Why am I here? What am I doing? Where am I going? For how long?

For those of you that don't know.

Why?

Simple answer: I just graduated college and wanted to something fun/different/exciting to do before starting graduate school. Basically, delay becoming a "real grown-up person" for as long as possible.

More on Why:

- I remember the first moment I found out that people "Go Abroad and Teach English" over 3 years ago. I was in Ashley and Derek's living room in PB and I said, "I am going to do that one day." I fell in love with the idea and its been sitting in the back of my mind ever since. So when I decided I wanted to take a break after Undergrad, this was the perfect thing to do.

- I love the idea of LIVING in other countries and really being able to understand other cultures (to the best of our abilities) . Don't get me wrong, I love America.... but the way people of different countries live their day-to-day lives is just fascinating to me; and you don't always get to appreciate this when just traveling through a country for a few weeks at a time.

- Along with culture comes History. Most of the countries I have visited or attempted to live in, have a sprawling history that goes back centuries and even millenia. It blows my mind that there are still artifacts and relics standing today. Even cooler, is that we can study them to gain a better understanding of how humans were living in those days.

- I want to do something that is challenging. I know this will be hard at times, and already has been in some ways, but I know I will accomplish my goals and gain something from this experience no matter what. As Jimmy Dugan would say "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everybody would do it. The hard...is what makes it great."

-Back in the states, I want to be a math teacher and I know this will be a great learning experience for me as far as pedagogy and teaching are concerned.

-A HUGE goal of mine is learn Spanish. I would love to someday be able to speak Spanish- or something close to it. Also, it will be extremely useful if I become a secondary school teacher in California!

What?

I am doing a TEFL (Teacher of English as a Foreign Language) Certification course. With this course I will be able to teach English....anywhere in the world... for the rest of my life.... and my Institution will help me do so. It is a 4-week intensive course on how to teach ESL (English as a Second Language) students.

Where?

My course is in Cusco, Peru. However, after the 4 weeks I am not exactly sure where I will get a teaching job. Mostly likely I will look for jobs in either Peru, Argentina, or Costa Rica. (Brasil is out because of Portuguese, even though i would love to go there. Visiting for sure!)

For How Long?

Unknown. There are many variables in this equation. Depending on where I get a job, if i sign a contract, etc, etc. As of now, I have a plane ticket home for April 2012- because that was the farthest in advance I could book a return ticket home (a must for visa purposes).

Another factor- I have been admitted into UCSD's Masters in Education program for Single Subject Credential and Masters for Mathematics. I deffered for one year. Meaning, if I go back by June 2012, I have a seat waiting for me.

Another factor- Depends on how much I love it or hate it :) I have no shame in returning home if I'm unhappy.

Another factor- $$$$- or should i say "Soles" (the Peruvian currency)

Time will tell on this topic.

Quinoa and Quechua!

Yesterday we had Quinoa* for lunch and it was amazing! Gabby made it with tomatoes, onions, and some other traditional spices (i think). If you don't know what Quinoa is, follow the link!

*kinwa in Quechua

Even cooler, today we had a Quechua lesson in my class! Jorge came in and gave us a lesson where he spoke ONLY in the Quechua Language. It was really amazing to hear someone speak to us in such an old and dying language. Even more interesting was the fact that none of us understood ANYthing that he was saying. Absolutely ZERO. And yet, he was still able to get the point across and get us talking and interviewing each other in Quechua. It was completely different from learning Spanish, Italian, or French that have cognates and root words similar to english. However, in just short of an hour we were able to

• conjugate both "to be" verbs
• greet someone
• express how we were feeling
• ask someone in return how they were feeling
• ask someone their name
• tell them our name
• express what country we were from
• express what state we were from

Try reading this OUTLOUD! (Its really hard, but fun) In parenthesis are what I THINK was the translation based on the context he was giving us.

Alillanchu.....? (Hi, How are you?)

- Ari alilianmi. (I am fine)

Imaynan Kashanki? (How are you?)

-Kusikan Kashani, Qanri? (I am happy, and you?)

Noqapas (Me as well)

Iman sutiyki? (What is your name? or Who are you?)

-Sutiymi Taylor, Qanpari? (My name is Taylor or I am Taylor, and yours/you?)

Maymantan kanki? (Where are you from?)

