WHAT THE HECK? I thought hot water exists in this house as the host mother showed me how to set the hot water which is different from the US. There is a switch that looks somewhat like a light switch to turn on the hot water. This morning, I waited for a few minutes for hot water, and there was none! UGH! My hair needed washing badly and so, I just stuck my head in the shower and washed it as quickly as I could. I applied body wash while I was out of the shower and just went in for a quick rinse. OH MYYYYYYYYYYY! I hope I can survive this for a month! This is a real test drive to see if I can handle “lower class” lifestyle as I will have to for the Peace Corps, if I get accepted. At least, I can use my hairdryer to warm up my body after the shower!

Breakfast was quite good. I had strawberry yogurt drink with eggs and bread. Good stuff!

Shortly after breakfast, I headed to the school. First I had to take an exam to determine my placement. While I could make educated guesses on the exam because Spanish looked very similar to French, I just wasn’t going to bother responding as I didn’t want to be put in the wrong class. Of course, I was placed in beginners. There are six students in my class – perfect size! We have two teachers. The first teacher teaches during the first hour and forty-five minutes, and then we have a half hour break. Then the second teacher teaches for the last hour and forty-five minutes. The reason that we have two teachers is so that we don’t get bored for the entire four hours! I like that! . Both are very nice. The second teacher questioned me if I already had experience in learning Spanish because I was picking up the Spanish very quickly and understanding the grammar structure right away. I told him that I had ZERO experience, and the reason that I was understanding Spanish was because I’m fluent in French, and I recognized that both languages are SOOOO similar! For example “You” in French and Spanish is “Tu.” “She” in French is “elle.” In Spanish, it’s “ella.” “We” in French is “Nous” and in Spanish, it’s “Nosostros.” “You all” in French is “Vous” and in Spanish, it’s “Vosotros.” The verb conjugation is EXTREMELY similar. Take a look at this:

English French Spanish
To learn apprendre aprender
I learn J’apprends Yo aprende
You learn Tu apprend Tu aprendes
He learns Il apprends Ellos aprende
We learn Nous apprenons Nosotros aprendos
You all learn Vous apprenez Vosotros aprendis
They learn Ils apprennent Ustedes aprenden

So, yup, I think I’ll be able to breeze through Spanish. I just need to pick up vocabulary! Although I hope that I don’t mix French in as I already have. I’ve accidentally thrown some French words out of my mouth…eeks! No wonder why my French friends say that learning Spanish is easier than English!

I think I’m suffering altitude sickness as I am sleepy as hell and so, I’m going to take a nap! Cusco is located 11,000 feet above sea level – holy cow!

Edited Note – June 30th: I learned that I was setting the hot water in the shower in the wrong way.  UGH!  At least now I know that I’m not stuck with cold water everyday for a month!