Hard times, Justin Timberlake and Flower Power FAIL

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I'm back! It has been far too long since my last post so here is a summary of what I've been up to during October.

My first full week working in my new town was pretty horrendous. It was the closest I've come to giving up; quitting the job and flying home. There was a definite lack of communication, I was not being told what I needed to do in my classes, resulting in multiple improvised lessons. Of course I complained within the first week of working that I had too many hours and that none of the staff were assisting me with lesson plans, and since then they have changed their approach and the organisation has improved. I actually enjoy giving some of the classes now, the students are enthusiastic and enjoy the activities I plan. There are some groups who are hellish and basic ignore everything I say and refuse to speak any English which seem a complete waste of time to me, but apparently they are the same with the actual teachers as well so I can't really take it personally. I find some classes extremely bizarre as I am forced to partake in mock oral examinations with the students, the teacher asking me for example to compare and contrast two pictures in one minute. I want to shout at her, "Lady, I'm a NATIVE English speaker, why on earth am I having to do this??!" It's odd, she makes me feel nervous, as if my English is not good enough, which is ridiculous because it is my mother tongue. She often questions words or phrases that I say, she thinks that if she doesn't know it then it can't be a real, people don't say that. It is driving me insane, I think I have more knowledge of English vocabulary thank you very much! Rant over... kind of.

I have to add that this town is so boring, having walked up and down the main street I have exhausted all the activities on offer here. I have, however, joined the gym (shocking, I know) which I actually quite enjoy! It is an escape from the day-to-day stupor of life here, and I'm definitely feeling physical fitter which is great.

The only positive thing about this placement is the family, who treat me very nicely. We have had a lot of interesting and funny conversations, and the food has been good. I've cooked for them a few times, my curry blew their heads off! Argentines can't handle any spice!! My paella, brownies and chocolate chip scones went down a storm though! They do tend to have heated arguments from time to time, which is a bit awkward. They are screaming at each other across the table while I sit there in silence trying to think of a way to subtly escape the room. But on the whole they have been wonderful.

Thank the lord I managed to get away from the town last weekend to work a camp. It didn't start well as my bus arrived 3 hours late, so I spend a depressing 3 hours sat in the tiny bus terminal which was not fun. When I arrived at the terminal in Mercedes (the town where the camp is located), it was almost midnight. The taxi that was supposed to be waiting to take me to the camp was long gone (probably left three hours ago when I didn't turn up). By some stroke of luck I had a screenshot of email from months ago on my phone which had the telephone number of the taxi company in Mercedes. I called them and someone came quite promptly so I managed to handle that fiasco fairly well.

The camp officially began the next day, and the theme was Senior Year. A silly theme if you ask me, and one which was hard to relate to as this Senior Year nonsense doesn't even exist in England. However it was so nice to be around some of my friends and socialise with other native speakers that the theme was irrelevant. As always we changed our names for the camp, and this time I went for Justin Timberlake. It is so hilarious the way the kids approach you and say "Excuse me, Justin?" and I have to remind myself that they only know me by this fake name and so I need to respond! The children were a good bunch, they were teenagers which meant they spoke English very well which always makes the job easier. The teens had to chose electives to study in their final year, ranging from Drama to Dance to Cheerleading to Business to Creative writing. The first day I was in charge of the Drama workshop, which was fun, and the Party Planning. We had to plan the Prom for the following night, the big finale of the camp. We went with the theme 'Midnight Masquerade' and started designing masks and decorations. The only bad thing was that the weather was pretty extreme. It was sweltering, around 33 degrees or more, and the power was out. This meant there was no air conditioning and even worse, there was no running water because the pump needs electricity to work. So everyone was sweating in the sun and there wasn't even water to drink, which were hard conditions for the kids and for councillors alike. Thankfully the electricity came back by the end of the day and so the conditions improved from then on. We had the classic bonfire on the first night, lots of singing and dancing which is always fun.

The second day was again extremely warm, so we predominantly played water games to cool down. We made a slip-and-slide and everyone loved sliding through the soap bubbles. After that we played a version of shot-put with water balloons and we also played volleyball with big tablecloths and balloons. In the afternoon I carried on with the party planning team and by the evening it looked great, with banners and a big photo booth. All the kids donned dresses and suits and entered the Prom as couples, it was so cute. The councillors had to improvise with the limited costumes at the camp, and so I ended up looking like Jack from Titanic with a white shirt and braces. One of the girls had made a dress out of some green cloth and together we took some funny photos doing the titanic pose and we performed the iconic musical number for the kids! After a nice dinner we moved the tables and put on music and everyone danced and had a great time. Two of the councillors are professional dancers and they challenged these twin boys (who were also amazing at dancing) to a dance-off. It was so impressive and everyone was shouting and screaming as the competition intensified. I decided to enter the dance off as a joke with Josh, another councillor from England, and we jokingly performed some shoddy dance moves. However, I shocked everyone with my flexibility and ended up WINNING THE DANCE OFF!! It was so funny!!

