Tom is from Ireland and is teaching football. The quietest of the four, I think he was pretty spaced from jet-lag; he didn´t say much more. John, the other guy is a *very* pretty boy with huge blue eyes, from Eastbourne (Lisa! Someone else from Eastbourne!) and a gap year student, then we have Alison from Ireland - a another gapper - and Kirsten from Oz, who´s super-fit and plays hockey to some competitive sort of level as well as producing multimedia stuff and documentaries. Her work gave her 9 months off and are holding her job open. (Hmph!)
John & Ali are my new colleagues from Monday, so they fired questions at me rat-tat-tat about the school. C and I told everyone about Posadas, ´Power´ nightclub, the bars on the riverside which we hadn´t visited yet, and the pound shops where they could stock up on stuff they might need. We advised Kirsten, who is doing the conservation project, to get thick gloves or risk bites from potentially rabid monkeys. And she´d thought she´d be dealing with ickle fluffy animals!
The new boys left for a siesta soon after eating (lightweights), leaving us chicas and C (he always gets left with the girls, have you noticed?) to demolish a couple of bottles of wine (no vino por C...para las antibioticas), before we tottered home and I had a tipsy snooze on the sofa.
I woke to find I´d missed 3 calls from Natalia, presumably to cancel that evening´s plans, but I couldn´t reach her back. C & I headed out anyway, with vague plans to meet the newbies and Catherine later, which in the end didn´t materialise because they were all tired. What´s wrong with youngsters these days!?!
But remembering we were in bed by 9.30 on the first night, I´d expected as much.
We two tried to find the recommended fish restaurant in our guide book, failed to, and, hungry now, I whinged a bit as we struggled for 45 minutes find anywhere that was open on a Saturday night (weird!). Plus my new, v. cute patent black ballet pumps with a little bow on - a necessary purchase as my Primarni pumps are already trashed, that´s 8 quid shoes for you - were rubbing after all that trudging (that´s 42 pesos shoes for you...7 quid).
Eventually we fell on the first place open, Cristobal, a busy brasserie-style joint, and I wolfed down the first bit of fish I´ve had all trip (salad, no chips...losing the lard, remember?!) whilst we people-watched and marvelled at the amazingly retro hairstyles (Status Quo and home perm kits were mentioned), and, not for the first time, the love that knows no (style) boundaries, that which Argentinian girls seem to have for eye-wateringly tight spray-on jeans and leggings, which pretty much means it´s Camel-Toe Central.
Yeuk - don´t they know we´re trying to eat!??!
Fell asleep watching Kill Bill. Only Uma can get away with something that clingy round her nether regions.
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Yesterday, Sunday 25th - we joined Kirsten & Ali for a day trip to San Ignacio - site of the Jesuit Ruins (apparently featured in the film The Mission, which I haven´t watched). Today at school, John told me that Misiones has the third largest Jewish population in the world (after Israel and the States). C was incredulous - what about Golders Green? - so I´ll have to verify that fact tomorrow, don´t quote me yet.
Our coach took an hour to get there and cost 5 pesos each. About 80p. We ran onto the top deck to bagsy the back row like kids on a school trip. Our seats were big, plumptious and comfortable, reclining to 45 degrees, footrests, with cup holders, and a man with a tray of hot coffee came round during the journey (precisely before we got to a very bumpy bit...I nearly christened C with mine). Read and learn, London Underground!
Now I don´t drink coffee, but the Northern bird in me says ´It´s freeee! ´ave it!´, so I took the double-espresso-sized cup offered. C passed. Us 3 girls then spent the next 10 minutes delicately sipping the over-strong, ridiculously-sweet coffee, and wincing between sips, before I discovered the aforementioned cup-holders and we got rid of the offending beverages.
The best bit of the day was actually just *before* the ruins, when we stumbled across a charming little cafe/restaurant with a smiley man we found out was called Diogenes Lenguaza (´un poco dio, un poco diablo!´ he joked), who reminded me of my dad with his warm hospitality and mannerisms, and, unusually, proceeded to *talk* us through a lengthy menu, a lesson in comprehension if there ever was one. I was delighted to realise I understood most of it and latched onto the grilled salmon, as did the other chicas. C had steak & chips, like a proper Brit.
A ´welcome´ in every language from Diogenes
Ali & Kirsten, my new drinking buddies
My Argie ´Dad´...apparently you can Google him.
