About Leilah Feinstein

Hola
Sorry it´s been a while; I´ve not had access to wireless and internet cafes call for brevity as they are an expense which my vagabondish self can´t always afford…
After two trips down the Amazon through northern Peru, Harriet and I arrived in the very sweet port town of Leticia, Colombia. We flew to Bogotá a few days ago and are museum hopping, possibly going on a rock-climbing advench tomorrow.
We´re going to make our way north to Cartegena before heading back down through Ecuador and Peru to Bolivia, where we´ll spend the latter half of April before crossing over to Argentina.
Travel [...]

I’m finally something official. I know I’m a “writer” and a “musician” and “chocolate-eater”, but these are liberal self-titles. Now I at least have a paper from Someone saying “Leilah Feinstein is a certified English as a Foreign Language Teacher”. Also makes me go “eeeehhhhh!” cuz it reminds me I’m a Grown Up At Least A Little Bit.
On the practical side of things, I’m extremely happy about all this TEFL stuff. I was on the fence about it at first, but now I’m psyched to have the opportunity to travel for cheap AND teach! I was totally nervous when I started [...]

Monday: Me and 3 friends woke up and took a scenic 4 hour bus ride to (where? don’t remember). When we got there, we hopped on (gigantic) mountain bikes and started our tour. Of course, within a half hour I ate shit and now have some brilliant bruises to show for it. Made me feel like a pretty big badass though. Anyway, we biked about two hours through some amazing mountains and past the river. The most interesting detail to me on that route was the massive amount of red and black butterflies. I don’t know if they were mating [...]

Last night, this is the email I sent my parents and Wilber:
Ok, so, I finally had a meeting with the director of Huchuy Yachaq, along with the head of construction and the directors of Máximo Nivel. I know the news has been slow in the making, but you guys need to understand that Peru is an extremely disorganized country, and Cusco is a concentrated source of confusion and run-arounds.
Here is the deal. 
Huchuy Yachaq is a children’s center, and it’s main focus is education. Apparently, since this is vacation time in Cusco, the 300 kids that are there right now is hugely over the [...]

To publicly update:
I am now taking the TEFL course to become a certified ESL teacher. The workload is INSANE but I’ll be done in 2.5 weeks, at which point I plan to return to life from a zombie state.

One fine Cusqueñan day, Little Leilah Jane was playing by the road, whistling a little tune on a little whim. Two small hobos came marching along, sacks over their shoulders and a look in their eyes of hunger and weariness. “Why, stop and rest, wontcha?” Asked Little Leilah Jane. “Per-squeak!” the travelers cried in relief. Little Leilah had never seen any hobo as small or hungry as these, and she was overwhelmed with curiosity. “If you please, sirs, what…what are you?” she asked. “Aha!” said one, pulling out an identification card and flipping it carelessly in her direction. It read: [...]

Friday night I left for Puno with Joe and Rebecca, some of my housemates. After an 8 hour bus ride (bus sans-baño), we arrived at the break of dawn to see the beautiful Lake Titicaca shining out of a mountain framework. It would have been so incredible had I not been literally about to pee my pants.
After a breakfast of salt with eggs, we set off at 8 a.m. on a boat ride to the Floating Islands of Uros. They were really amazing; tiny islands made of reeds, about 35 people live on each one. We took a handmade boat [...]

3 years ago today
And look where I am! Finally at peace with life/death, whichever side of the coin you choose to live on. I worked hard today, this morning at Spanish lessons and this afternoon at the kids’ center. I feel proud and exhausted, and happy that on my 3rd try I didn’t wake up nauseated by the date. No feelings of empty wet burlap in my stomach anymore. They do dissipate…
So my work. I am rooming at the volunteer house with an English woman who also works at the site with me. To give the picture: about 100 filthy, [...]

At the end of a full day of abdominal turmoil, I recall my father’s words upon speaking of his dog who was hit by the school bus: We are tubes.
After 5 lovely hours at the health clinic (and I do mean lovely, because my guide from Maximo Nivel, Carlos, was so sweet and actually made it sort of fun), an iffy-iodine/needle/possibly-used latex glove blood test, a tummy poke and prod, and 4 failed attempts to provide an “ejemplo de la cosa que no es la vomita; otra cosa”, it turns out your girl has Typhoid Fever, and possibly a parasite [...]

Today I walked around Plaza de las Armas in Cusco (I still have not settled on spelling Cusco with an S or a Z. I think it will fluctuate with my mood). I hung out in the square, reading my (awesome) guidebook from Wilber, and this 77-year-old guy came up and started talking to me. He was friendly, with good things to say, maybe what someone might call a “conversationalist”, although in 2009 I’m not sure what that means. We talked a bit about socio-economic disparity in Peru. Then he taught me some Quechua words and gave me the most [...]

FINALLY!
I´m here in Cuzco. I spent a few days in Lima with my mom, but we got to Cuzco yesterday. My mini-adventures to date:
1) Sitting between two old ladies on the 8 hour flight from Newark. They muttered prayers to Jesus constantly through the whole flight and then when we landed told me that he always takes care of us.
2) Standing in line for customs, I saw a really tiny and cute little girl. I smiled; she stopped and stuck out her tongue. I knew at that moment that I am going to love Peru.
3) Eating dinner in a French [...]

This is my first journal entry; I’m trying out the system. 
 
I am leaving for Peru this Friday. I’ll be traveling from Lima to Cuzco for 10 days prior to beginning my first program with the GVN. I’m very excited; so excited I don’t even know what to do with myself! The nerves have not set in yet, but I’m sure they will in due time. I can’t wait to meet the other volunteers, but most of all I am looking forward to experiencing Peruvian culture and life.
I am anticipating this journey through my own dimensions.