It's all happening here

Well thank god for that, Argentina have just won their second round match and we can all breathe a sigh of relief. I am not joking when I say that the country closes down when Argentina are on the pitch. The shops shut, the buses are empty, the streets are deserted, it is truly like living in a ghost town (and a big one at that). If Argentina had lost, the whole country would have been suicidal and living here would have been very difficult but, thankfully, they won. Now we just have England to deal with - if they lose tomorrow god help the lot of us, Argentines are very good at gloating!

Other news, we've been given a 5% pay increase (somewhat short of the 20-30% requested) accompanied by a very snidey letter telling us we should be thankful that the company is so good to us - way to build loyalty!

Today L and I booked our coach tickets. We're going to Salta which is a 22 hour (yes twenty two hours) bus ride but we paid the extra 10 pesos for seats which fully recline. The ticket includes dinner and lunch but I'll be taking plenty of water and fruit, a couple of good books to read and my minidisk player. Salta is right in the top north-west corner of Argentina in the foothills of the Andes and is supposed to have vineyards and great architecture - anything to get out of the city. We travel straight there on 24th July and will probably break our journey back over a couple of days.

Tomorrow is a busy day, breakfast with L, watching England at B's with the other teachers then onto the Gaucho market. I went there last week and I'm going back again so I'll tell you more about it tomorrow.

Quick Update (Again!)

Just a quickie to let you know that I'm feeling much better today. I think yesterday's rant about all the bad stuff here has helped me to get a perspective on it all.

I spoke to the other class tonight and they were very mature about what I said (they are only 17/18 years old) and I think we've negotiated a way forward. The onus is on me now to keep things on an even keel (how many cliches can I get into one post?).

In addition, I got my hair cut today. I hate going to the hairdressers - for me it's worse than going to the dentist's - but the stylist did a good job and everyone says they like it. Keep you're fingers crossed that it still looks good once I've washed it!

Finally a new bar has opened next to the school (actually adjoining it which will make teaching in one of the classrooms 'interesting') and we were all invited to the opening. Free food and drink. I don't think they had realised just how much alcohol English teachers can consume. I guess they had allowed for about two drinks per head but we had four apiece and were still asking for more. What's more, most of us were drinking Long Island Iced Teas (try http://www.drinksmixer.com/drink590.html for a recipe). As you can see, they are very alcoholic and my liver will be screaming at me tomorrow (umm, I mean later today). They also served lots of lovely seafood such as octopus and prawns (although we missed out on the shrimp) and a wonderful concoction of green chilli, sun-dried tomato and matured garlic on a stick (think cheese and pineapple with oh so much more sophistication.

We all had a good chat about the upcoming winter break and everyone urged me to go away for at least a long weekend. Salta is the preferred destination but it is a 22 hour bus journey and I'm not sure I'm up to that! I'll keep you posted.

So I hope that has reassured you all. Next post I'll tell you about the Fiera de Matederos that L and I went to last Sunday.

News from the front

Hello there

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, I've kinda been avoiding it. Truth is, things aren't wonderful here. Don't get me wrong, it's not a hellhole but it's not the great place we were promised. Mostly it's to do with work. The main problems are the hours we all have to work, the inability to find a routine, the lousy pay and the attitude of the students.

To take these things in order: I teach 21 hours a week plus 90 minutes standby (when I might have to teach for someone who's off sick). Nothing unusual there - I've never taught fewer hours than that in a full time job and often taught more. The problem is that it is compressed into four days and two of those days are split shifts which means that Mondays and Wednesdays I have twelve hour days. Although I have those afternoons off, and can go home very easily, there doesn't seem to be any switching off. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have seven hour days with a 45 minute break in the middle, which is just about enough time to have something to eat and a cup of tea before packing my bag for the next lessons. And that's just the teaching. On Fridays we have meetings. Supposedly only lasting one hour but (as we don't have them every week) invariably lasting much longer. Friday is also the day on which I try to do my lesson planning (not easy as I'm easily distracted at work), mark homework and have a Spanish lesson. So Friday is not an easy day either.

On top of all that is the pay. We were told that approximately 20% of our salary would go on expenses (which everyone took to mean rent, service charges, utilities etc). I knew that by choosing to live alone I would pay a higher percentage but the reality is very different. I actually pay 40% of my salary on rent and service charges. Utilities etc are on top of that. I've had to buy a washing machine to save money (and my clothes). I'm used to operating in a cash economy and I'm very good at keeping to a budget but, in all the time I've been teaching, I have never before had to stop and think "Can I afford that?" I don't have extravagent tastes and I did expect to be able to save some money for travelling, now I don't think that will be possible. I'm not the only one who feels this - in fact the whole of the teaching staff is up in arms about the salary level and this is having an adverse effect on morale. Two of the people who travelled over with me have resigned and are leaving early in July. The reasons they have given are the poor salary and the lack of teacher development.

