Hola! Sorry it´s been a while: I´ve been DEAD busy: I mean this week, I´ve only had time for *one tiny siesta* - tch!
School continues on apace except the kids are getting naughtier day by day as their term draws to a close. Very kindly, as I am all on my own now Ali & John have left (sob!), the other voluntarios are taking turns come in with me on odd days to help out (and to see another project in action).
Monday was easy enough, left school earlier than normal - today I discovered if I mark standing up, I seem to get through it quicker. Also I´ve stopped being so meticulous correcting work for the kids that can´t be bothered. And as demonstrated in the final couple of days whilst I still had my co-workers I started to take a harder line stance with the kids, so basically they get 3 strikes and they are *out*.
Ho, yeah, the b*tch is back, and this time she´s not taking any prisoners.
Anyway, Monday, C&I joined the girls for an impromptu lunch at Alex´s bar in the shopping mall. Alex became a friend of C & I in our first week and always stops to chat (in English!) and puts the Euro games on for us (it´s not generally played in bars in Argentina, no one cares much...mind you, is anyone really watching in England since we failed to qualify?!). He used to live in Marbella, and has DJ´d in Brighton of all places. He´s about 45, really welcoming, and his place has become a favourite for all the girls now too.
______
Tuesday, much of a muchness at school, can´t remember anything major anyway.
That afternoon Oz Kirsten & I joined C to watch the Spain/Italy game at Alex´s. Spain won on penalties and there was a gentle ripple of applause from a few Argies, perhaps because of their common language. C is rooting for the Spaniards as his favourite player, Fernando Torres, plays for Liverpool and C´s a die-hard fan.
V came round Tuesday evening for a bit of a chat about Augustin: her friend was looking into his situation for us.
She looked exhausted and stressed, so Flor asked her what was wrong.
We were astonished as V told us newbie Gen had managed to get *lost* on her way to her orphanage project today. This despite Posadas being on a simple grid system, every volunteer getting driven to work by V on their first day for orientation purposes, and getting their project address(es) on a typewritten sheet plus a map with homestay and project location(s) *clearly* marked.
Getting off at the wrong stop, and completely confused, Gen had tried but failed to call Veronica twice (V has another job, she was probably in a meeting), so she panicked and somehow ended up getting a lift from some random man(?!?) who then took her to the wrong refuge (she didn´t have the address or map on her...).
Eventually she thought to call C for the right address, and when she finally got to work, late and traumatised, (C told me later) the guy started shouting at her to pay him 10 pesos for this ´favour´ (C had to translate for her, she paid). When Gen later spoke to V, she´d said her mother wouldn´t be very pleased about this (like it was V´s fault!?!).
If G really doesn´t know her arse from her elbow, how on earth could her parents let her leave the country alone?! Erm, surely you take your project address with you and get in a *cab* if you get lost, not a strange man´s car, in South America, not speaking much Spanish, 8000 miles from home? Or do as the rest of us did and pay attention to V pointing out landmarks and relevant bus-stops etc on our first days?! As V noted, Gen had even had her orientation alone, so she´d been given more attention and detail than any of us.
C says I´ve been hard on G, that she´s young, but as I pointed out, John & Ali were both 19 and both had their heads screwed on, so age is *not* and excuse. I just can´t abide stupidity, it exasperates me, and nothing she´s done so far has shown me she has an ounce of common-sense about her.
After that big-up, V then asked if Gen could come with C&I to tango! I explained that we´d been looking forward to this lesson being just the two of us (I´ve been sharing C with all the chicas until now), a bit of a ´date´ - to which V said "Well, Gen wants to come!".
I was hacked off at this; I didn´t want to have to babysit of an evening, I have enough children to look after all day, so I stalled and said I´d ask C when he got back from his project.
In the end, thankfully, C agreed, and got me to text V, saying he´d got injured at football (a perfectly plausible excuse, regular readers will know all about how accident-prone he is!) and we sneaked off to Tango, giggling and praying that we wouldn´t bump into her on our way out. I felt terrible lying to V, but we justified, this was a white lie, no harm done. It´s not as if we were the only volunteers in town, there were others much nearer her age. But also, personally, I would never impose myself on a couple I barely knew.
And because I got to dance with C all lesson this time, we actually got much better and we finally managed to work out how to work our way round the room in a wide circle with everyone else, so no more crashing into people.
On the way home, we bumped into the lovely Norma and Fernando (aka Anthony Hopkins), V´s parents. He´d had to leave the house when it got to penalties as he couldn´t take the stress, bless him, so I left C to give im the good news (Fernando is from Spain) as we all walked home together. I had to confess our lie to V in case it got back to her, but Norma tod me she understood, and then proceeded to tell me that Gen had managed to get lost on the way to Spanish lesson too.
"Christ on a bike", I thought, "we´ve got a live one here!".
________
Wednesday, the lovely US Kristen (who is a regular reader now...hi!) joined me for my worst class 5B and best class 6B.
5B were so naughty and loud (even the usually good Elizabeth was playing up) - there were only 3 kids who were really paying attention, Danna (who´s too cute for words), Braiham and Orlando (who´s also too cute for words). In the end, I just stood there saying, not at all quietly, "I might as well be p*ssing into the wind, I´ve had enough of you little shits, honestly I don´t know why I bother" - they don´t understand a word of it, of course, and I wasn´t being heard over the cacophony - as Kristen in turn dragged some to the office and valiantly tried to stop the others from running around, talking and punching each other. In the end, I quit the lesson with a few mins to spare, I told Elizabeth, Florencia and anyone else who cared to overhear me (I´d given up trying to hold everyone´s attention) "No Jugar, hoy" (No games today) and when they said "Porque?" told them because the class had been "*Muy* mal".
I then told their useless, horrible teacher (who was sat outside the class doing nothing as it all kicked off) I was done with her class, collected the books up and walked out with Kristen without saying goodbye to them. I felt a bit bad as some of the kids started waving and saying "bye!", I think they finally realised they´d pissed me off.
6B were a welcome relief, we had a good lesson on Physical Description ("I *am*...tall/good-looking/thin/ten years old" etc and "I *have*... blue eyes/brown hair/pale skin..."). A simple concept you´d think: especially after we´ve already done colours, clothes, and put them together to revise and describe clothes, (a blue jumper, black trousers...) parts of the body, revised parts of the body, and now got to describing parts of the body - but no.
Very few kids *still* understood the concept although I spelt it out clearly on the board with examples to "En Inglés, reverses las palabras...´chico´ y ´joven´...", and had the rule "Recuerda en Inglés: el objecto esta siempre en la ultima palabra" on their worksheets.
We had to correct an awful lot of "A boy young..." (I´d even written this one correctly on the board!), "eyes brown" and "hair straight" (as in Spanish say "un chico joven", "ojos marrones" and "pelo lacio".
We all went for lunch in town for Fin´s birthday (oh to be 22!) and the lovely Alex gave her dish on the house. Still, we spend quite a lot by Posadas standards in there!
All Gen said when we asked how the refugio went today was "worse than yesterday" and didn´t say much else all lunchtime. Oh dear.
Wednesday night all us chicas (bar Oz Kirsten, I don´t think she´s the dancing type!) went to a very fun salsa class. A much faster and energetic class, it was also noticeable younger in profile and we did work up a bit of a glow, which *never* happens at tango! C tried to join in valiantly for about 2 minutes, then seeing he was struggling, another instructress pulled him aside for one-to-one coaching, but it was all too much for him - long legs flailing about like Bambi on ice, and not really getting the hip wriggly thing - he gave up and sat on the side after about 10 minutes. I think using the hips in dance is a very Southern hemisphere thing (which is why I was apparently natural - HA!)
C is usually better than me at sporty things, so it was good to be better than him at something for once, although I did console him that it would have been *much* more fun if I could have danced with him rather than some random Argentinian guy.
We left Tango for V´s house where she was hosting a "surprise" BBQ for Fin´s birthday (um, I had to tell her, Fin was arranging other plans!). US Kristen went to fetch the cake and I bought a card "Feliz Dia, Amiga!" and got everyone to sign it.
Once we got to the BBQ, V took C&I outside to chat briefly about Augustin.
Bad news: basically, Argentinian law states adopters must be resident for 3 years and even then, they can´t take them out of the country. Augustin also has siblings in the refugio too (the gorgeous Diaina and Romina...my favourite girls, weirdly) so that would obviously complicate matters.
The *good* news though, is that they still have a mother, who loves them very much. She works as a live-in maid/cleaner to support them, so can´t have them with her in the week, apparently, but the kids go back to her every weekend. It kind of explains why those three are such sweet, well-adjusted kids. And why little Augustin (only 3!) is always cleaning up after the other children.
C showed everyone some uber-cute footage of Augustin on his phone, cleaning a chair and saying "Tio! Tio! A ver?!" (Uncle, are you watching?!) and everyone melted and agreed he was absolutely beautiful. C´s also got pics of him sweeping the yard with a broom about three times his height and said today Augustin quietly went about picking up the clothes the other kids were throwing about, without even being asked.
So anyway, Augustin *does* have someone to love him, which is the main thing that C&I had been upset about, so we can sleep a little easier now (as can someone else - hi mum!). C still wants to return in coming years to see how he´s doing, and I said that was perfectly possible.
Whilst we were outside, V took the opportunity to let off a bit of steam about how much hard work the newbie was being. I think she feels she can talk to us more openly as we are about the same age as she and Marcelo.
And finally C realised it wasn´t just me. He´d been slower to notice that the lights were on but no-one was home, but now, he ended up also telling V about various things Gen had said/done at work. I do feel bad slating the girl so I´ll stop now, but seriously!!!
As we were all having a moment of truth, I felt this was a good time to ´fess up about my lying text. V smiled and said she guessed as much. Turns out we´d had a close shave though, as V had driven Gen past tango anyway to show her where it was, but Gen had decided not to go in as there were only 4 people in at that time.
On a plus note, V said so far, this batch of volunteers has been the best she´s ever had (I do think C & I being older and with a strong work ethic and desire to make a difference, arriving first, have perhaps broke the back of things, set the example and it´s been natural for everyone to continue with the same momentum - Flor´s told me previous groups of volunteers have come out, got drunk every night and slacked on their projects). V said I was probably right.
