[SPANISH] Sara Mokhtari-Fox, grew up in Berkley California and graduated from UC Santa Cruse in 2011. It was then that she decided to study Spanish with Ecela in Peru, a decision that will ultimately change her life. She is currently the director [inaudible] Peru Ingles, an English learning program in Cusco Peru. So welcome Sara and thank you for being here to share your stories. Thank you. So going back about 5 years, I think, you were first interested in studying abroad right after you graduated from college. Correct? Yeah, definitely. OK. So what led you to choose Peru as your destination? Well I have finished college without doing abroad studying program and my brother had done many, and just always raved how awesome they were, and I always wanted to learn Spanish and study abroad in Latin America. So I was going thru different programs, I was looking at doing at doing it thru the university, but I didn t really wanted to have to stay attached to the university, it was much more expensive and just lot more paperwork. And I stumbled upon Ecela in a study abroad fair at my school and she was like, "You want to study abroad in Latin America and learn Spanish? I was like yeah, that s exactly what I want to do." So I was looking into the program and I thought it would be really cool to do a month in Argentina, in Chile and then in Peru. But being a recent college graduate I did not have the money to afford the plane tickets, to go between 3 countries. So I nailed it down to Peru for one being a less expensive country, and ultimately chose Peru because I really wanted a genuine Latin American experience, and from what I have heard about Chile and Argentina, it still had more Spanish European influence in the country, and I have heard that Cusco in particular had really strong connection to its Incan culture and I really wanted to explore that. Awesome. So which cities did you take classes at Ecela in Peru? I studyed in Lima for one month and Cusco for two months. OK. So how were those two, like although they are both in Peru, how were they alike and different? For students that maybe are trying to chose between both of them. Oh man, the diferences are drastic. Lima is huge, absolutly humongus and its just defiitly big city lifestyle, lots of big towery buildings, lots of chain restaurants, but also really really good food. If you are foody you definitly want to spend some time in Lima and eat some of the VJ s, best some ever. Cusco, although its also big, its big in a different way. Its big and spread out, its big in the mountains, its like a cultural empire, theres so many, so many different ways to explore, like Incan ruins, Incan culture. The names of the streets are even in Cetchua, so even half of them I cant even pronounce. You know, you
feel lot of the Spanish influance in Cusco but also a lot of the Incan and pre Incan cultures as well. In Lima you dont really see too much of either, you see the Spanish influence in the churches, but other than that it s like a huge city anywhere. OK. How far apart are these two? Oh man, well it s like a one hour flight. OK. But like something hour bus drive because it takes a while to get to, so... Right. So you said you studyed in Lima for one month and Cusco for two months with Ecela? Yeah. OK. And then you initially lived with the home stay in both locations, correct? Yes. And how did that living arangement help you improve your Spanish? Oh man, it made such a difference. I took Spanish in highschool for really long time, but never really practiced outside of it. I was really kind of nervous or shy about my accent or for what ever reason didnt wanted to activly practice my spanish, but when you live in a home stay and you have dinner together every night it s like if you don t want to practice it s just going to be a very akward dinner. So it kind of forces you to kind of let go of the nervousness and the anxiety that a lot of people have when learning a language. Right. Especially in the beginning. And they are very helpful people, you know, the Hose family they have been doing this for a really long time, so they know how to speak slowly and how to encourage you, how to correct you without offending you. And it s just really sweet, it makes you feel more like you belong somewhere when you go to a country that s new, and you know no one. Right. Its a really nice experiance. So host family I had in Cusco I lived, actually I lived with for almost about month and a half, and since then I visited them multiple times. Its really sweet since because they have a little kids when I came for the first time in 2011, two sons were 13 and 9, and now they are like 16 and 12 or something, and it s kind of cool to have seen them grow up over the years, you really get to feel like you are a part of the
family, if you want to have that relationship with them, they are almost more than willing to have that with you. Yeah, that s awesome. So did going back to learning Spanish and kind of being nervous to talk, did you have anything embarrassing happen while you were learning spanish in class? Oh man, so many. In class, outside the class, there were a lot of embarasing moments. In class in particular I just remembered like, because it gets pretty intense, like the classes at Ecela, one of the great things about them is they are small but when you are in them for like 2 hours it s just like you and the teacher or maybe one or the two other people you know its a lot of the preasure on you to keep talking and keep conversation going. So couple of times, especially in really bad levels, when you are really nervous, I think this happened maybe two or three times or just out of frustration I started to cry in class. I can t remember how to conjucate the verbes and the past tense like, Oh God! Especially when you want to say something too and it just wont come out. Yeah, its really frustrating but I think those first two months of struggle just like they pave the way, becuase after you get the basico once you are like in preintermediate level you laugh how it is, but those first two months they are pretty difficult. Were your teachers pretty undestanding? Oh yeah, they were really really sweet. That s good. Its really really nice. In this particular classes we have Antonio in Lima and he will probably remember. A story to last his whole teacher career. So you must have improved quickly in your Spanish because you are living in Cusco now, right? Yeah, definitly. Spending time and really living abroad has helped drastically, meeting friends who speak in majority only Spanish is a really good way to keep practicing I think. We have, I mean, I am an English teacher now and I keep telling this to my students as well, you can come to classes as much as you want to study but without actually practicing and talking and especially speaking with people, like native people, you won t nesceseraly learn the language as it s spoken, you will learn it as it is in a book. But being abroad, being in Cusco or in Argntina or in Chile it really really helps to actually learn the language. So can you tell us how you ended up back in Cusco?