Everyone was knackered on the last day after so much excitement the night before, so it was a very chilled day. We played some American football and did Yoga, and then we opened the camp shop so the kids could buy souvenirs. We then had a lengthy graduation ceremony, all the kids were wearing the hats and each councillor gave out personalised sashes to their team. The kids all threw their hats in the air and so concluded Senior Year.

I was going back to Carlos Casares and so bid farewell to the other councillors and went by taxi back to the bus station. Now, during the camp I realised I had lost my ticket somehow, and needed to print it off again. Annoyingly the printer at the camp wasn't working, so I asked the taxi driver to stop at a place where I could print before the bus terminal. After trying a few different places it was not looking good, everywhere was closed because it was Sunday. We went to the terminal and I tried to explain the situation to the woman at the ticket office. She was unsympathetic and said I needed to find a way to print my ticket if I wanted to travel. I had only 20 minutes. She told there was a place around 3 blocks away which would be open, so I ran like a maniac to the store. Unfortunately their internet was not working... DISASTER. The man at the shop feel so bad for me that he told me to jump in his car as he knew a place where I could print. We get to the place and it is open (YES!) and I manage to print my ticket. The kind stranger waited for me in his car and then drove me back to the terminal. He told me to give him a thumbs up if everything is ok. I run to the ticket booth with a smile and smugly display my ticket to the girl. She coldly tells me I'm two minutes late and the bus has already gone. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. THE BUSES ARE NEVER ON TIME IN ARGENTINA AND THE ONE TIME EVER I AM TWO MINUTES LATE THE BUS ARRIVED PROMPTLY. MY LAST BUS ARRIVED THREE HOURS LATE!!!! WHY AM I SO UNLUCKY?

I had to buy another ticket, which was in three hours time. Wonderful. Another fun evening in a bus terminal on my own. I gave the stranger a thumbs DOWN, and he rushed over. I explained that the bus had left and he was like "Let's go! Get in the car and we'll catch up with the bus and force it to pull over and let you on!". I declined, I had already bought another ticket and besides, I literally had no idea who this random man was.

I eventually got back home at the half past two in the morning. During the bus journey I realised I had left my phone charger at the camp, meaning I can't used my phone until I return there and collect it. Not ideal.

This week we have been preparing for the annual party the institute has on Halloween. To clarify, the event is on the 31st of October but for some unknown reason the teachers are massively anti-Halloween so they organise their own party which is altogether much lamer. The theme this year was Peace and Love, so I was forced to spend hours doing workshops this week, making tie-dye t-shirts and hippy accessories. It was so boring, relentlessly doing the same thing over and over again. The good thing was that I made a wicked t-shirt for myself, and I made a playlist of classic Rock and Reggae and Motown from the 60's, so at least the music was good. I also wrote a script for a little piece of theatre that the teachers were to perform at the event for the kids, with me as the narrator of the story.

Unfortunately after the heat wave last week came the severe thunderstorms this week, so in the end the event was postponed as the town was underwater. A long week of preparation to no avail, classic Argentina. The event has been postponed until next Friday, but I won't be there as I'm working a camp Tuesday to Friday next week! The teachers are so annoyed they were going to call and tell my company I wasn't allowed to work the camp anymore. But they decided they can probably make do without me there so I am relieved to be getting away from here again so soon. Hopefully my charger is waiting for me when I return.

Only two more moans, bear with me readers.

The first is the mosquitos that have arrived in recent weeks. I have ugly bites all over my body and can frequently be found flailing around my room at 4am trying to kill them (they buzz so loud I can't sleep). Secondly, for some unknown reason the local stray dogs have began to target me this week. They growl and chase me aggressively. It is taking me back to my childhood, when my phobia of dogs was really bad. I have had to change my route to work because two dogs on one of the streets have decided I'm no longer welcome. It is actually giving me anxiety and I feel nervous when I see or hear a dog now, I have to cross the road to avoid them. I was feeling comfortable around dogs in recent years but unfortunately this has massively put me off them again.

On the bright side (yes there is a bright side!) I have camp next week, and the theme is Hollywood. Some of my good friends are working the camp too so it should be fun. After the camp I'm going to Buenos Aires for the weekend which will be great, I can actually hang out in a place where I have lots of friends and there are things to do and see! And I can see a light at the end of the tunnel, as I have only 3 weeks left living and working here and then I'm free to explore to country for my last month in Argentina which is going to be AMAZING. Additionally, because I have a camp during the coming week I'm only working Monday and Tuesday, so I actually only have 12 days left of work at the institute! Granted the teacher have assured me they will be milking me for all I'm worth for the that last fortnight, and so it's guaranteed to be awful, but at least my escape is drawing closer than ever! Thank God!

Here's to more positive times to come. Cheers to all.

D x

PS. Happy, happy birthday to my wonderfully fabulous Nana! I hope you have a great weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing you when I get back 😊 xxx

PSS. Did I mention the family owns a parrot? It squawks and screeches really loudly and wakes me up almost every morning. I hate birds.

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