________
Thursday: a bit hungover, I really couldn´t face 5b - they don´t deserve me, and I´m not getting paid to stand and shout till my throat gets sore. In fact, I´m not getting paid at all! So I texted V and said I didn´t want to teach them any more (I´ve only got one week now, I really have given up with them though) and she said cool, so I had a lie-in - yay!
Fabiana did ask me who the good kids in 5b were, and I think I understand that she is moving them into 5a so they don´t miss out, which is good.
Today, Oz Kirsten - who says she hates kids, btw - joined me for 6b. She may teach English in Buenos Aires for cash as she´s in S.America for 5 more months, so wanted to see how it was done.
We had a great lesson learning food vocab (La comida) and a very exciting game of Hangman at the end (I use all the vocab they´ve learnt so far, so they are revising colours, clothes, days, months, parts of the body, animals, descriptions, food...), which ended, nail-bitingly, on a tie-breaker, 5:6 as the bell rang.
As the winning side leapt about shouting football-style chants and jeering at the losers, I turned to look at K. She was stood in the corner, back to the wall, wide-eyed and appeared terrified and shell-shocked.
After the lesson K asked, incredulously, "And this is your *best* class?!" I laughed and said 5B, the little shites, would have put her off for life and she´d had a lucky escape with them. She admitted, 5B had been good, but their sheer volume had scared the shit out of her and that she´d rather go into the jaguars´ cage at El Puma.
For her hilarious take on this experience, check: www.itchytrotters.blogspot.com
That night, I felt she needed a bit of a reward for her valiant efforts, and I managed to flatter Aida into inviting her round for dinner for her famous (amongst all the voluntarios) home-made sausages. Kirsten was delighted. I´ll post a pic.
I´m going to post the rest of my week soon so see you back here shortly...!
Saturday, 28 June 2008
Monday, 23 June 2008
Another refuge visit...and a party for *us*!
Thursday night was Ali´s last meal (C & I didn´t eat as we´d eaten at Aida´s and just joined them for a drink), and apart from a slight tension between Kristen & John, we had a lovely evening.
At the end, John made his way home and C & 8 chicas (me, Ali, Kirsten, Kristen, Fin, Leanne, Kirsten´s homestay mum Pilar´s son Xaviers girlfriend Laura(!) and her mate) headed to a bar.
On the way, C said to a group of men, staring at all his chicas "Todas las chicas...com *mi*!" and they started shouting "Ganador! Ganador! Ganador!" at him, like a footy chant, which literally means "winner", but is also the term for someone who´s a hit with the ladies...a birrova player.
As if! But I let him enjoy his little moment, anyway...
____________
Friday, I had no school again as it was a school play, and having already sat, largely baffled, through two days of performances already (25th May celebrations and the school birthday speeches and songs last week), I turned down Graciela´s kind offer to come and watch, and opted to go with C to the refugio.
I actually really love it there, abysmal though the conditions are, because you do feel you are at least giving them some much-needed love, attention and affection, happiness, and perhaps some nice memories, for the time you are there.
Amazingly, I´d barely walked through the door, when a little boy, Estaban, flew at me clutching a blank piece of paper, shouting "Tia! Tia!". He´d remembered me drawing the animals the previous week, and I think he´d hoarded this piece of paper, waiting for my return, because there were no sheets in evidence.
Luckily, C had brought more pens (which only last a day, again) and paper, and once more, I had a queue of kids shouting over each other to get a picture. Sweetly, when they realised they were all going to get one, they had to wait in turn, they very started monitoring themselves, and gently pushing the little ones forward who might have been waiting unseen behind the bigger kids.
Estaban was my evident biggest fan, pulling a table up to stand over my shoulder and watch me ´perform´. (I lean on the wall as their cheap plastic table is too rocky and shaky to draw on with all the kids pushing in to get a view).
Last time I´d had "Pinguino!" "Oso PoLAR!" and "KOALA!" as the more unusual requests, this time I also got "Girafa!" and "Leopard!" and even got asked to draw a car for one boy, to add to the mix. It´s like they were trying to test me! Touchingly, Romina and Diaina coloured their pictures in carefully and gave back them to me, Diaina´s having carefully copied my message "Para Diaina, Besos! Sapna x" with the names reversed.
Diaina spent a lot of time with me today, lots of hugs. She´s a pretty girl of about 8-9 and really sweet.
Danny, one of the special-needs brothers was really badly behaved today, throwing anything he could find (one was Maria´s tatty hardback notebook, the corner of which hit me on the back of the head as I was hugging another pf the kids...ouch), hitting others with an empty plastic bottle and yanking the hair of any girl he could. It´s difficult to do anything but yell "No!"; you can´t reason with him or his brother, they won´t understand, and I obviously wasn´t going to hit him, so it was frustrating. On top of that, Walter, his younger brother, also appeared to have wet himself and was trying for hugs all day, which I kind of tried to do, but understandably, at arm´s length. I felt guilty for my reaction, but there was nothing I could do. There were no dry trousers (the washing had been rained on), and the kids don´t have underwear (I could tell from the washing line and through the tears in some kids´trousers...), so on this cold, miserable day these piss-soaked sweats were his only option.
By contrast, C´s favourite, little Augustin, was being *totally* adorable today. He is the sweetest, most polite and cutest little boy I´ve ever seen, I´m amazed he´s so sunny and happy when he´s a product of this environment. He never asks for more than he´s got, never cries (unless a kid hits him) and always waits his turn. No idea what he´s like with other voluntarios, but I´ve a sneaky suspicion he knows he´s C´s favourite and therefore is quite happy to wait for the other kids to dissipate with their marbles or whatever before he takes up residence on C´s shoulders for the rest of the day, and singing away to himself. Today I laughed as I noticed he was (unintentionally, of course, the kids wear what is available) dressed like a little mini-me version of C, with an adidas striped-sleeved little zip up blue jacket and accessorised (what other kid has accessorised!?!? I pointed out) with a little blue/grey scarf.
Augustin is the main reason C has returned to the Refugio despite also doing the football project, and he´s the reason I want to go back again. I have this little pipe dream that refuses to go away, that somehow, we´d be able to take him home with us, give him the life he deserves, and all the love we have to give.
Maybe I´ve left it too late for my own kids, and if adoption is the answer, better it was a child we knew rather than one off a list. I tentatively broached the subject with C, who, when he realised I wasn´t joking, said there´s no harm in looking into it.
So I asked V; she said that Argentina´s foreign adoption laws are tough - a volunteer was turned down 2 years ago - but that she would look into it as we were older and situation was quite different. Don´t get excited (or panic, parents!), we won´t be coming back with little Augustin in August, I´m sure it would be a long process anyway, perhaps a year, if it´s at all possible, but I do now get very upset at the thought of this gorgeous little boy living in that hell-hole with no toys, education, dirty shared bunk beds, no bedtime stories, baths and cuddles, crap food and no opportunities for the rest of his childhood... and then what happens when he´s 18 and has to leave?
We left as the kids were sitting down to lunch (C said it was the first lunch he´d seen in 6 weeks that looked edible, a new woman appeared to be working there, for how long who knows...).
A bit of back story...the kids have to say a prayer before they eat (the only 'rule' in evidence). Danny & Walter, the special-needs brothers, cannot understand this and would either start eating or throwing their food about during Grace. This would regularly result in 1) chaos as the other kids retaliate with more food and/or hit them and 2) the two boys being beaten by the staff, a most distressing daily scene.
C had suggested weeks ago, when he finally met the owner´s son, that maybe D&W should get their food *after* prayers to prevent all the daily stress and pain as their state means they will simply *never* understand that they have to wait.
C was pleased to see today though, that they appeared to be taking his advice.
Remembering how hopeless C had felt in his first week, outside, I said "See? You have made things better, in a small way for those kids".
Thinking about it though now, *not* getting a daily beating for reasons they don´t understand is probably a very big thing for Danny & Walter.
_______
Friday night C & I went to the same restaurant as last night for a meal for two. I´d seen his face when the steaks arrived, so suggested this impromptu ´date´ when our original plans fell through. We´d fallen asleep during a dull game of football (we were watching this, fully-clothed, in bed, it was a very cold day!), so by the time we got up, showered etc it was late. We´d cancelled dinner with Aida earlier as we´d been told V had an asado (BBQ) on which I then was told wasn´t on (when I called her to check) as the new volunteer was "tired and very nervous" (?!?!!?)
We finally ate at 11.40 - how very Argie-style!
___
Saturday lunch (skipped breakfast, still full!) became an impromptu meeting for the new volunteer (just one this week), Genevieve, 19, from Chiswick (of all places! 5 mins from us in London) as V dropped her off where Kirsten, C & I were having luch and meeting K´s friend Dani, an Amercian volunteer who came over 2 years ago and loved it so much she now lives here, has an Argentinian boyfriend Fernando (studying law) and she works in a vet´s.
Dani & Fernando were great fun, full of anecdotes, hints on things going on (I had been gutted to have missed an Argentinian Beatles tribute band who were playing in the shopping centre bar last weekend when we went to Iguazu, but she informs me they may return before we leave...oh please oh please! Can you imagine how hilarious that would be?!). Dani also pointed out Posadas´ *only* openly gay man - a debonair Quentin-Crisp type old gent, mincing around the mall on his own. She said she had a friend who was obviously gay too, but it´s not easy in Posadas, and therefore he always talked about his "girlfriend" who she knew was a boy and always wistfully sighed that he wished he could live in Buenos Aires.
The new volunteer, "Gen" (as she prefers to call herself) arrived looking like a startled bunny or a lamb to the slaughter, and sat through this friendly, funny, chatty lunch barely saying a word to anyone. I guess her nerves weren´t helped by C very obviously glossing over the details of the Refugio and stopping me or anyone else in their tracks if they looked like they were going to answer her limited questions. (I did say that´d make me *more* nervous!). Anyhoo, the general consensus was, I´m afraid, a bit of a wet blanket: C´s take was that he reckons the kids at the Refugio will (quote) "chew her up and spit her out" and Kirsten & I wondered why on earth she was putting herself through this when she was so uncomfortable even amongst other voluntarios. Turns out daddy´s a property developer and they were doing up her room, so it was this or her grandma´s for a month. Hmmmm...
_______
That night in Sampaka, we found out that the party Mario and Carlos had invited us to, was actually a party for C&I!!! Luckily we´d invited our mates along - Kirsten, John & (his on-off-on again-till-he-left local chica) Susanah, V & Marcelo, Laura and a few of her mates, and Gen, except they´d said it started from 9.30, so we, feeling responsible got there just before 10...and our mates joined us by 12, but as C said, at 10 it felt "painfully early" (no one else was there bar the staff) and the local mates didn´t start arriving till about 2am, by which time only 5 of our mates were left!!! Still we had fun and had a birrova dance, left about 5 (I think)
Not much more to write about the party, except check us out getting impromptu parties thrown in our honour in the middle of Argentina...that never happens in London...we´re kind of local celebs round here though...!
Gotta go - will blog about my week soon...
At the end, John made his way home and C & 8 chicas (me, Ali, Kirsten, Kristen, Fin, Leanne, Kirsten´s homestay mum Pilar´s son Xaviers girlfriend Laura(!) and her mate) headed to a bar.
On the way, C said to a group of men, staring at all his chicas "Todas las chicas...com *mi*!" and they started shouting "Ganador! Ganador! Ganador!" at him, like a footy chant, which literally means "winner", but is also the term for someone who´s a hit with the ladies...a birrova player.
As if! But I let him enjoy his little moment, anyway...
____________
Friday, I had no school again as it was a school play, and having already sat, largely baffled, through two days of performances already (25th May celebrations and the school birthday speeches and songs last week), I turned down Graciela´s kind offer to come and watch, and opted to go with C to the refugio.
I actually really love it there, abysmal though the conditions are, because you do feel you are at least giving them some much-needed love, attention and affection, happiness, and perhaps some nice memories, for the time you are there.
Amazingly, I´d barely walked through the door, when a little boy, Estaban, flew at me clutching a blank piece of paper, shouting "Tia! Tia!". He´d remembered me drawing the animals the previous week, and I think he´d hoarded this piece of paper, waiting for my return, because there were no sheets in evidence.
Luckily, C had brought more pens (which only last a day, again) and paper, and once more, I had a queue of kids shouting over each other to get a picture. Sweetly, when they realised they were all going to get one, they had to wait in turn, they very started monitoring themselves, and gently pushing the little ones forward who might have been waiting unseen behind the bigger kids.
Estaban was my evident biggest fan, pulling a table up to stand over my shoulder and watch me ´perform´. (I lean on the wall as their cheap plastic table is too rocky and shaky to draw on with all the kids pushing in to get a view).
Last time I´d had "Pinguino!" "Oso PoLAR!" and "KOALA!" as the more unusual requests, this time I also got "Girafa!" and "Leopard!" and even got asked to draw a car for one boy, to add to the mix. It´s like they were trying to test me! Touchingly, Romina and Diaina coloured their pictures in carefully and gave back them to me, Diaina´s having carefully copied my message "Para Diaina, Besos! Sapna x" with the names reversed.
Diaina spent a lot of time with me today, lots of hugs. She´s a pretty girl of about 8-9 and really sweet.
Danny, one of the special-needs brothers was really badly behaved today, throwing anything he could find (one was Maria´s tatty hardback notebook, the corner of which hit me on the back of the head as I was hugging another pf the kids...ouch), hitting others with an empty plastic bottle and yanking the hair of any girl he could. It´s difficult to do anything but yell "No!"; you can´t reason with him or his brother, they won´t understand, and I obviously wasn´t going to hit him, so it was frustrating. On top of that, Walter, his younger brother, also appeared to have wet himself and was trying for hugs all day, which I kind of tried to do, but understandably, at arm´s length. I felt guilty for my reaction, but there was nothing I could do. There were no dry trousers (the washing had been rained on), and the kids don´t have underwear (I could tell from the washing line and through the tears in some kids´trousers...), so on this cold, miserable day these piss-soaked sweats were his only option.
By contrast, C´s favourite, little Augustin, was being *totally* adorable today. He is the sweetest, most polite and cutest little boy I´ve ever seen, I´m amazed he´s so sunny and happy when he´s a product of this environment. He never asks for more than he´s got, never cries (unless a kid hits him) and always waits his turn. No idea what he´s like with other voluntarios, but I´ve a sneaky suspicion he knows he´s C´s favourite and therefore is quite happy to wait for the other kids to dissipate with their marbles or whatever before he takes up residence on C´s shoulders for the rest of the day, and singing away to himself. Today I laughed as I noticed he was (unintentionally, of course, the kids wear what is available) dressed like a little mini-me version of C, with an adidas striped-sleeved little zip up blue jacket and accessorised (what other kid has accessorised!?!? I pointed out) with a little blue/grey scarf.
Augustin is the main reason C has returned to the Refugio despite also doing the football project, and he´s the reason I want to go back again. I have this little pipe dream that refuses to go away, that somehow, we´d be able to take him home with us, give him the life he deserves, and all the love we have to give.
Maybe I´ve left it too late for my own kids, and if adoption is the answer, better it was a child we knew rather than one off a list. I tentatively broached the subject with C, who, when he realised I wasn´t joking, said there´s no harm in looking into it.
So I asked V; she said that Argentina´s foreign adoption laws are tough - a volunteer was turned down 2 years ago - but that she would look into it as we were older and situation was quite different. Don´t get excited (or panic, parents!), we won´t be coming back with little Augustin in August, I´m sure it would be a long process anyway, perhaps a year, if it´s at all possible, but I do now get very upset at the thought of this gorgeous little boy living in that hell-hole with no toys, education, dirty shared bunk beds, no bedtime stories, baths and cuddles, crap food and no opportunities for the rest of his childhood... and then what happens when he´s 18 and has to leave?
We left as the kids were sitting down to lunch (C said it was the first lunch he´d seen in 6 weeks that looked edible, a new woman appeared to be working there, for how long who knows...).
A bit of back story...the kids have to say a prayer before they eat (the only 'rule' in evidence). Danny & Walter, the special-needs brothers, cannot understand this and would either start eating or throwing their food about during Grace. This would regularly result in 1) chaos as the other kids retaliate with more food and/or hit them and 2) the two boys being beaten by the staff, a most distressing daily scene.
C had suggested weeks ago, when he finally met the owner´s son, that maybe D&W should get their food *after* prayers to prevent all the daily stress and pain as their state means they will simply *never* understand that they have to wait.
C was pleased to see today though, that they appeared to be taking his advice.
Remembering how hopeless C had felt in his first week, outside, I said "See? You have made things better, in a small way for those kids".
Thinking about it though now, *not* getting a daily beating for reasons they don´t understand is probably a very big thing for Danny & Walter.
_______
Friday night C & I went to the same restaurant as last night for a meal for two. I´d seen his face when the steaks arrived, so suggested this impromptu ´date´ when our original plans fell through. We´d fallen asleep during a dull game of football (we were watching this, fully-clothed, in bed, it was a very cold day!), so by the time we got up, showered etc it was late. We´d cancelled dinner with Aida earlier as we´d been told V had an asado (BBQ) on which I then was told wasn´t on (when I called her to check) as the new volunteer was "tired and very nervous" (?!?!!?)
We finally ate at 11.40 - how very Argie-style!
___
Saturday lunch (skipped breakfast, still full!) became an impromptu meeting for the new volunteer (just one this week), Genevieve, 19, from Chiswick (of all places! 5 mins from us in London) as V dropped her off where Kirsten, C & I were having luch and meeting K´s friend Dani, an Amercian volunteer who came over 2 years ago and loved it so much she now lives here, has an Argentinian boyfriend Fernando (studying law) and she works in a vet´s.
Dani & Fernando were great fun, full of anecdotes, hints on things going on (I had been gutted to have missed an Argentinian Beatles tribute band who were playing in the shopping centre bar last weekend when we went to Iguazu, but she informs me they may return before we leave...oh please oh please! Can you imagine how hilarious that would be?!). Dani also pointed out Posadas´ *only* openly gay man - a debonair Quentin-Crisp type old gent, mincing around the mall on his own. She said she had a friend who was obviously gay too, but it´s not easy in Posadas, and therefore he always talked about his "girlfriend" who she knew was a boy and always wistfully sighed that he wished he could live in Buenos Aires.
The new volunteer, "Gen" (as she prefers to call herself) arrived looking like a startled bunny or a lamb to the slaughter, and sat through this friendly, funny, chatty lunch barely saying a word to anyone. I guess her nerves weren´t helped by C very obviously glossing over the details of the Refugio and stopping me or anyone else in their tracks if they looked like they were going to answer her limited questions. (I did say that´d make me *more* nervous!). Anyhoo, the general consensus was, I´m afraid, a bit of a wet blanket: C´s take was that he reckons the kids at the Refugio will (quote) "chew her up and spit her out" and Kirsten & I wondered why on earth she was putting herself through this when she was so uncomfortable even amongst other voluntarios. Turns out daddy´s a property developer and they were doing up her room, so it was this or her grandma´s for a month. Hmmmm...
_______
That night in Sampaka, we found out that the party Mario and Carlos had invited us to, was actually a party for C&I!!! Luckily we´d invited our mates along - Kirsten, John & (his on-off-on again-till-he-left local chica) Susanah, V & Marcelo, Laura and a few of her mates, and Gen, except they´d said it started from 9.30, so we, feeling responsible got there just before 10...and our mates joined us by 12, but as C said, at 10 it felt "painfully early" (no one else was there bar the staff) and the local mates didn´t start arriving till about 2am, by which time only 5 of our mates were left!!! Still we had fun and had a birrova dance, left about 5 (I think)
Not much more to write about the party, except check us out getting impromptu parties thrown in our honour in the middle of Argentina...that never happens in London...we´re kind of local celebs round here though...!
Gotta go - will blog about my week soon...
"What´s that American girl called again...?"
This was what I couldn´t blog about last week, till John left, for fear of causing embarassment to him, although I think all the other girls told Kristen anyway as it there was a tangible tension between Kristen & John all evening.
John, who´d spent every opportunity trying to woo Kristen from the moment he clapped eyes on her (at Tango) - casually asked Ali & I during marking if¨"that American girl, what´s her name...?" was coming out again.
