Advertisement
Published: November 17th 2014
Edit Blog Post
Hello! It's time to update you all on what has been going on the past two weeks. I was all set to head off to camp last Tuesday, thankful to be missing three days working at the institute. I had even made plans to go to Buenos Aires after the camp for the weekend to hang out with friends. I was especially keen to return to retrieve my phone charger which I idiotically left last time. Unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worst... as in torrential rain and intense thunderstorms, resulting in the school deciding to not go ahead with the camp. I was pretty disappointed as this resulted in me having to cancel my plans - no camp, no charger, no fun. To be fair though, it wasn't exactly a light shower. The entire province was UNDERWATER. Every road was completely flooded, not just puddles at the sides but an ankle-deep flow that concealed any hint of road from sight. I had to walk 3 blocks extra on my way to work as my usual route was flooded and it was impossible to walk across the road unless you had wellington boots. Not ideal.
On the up
side this cancellation meant that I was here to attend the hippie party that we had organised for the previous week that we postponed. This time is was a perfect day, really warm and clear blue skies. We all meet at the institute and I helped to paint faces and decorate the vehicles we were using to get to the event. Everyone had made a good effort with the fancy dress, many sporting the tie dye t-shirts are helped them to make. We piled the kids and ourselves in to the back of some pick up trucks (very safe, I know) and then drove in convoy to the party venue. We pulled up at the aero club where we were having the party and the music was blasting across the field and all the kids were playing or sat having picnics. We organised some games for the students, one involving filling a bucket of water and water balloons, resulting in me getting soaked as the kids scrambled to pour buckets of water over me. At least it was hot so I dried very quickly!! We also did a kind of relay race which was fun too. I lend a group
dance (one of the ones we always do at camp) and lots of the kids got involved learning the moves. The staff then did a performance of the script I had written, with me narrating the story, which I think the children mostly enjoyed (I say mostly because as it was in English it's quite likely half of then didn't have a bloody clue what I was going on about!). The day culminated in a big bonfire, with the kids burning the dummies they made and everyone tucking in to some marshmallows. All in all it was easily the best day I've had working here, being outside doing games and acting and dancing is way more up my street.
I also had a great class with my adult group. We focused on the food of Britain and I told them all to bring food from Argentina to eat during the class. THEY DID NOT DISSAPOINT. We spent the hour feasting on hams and chorizo and cheese and pastries and biscuits, and they even brought wine and beer! It must have been the best class ever, I am such a cool teacher!
After an extremely dull weekend it was
time for another full week of work. My classes are fairly easy now, I don't need to prepare anything I just do revision classes. The kids enjoy my classes a lot though, apparently they are asking for more classes with me instead of with the actual teachers! I think it's because I find a way to make the conversation topics more interesting, the class are often in fits of giggles because I make jokes and tell funny stories constantly. I do this not only for their benefit but for my own, if I didn't approach the work with this attitude I would die of boredom, teaching can be so dull and repetitive. The week goes very fast thankfully, as I have so many hours the days just disappear. The institute is completely full of students all day as the exams loom ever nearer, they are perched on windowsills, crammed into classrooms and sprawled on the floor of every corridor frantically doing mock exams and written tests. As their teacher, I can vouch for the fact that many of them should be worried, their English is a travesty and failure is probable.
On Friday I had a dinner party with
the teachers from the institute. This basically meant about 5 hours of listening to them bitch and make fun of all the students (and even some of their parents) in rapid Spanish. I followed the conversation on the whole, but as I have no idea who they are taking about (I haven't really bothered to learn any of the student's names) I didn't really contribute much. They did ask me a few awkward questions though, like "Have you enjoyed your time working here?" Errrrrr...
The food was great though, a selection of nibbles they ordered from a caterer and some nice wine. Have I mentioned I have been basically teetotal since living here? Neither of the parents at the house drink alcohol at all, so I've only drank wine on three occasions since the beginning of October! It must be doing wonders for my health, with the gym as well I'll be returning a shadow of my former self... well if it wasn't for all the fatty meat and carbs I'm having to eat at the house.
Today I went to the countryside with the family to a small rural school where the Mum used to work, which
was celebrating 100 years since it first opened. It was a long service of teachers, education officials and ex-students harping on about this school and how it changed their lives and it is the pride of the local community. I'm not being mean, but the place was very basic and definitely nothing to shout about. The way of life in these little towns is not my cup of tea at all, get me back to the city ASAP por favor!
Speaking of... I'm leaving next Sunday!! I'm going to Buenos Aires for one night then I'm off to Salta in the north for a camp in the mountains which will be amazing! Mind you, I have a hellish 20 hour bus journey to get there, but I won't complain because it is so worth it to be getting away. After the camp I'm going to Mendoza for a week to see the mountains and vineyards and go on some adventure sport excursions which is guaranteed to be awesome too! By the time I get back from there I will have only two weeks left in Argentina, so I think it will fly by and I'll be home for Christmas
before I know it. I might try a get down south and see the glacier and other scenery there, I hear it's stunning. As it is approaching Summer here I assure you I will be fitting in time to sunbathe, it will be great to return to freezing England looking nice and bronzed!
So taking everything in to account it is only up from here! I feel motivated to power through this last week of classes and then the real Argentinian adventure starts again. Bring it on.
D x
PS. I won a blog award for photography for one of my blog posts! I thought I would share this news with you, I must be getting good at this writing malarkey.
PSS. I'm doing No Shave November so I am currently sporting some pretty hefty facial hair. Not sure if I look rugged or homeless. One thing for certain, if I go home with a beard and long hair my family will have a few things to say about it for sure!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.161s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 10; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0581s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb