Two weeks ago I finally got around to enrolling at a Spanish School which has led to some interesting developments.

In Cusco there are well over a dozen Spanish schools so it wasn’t easy knowing which one to choose. I must have looked at around ten different websites and most of them had a very similar spiel and cost roughly the same. The main difference between them is that some are privately owned and some are part of NGOs that put their profits towards various community projects that help many of the underprivileged people in Peru.

Initially it felt right that I should enrol at one of the schools run by an NGO so that as well as learning Spanish my money would be going towards helping people in need. However, my intuition was pulling me towards a privately owned school called Máximo Nivel. It didn’t seem like the most ethical choice, but I’ve learned to trust my feelings and that’s the place I felt I had to go. And what an amazing choice that turned out to be!!

At the beginning of my 2nd week I find out that my Spanish teacher, Norma, was about to leave the school because she was in the process of establishing her own Spanish school and tour agency with her husband. She told me they had just moved into a new office (which includes 3 rooms that will be used as classrooms) in the trendy San Blas area of Cusco (less than a 10 minute walk from where I live). Not only that but she kindly invites me to work out of their office if I want to.

One of the things I’ve been doing a lot this last month is working out of a couple of bars in central Cusco. This is simply because the wifi connection is much better than my home connection which is a bit unreliable and can be painfully slow at times. Now I don’t mind working out of bars, however it does prove to be quite expensive because I will usually keep buying drinks (rarely alcohol) while I’m working. I figure it would be a bit rude to use their electricity and internet for several hours at a time and not buy anything. But all those, sandwiches, coffees and fresh orange juices (and the occasional beer, I must admit) soon add up, and it had been on my mind for quite awhile that it would be really nice if I had an office I could work out of during the day. I hadn’t even made it a specific intention, but the universe still got to work for me and provided me with just what I wanted. How amazing is that?

Of course I’ve now left Máximo Nivel to remain Norma’s student and I’m her very first student at her new school. They’re not quite ready to promote the school yet as they still have a few things to finish, so as of today I’m lucky enough to be getting one-on-one lessons with Norma and I can really feel the benefits of that already.

As for how I’m actually getting on with learning Spanish, well I’m doing ok. I’ve always found learning foreign languages really difficult and this is proving to be no exception, but I’m pleased with my progress so far. However, I think it’ll take a good few months before I’m anywhere near being at a conversational level.

Hasta luego mis amigos!