As Ali & I gasped incredulously (there´s only 8 of us girls out here, and we´re a tight little team who go out a lot together - it´s not hard to remember our names!), I had to pull him up with "What, that American girl you´ve been trying to pull for the last two weeks you mean? Kristen?!"
Ali & I had to laugh at his very unsuccessful attempts at pretending he´d never cared for her anyway.
John, who´d spent every opportunity trying to woo Kristen from the moment he clapped eyes on her (at Tango) - casually asked Ali & I during marking if¨"that American girl, what´s her name...?" was coming out again.
As Ali & I gasped incredulously (there´s only 8 of us girls out here, and we´re a tight little team who go out a lot together - it´s not hard to remember our names!), I had to pull him up with "What, that American girl you´ve been trying to pull for the last two weeks you mean? Kristen?!"
Ali & I had to laugh at his very unsuccessful attempts at pretending he´d never cared for her anyway.
Thursday, 19 June 2008
*ADDED PICS & bold text* John & Ali´s last week...
Aaagh. Next week I´ll be on my own again at the school, and I swear to God the classes are getting naughtier with every passing week.
Some days, I honestly feel like just pulling a sickie and not going in. Today and yesterday I felt like going home after 5b, but more about that later.
Luckily, Monday was a Bank Holiday in Posadas. Well, luckily if you have wads of cash. C & I had 27 pesos still. John kindly lent us some money though, so we joined the chicas in our regular shopping mall (the only place that´s open at lunchtime) for our favourite bruschetta (the only place in Posadas where I´ve found fresh mushrooms, Aida doesn´t buy them as she says they are really really expensive here - well, they are about the same price as back home, but that´s comparatively astronical compared to everything else...I do miss my mushrooms!).
As C & I were on a budget till we could get to a bank (his card has stopped working since the weekend, we are now both card-less), we shared a bruschetta plate between us.
Didn´t do much else really, siesta´d a bit (I have no idea how I´m going to get through a British working day again without these GENIUS 4-5 hour sleepy-time breaks, although I suspect getting PAID might help lessen the blow) and still budget-wary, we went round to Oz Kirsten & Ali´s for a scheduled screening (on her laptop) of Parts 1-4 of Summer Heights High, an Oz spoof documentary set in a school, with the 3 main characters - a Polynesian Hip-Hop-crazy trouble-maker called Jonah; a pretentious female exchange student from the poshest school in town "Ja´mie, that´s J A apostrophe M I E"; and a gay Drama Teacher, supposedly ex-pro (i.e. failed) singer/dancer/actor, "Mr G" - all played by the same guy. It´s apparently won awards and is one of the most popular shows in Oz. www.abc.net.au/tv/summerheightshigh
You´d think I´d want a break from schools of an evening, eh?!
____
Tuesday: back to school: FREEZING. Again. I knew the kids would be a handful after 4 days no school, and I was right. We did Partes del Cuerpo with 5a & 6a...as for how the lessons went, it´s Thursday now and I think my memory has kinda blanked them out already.
Touchingly, Facundo, from 5a, who goes from good to naughty (apparently due to a bad home environment), but just really craves attention either way, had written that "John, Ali & I were the best teachers" (in Spanish) and was trying to hide it as he worked. I noticed his peers started taking the mickey out of him when they saw it, and I´m not sure what happened but when I opened F´s book, to show John (Ali had gone home, not feeling well) when we were marking, his work wasn´t there. Think he might have destroyed it after the teasing.
Wednesday: Bit sunnier. Horrible horrible class with 5b this morning. They really are my least favourite class, which is a shame as there are some lovely kids in there, but a bunch of boys at the back just ruin it for everyone.
With 3 of us there, Ali has been able to spot that it isn´t actually all 6 on that table, just 2 rotten apples, and if you isolate them, the rest behave quite well.
Anyway, somehow the boys had managed to get hold of a couple of the girls´ (Elizabeth & Florencia´s) workbooks (I had collected them in to do a test) and scribble male genitalia all over not just the cover and random blank pages, but sadly, in Elizabeth´s book, on a page where she´s got a sticker & stamp for excellent work.
The girls were visibly upset and shaken when they discovered this vandalism, and I did my best to calm them down, whilst John attempted to find out who the culprits were. Obviously no one admitted to it, but we knew the main prepetrators. As their form teacher walked in, the girls & I went to tell her.
Now I hate this teacher. She has the ugliest, scowliest face imaginable, she evidently hates children, and I have ONLY ever heard her shout at her class in a loud, grating, nasal, foghorn of a voice. Even when they haven´t actually done anything wrong. Worse than useless, in week 1, she was the one who whilst marking their homework, proceeded to talk to some children, in the middle of my class.
John quoted Billy Connolly: "Beauty is only skin deep, but ugliness goes right to the bone".
I thought I´d get her involved anyway. Frustratingly though, she didn´t listen to anyone, and started to shout at the wrong boy (a cute, good little kid) who she obviously assumed had done it as he sat behind these girls. Scared, he said nothing. I positioned myself between him and the shouty banshee, tried to say "It wasn´t him" several times, then gave up, exasperated, as she told the whole class that if they didn´t behave, no more English lessons. (I took small pleasure though when I heard a collective sharp intake of breath and whispered "Noooooo!")
We finished the lesson in subdued mood, and I vowed that I was not going to stand for this tomorrow (our last day together as Friday is a school play - I am giving it a miss and going to El Refugio with C), so warned my colleagues that we´d have to be hardcore tomorrow if any trouble.
We reckon Matias (the main bad guy, he´d got his "crew" to pull their tops up over their mouth and their hoodies over their eyes for most of the lesson) will probably be on the rob and in prison in a few years (that´s him written off then).
6b were cool, they´re the class Ali & I identify as with "the sweetest boys and the thickest girls". There is seriously nothing going on behind the eyes of any of these girls, like they´ve been lobotomised, but the boys make up for it. And the girls are, in their catatonic state, at least no trouble! There´s one boy Ali & I really don´t like, a loud-mouthed, work-shy thickie called Pario, but I think I nailed it today with him (more later).
I´m learning new words (thanks to watching the OC, Pushing Daisies and Cold Case with subtitles, I know that e.g. "Callate!" means "Shut up!") which if I use sparingly, and in a jokey fashion to some of the kids seems to shock enough (that I know the words) to work.
And teasing helps. One giggly boy yesterday - he´s not bad, but really mischievious - was distracting the boy next too him too, so I had to try and quieten him. I told him he was like a monkey "Eee! Eee! Eee!" and his mates started to laugh along with him and me, "Mono! Mono! Haaaaa!"
It´s quickly become a running joke. This morning I said "Hola chicos! as he and his friends ran up to say hi...then a cheery "Hola mono!" to him. Queue lots of little boys falling about in hysterics, and he´s loving the attention of being singled out by teacher, with a special pet name.
As for the rest of today: John & Ali´s last day (sob!)...in 5b we did physical descriptions, (heights, builds, hair types and styles, eye colours) which went pretty well and without too much incident after yesterday´s awfulness and telling off.
J&A did laugh, when I illustrated ´pretty´ and ´ugly´ with two faces on the board, the ugly one bearing more than a passing resemblance to 5b´s horrid form teacher!
At least though today she had separated one of the trouble-makers off, put him at the front of the class, and this seemed to make the whole table behave well, even Matias, the car-thief-in-waiting.
There was a hairy moment right at the end, when a kid started punching his much littler friend repeatedly and wouldn´t stop although I asked him nicely (but firmly) several times. Now I know it wasn´t meant maliciously, they were friends and he is normally a good little boy, but still. Something inside me snapped and I just thought, "I don´t care if you´re not the naughtiest, I´m going to make an example of you". So I led him by the arm to the head´s office.
Poor thing looked so contrite, on the way, I gently explained that I just couldn´t have behaviour like that especially in the next two weeks as I was "sola" and did he understand? He nodded, silently.
In the staffroom, not wanting to be too hard on the kid, I explained to Fabiana it wasn´t just him, there were lots of naughty boys in this class, so she came back with us and I let him sit down as she addressed the whole class.
F is soooo the opposite of the horrid teacher. She stood and quietly and calmly explained that they were to behave themselves and listen to us...especially as I was on my own for the last two weeks. They agreed solemnly (well, Matias looked at the floor).
Then John said some really kind words, saying it was his and Ali´s last lesson with them and that they were very lucky to have me for 2 more weeks, that I was v intelligent and experienced (at teaching!?!?!) and they should listen to me as they could learn a lot. Sweet.
I still feel a bit bad about making an example of that boy, Ali & I both noticed he looked so broken afterwards, but hopefully it´ll send a message that I´m taking no prisoners in my last two weeks. And besides, he *was* punching his friend, however you slice it!
6b were cool, they are soooooo adorable and their equally sweet teacher got them to give J&A a round of applause for their time here, and said they were all happy I was staying for 2 more weeks.
6b - cute cute cute!
I´m sure having a lovely teacher makes you want to learn more, and conversely, the horrible teacher is probably responsible for putting her class off school. It´s the old nature-nurture thing. Plus, because she shouts all the time, when she tells them off, they are immune to her anger.
I remember was a good and bright pupil, but absolutely *hated* German, because we had a bitch of a teacher, Mrs Deans, and I dropped the subject as soon as I could. So if with what must surely be a hated form teacher, I can understand how her kids probably hate school and misbehave as much as they do.
I did have a bit of a problem with the loud-mouthed thickie in 6b, Pario, today, but when after John moved him and he *still* didn´t shut up, I asked him to choose between "Maestra alta or silencio?" (big teacher or silence?). Eventually, he chose "Silencio" and kept it zipped for the rest of the lesson. What I loved though, was that all the other boys, sick of his behaviour, kept telling me to take him to the "Oficina". I said I would if he misbehaved again. He didn´t dare.
Apart from that, we had a lovely lesson and I impressed the chicos with my ability to cross my eyes and then move each one individually like a Newton´s Cradle, when we got to "eye colours".
________
I can´t blog about a very funny thing today, not yet. This is just here as a reminder - all will become clear. "What´s that girl called again...?"
________
Quick social summary: Tuesday did nothing, C´s feet hurting too much to Tango so we had an early one.