-Noqa Americamantan Kani (I am american)

Ima llaqtamanta? (From what region?)

-California llaqtamanta Kani (I am from the region of California)

This really great experience that I was not expecting!

The digs!

So for the next month or so, I will be staying at a "Family House" which is basically a mixture between a Traditional Home-stay and Hostel. It is called the "La Florida Family House." It is 3 stories with 8 bedrooms of varying sizes. It also has a kitchen, dining room, courtyard, TV room and multiple bathrooms. It is about a 20 minute walk from Maximo Nivel.

The House is mainly run by three Peruvian ladies, Gabby, Ruth, and Priscilla. They cook us 3 delicious meals a day (7am, 12pm, and 7pm)*, clean, and watch over us. There is no curfew as there are in traditional home-stays and we are allowed to drink wherever we want. All of the staff speaks Espanol, so it is good practice for us!

Priscilla preparing dinner

*If you are not going to be home for lunch, you tell them and they make a papersack lunch for you with a sandwich, banana, juicebox, oreos, and candies. AND they write your name on it. Its like 4th grade again!!

I got lucky and ended up with my own room with a full bed. Which as you may know, is better than I've had the last 5 years :) (The full bed part, not the own room part- Miss you Bromo!!!)

Right now there are about 12 or so other young people staying in the house, and its been really fun hanging out so far!!

Overall, this is a great set up and I'm super happy to be here!

I've Arrived!

Woke up at 6:00am on July 22nd to get in the car to drive to LA.

Arrived in Cusco, Peru at 9:45am on July 23rd (only a two hour time difference, so that is technically 7:45am July 23rd)

≈ 24 hours of traveling. I was EXHAUSTED.

Jacob, who is the director of Maximo Nivel, and who also reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite picked me up at the airport and took me on a mini tour of Maximo Nivel. It is an international facility that connects volunteers and teachers to projects and placements in various Latin American countries. It is also the facility that I will be receiving my TEFL certification from- I will write more about that once i know more about it. Anyway, after a quick tour of MN, Napoleon took me to my "Family House" which is an awesome set up that I will be staying at for the next month.

I felt okay, just a little short of breath, but I decided to go get money and buy an adapter for my computer charger. We went to the local "black market" called El Molino. It is a huge maze of store after store selling imported and imitation backpacks, electronics, toys, games, CDs, DVDs, clothing, shoes, jewelry, leather, for INCREDIBLY cheap prices. I got an adapter for 3 soles = 1$ and i bought 2 DVD's for 3 soles each as well.

After returning to the house I took a nap for a few hours. When I went down for dinner, I could barely eat and felt nauseous. I guess I was feeling the effects of altitude sickness since Cusco is around 10,000 feet and most people start to feel a little something at 8,000 ft. Anyway, I had some "Coca Tea" which is tea made from the Coca plant (same plant that cocaine is made from). This is a traditional remedy to help cure Altitude Sickness. I also took a Diamox which is a prescription for it as well. Anyway, I really wanted to go out with my house mates but I went to bed and slept for about 12 hours. Waking feeling even better.

Anyway that was my first 24 hours in Cusco.

My ba-ags are packed...I'm ready to go-o

It's two o'clock in the morning and I can't sleep. More like I don't WANT to sleep. I leave for Peru at 7am. Which means waking up before 6am. Of course, I left everything to the last minute, even making this blog. I am actually re-creating what was my Italy travel blog from 2009, that I of course never kept up. Hopefully I will do better this time. I never really liked the idea of spending time typing away at a computer, when you could be exploring the interesting places you are visiting. However, I realize it is kind of selfish to think that way since some people may be wondering what you are up. Who are they? I'm still not really sure :)

Baggage:

I am taking ONE suit case/duffel bag that I got for my birthday. It is packed with enough clothes to last me an entire year. I hope. We'll see if the clothes I packed are as abundant, versatile, appropriate, and cute as I am imagining. We weighed it earlier and it topped off at 49.5 lbs. I added a few things after that so hopefully it does not exceed the 50 lb weight limit the airlines enforce, or I will be like Ashley stuck trying to stuff 8 lbs of god-knows-what into my carry-on at the checkin counter :)

I am also taking ONE backpack (45 liter, The North Face multi-day pack), right now filled with random junk like paperwork, cameras, makeup, waterbottle, etc. The water bottle, also a gift, removes bad taste with a carbon filter and filters out "bugs" (pathogenic cysts) that cause Giardiasis and other diarrhea-causing infections. And we all know, diarrhea is NOT cool, so lets hope this thing does its job!

