Alumni Spotlight: Daniel Klein

All I knew from the start was that I wanted to take some time off work to volunteer, ideally in some type of teaching role. I originally found PeruVivential through another website and reached out to the organizer, William Jondec. Once I had the opportunity to speak with him and get a better understanding of the program, location, and responsibilities, I knew that this was a perfect match.

William assisted with almost everything I needed. He organized transportation from the airport in the host city to the apartment and was waiting for me at the airport when my flight arrived. Once we arrived at the apartment, William took the time to show me to my room, explain how to use some of the amenities and made sure that I was comfortable with the living situation. The program provides housing which comes with basic amenities such as a bed, 2 bathrooms, hot water, a gas stove, and WiFi. Once everything was shown to me, William walked me through my schedule for the coming week to make sure I understood my responsibilities.

The organization provides weekend excursions however it is important to note that any additional trips (such as Machu Picchu) are not included. As such, I organized two of my four weekends on my own. With that said, William is extremely helpful with planning other trips as his girlfriend works for a local travel agency and is happy to answer any questions. In fact, I ended up booking one weekend excursion through her travel agency as I found the prices were respectable.

One piece of advice I would give is to really embrace the culture. While I have traveled to over 20 countries in my life, this was my first opportunity to live in a third world country. It is by no means the same as the United States, and I understand it isn't for everyone. But if you make the effort to be a part of the culture and open your eyes to the differences in the Peruvian culture, you will surely make the most of your experience abroad.

This trip offers an amazing opportunity to actually live in the impoverished city that you are teaching in. That means that you will find the same children you are teaching during the day, serving food in the local shacks/houses at night. So I would advise against trying to be a tourist and instead, being more of a fellow citizen in the town.

During the work week, we spent most mornings and afternoons teaching children ages 6-12 at three different schools, all walking distance from the apartment. Most volunteers will either teach in the mornings or in the afternoon and are required to teach approximately 3 hours a day. Midday usually calls for walking around the city, going grocery shopping, working out, or just simply bonding with other volunteers.

Two to three times a week, volunteers are also asked to teach night classes to adults that are looking to learn English as well. Additionally, each volunteer is assigned 2 hours of private Spanish classes a week and the group is provided an opportunity to attend one Salsa dance lesson a week.

The weekends can vary as William will organize some type of excursion. These range from visiting the ancient ruins of Chan Chan, to surfing the waves of Huanchaco, to sandboarding the dunes of Trujillo. Additionally, each volunteer has the option to opt out of these excursions if they'd rather organize their own weekend trip. I did this twice (to travel to Huaraz and Cusco/Machu Picchu). Will is very flexible and is happy to also provide additionally Thursdays/Fridays off to help with planning weekend trips as he understands we are also here to visit Peru.

My biggest fear going abroad was that I did not have the experience teaching children that some of the other volunteers had. Additionally, I was nervous that my Spanish was not strong enough to be able to communicate with the younger children. However, I focused a lot of my energy on learning from the Spanish classes and using that newfound knowledge in my everyday life.

Additionally, William was extremely supportive in that he attended classes with us until he saw that we were comfortable enough to run the classes on our own. Looking back on this experience, I feel as if I am much more confident in both my Spanish and teaching abilities and I find that many of the skills I learned, such as the ability to adapt to uncomfortable situations, I have been applying to my everyday life (both work and social).

This was the first opportunity I have ever had to travel alone so I was extremely nervous. I was told on the first day that there would be 6 other volunteers living with me and that I was the only American. I expected to get along with these other volunteers but what I didn't expect was to become lifelong friends with them.

The volunteers that I met were from different corners of the world and the opportunity to live in a diverse apartment with the only connection being that we all spoke English turned out to be the best experience of my life. I still speak with every volunteer today and have planned multiple trips to visit them in their home countries.

So my advice to anyone who is joining this program is that it's ok to be nervous, but it is important to embrace those nerves by being open-minded. Try to absorb as much as you can while you are there as this is truly a life-changing experience!