Wednesday C & I had a heated difference of opinion about our evening´s plans, but eventually he realised perhaps I had grounds to be upset if he was choosing to go out with 3 teenage/early 20s female voluntarias he´d known all of 2 weeks rather than come with me to K&A´s pad for a few drinks and more Summer Heights High. I was worn out after the horrid day at school and wanted a quiet one, with him and my best (oldest) friends here. Anyway, the footy was on when we got there, so he was happy, settled in with his beer and crisps whilst we girls had a goss...men are such simple creatures, eh?
Thursday: spent the afternoon after school with C & Ali to visit Oz Kirsten at at El Puma, her conservation project...Not an awful lot to say about it, and the pics are self explanatory to what we saw. El Puma is quite small, and I was a little upset to see massive majestic creatures like the two jags they had there, pacing up and down in a tiny cage. Oz K explained that they had started with to build larger reserve areas for them, but when the Argentinian Govt changed (about 3 months ago) the funding was pulled again. Apparently this happens with each new Government every 3 or so years, which means changes and improvements are v slow, if they happen at all. She too was torn about whether it was better to have these creatures cooped in captivity, or let them take their chances in the wild. A bit like living in communist Cuba, I reckoned; where they have free education, healthcare, subsidised food/rent and a guaranteed job - but they can´t leave the country.
What price freedom?
Oh, and the puma of ´El Puma´ was asleep, hidden in his shelter, so we didn´t get to see him. K says she hadn´t seen him in a month of working there, and reckons he may be depressed.
Still it was really good to see where another of our friends works, and to laugh at the monkeys (who had a lot more room to swing about) and play ring-tones to the parrots (they go silent and listen attentively, if you wondered, and some even bob their heads in time...)
Take a closer look (click on pic). This appears to be the world´s first 2-headed crocodile
Tonight going to meet everyone for Ali´s last supper. Well, C&I will meet them for drinks after we´ve had our meal at Aida´s, seeing as we are still a bit careful (I have my card now - hurrah - but haven´t dared trying to activate it yet, lest the machine munches it up again and we are totally stuffed).
And the best news is, I´ve found this internet café next door to Sampaka (so 2 mins from home) and it´s owned by Mario´s wife Laura´s sister (still keeping up?!) so I now get cheery greetings and hugs when I go there too!
Dinner calls...gotta go...
Some days, I honestly feel like just pulling a sickie and not going in. Today and yesterday I felt like going home after 5b, but more about that later.
Luckily, Monday was a Bank Holiday in Posadas. Well, luckily if you have wads of cash. C & I had 27 pesos still. John kindly lent us some money though, so we joined the chicas in our regular shopping mall (the only place that´s open at lunchtime) for our favourite bruschetta (the only place in Posadas where I´ve found fresh mushrooms, Aida doesn´t buy them as she says they are really really expensive here - well, they are about the same price as back home, but that´s comparatively astronical compared to everything else...I do miss my mushrooms!).
As C & I were on a budget till we could get to a bank (his card has stopped working since the weekend, we are now both card-less), we shared a bruschetta plate between us.
Didn´t do much else really, siesta´d a bit (I have no idea how I´m going to get through a British working day again without these GENIUS 4-5 hour sleepy-time breaks, although I suspect getting PAID might help lessen the blow) and still budget-wary, we went round to Oz Kirsten & Ali´s for a scheduled screening (on her laptop) of Parts 1-4 of Summer Heights High, an Oz spoof documentary set in a school, with the 3 main characters - a Polynesian Hip-Hop-crazy trouble-maker called Jonah; a pretentious female exchange student from the poshest school in town "Ja´mie, that´s J A apostrophe M I E"; and a gay Drama Teacher, supposedly ex-pro (i.e. failed) singer/dancer/actor, "Mr G" - all played by the same guy. It´s apparently won awards and is one of the most popular shows in Oz. www.abc.net.au/tv/summerheightshigh
You´d think I´d want a break from schools of an evening, eh?!
____
Tuesday: back to school: FREEZING. Again. I knew the kids would be a handful after 4 days no school, and I was right. We did Partes del Cuerpo with 5a & 6a...as for how the lessons went, it´s Thursday now and I think my memory has kinda blanked them out already.
Touchingly, Facundo, from 5a, who goes from good to naughty (apparently due to a bad home environment), but just really craves attention either way, had written that "John, Ali & I were the best teachers" (in Spanish) and was trying to hide it as he worked. I noticed his peers started taking the mickey out of him when they saw it, and I´m not sure what happened but when I opened F´s book, to show John (Ali had gone home, not feeling well) when we were marking, his work wasn´t there. Think he might have destroyed it after the teasing.
Wednesday: Bit sunnier. Horrible horrible class with 5b this morning. They really are my least favourite class, which is a shame as there are some lovely kids in there, but a bunch of boys at the back just ruin it for everyone.
With 3 of us there, Ali has been able to spot that it isn´t actually all 6 on that table, just 2 rotten apples, and if you isolate them, the rest behave quite well.
Anyway, somehow the boys had managed to get hold of a couple of the girls´ (Elizabeth & Florencia´s) workbooks (I had collected them in to do a test) and scribble male genitalia all over not just the cover and random blank pages, but sadly, in Elizabeth´s book, on a page where she´s got a sticker & stamp for excellent work.
The girls were visibly upset and shaken when they discovered this vandalism, and I did my best to calm them down, whilst John attempted to find out who the culprits were. Obviously no one admitted to it, but we knew the main prepetrators. As their form teacher walked in, the girls & I went to tell her.
Now I hate this teacher. She has the ugliest, scowliest face imaginable, she evidently hates children, and I have ONLY ever heard her shout at her class in a loud, grating, nasal, foghorn of a voice. Even when they haven´t actually done anything wrong. Worse than useless, in week 1, she was the one who whilst marking their homework, proceeded to talk to some children, in the middle of my class.
John quoted Billy Connolly: "Beauty is only skin deep, but ugliness goes right to the bone".
I thought I´d get her involved anyway. Frustratingly though, she didn´t listen to anyone, and started to shout at the wrong boy (a cute, good little kid) who she obviously assumed had done it as he sat behind these girls. Scared, he said nothing. I positioned myself between him and the shouty banshee, tried to say "It wasn´t him" several times, then gave up, exasperated, as she told the whole class that if they didn´t behave, no more English lessons. (I took small pleasure though when I heard a collective sharp intake of breath and whispered "Noooooo!")
We finished the lesson in subdued mood, and I vowed that I was not going to stand for this tomorrow (our last day together as Friday is a school play - I am giving it a miss and going to El Refugio with C), so warned my colleagues that we´d have to be hardcore tomorrow if any trouble.
We reckon Matias (the main bad guy, he´d got his "crew" to pull their tops up over their mouth and their hoodies over their eyes for most of the lesson) will probably be on the rob and in prison in a few years (that´s him written off then).
6b were cool, they´re the class Ali & I identify as with "the sweetest boys and the thickest girls". There is seriously nothing going on behind the eyes of any of these girls, like they´ve been lobotomised, but the boys make up for it. And the girls are, in their catatonic state, at least no trouble! There´s one boy Ali & I really don´t like, a loud-mouthed, work-shy thickie called Pario, but I think I nailed it today with him (more later).
I´m learning new words (thanks to watching the OC, Pushing Daisies and Cold Case with subtitles, I know that e.g. "Callate!" means "Shut up!") which if I use sparingly, and in a jokey fashion to some of the kids seems to shock enough (that I know the words) to work.
And teasing helps. One giggly boy yesterday - he´s not bad, but really mischievious - was distracting the boy next too him too, so I had to try and quieten him. I told him he was like a monkey "Eee! Eee! Eee!" and his mates started to laugh along with him and me, "Mono! Mono! Haaaaa!"
It´s quickly become a running joke. This morning I said "Hola chicos! as he and his friends ran up to say hi...then a cheery "Hola mono!" to him. Queue lots of little boys falling about in hysterics, and he´s loving the attention of being singled out by teacher, with a special pet name.
As for the rest of today: John & Ali´s last day (sob!)...in 5b we did physical descriptions, (heights, builds, hair types and styles, eye colours) which went pretty well and without too much incident after yesterday´s awfulness and telling off.
J&A did laugh, when I illustrated ´pretty´ and ´ugly´ with two faces on the board, the ugly one bearing more than a passing resemblance to 5b´s horrid form teacher!
At least though today she had separated one of the trouble-makers off, put him at the front of the class, and this seemed to make the whole table behave well, even Matias, the car-thief-in-waiting.
There was a hairy moment right at the end, when a kid started punching his much littler friend repeatedly and wouldn´t stop although I asked him nicely (but firmly) several times. Now I know it wasn´t meant maliciously, they were friends and he is normally a good little boy, but still. Something inside me snapped and I just thought, "I don´t care if you´re not the naughtiest, I´m going to make an example of you". So I led him by the arm to the head´s office.
Poor thing looked so contrite, on the way, I gently explained that I just couldn´t have behaviour like that especially in the next two weeks as I was "sola" and did he understand? He nodded, silently.
In the staffroom, not wanting to be too hard on the kid, I explained to Fabiana it wasn´t just him, there were lots of naughty boys in this class, so she came back with us and I let him sit down as she addressed the whole class.
F is soooo the opposite of the horrid teacher. She stood and quietly and calmly explained that they were to behave themselves and listen to us...especially as I was on my own for the last two weeks. They agreed solemnly (well, Matias looked at the floor).
Then John said some really kind words, saying it was his and Ali´s last lesson with them and that they were very lucky to have me for 2 more weeks, that I was v intelligent and experienced (at teaching!?!?!) and they should listen to me as they could learn a lot. Sweet.
I still feel a bit bad about making an example of that boy, Ali & I both noticed he looked so broken afterwards, but hopefully it´ll send a message that I´m taking no prisoners in my last two weeks. And besides, he *was* punching his friend, however you slice it!
6b were cool, they are soooooo adorable and their equally sweet teacher got them to give J&A a round of applause for their time here, and said they were all happy I was staying for 2 more weeks.