Yeah, well, I left Cusco in 2011 and went and got a job that I really enjoyed and the career that I studied for at university but I just felt this like travel bug that was longing to go back, not only to Cusco but to Latin America in general so I did a longer backpacking trip for about a year from central to parts of south America, and in that I stayed in Cusco another 3 or 3 and a half months. Actually the profesor that I had in Ecela gave me a job working at a cafe that he owned. So that really helped to kind of set up a life style there, not just being a student or not just being a traveler, but having a job and seeing how it could make it work. And from then I really enjoyed Cusco in general and just decided I wanted to come back in December 2014, and have been here ever since. Thats awesome. So how did Fredrico Peru Ingles began? I came here and because I worked with highschool students in California, I wanted to continue doing something similar to teaching so I decided to get my [SPANISH] here at [SPANISH] in Cusco. And from there I met a friend who was teaching English at [SPANISH] Peru, it s really more known to be Spanish school but they have a small little piece that does English teaching here I hotels as well as private lessons. So I got hired, and within a few months got promoted to being the director which has been really cool experience as well and I just really liked it so think I will stick around a little longer. Yeah, that s awesome. So on the more fun side of things and not work related, what are some of your like favorite trips that you recommend near Cusco? Oh man, there s so many. Well I definitely, I would see Machu Picchu but on the way there s a really cool, really beautiful hot springs, natural hot springs, called Santa Theresa. I think some of the treks pass thru jungle, Inca jungle track pass thru, but it s just really beautiful, it s right on side of the river, it s really big nice warm pools, its nice way to relax. Also you must go to, if you are in Cusco in, around, July, 16 th 17 th 18 th, something around there every year, I never say the words, Poyalcaltambo, Paurcaytambo. I will have to e-mail it to you. I was going to say how to spell it. It s hard to say it, but in Paucartambo, in the middle of July every year, they have fiestas [SPANISH] which is their regional virgin saint and they, entire little tiny town just goes crazy, so cool to see. There are parades and dances and people with masks, and kind of feels like a mini carnival. And if you go all the way up there you can go to some place called Tres Cruces which takes you to very very tippy top of one of the Indian mountains out here and you can watch the sunrise from above the clouds. It s really intense experience, but it s really really beautiful. Oh yeah.
So I highly recommend if you are in Cusco around that time that you check out that festival, it s very, like a very authentic Cuscadian festival, if you are into that sort of things. Right. So with whom are you still in contact from your Spanish classes and Ecela? You kind of mention that teacher got you a coffee shop job and things like that? Ah yes, a couple of teachers I am still close with. Every time I go back to Lima I see Antonio and he is a really really good professor working out of Lima. And also here in Cusco I am still in very good contact with Eric who s also a very good professor. Two very different styles but very good the two of them. [11:38] director of the Ecela office is very nice, very helpful. Some friends that I have met in a program, a couple of times randomly when I was in California, bumping into people I was in classroom in Cusco that was fun. So, yeah, it s interesting how relationships continue through the process, like people that you wouldn t necessarily expect or think that you would still be in contact with you randomly see on the travel circuit or they put up a message, one of my friends who lived in Virginia, on Facebook just put up a map, he was like, I am doing a road trip and passing thru California I was like, Oh, you are going to be here. You can, like, stay at my house. And things happen like that sometimes randomly. It s really nice way to keep in contact and see the other areas, see other people. Yeah. Makes the world seem small too. Yeah, right. So how is studying abroad and living in Peru shaped your world view? Oh man, so many ways. I think one of the main lessons I learned after spending so much time abroad, and in Peru, is from the Latin American life style, like I feel like people here really know how to live and put out 100% into what they do, not to say that in the states we don t but we have a much more, it feels a lot more pressure in the states continuingly thinking about, What am I going to do in 5 years? What am I going to do tomorrow? If you are out with your friends you are thinking about your family, if you are with your family you are thinking about your girlfriend and if you are out working you are thinking about the weekend, on the weekend you are thinking about work. Here it s the opposite, you know, if you are with your family you are with your family, you are conversating and you are really enjoying each other s company, if you are eating lunch you can do it for 2 hours. You know? You really, you put your all into everything you do, when you are not working we are not talking about work, like we are really enjoying the time we are spending together and vice versa. I think that s the most important lesson for me. Yeah, makes things less stressful then too, to just enjoy what you are doing.
Yeah, definitely. So do you have any encouragement to our listeners who are trying to determine whether or not a Spanish immersion program would be a good fit for them? I think that whoever you are, I think that immersion program would be really good, if you think that you are too shy I think it will help you to open up, I think if you are too confident I think it will help to put you in your place a little bit. I think it s a really great experience for everyone.