing all of it up after I sang at Kamikase. While I made it to the toilet, I managed to get some on my pants. It was a bit embarrassing walking out of the bathroom to Marco who gave me a “are you OK?” look to which I responded with a pout and a sigh. He’s a good guy though and made sure I got home safe. I was hoping that that was the only incident I would have but low and behold, at 3:30am I found myself running to the bathroom again. I think that it was after the second time that I really felt better. Either way, this morning I downed a nalgene and ended up sleeping most of the day. That’s the last time I use someone else’s veggies.

Life is good right now. I am excited about the change. I had a knot in my stomach for a few days before I moved, but it’s been fading since I have moved in. I have met some really interesting people and I enjoy the company of one of my fellow bar workers and roommies named Catherine. Another Glee fan. I can’t complain! She is from Canada and she is looking for EFL teaching jobs. Unfortunately, as she has found out since she started her search, getting a job in South America (or at least around here) has proven to be a bit more difficult with a 60 hour TEFL certification. Most certifications are 120 hours with 100 of the hours being classroom work and 20 hours being student teaching, or in my case, tutoring. She is looking into working in Asia and apparently has 3 offers already which is great! I don’t know if I could teach in Asia. Well, I know I could teach, but I wouldn’t be as comfortable in the culture as I am here. I also don’t know any asian languages which makes daily life a bit more difficult. I am so happy down here. People have asked me when I am going back to the states and I honestly don’t know. Well, I might be back for a stint if I get the Experiment in International Living Abroad job, but I have no idea when I will be back for more than just a short time. At this point, I have nothing that I need to be back in the States for. My life is here and I really enjoy it. It is going to be difficult when I leave Cusco because I have gotten used to my life here. I am in a band, I have a job, I have great friends, and a great boyfriend. I couldn’t ask for more. To top it off, my brother is coming in April! So excited!!!!!