Blog Post #4 Spanish and Familia de Lara  

Learning Spanish is hard-harder than I ever imagined it would be. And, I had imagined the worst.I’m taking private lessons at Mundo Antigua, just off the central square in Cusco. I could have taken group lessons of 3-4, but after discussing with the school’s owner over a Skype call what I wanted to accomplish and my complete inability to speak the language, he and I decided three hours of private lessons, five days a week would be the best option. Now, even more than before, I agree with my choice.

Teacher Sonny and Koen, the owner of the school

I start school at 9 in the morning and finish at noon. I have one teacher for the first two hours, then the third hour is spent with another one. It’s a good program, as I like the opportunity to work with different teachers and their individual methods. During the first two weeks I’ve had four different teachers, with Sonny being the best. He has shown me a great deal of patience, and during after school hours he has thought of new methods to use with this oldest student he’s ever had. At my request he will be my teacher in the final week of classes.

Interior of Lara’s home

I have homework every night, in addition doing my own review of what I’ve already ‘learned’. Before I came I was told that my host Lara and the rest of her family spoke no English. Not so much. Actually, Lara speaks fairly passable English. She works in a travel agency, so it’s a necessity. In these first two weeks another student of the school from Australia lived in the house with me, so lots of English was spoken. Mick left this morning and I’ll be living with the family alone. Lara and I have agreed we will not speak any English, only Spanish from here on out.

Lara and Alex

The place where I’m living is a townhouse with four floors. Laura’s sister, and her two kids, Luis, 25, and Fernanda, 14 live on the first floor. Laura, a single mom, lives on the second floor with her two daughters, Mel, 13, Alex, 3, and her father, Alejandro. On the third floor lives Laura’s brother and his family. (The fourth floor is rented out to English teachers.) Familia de Lara all support one another in all manner, and at any given time one or more members will be in another’s apartment. For instance, Alex goes to a preschool in the mornings and when she returns in the afternoon she stays with Lara’s sister and other family members until her mom comes home from work. Mel is a competitive swimmer, practicing both before and after school, so I hardly ever see her.  

Alejandro in at the entrance to the family home

The support they give each other includes me. While Lara is getting ready for work, Alejandro fixes my breakfast, often consisting of a fried egg, fried plantain, and rice. At 1:30 I go back up the hill and to ‘home’ for dinner, the biggest meal of the day. The daily fare starts with homemade soup, followed by the main course of beef or chicken and rice or pasta. Lara’s sister will prepare the meal and I’ll eat it with Luis, a currently unemployed commercial pilot. Alex is usually there, playing by herself in rapt imagination. Fernanda usually comes in, home from school, toward the end of the meal.

Front door to the family home

Supper at about 7 pm, a light meal often consisting of leftovers, is prepared and served by Lara. That’s the time of day when she and I will talk about everything from divorce, to Mel and Alex, to where in downtown Cusco I might find a particular item I need. Dinner might be followed by watching a soccer match on TV (it is World Cup time) and doing my homework. Somewhere in there 

Laura will fill my hot water bottle, sneak into my room, and slip it in between the sheets on my bed. 

My room