Workety, work, work, work!

Since my last blog, I was offered a position at the English School I was TEFLing at as soon as the course ended. Naturally, I jumped at the chance to be able to settle here in Cusco for 6 months, get paid and teach again. I started on the 1st October and wow was right, smack bang into the joys of working again; but this time, it's slightly different from normal teaching hours!

My alarm (which has the shitest ringtone ever - 'The Town of Peking') is my Peruvian mobile phone (which is also the shittest phone in history - it's a bit like the new Iphone 5 - it has all the apps. My phone is pink/grey plastic ZTE model (yes, ZTE - the local Chinese brand, that has yet to hit the shores of Europe). It holds a maximum of 10 texts and has FM Radio and when I lock the phone, it constantly beeps in my bag if it happens to touch any other object - I'm so lucky. So, anyway, my alarm goes off at 5.30am - never before have I been up at this time in my life. I'm out the door for 6.15am to catch the local 'carro' or combi bus to school (which is an hours walk away from the centre of Cusco).

The combis - hmmm - how can I describe them? They are like workmens vans, but slightly bigger and inside there are approximately seats for 15 people. On the roof are handrails. The cost of getting one of these is 60 centimos = 12.5p. The combis have different names and travel to different areas of Cusco. The buses that I jump on have some cool names like 'Batman', 'Rapidos', 'El Zorro' and 'Tupac Amaru'. Now, to get on these combis you stick out your hand when they come flying along. A man/woman or sometimes a child who works on the bus slides open the door shouting 'Sube, sube, sube, sube!' This is your call to get the frig on as quickly as you can. Now the seating capacity is about 15, but the combis will fill up with people; I mean you are literally squashed onto this thing. The other day, I jumped on and me and this other woman were still hanging out the door as it took off - still on the step trying to squeeze into the smallest pocket of space/oxygen you can find. It's hilarious. I'm not tall by European standards, but over here I am - if I'm standing in these combis (which is practically all the time), my head touches the roof and I have to bend it sideways to feel slightly comfortable.

So the combis take off, flying up the streets of Cusco, stopping everywhere, shoving as many people into them as possible. Man, woman, child, beast, food etc. The funniest part is that whoever is lucky to sit in the front must put a seatbelt on; never mind the others squashed in the back and if there was an accident, they'd all be killed as they are catapulted through the front windscreen!

Arriving at work, my classes begin at 7am until 10am. I have a split shift, so have 6 hours off after this before returning again for evening classes at 4pm until 9pm. I have 5 adult classes and one 'Jovenes' class (teenager/young class). Most teachers hate their jovenes, but I like mine and they're quite intelligent too. I teach alto-basico up to Pre-Intermediate classes in English and there are 13 max in each class. The students are just lovely and I have a great time with them in class/am a complete nut at times and try to have lots of fun learning English. English grammar is a ball-ache and I never realised how many formulas and functions there were for the language...it's absolutely crazy. So far, I've blindfolded some students in class giving them senses tests to try and understand what a stative verb was; we've been having board races/games to understand the acronymn 'OSHASCOM' for adjective order - never had a clue that this even existed. I play lots of games with the jovenes - soccer board games to understand gerunds and infinitives...it's just crazy, but they enjoy it. The adults enjoy playing the games to at the end of the lessons; fun whilst learning!

The learners/students are so sweet. It's quite embarrassing as here in Peru, teachers are respected very well and even though we write our Christian names on the board with the objective/vocabulary for the day at the beginning of each lesson, they still won't call me by my first name. I get called 'Teacher' or 'Teacher, teacher!' from adults in their early 20's up to 50's. They will always greet you at the start of the class and then always say 'goodbye teacher and thank-you' at the end - it's lovely really. Also you get offers to go out with them, go to salsa, go for drinks etc.

I have the same classes/timetable/rooms for a month and then they have an exam at the end (it's difficult too). I'm not quite sure, but sometimes, you get to take your classes on for the next couple of months, just depending on whoever makes the timetable. I have signed a contract with the school for 6 months. Technically I am illegal here in Peru, as I'm not meant to be working, but we are classed as 'volunteers'. I get paid  a basic salary - if I sub a class when a teacher is off, I get paid $5 for that = £3.11. I can survive on this here, but I can't save...or if I did save some, it is pretty worthless at home. It's crazy to think of the differences between pay here and at home. I feel like a local now, I live an hours walk away from the tourist centre of Cusco. I live in an area called Quispicanchis - it is a nice enough area of Cusco with a Peruvian girl and a guy from Argentina. In terms of standards at home, it wouldn't be classed as a nice area though. I'm one of very few gringos around this area - my white face stands out a mile. I'm mixing it up with the locals - sometimes I eat almuerzo (lunch) in the wee restaurants for 4 Soles (£1) with a 3 course meal with my friends. Tourists don't venture in to some of these places - God forbid, they would die of food poisoning. But I like it like this - experiencing it properly and living like a local - it's great here!

I could have lived with some of the other teachers, but it would be like living back at home, talking English and living with your co-workers. I go out with them at the weekends/have been on days out to the Sacred Valley here (which is stunning) or other places around Cusco. On some of my days during my split shifts I go to the running track - there is actually a good one here, with one of my Peruvian friends, a girl called Marilia, who is also a student at the school that I teach in. She's a really lovely person; very warm, caring and just great and she likes to exercise/run too and does great. It's hard to exercise now like I did before I worked, as the split shifts mean I can't make my usual spinning classes, but running/exercising at high altitude for an hour and a half is like running at sea level for 3 hours!!

There are some people on the streets of Cusco scraping by for a living. I think the average wage here for a good job for someone who is educated is 1500 Soles or £360 per month but there are some really poor people who try to live and survive off the equivalent of a few dollars a day - they are the really poor. They look like time/cold/poor nutrition  has weathered their faces/aged their bodies- little children who are 5 years old, look older who are out on the streets selling whatever they can. Their wee shoes are made of rubber from old tyres and they are dressed in their traditional clothing from whatever region of Cusco they may be from. Some of these men, women and children just sit on the streets day and night. Women sell sweets outside bars, and beside them lies a blanket. Inside this blanket is their little baby sleeping. Children roam the streets at night. At the weekend after leaving nightclubs, they will approach you selling 'chiclets' -  packets of chewing gum for 1 Sol (25p).

So, technically I'm here for the next 6 months (as I've signed a contract, but you know me and these itchy feet of mine, maybe after 3 or 4 wanderlust will set in again, so it could be time to find another place to go and travel again) and will have a border run to do in the next couple of weeks as my visa is expiring. Going to go to Chile for about 5 days as the school gives us one days paid holiday to do this, so taking a long weekend over two holy days we have off and going with a friend/colleague who is also doing a border run. I have been granted 1 month off work to return to Ireland in December, as my little nephew is being christened and it's Christmas...my favourite time of the year. I asked for 2 weeks to go to home for the christening, but they said I could take 5 days or the month off unpaid. Obviously 5 days was useless, so I jumped at the chance of the full month, so I'll be seeing some of you then at Christmas time. Flights are booked and I land in Belfast City on 3rd December :)