And, ONE pink over-the-shoulder-purse that has my phone (soon to be dysfunctional), passport, book, ear plugs, travel notebook/journal (also a gift! :)), and Burty-Bees chap stick.

Jet Plane (s):

I will be taking a series of FOUR airplane rides tomorrow mor-yikes-THIS morning. After driving to LAX, I will depart at 11:45am and travel from

• LA to Dallas/Fort Worth- arrive 4:30pm
• Dallas/Forth Worth to Miami- arrive 9:35pm
• Miami to Lima- arrive 4:20am (yes 420)
• Lima, to Cusco- arrive 7:40am

I realize now that when ever John Denver wrote that song he was not traveling as far as I am tomorrow.

Goodbyes:

Sadly, I had my fair share of goodbyes this week (including two special ones just an hour or two ago, another thing left to the last minute :)). Well, I really dislike goodbyes. They are sad, usually make me cry, and leave a pit in my stomach the size of a watermelon. I like Aunt Margaret's method better: Just say "See you later". That way no one feels like they are dying, getting left behind, or like we are never going to see each other again, because I know that I will see all of you guys "later". Whenever "later" may be.

Happily, I had my fair share of goodbye PARTIES and celebrations and meals this week. Obviously, my favorite was the one on Monday! There I was, thinking I was going to have an intimate dinner with Ashley, when all of sudden as we walked up to the restaurant, 30 people turn around a yell "Surprise!!". Boy, was I shocked! I had NO idea. Despite the numerous signs I could have picked up on, and how weird certain people were acting. Anyway, I am so lucky to have such great friends that care about me so much. Thank you all for coming and saying goodbye, it meant so much to me.

Well its three now and I might as well try to get in two sleep cycles before my hellish day of flying tomorrow.

PS I'm extremely excited for tomorrow! Shoot- TODAY.

PPS I will try to write next about the purpose of my trip- goals, expectations, fears, etc.

My Apartment in Roma!!

A little place I get to call home for the next four months....

My key!!

My Bedroom!!

My Kitchen!

My Living Room!

My view of the courtyard below us, we're on the 5th floor!

My Street! Via Goffredo Mameli

My Neighborhood! Its called Trastevere, and is the oldest neighborhood in Rome.

The Tiber (Tevere) River.

Trastevere literally means "across the river" in Italian

Greece Trip Day #3

We went on a boat excursion! It picked us up at our hostel in the morning and took us to the port, from there we went to Nea Kameni, the volcano that is one of the small islands inside the crescent part of Santorini. We hiked all over it and even felt steam from the last eruption. After that we ran back down the mountain to get on the boat. It was such a cool boat, old and looked like pirate ship.

Hot lava...

Our boat :)


Next the boat took us to another volcanic island called "Palea Kameni" that has hotsprings and sulfur water that is supposed to be good for your skin. The boat couldnt pull up to land because its too rocky and shallow, so they docked in the deeper water and we got to jump off the edge and swim too it! It was really fun and refreshing after the volcano hike. People were putting mud all over themselves it was so funny. We swam around a little long and then went back on the boat.



Our next destination was Thirasia, a little island that has less than 300 inhabitants and was only about 10 square km. We had an awesome seafood lunch at "Captain John's Taverna". It was called a "Seafood Slovaki" and its what we think of as a shishkebab, it was sooooo good and had fresh swordfish, calamari, octopus, shrimp, peppers, onions, yum yum yum







Then we walked along the little island and the girls decided to go swimming and jump off the boat again :)

Then, our boat took us to Oia (Ia) that is known to have the most beautiful sunsets in Greece. We decided to walk up the steps to the top of the hill, it was 240 steps and took forever in the heat of the day but was totally worth it. It was an ancient town that was really cute and alot of pretty white buildings with blue doors, we got more gyros and staked out an awesome spot on this ledge to watch the sunset, one of my favorite nites of the trip

Later that night we went into town again and walked around the streets and danced some in the discos, i loved the santorini nights...