After the meal and another two bottles of vino (I love these girls already!) Diogenes took us through a large collection of photos (on the end wall, with more on a long trestle table below it) of him on his travels. D and his wife in Scotland, London, New York, Germany...etc...meeting the Queen and the King of Spain (as you do), and with various famous Argentinian singers, actors and dignitaries at his gaff. He told us he loves travelling, although he only speaks Spanish. He also told me, as C played with his dog...a cross bred German Shepherd called Palermo (in honour of his favourite team, Boca Juniors), that he lives in Posadas too, used to have a restaurant there, but it closed in the recession, so now he just has two. Think he does alright though; our meal came to 300 pesos all in, about 50 quid (they have no pound sign on this keyboard if you´re wondering), which is quite pricey for here. Still, we´d eaten well and had a lovely time, so we agreed it´d be good for a couple more Sunday lunches...there´s bugger all to do where we live, I´m realising, after all. (Although we probably missed the most exciting day in Posadas as we only remembered it was Revolution Day, as we left on the bus).
The Jesuit ruins were...well, a pile of 400 year old rocks. Go figure. Still, I´m the sort of girl who, in the middle of vast rolling countryside, has yawned ´Seen one tree, seen ´em all´...so you might be more impressed than I was. I´m a city girl...and Buenos Aires is 9 weeks away!
The artiest shot I could get of, basically, a pile of old rocks.
Still, my lack of interest might also be as after 3 glasses of vino, we girls were struggling to concentrate on reading the descriptions of the artefacts in the museum. Even in English.
It got dark really quickly as we walked from the ruins to catch our bus back. As the road seemed to go on forever, C started joking about us missing the last bus and having to spend the night, horror-movie style, in the woods. Before we could run to the stop, 2 buses went past. Shit! When *was* the last bus? Why hadn´t anyone checked?! Panic set in.
Then next vehicle that pulled up to the stop was a minibus, the sort that takes old people out on day-trips. But it had ´Posadas´ on the side.
Lo and behold, the ´conductor´ beckoned us on, and took our 5 pesos each. We realised too late that it was the most packed minibus *ever* - standing room only and C was stood virtually in the doorway. We were all pressed up together, like the tube at rush hour, but it felt *far* more precarious. A mini-bus. In the dark. In rural Argentina. With a driver who kept taking his eyes off the road to reach for the fresh maté his assistant kept brewing up from a flask.
Fear. On the bus back. We actually *were* packed this close
I tried to put images of me hurtling through the windscreen out of my mind for a whole hour, whilst also trying not to think about those girls who recently died on that bus ride in Quito. Of course it didn´t work; if I tell you *not* to think about pink elephants, that will be the image in your head now, yes?
I sincerely hoped this wasn´t going to be the last thing I ever did.
______
Thankfully it wasn´t.
Monday; school today with my new colleagues. We will need to find our rhythm, it was a little chaotic finding the best way of working in front of an unforgiving audience, with no dress rehearsals, but I can see that extra people is a good thing, although 3 might be overkill.
They´ve asked me to start doing afternoons next week too (eek!), so I might see if we can start working a shift system, with 2 people per lesson.
Above: A couple more pics of my kids from last Friday. Just for fun.
Fresh meat is always exciting in any environment, but I noticed John in particular was getting lots of attention from the chicas, in particular a 9 year old in 5a, Triana, the one who looks like Drew Barrymore in her ET days. (And if you think that´s a bit young, remember most kids round here are parents by 16/17)
Whenever John went near her crew of girlie girls to give them their exercise books, she squealed and fanned herself with her hands as she´s probably seen ladies on the telly do when they see a good-looking man. (OK, OK, I´ll get a pic of him, but I didn´t want to scare him by papping him on day one, OK?!)
As John and I were marking later (Ali had to whizz back today), he laughed when I told him about Triana and said he did notice it was hard when he was trying to get them to look at their work and they kept gazing up at him. Hilarious!
BTW The newbies are not 23, as I was told. They´re both only 19 (although quite mature, you wouldn´t guess).
But Christ, now I really *do* feel old! :)
2 comments:
you have nice blog...
so you're still shoe shoping i notice! you'll never change! glad youve found some veno guzzling girlies, you certainly have a knack in seeking them out:-)pics of the pretty boy please, need something to brighten my morning. Ive now started checking in to your blog at 8.55am daily!PK x
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