Last week at school

It is some days since my last post and over the last week I have been consolidating my Spanish and enjoying some different experiences. Some of my time has been devoted to establishing the second phase of my visit – this has presented some problems which now seem to have been overcome. My voluntary project, www.bruceperu.com has had some problems in that the previous volunteer leader allegedly made off with the cash and her Columbian boyfriend. Hopefully matters are now settled and I am due to move into the volunteer hostal tomorrow and begin working at a school on Monday. Hopefully this will all go well.

My school, www.excel-spanishlanguageprograms-peru.org has been great, well organised and efficient and I would be happy to recommend it to anyone who may be interested. I had a great teacher Maria Ines and learned a lot which hopefully I can retain. My home stay, also organised by the school was tremendous with lots of conversation, a warm and friendly family setting and comfortable accommodation.

Tuesday - as is usual I went out and about with my teacher, mainly to practise language in real situations. I had noticed a furniture exhibition/conference being held and we blagged our way in. Amusingly the conference hall was rather full and presentations in full throes and we were accordingly escorted to the front row where there were some empty seats. I think we were then mistaken for visiting VIPs but in any case we got a free lunch and I tried my first Inca Cola which wasn't too bad. After this we visited a furniture institute where apprentices are trained and were shown round by a technician.

Wednesday - I took my adopted family/hosts out to dinner – we had a great meal and I ate an Alpaca steak which was OK and we enjoyed the ambiance of our restaurant and its outlook onto Plaza de Armas, the main square.

Thursday – I went to a Peruvian food evening at www.saexplorers.org where it was possible to try different dishes served up with pisco sours and Cusquena beer. This was a great evening and I chatted with several English people and bought a recipe book signed by Carmen our Chef.

Friday - I said good bye to my school and it was a bit sad but afterwards was taken by Cesar my host to some factory and jewelery outlets where I bought some Christmas presents.