My Cusco Experience

A a 58 year old first time volunteer I had chosen childcare as my volunteer work and spanish lessons as my reward. I applied via GVN which partnered me with Maximo Nivel in Cusco.My day commenced 7.30am with a 10 minute Combi trip to work place : Manco Capac preschool. Initially it was difficult as we took stock of each other They did not speak english and I did not speak a lot of spanish and I needed to get used to "Cusco time" sometimes things started later than planned!! After 2 days of this I just got stuck in by getting jig saw puzzles out of shelf and putting them together, this led to children joining me while teacher did some bookwork.Then teacher gave me things to do and I became teacher-aid and helped teacher Maryline with preparing crafts, teaching children "Ringa-ringa-rosie" playing "pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey" and helping children to write letters and numbers. The children helped me with spanish words.Midday parents picked up their children I returned to SanPedro house for a lovely lunch and then walked for 20 minutes to Maximo Nivel for my 2 hour spanish lesson. My class had 3 Australian students, one American and myself..the New Zealander.Our teacher Kris was excellent although she shocked us at start when she wrote all instructions in spanish and spoke in spanish with only occasional help in english!!! After class I would stroll home via various routes and savour Cusco by day. Pop into a church, sit in a park bench and watch the people or meet a tandem partner who would help me with my spanish and I with their english. I always felt safe and, as I had been in Cusco before as a tourist, I was familiar with the area and had done most of the sight seeing in 2009. This left me time to learn spanish with the staff at San Pedro house and socialise with the teacher from Manco Capac while fellow volunteers went sightseeing.I ate all my meals at San Pedro house and rarely frequented restaurants and bars...did not feel the need as I found food to be excellent at San Pedro house which became my home for 5 weeks.Albeit things were not as I expected the overall experience was a great one as I learnt more about myself, Cusco and life in general.One just has to knuckle down accept and enjoy the experience and be aware of where and why you are going before you go and take the good
( people,places, experiences) with the not so good ( unexpected costs, unexpected changes in volunteer placements, misunderstanding how "volunteering" works.)