6b - cute cute cute!I´m sure having a lovely teacher makes you want to learn more, and conversely, the horrible teacher is probably responsible for putting her class off school. It´s the old nature-nurture thing. Plus, because she shouts all the time, when she tells them off, they are immune to her anger.
I remember was a good and bright pupil, but absolutely *hated* German, because we had a bitch of a teacher, Mrs Deans, and I dropped the subject as soon as I could. So if with what must surely be a hated form teacher, I can understand how her kids probably hate school and misbehave as much as they do.
I did have a bit of a problem with the loud-mouthed thickie in 6b, Pario, today, but when after John moved him and he *still* didn´t shut up, I asked him to choose between "Maestra alta or silencio?" (big teacher or silence?). Eventually, he chose "Silencio" and kept it zipped for the rest of the lesson. What I loved though, was that all the other boys, sick of his behaviour, kept telling me to take him to the "Oficina". I said I would if he misbehaved again. He didn´t dare.
Apart from that, we had a lovely lesson and I impressed the chicos with my ability to cross my eyes and then move each one individually like a Newton´s Cradle, when we got to "eye colours".
________
I can´t blog about a very funny thing today, not yet. This is just here as a reminder - all will become clear. "What´s that girl called again...?"
________
Quick social summary: Tuesday did nothing, C´s feet hurting too much to Tango so we had an early one.
Wednesday C & I had a heated difference of opinion about our evening´s plans, but eventually he realised perhaps I had grounds to be upset if he was choosing to go out with 3 teenage/early 20s female voluntarias he´d known all of 2 weeks rather than come with me to K&A´s pad for a few drinks and more Summer Heights High. I was worn out after the horrid day at school and wanted a quiet one, with him and my best (oldest) friends here. Anyway, the footy was on when we got there, so he was happy, settled in with his beer and crisps whilst we girls had a goss...men are such simple creatures, eh?
Thursday: spent the afternoon after school with C & Ali to visit Oz Kirsten at at El Puma, her conservation project...Not an awful lot to say about it, and the pics are self explanatory to what we saw. El Puma is quite small, and I was a little upset to see massive majestic creatures like the two jags they had there, pacing up and down in a tiny cage. Oz K explained that they had started with to build larger reserve areas for them, but when the Argentinian Govt changed (about 3 months ago) the funding was pulled again. Apparently this happens with each new Government every 3 or so years, which means changes and improvements are v slow, if they happen at all. She too was torn about whether it was better to have these creatures cooped in captivity, or let them take their chances in the wild. A bit like living in communist Cuba, I reckoned; where they have free education, healthcare, subsidised food/rent and a guaranteed job - but they can´t leave the country.
What price freedom?
Oh, and the puma of ´El Puma´ was asleep, hidden in his shelter, so we didn´t get to see him. K says she hadn´t seen him in a month of working there, and reckons he may be depressed.
Still it was really good to see where another of our friends works, and to laugh at the monkeys (who had a lot more room to swing about) and play ring-tones to the parrots (they go silent and listen attentively, if you wondered, and some even bob their heads in time...)
Take a closer look (click on pic). This appears to be the world´s first 2-headed crocodile
Tonight going to meet everyone for Ali´s last supper. Well, C&I will meet them for drinks after we´ve had our meal at Aida´s, seeing as we are still a bit careful (I have my card now - hurrah - but haven´t dared trying to activate it yet, lest the machine munches it up again and we are totally stuffed).
And the best news is, I´ve found this internet café next door to Sampaka (so 2 mins from home) and it´s owned by Mario´s wife Laura´s sister (still keeping up?!) so I now get cheery greetings and hugs when I go there too!
Dinner calls...gotta go...
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
*PICS ADDED* Sunday´s shenanigans PART 2
Marcelo´s party.
It was held at the Sampaka Bar which I discovered (check me out, stick me in a new town in the middle of nowwhere and I´ll discover the cool new places before the locals...!) and which C & I have adopted as out unofficial local, where we are greeted with hugs from Mario, the (gorgeous, lovely, ex-model, married) owner and his big bear of a bro-in-law, Carlos.
C & Tom said, what, did he used to be a hand model?! But they´re just jealous. The chicas however, all agreed Mario is hot stuff, and I *will* get pics up when I get longer than an hour on a computer, I promise!
What with my card *still* not arrived, and C having spent all of the last of our cash on the to-ing and fro-ing (and lending money to OzK) that day, we counted up the last of our pesos - 27 between us (less than 5 quid) - and I felt like a proper student, as we vowed to stick to beer and pretended we didn´t really want to drink that much anyway (after the day we´d had!??!)
How very different to my life in London where I can spend freely; I´ve been debating buying a pair of little ankle boots for 120 pesos (20 quid!) for the last two weeks - it´s getting nippy though, and I´ve only got summery shoes & trainers.
We were therefore overjoyed when we got to Sampaka´s and it was a free bar all night. I wondered how on earth V could afford this, as we know she doesn´t make a huge amount of money, and we´re not sure what Marcelo does, but he used to work in a phone shop.
As an interesting aside, outside, getting some air, I spoke to Mario and Carlos, and told them it was because of me that Marcelo had booked this place, and it was great because now lots of local people (about 50 of their friends) would know about it. He hugged me for making it happen (can´t stop that party organising!) but said it´d been hard work preparing (food, drink, cleaning) and they´d have loads of clearing up after.
C said never mind, they´d also have made "mucho dinero", but Mario, smiled, shook his head and told us he´d charged only 300 pesos (50 quid!!!) for this whole fiesta.
I do despair. I have promoted his bar, got it a booking, the fullest it´s been in 5 weeks of opening, and they must have run this night at a loss. However, Mario said he saw it as publicity for the bar, and V later told me they had taken pics of the packed venue with people dancing and having fun for the website they were building, so I consoled myself with the fact they got something else out of it too.
But still - they appear to want to shoot themselves in the foot! I wanted to offer to help sort their marketing strategy out, help publicise it, advise on pricing even (i.e. um...make a profit?!)...but I reminded myself I´m not working in advertising right now, it´s not my market, and my Spanish isn´t good enough! I do hope they are in business in a year though...
Anyway, as I said, it was quiet when we got to Sampaka, and after their EPIC journey, C & Oz Kirsten were spaced out, but like a good Oz girl, K drank through the pain with a brave and resolute "Beer helps".
All the voluntarios were there, except Ali who wasn´t feeling great, which was a shame as it was Tom´s last night.
Sampaka Bar and the lovely Mario. This was taken another night, but what the heck.
All us voluntarios (but no Ali)...from front, John, US Kristen, Finula, Leanna, C, Oz Kristen, Tom & me
Veronica and Marcelo, birthday boy
Norma our Spanish teacher, out of her cast, and her hubby Fernando (aka a Spanish Anthony Hopkins) - Veronica´s lovely folks
Tom was on fine form, regaling us with some tale of a caricaturist who forced him to have his pic drawn. He was now stuck with a rubbish picture of himself, one he never asked for, didn´t want, and that his own mother would struggle to recognise, but he hadn´t had the heart to not pay him the 2 pesos (33p).
C then had the *excellent* idea (not) of running back to our gaff, and grabbing paper and pencil and getting me to draw Tom properly. (I used to paint people´s portraits when I was 16 for spends - I may have to fall back on this if I can´t get a job on my return!)
I smiled and reluctantly agreed; said I´ve become C´s little performing monkey, to be wheeled out at parties, but I was touched when he kissed me and apologised that he only did it because he was so proud of my skills, and a little bit envious too.
I´ve never attempted to draw anyone who is getting drunk, after I´ve had a few beers, in dim and now flashing lights (by now, a dance floor had emerged from the tables being pushed back), surrounded by a crowd of curious friends and others.
No pressure then!
Tom couldn´t keep still so I took a pic of him and worked from that. All I could do under the circumstances. It wasn´t my best, but everyone was impressed enough - no one laughed or squinted at Tom when they looked at it anyway.
I signed it and got everyone to write messages around it as an impromptu leaving card, although I stressed this was not going to happen everytime someone left.
(Later that evening, and visibly moved - or a bit drunk and emotional? - Tom thanked me outside, and said "You´ve got a good heart", which is the loveliest thing to say, but then I reckon *every one* of these volunteers has a good heart...I guess that´s why we´ve all bonded so well regardless of age, nationality or background, a shared wish to make a difference...)
I did chuckle when C & I decided to head at about 3.30am and Leanne implored us not to leave her "with the couples" (the remaining Tom & John & Kristen & Finula were chatting in pairs)...C gently reminded her we were actually the only couple there.
Anyway, to spare everyone´s blushes, I won´t go into much detail about the *real* gossip of Sunday night, safe to say, one of the guys, for all his boy-band good looks, *didn´t* manage to get lucky with his target chica of the evening (if you´re a regular reader this will all make sense), but someone with the gift of the blarney unexpectedly did.
The happy couple
It was held at the Sampaka Bar which I discovered (check me out, stick me in a new town in the middle of nowwhere and I´ll discover the cool new places before the locals...!) and which C & I have adopted as out unofficial local, where we are greeted with hugs from Mario, the (gorgeous, lovely, ex-model, married) owner and his big bear of a bro-in-law, Carlos.
C & Tom said, what, did he used to be a hand model?! But they´re just jealous. The chicas however, all agreed Mario is hot stuff, and I *will* get pics up when I get longer than an hour on a computer, I promise!
What with my card *still* not arrived, and C having spent all of the last of our cash on the to-ing and fro-ing (and lending money to OzK) that day, we counted up the last of our pesos - 27 between us (less than 5 quid) - and I felt like a proper student, as we vowed to stick to beer and pretended we didn´t really want to drink that much anyway (after the day we´d had!??!)
How very different to my life in London where I can spend freely; I´ve been debating buying a pair of little ankle boots for 120 pesos (20 quid!) for the last two weeks - it´s getting nippy though, and I´ve only got summery shoes & trainers.
We were therefore overjoyed when we got to Sampaka´s and it was a free bar all night. I wondered how on earth V could afford this, as we know she doesn´t make a huge amount of money, and we´re not sure what Marcelo does, but he used to work in a phone shop.
As an interesting aside, outside, getting some air, I spoke to Mario and Carlos, and told them it was because of me that Marcelo had booked this place, and it was great because now lots of local people (about 50 of their friends) would know about it. He hugged me for making it happen (can´t stop that party organising!) but said it´d been hard work preparing (food, drink, cleaning) and they´d have loads of clearing up after.
