June 8,

We were up and about by 0630 and readied. Today we started our Spanish speaking classes. Oh Boy! 😰 We had our Javas and breakfast of granola and yogurt. At 0845, we left for our first class. It is very close – on the next street in the same block.

When we arrived, there were about a dozen students, but we were signed up for private lessons. Everyone introduced themselves as we were directed…that was all I understood. I simply said, “Nombre Paula”. Jeff caught that they wanted where we are from as well and he stated that we are from the USA. After this Jeff & I were escorted to a table and Kelsy (sp?) came over to instruct us. She is Peruvian and probably 25 yrs old. We were given a paper workbook handout. She proceeded after we explained we have no real Spanish speaking or educational background. She went over the basic principle of masculine and feminine concepts of the Spanish language; and basic sentence structure. After our two hours with her, we were given a 30 minute break. We went back to our place for the break to just get away for the time.

At 1130, we went back for two more hours. This time we had Lorenzo (sp?) as our instructor. He is about the same age. But his accent I have a little more difficulty following. (The main director, Maria, said we have different teachers, for that reason- to hear different people.) He went over real basics – the sounds of vowels with the alphabet and he started the “to be” verb concept.

When we finished, my mind was blown 🤯 or overworked…whichever you want to call it – my head hurt! Jeff said he felt the same. We unloaded our stuff at our place and went back out for lunch. We chose another place close by, called Picanteria La Dorita. We sat and were given toasted corn nuts and a dipping spicy salsa. I had a “Caldo, Pebre Blanco” – which translates as “Broth, White Pepper”. It was a broth soup with a large hunk of beef roast, two kinds of potatoes, yucca, chickpea, and rice. Jeff had an “Adobo” – which was described as a pork steak in Arequipa’s stew (with onions). His meal came with bread and tea. We shared those and a carafe of lemonade. We paid 77 PEN or $22.42 and went for a walkabout to the main Plaza de Armas. Then we went to the store and took a different way back to our place – just taking in the views of Arequipa.

Back at our place, we did our homework, and took in the sunset on the roof. Then we made some coleslaw for supper with another Peruvian wine. What a day! My brain still hurt when we went to bed.

      June 9,

Up and about at 0700. Today’s high was only supposed to be 59°!! It was cloudy. We had our Javas and breakfast of oatmeal and yogurt – I had an apple also. We went for our second day of class. Kelsy instructed us more in depth on “to be” – going into the masculine, feminine and the permanent vs temporal conjugating the verb. Wow, WOW, WOW!! Then she gave us simple sentences filling in the right option, even asking us simple Spanish questions with us answering in Spanish. Then break time. Whew!

Back to “escuela” – school – with Lorenzo and more practice with “to be” conjugation and then he talked about the three Peruvian regions- “costa” (coast), “sierra” (mountains), and “selva” (jungle) with different foods of each area. That was informative and in our wheelhouse.

At 1330, we completed our day’s “schooling” and went back to our place. We put in a load of laundry and went back out for lunch, choosing the Amaranta Restaurant again. It was later and the daily set menus were finished.☹️ So we each had an entree: mine was “Chuleta de cerdo al grill”- a ‘grilled pork chop’ with sides of fries and rice (plus I had an avocado dressed salad); Jeff had “Bistec Montado”- a ‘beef steak mounded’ with red onion and peppers and sides of fries and rice with a fried egg. I had a Coke and Jeff had a beer. Very good, but too much. I didn’t eat my rice. The bill was 68 PEN, but Jeff gave 70, which was $20.26.

We left, going back to our place to hang our laundry to dry. Then I blogged and Jeff read. Our place was pretty cool inside, but warmer than outside, thankfully. There was an awesome sunset, due to the clouds blanketing the sky, We plan on just bread for supper. Hopefully I will not think of Spanish words tonight too much at bedtime!