Projects Abroad Care Program - Peru

I spent 4 months in Peru from September to December, 2012. I loved every minute of my stay in Peru. I was living with a host family in a village called Pisac. Pisac is about an hour away from Cusco and is a beautiful little town with a daily crafts market. From Pisac it was easy to travel other places and it was fun to just explore Pisac, which is beautiful. My host family was amazing! Although I did not speak any Spanish when I arrived and they did not speak any English, they made me feel welcomed and part of their family from the very first day. For the first two weeks of my stay, I took thirty hours of Spanish. These were intensive private Spanish classes with a teacher from Projects Abroad. She helped me gain a basic knowledge of Spanish so that I could speak with my family and, after the first two weeks, start working in a kindergarten in a town called San Salvador, which is ten minutes from Pisac. During my time teaching, I also took another 60 hours of private Spanish classes at the same time.
My time in the kindergarten was great! I worked with a classroom that had 18 five-year-olds in it. Although I didn't speak Spanish at the beginning, by the end I was able to lead the class in Spanish - teaching them how to add, write letters, and work on coloring. It was an incredibly rewarding experience to work with these children.
A typical day for me consisted of breakfast at 7:30 am, working at the kindergarten from about 8 am to 1 pm, family lunch at 1:30, Spanish class from 3 to 6, and dinner at 7, then I would watch TV with the family and go to bed. Sometimes, I would not have Spanish because I would go to workshops provided by Projects Abroad to share ideas and suggestions about how to best work in the kindergartens. These were great because the Projects Abroad staff is extremely supportive in every way. And other days there would be social events in different towns where I would be able to join with other Projects Abroad volunteers and staff members and hike, cook, or hangout.
I loved my experience with Projects Abroad because the program is set up really well - you are always supported by the wonderful staff and there are so many opportunities to really experience the culture. And Peru is an awesome place to be!