As you may or may not know, dear reader(s), I have just finished my first week of Spanish classes at Amigos Spanish School. Among the plethora of Spanish schools in Cusco, how did I choose Amigos? Well, you have only to know these two things: it has a socially-conscientious mission (giving tutoring to local kids) and that my worn guidebook recommended it. Done deal.

The rush of Mormon students learning Spanish was last week, so there are a mere 5 students taking classes this week. I’m the only person at my level (beginner), so I have three hours a day of individual Spanish lessons. It has included many of the things I’ve learned over the years: ser vs. estar, regular and irregular verbs, vocabulary and such. I also spend at least a third of that time speaking in Spanish, trying to find a roundabout way to express myself using my extremely limited vocabulary. It’s like your life (frustratingly) on pause.

The two teachers, Jossie and Tania, don’t stop at teaching me vocabulary. Yesterday, I heard a very disturbing story about how Tania had a cluster (or pack or kaboodle) of gerbils as pets, and there was one they named “The Evil One.” With reason. Once, it attacked a smaller gerbil, biting through it’s skin, leaving its spinal column exposed. Shockingly, after being removed from the Evil One’s long arm, Spiney survived. Over the course of the past year, all of the gerbils died. Except for Evil One, naturally. Then, with Tania and her family having a busy weekend, no one fed him for two and a half days. He died, too.

The school itself is super cute, with white walls, peach trim, and flowers on all of the tables. There are books to borrow, a laptop to use, and free coca tea. There’s a roof patio that is good for very strong, very direct sun.

Yesterday I learned to make one of Peru’s national dishes, lomo saltado, and today the school has planned a screening of some as-of-yet unnamed film with going out/pisco sours to follow. Tomorrow, I’m going on a “real city” tour, seeing the poverty of the city, I imagine, and learning how to make adobe bricks.