C said never mind, they´d also have made "mucho dinero", but Mario, smiled, shook his head and told us he´d charged only 300 pesos (50 quid!!!) for this whole fiesta.
I do despair. I have promoted his bar, got it a booking, the fullest it´s been in 5 weeks of opening, and they must have run this night at a loss. However, Mario said he saw it as publicity for the bar, and V later told me they had taken pics of the packed venue with people dancing and having fun for the website they were building, so I consoled myself with the fact they got something else out of it too.
But still - they appear to want to shoot themselves in the foot! I wanted to offer to help sort their marketing strategy out, help publicise it, advise on pricing even (i.e. um...make a profit?!)...but I reminded myself I´m not working in advertising right now, it´s not my market, and my Spanish isn´t good enough! I do hope they are in business in a year though...
Anyway, as I said, it was quiet when we got to Sampaka, and after their EPIC journey, C & Oz Kirsten were spaced out, but like a good Oz girl, K drank through the pain with a brave and resolute "Beer helps".
All the voluntarios were there, except Ali who wasn´t feeling great, which was a shame as it was Tom´s last night.
Sampaka Bar and the lovely Mario. This was taken another night, but what the heck.
All us voluntarios (but no Ali)...from front, John, US Kristen, Finula, Leanna, C, Oz Kristen, Tom & me
Veronica and Marcelo, birthday boy
Norma our Spanish teacher, out of her cast, and her hubby Fernando (aka a Spanish Anthony Hopkins) - Veronica´s lovely folksTom was on fine form, regaling us with some tale of a caricaturist who forced him to have his pic drawn. He was now stuck with a rubbish picture of himself, one he never asked for, didn´t want, and that his own mother would struggle to recognise, but he hadn´t had the heart to not pay him the 2 pesos (33p).
C then had the *excellent* idea (not) of running back to our gaff, and grabbing paper and pencil and getting me to draw Tom properly. (I used to paint people´s portraits when I was 16 for spends - I may have to fall back on this if I can´t get a job on my return!)
I smiled and reluctantly agreed; said I´ve become C´s little performing monkey, to be wheeled out at parties, but I was touched when he kissed me and apologised that he only did it because he was so proud of my skills, and a little bit envious too.
I´ve never attempted to draw anyone who is getting drunk, after I´ve had a few beers, in dim and now flashing lights (by now, a dance floor had emerged from the tables being pushed back), surrounded by a crowd of curious friends and others.
No pressure then!
Tom couldn´t keep still so I took a pic of him and worked from that. All I could do under the circumstances. It wasn´t my best, but everyone was impressed enough - no one laughed or squinted at Tom when they looked at it anyway.
I signed it and got everyone to write messages around it as an impromptu leaving card, although I stressed this was not going to happen everytime someone left.
(Later that evening, and visibly moved - or a bit drunk and emotional? - Tom thanked me outside, and said "You´ve got a good heart", which is the loveliest thing to say, but then I reckon *every one* of these volunteers has a good heart...I guess that´s why we´ve all bonded so well regardless of age, nationality or background, a shared wish to make a difference...)
I did chuckle when C & I decided to head at about 3.30am and Leanne implored us not to leave her "with the couples" (the remaining Tom & John & Kristen & Finula were chatting in pairs)...C gently reminded her we were actually the only couple there.
Anyway, to spare everyone´s blushes, I won´t go into much detail about the *real* gossip of Sunday night, safe to say, one of the guys, for all his boy-band good looks, *didn´t* manage to get lucky with his target chica of the evening (if you´re a regular reader this will all make sense), but someone with the gift of the blarney unexpectedly did.
The happy couple
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Sunday´s shenanigans
Well, here is how it should have gone: got on coach, home by 7.30, Marcello´s birthday party at Sampaka from 9.30, had a great time, went home 3.30ish.
This is how it actually went: got on coach. 20 mins in, the guy comes to get our tickets. Oz Kirsten can´t find her purse, with the ticket she´d pointedly zipped into a pocket when she´d bought it (having had to purchase a second one on the way up as she´d inexplicably lost the first one seconds before she got on the bus).
Now this is bad, but waaaay worse when you consider it not only contained her cards and cash...but her passport too.
During a frantic search, this is when it dawns on C that he too hasn´t got his passport. He had left it behind reception at the hostel (despite spending an overly long time settling up this morning). DOH!
I did try and reassure a shaken K, that she would be at least able to cancel cards and replace passport, and luckily she was going to be in Posadas for another 3 weeks.
The bus´ next stop was another 20km down the road, during which we decided it was pointless us all paying another 35 peso ticket each (6 quid each bus journey, Kirsten was about to have to buy a 4th ticket on a return trip, and C his 3rd!), so Ali & I carried onto Posadas leaving K & C to head back to the bus station to see if someone had handed in her purse (quelle surprise, they hadn´t), and to get C´s passport.
On the way back, I realised that I´d in fact left my homestay house keys in our room too, so I called C and asked him to pick those up too. I had to eat humble pie a bit as I´d given him such a hard time for being a dozy ****wit, but before he got too smug, I did point that worst case scenario, if I had have left them and he wasn´t going back, I´d have just got some more keys copied in Posadas, no biggie.
_____
Ooh, a funny aside, on the way back, Ali & I had fits when I pointed out this ramshackle little hut of a shop, which had various handpainted signs all over the walls, advertising its various services, some (but not all) being: birthdays, weddings, baptisms, photos, books of photos, tyres and car servicing. Now *that* is what you call a "slash-person" - photographer/party planner/caterer/priest/mechanic - I can only imagine he´s rubbish at every single one. I couldn´t get a pic as we were whizzing past - bummer.
There´s a lot of shops which seem to show such diverse services. Money is scarce in Posadas, so many people have two or more jobs to make ends meet. V, our co-ordinator not only works for i-to-i but also has a full time job in recruitment for Manpower (God only knows how she fits us all in what with C´s hospital visits, K´s lost passport, getting my parcel from the Post Office, etc, we voluntarios are always needing her for one thing or another). My fruit & veg shop over the road also does car servicing and car washes, the vets are also pet shops (at least, C said, the animals should be well cared-for), and I am particularly intrigued and am trying to organise an evening at the only Chinese restaurant we´ve found, which also appears to do car servicing! I´m wondering if the screwdrivers double as chopsticks, or if they cook in Castrol GTX?! The mind boggles.
_____
Anyhoo, after a massive "Planes, trains and automobiles" journey (during which time I wandered to a café and did my last post) our two intrepid explorers returned, C triumphant, K, unfortunately not.
They were full of tales of the ineptitude of the local police, not least the fact that whilst K was trying to report her "lost identity", one cop was at once taking down her details and then also MSNing his sister (on webcam, who he got to wave at her), and the other cop offered them some of what they were drinking, which happened to be a huge jug of wine & Coke ("Not cocaine!" they joked. Quite.)
______
Marcello´s party was a bit slow to start off, bright lights and everyone sedately sat down, but as with most evenings, it loosened up and we were eventually dancing with our hands in the air and a great time was had by all...
Surprise surprise, I´m being booted off by Flor, so I´ll tell more of that eventful night later...ciao for now...
This is how it actually went: got on coach. 20 mins in, the guy comes to get our tickets. Oz Kirsten can´t find her purse, with the ticket she´d pointedly zipped into a pocket when she´d bought it (having had to purchase a second one on the way up as she´d inexplicably lost the first one seconds before she got on the bus).
Now this is bad, but waaaay worse when you consider it not only contained her cards and cash...but her passport too.
During a frantic search, this is when it dawns on C that he too hasn´t got his passport. He had left it behind reception at the hostel (despite spending an overly long time settling up this morning). DOH!
I did try and reassure a shaken K, that she would be at least able to cancel cards and replace passport, and luckily she was going to be in Posadas for another 3 weeks.
The bus´ next stop was another 20km down the road, during which we decided it was pointless us all paying another 35 peso ticket each (6 quid each bus journey, Kirsten was about to have to buy a 4th ticket on a return trip, and C his 3rd!), so Ali & I carried onto Posadas leaving K & C to head back to the bus station to see if someone had handed in her purse (quelle surprise, they hadn´t), and to get C´s passport.
On the way back, I realised that I´d in fact left my homestay house keys in our room too, so I called C and asked him to pick those up too. I had to eat humble pie a bit as I´d given him such a hard time for being a dozy ****wit, but before he got too smug, I did point that worst case scenario, if I had have left them and he wasn´t going back, I´d have just got some more keys copied in Posadas, no biggie.
_____
Ooh, a funny aside, on the way back, Ali & I had fits when I pointed out this ramshackle little hut of a shop, which had various handpainted signs all over the walls, advertising its various services, some (but not all) being: birthdays, weddings, baptisms, photos, books of photos, tyres and car servicing. Now *that* is what you call a "slash-person" - photographer/party planner/caterer/priest/mechanic - I can only imagine he´s rubbish at every single one. I couldn´t get a pic as we were whizzing past - bummer.
There´s a lot of shops which seem to show such diverse services. Money is scarce in Posadas, so many people have two or more jobs to make ends meet. V, our co-ordinator not only works for i-to-i but also has a full time job in recruitment for Manpower (God only knows how she fits us all in what with C´s hospital visits, K´s lost passport, getting my parcel from the Post Office, etc, we voluntarios are always needing her for one thing or another). My fruit & veg shop over the road also does car servicing and car washes, the vets are also pet shops (at least, C said, the animals should be well cared-for), and I am particularly intrigued and am trying to organise an evening at the only Chinese restaurant we´ve found, which also appears to do car servicing! I´m wondering if the screwdrivers double as chopsticks, or if they cook in Castrol GTX?! The mind boggles.
_____
Anyhoo, after a massive "Planes, trains and automobiles" journey (during which time I wandered to a café and did my last post) our two intrepid explorers returned, C triumphant, K, unfortunately not.
They were full of tales of the ineptitude of the local police, not least the fact that whilst K was trying to report her "lost identity", one cop was at once taking down her details and then also MSNing his sister (on webcam, who he got to wave at her), and the other cop offered them some of what they were drinking, which happened to be a huge jug of wine & Coke ("Not cocaine!" they joked. Quite.)
______
Marcello´s party was a bit slow to start off, bright lights and everyone sedately sat down, but as with most evenings, it loosened up and we were eventually dancing with our hands in the air and a great time was had by all...
Surprise surprise, I´m being booted off by Flor, so I´ll tell more of that eventful night later...ciao for now...
Monday, 16 June 2008
*PICS ADDED* We´re going Iguazu-zu-zu...
(To the tune of We`re going to the Zoo)
We´re going down Iguazuuuuu tomorrow, zu tomorrow, zu tomorrow
We´re going down Iguazuuuuu tomorrow, zu tomorrow, zu tomorrow
We can stay all day
We´re goin Iguazu-zu-zu
How about you-you-you
You can come too-too-too
We´re goin Iguazu-zu-zu...
C laughed as I sang my silly little song on the bus, and asked what other 37 year old woman would have come up with that song. (Answer: None, I´m unique).
Iguazu Falls are the local must-see in Northern Argentina, with the highest concentration of waterfalls in one area on the planet. They are, at 71 metres, 50% higher than Niagara falls, fact fans.
We checked into the Hostel Inn, late Friday evening after a 7 hour journey. I had been seriously considering the Sheraton Hotel, which apparently looks out onto the falls from every room, then I remembered that C and I don`t have jobs any more...
Hostel Inns are surprisingly good. Basic, clean, with a TV and air con, I likened it (with the orange bedspread) to what I imagined and EasyHotel might be like. I didn`t think I`d like it, but honestly, I would recommend them.
I was a bit tired and grumpy as I´d not eaten for 7 hours (C had chucked our provisions in the hold on the coach...doh!) and could not contemplate the all-you-can-eat buffet at 9.30 at night, plus I was sulking by now, so we tore open the food I`d bought and had an impromptu picnic in our room.
I`m like a Gremlin, feed me regularly and I`m a happy bunny. Without food, I turn into a whiney little girl, and then a stroppy one. Feed me and instantly I´m right as rain again.
We also opened a mini bottle of Moet we`d brought with us, a tiny taste of luxury our good friend (and regular reader - hi!) PK bought us before we left, as it was the only night we´ve had to ourselves since we got here.
She´d given us two bottles to take with us and perk us up when we had a low spot, but I said to C, I´d prefer to drink it with fonder memories. Besides, we`d have drunk them both in the first week if we`d stuck to the original plan.
5 weeks is definitely the longest I´ve gone without drinking champagne I already possess though!
Exhausted after the long journey, after we´d booked our day trip to the Falls and C had a beer, we stayed in and watched ´8 Mile` on the telly and fell asleep, preferring to conserve our energies for the long day ahead and K&A´s arrival.
Rock and roll.
_______
Saturday: next day, up early, a basic breakfast of hot chocolate and "dulce de leche" on bread, and onto our minibus to Iguazu.
The weather forecast had been for 25º and sunny...but it appears their forecasters are every bit as shite as the British ones. It was a dull, muggy day, which later turned torrential.
And after our boat ride (which did 4 doughnuts underneath the splash of two waterfalls - pretty cool, actually, and quite an experience getting that close to the force of it), I was absolutely drenched. We´d brought dry clothes to change into, but it was a bit public, so I kept my bikini bottoms on. This then meant I was wandering round for ages looking like I´d peed myself, so I had to find a loo and dry off properly under the handdryer.
There are cheaper ways to do the Falls. Don´t do the 120 peso trip. Ali & Oz Kirsten had pretty much the same day (less the boat trip) and paid about 100 pesos less than we did. And you still need to pay 40 pesos in! We were ripped off, but we consoled ourselves that it was only about 20 quid, less than a round of drinks in London, and we´d had a great day.
No point me describing the falls to you - it`s just a lot of water falling off some big rocks, so here are some pics:
Can you see the rainbow?
Big water
More big water
Oh yeah, forgot to mention we saw a TARANTULA when we were in a shop...it fell off the doorframe and a girl screamed as it nearly landed on her. It was about 4 inches across. You can click on any of the pics in this blog and they go big.
That evening, we had a few drinks with Kirsten, Ali and Roshan - a guy we´d met on the boat trip who lives in Acton...(two tube stops from me back home!) and Sam, a lovely guy from North Carolina who was travelling on his own too. Roshan had asked us if we´d seen his mates Andy and Chris from Preston (we`d all shared banter on our boat trip earlier) but they were nowhere to be seen.
Andy & Chris were funny - they told us they were 3 weeks into a year-long trip and had already spent a quarter of the money. Ha!
Anyhoo, we spent a good night chilling, drinking, chatting to random other people and swapping stories, and C & the girls had a bit of a go on the pool and table tennis tables. (I was still smarting from bowling t´other night, so gave it a miss)
Fab table in the hostel where we had dinner
Next day, a little hungover, we four said goodbye to our new buddies, swapped facebook and email contacts and set off home. I`d been hoping to go to the Brazilian side of the falls this morning if the weather turned good (just our luck, it was glorious today...aaaagh!), but we´d heard there was a bus strike on so decided to head back asap, as we had to be back for Marcello´s birthday party that night in Posadas (Bank Holiday Monday...no school again!) and we´d no idea how long it might take.
____
C`s just come back from watching the footy, it´s cold and we`re going home, so I`ll post again soon about Sunday´s shenanigans.
____
We´re going down Iguazuuuuu tomorrow, zu tomorrow, zu tomorrow
We´re going down Iguazuuuuu tomorrow, zu tomorrow, zu tomorrow
We can stay all day
We´re goin Iguazu-zu-zu
How about you-you-you
You can come too-too-too
We´re goin Iguazu-zu-zu...
C laughed as I sang my silly little song on the bus, and asked what other 37 year old woman would have come up with that song. (Answer: None, I´m unique).
Iguazu Falls are the local must-see in Northern Argentina, with the highest concentration of waterfalls in one area on the planet. They are, at 71 metres, 50% higher than Niagara falls, fact fans.
We checked into the Hostel Inn, late Friday evening after a 7 hour journey. I had been seriously considering the Sheraton Hotel, which apparently looks out onto the falls from every room, then I remembered that C and I don`t have jobs any more...
Hostel Inns are surprisingly good. Basic, clean, with a TV and air con, I likened it (with the orange bedspread) to what I imagined and EasyHotel might be like. I didn`t think I`d like it, but honestly, I would recommend them.
I was a bit tired and grumpy as I´d not eaten for 7 hours (C had chucked our provisions in the hold on the coach...doh!) and could not contemplate the all-you-can-eat buffet at 9.30 at night, plus I was sulking by now, so we tore open the food I`d bought and had an impromptu picnic in our room.
I`m like a Gremlin, feed me regularly and I`m a happy bunny. Without food, I turn into a whiney little girl, and then a stroppy one. Feed me and instantly I´m right as rain again.
We also opened a mini bottle of Moet we`d brought with us, a tiny taste of luxury our good friend (and regular reader - hi!) PK bought us before we left, as it was the only night we´ve had to ourselves since we got here.
She´d given us two bottles to take with us and perk us up when we had a low spot, but I said to C, I´d prefer to drink it with fonder memories. Besides, we`d have drunk them both in the first week if we`d stuck to the original plan.
5 weeks is definitely the longest I´ve gone without drinking champagne I already possess though!
Exhausted after the long journey, after we´d booked our day trip to the Falls and C had a beer, we stayed in and watched ´8 Mile` on the telly and fell asleep, preferring to conserve our energies for the long day ahead and K&A´s arrival.
Rock and roll.
_______
Saturday: next day, up early, a basic breakfast of hot chocolate and "dulce de leche" on bread, and onto our minibus to Iguazu.
The weather forecast had been for 25º and sunny...but it appears their forecasters are every bit as shite as the British ones. It was a dull, muggy day, which later turned torrential.
And after our boat ride (which did 4 doughnuts underneath the splash of two waterfalls - pretty cool, actually, and quite an experience getting that close to the force of it), I was absolutely drenched. We´d brought dry clothes to change into, but it was a bit public, so I kept my bikini bottoms on. This then meant I was wandering round for ages looking like I´d peed myself, so I had to find a loo and dry off properly under the handdryer.
There are cheaper ways to do the Falls. Don´t do the 120 peso trip. Ali & Oz Kirsten had pretty much the same day (less the boat trip) and paid about 100 pesos less than we did. And you still need to pay 40 pesos in! We were ripped off, but we consoled ourselves that it was only about 20 quid, less than a round of drinks in London, and we´d had a great day.
No point me describing the falls to you - it`s just a lot of water falling off some big rocks, so here are some pics:
Can you see the rainbow?
Big water
More big water
Oh yeah, forgot to mention we saw a TARANTULA when we were in a shop...it fell off the doorframe and a girl screamed as it nearly landed on her. It was about 4 inches across. You can click on any of the pics in this blog and they go big.That evening, we had a few drinks with Kirsten, Ali and Roshan - a guy we´d met on the boat trip who lives in Acton...(two tube stops from me back home!) and Sam, a lovely guy from North Carolina who was travelling on his own too. Roshan had asked us if we´d seen his mates Andy and Chris from Preston (we`d all shared banter on our boat trip earlier) but they were nowhere to be seen.
Andy & Chris were funny - they told us they were 3 weeks into a year-long trip and had already spent a quarter of the money. Ha!
Anyhoo, we spent a good night chilling, drinking, chatting to random other people and swapping stories, and C & the girls had a bit of a go on the pool and table tennis tables. (I was still smarting from bowling t´other night, so gave it a miss)
Fab table in the hostel where we had dinnerNext day, a little hungover, we four said goodbye to our new buddies, swapped facebook and email contacts and set off home. I`d been hoping to go to the Brazilian side of the falls this morning if the weather turned good (just our luck, it was glorious today...aaaagh!), but we´d heard there was a bus strike on so decided to head back asap, as we had to be back for Marcello´s birthday party that night in Posadas (Bank Holiday Monday...no school again!) and we´d no idea how long it might take.
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C`s just come back from watching the footy, it´s cold and we`re going home, so I`ll post again soon about Sunday´s shenanigans.
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