In addition, there is the attitude of the students. On the whole, my students are friendly, enthusiastic and hardworking but they constantly complain of tiredness. I understand this, I'm tired myself but I'm thirty years older than them and I still get up on my hindlegs and teach. I am sick and tired of hearing "Oh no, can't we do something else?"/"Noooo, I don't want to,"/"It's impossible" and similar such phrases. Nobody makes them come to the lessons (even the youngsters are there by choice) and when asked what they would prefer to do, they have no answer. Things reached a head tonight with one of my favourite groups and I ended up walking out of the classroom. One of the students followed me to tell me that I shouldn't be upset or frustrated but that they were tired. I asked her to go back into the classroom and get the class to decide what they wanted to do in lessons. When they came and got me 20 minutes later, it was to show me some work they had written on the board in a misbegotten attempt to do the task I'd asked of them originally (but which was nowhere near what I'd actually asked them to do either before or after leaving the classroom). They all looked at me as if expecting pats on the back for managing to write about fifty words between them. I read what they had written and told them I was ending the class early. They didn't want to leave but I didn't want to talk to them. I left the classroom before they did and when I went back five minutes later (I'd left something behind in my haste to exit) they were still there. I told them to go home and that we would talk about it at the beginning of the next lesson. The shitty thing is I have to go through this whole process of talking to a class about their attitude tomorrow night as well - and if you think you see a pattern developing, I'm not the only teacher having to do this.

Finally, I'm lonely here. Don't get me wrong, my colleagues are friendly but I don't remember having a good belly laugh in all the time I've been here. Actually having a decent conversation is next to impossible. Everyone is so tired that no-one can summon the energy to participate in or maintain a conversation about anything other than work. Even L (who I socialise with quite a lot) often drifts off in the middle of a conversation.

So all of this has made it difficult for me to get to sleep. My old friend insomnia has returned and the only thing that stops me from using the computer at 4am is that the virus and other checks are running. One thing I am sorely tempted to do is go out for a walk. BsAs (or at least where I live) is safe and always busy. Maybe the fresh(er) air and exercise will do some good.

I want to start going to the gym again but given the choice of going at 10pm, getting up early or staying in bed to get some extra sleep, guess what wins. I know from experience that going to the gym will give me more energy, allow me to sleep more easily and make it easier to to cope with the crap I meet on a daily basis but it's very difficult to summon up the energy.

A note to anyone thinking of visiting me here, don't buy a ticket until September because I won't know if I'm staying for the second year until then.

Send me cyber hugs and wishes, god knows I need them.

Pretty Buildings and Bright Colours

Sorry, I know I haven't posted for a while but things have been busy so here's one I wrote earlier. I'll bring you up to date in the near future, promise.

Uruguay is a country created as a buffer between two greater powers (Argentina and Brazil) in 1828. For those who don't know, Brazil was a colony of Portugual while Argentina was a colony of Spain. Thus the people of Uruguay have an Iberian inheritance and with this comes a fondness for painted buildings.

One of the main attractions in Colonia is the Street of Sighs built a couple of centuries ago by the Portuguese. I've no idea why it's called the Street of Sighs but it leads down to the riverside so it could be the sounds of the winds coming off the river or the sounds of the people waiting for loved ones to come home from the sea (no, I haven't been drinking).




This is a more modern street but note the colours of the buildings and the street lamps. Both are common all over Colonia.




And here is the most modern building I saw. Don't you just love the colours. Unfortunately you can't do this in the UK, although several on the Newington Estate have tried to disastrous effect, because you need the sun to set it off properly.




And finally, someone using up their odds and ends of paint...



which goes to prove that the spirit of colour is not dead here.

The First One

Well done England.

The Cars of Colonia

This one is especially for my brother Sean (a kind of early and extremely cheap birthday present).

While walking around Colonia we came upon these...

now I know they are all Fords (I checked the marque) but I don't know what kind. So, being the nice kind (kind seems to be my word of the day here) sister that I am, I took some individual shots for you, Sean, to sort out. Here....

Note the wooden spokes on the wheels



Only two doors but a lovely paint job


Possibly a little younger than the others?

Four door and a footplate


Possibly a soft top option


In addtion there were other cars....



No idea about either of them but I thought they were cute. There are a lot of old cars here (I even saw a Zephyr) but plenty of new ones too.

Anyway... Sean, tell me what these cars are - post your answers in the comments box or send me an email!

(Phew, another birthday crisis averted)

Crazy Weekend

Isn't it amazing how you can go from spending all weekend in front of the computer (I'm a real billy-no-mates) being an anti-social cow who doesn't breathe fresh air for forty-eight hours to a complete social butterfly?

So... On Friday, after a long day of admin and planning, I went out for a drink with N before meeting up with L, S and U to see a play. The play was called "Our Country's Good" and is about how the first penal colony in Australia put on a play. I thought it was going to be an amateur production but, as it's been running for two months, I guess that isn't so. The cast were fantastic, all of them playing more than one character but distinguishing each character so I lost sight of who was playing who. I got totally absorbed in it, so much so that I didn't even notice the two hour running time.

Got home that night, logged on to check my emails etc. (I do spend too much time in front of the computer) when I realised that there was a mozzie buzzing around so I plugged in the mozzie repellent and POP, out went the fuses. I was left with light in the living room and nothing else. As it was 3am I had no choice but to go to bed.

Up early on Saturday (10am, ok early-ish) and across to the ferretaria (we call it the ferret shop), which is a general hardware store, to buy fuses. We have the old-fashioned ceramic fuses here which screw into a socket but there is a trip switch. Put them in, no problem, up and running again. Spent the day shopping, cleaning, washing etc.

Saturday night, went to the cinema. Saw Lord of War with Nicholas Cage. Now Nicky boy isn't my favourite actor but this film has something to it. Just one bum note - the baby under the wheel cliche (in this case an aeroplane) but the rest was damn good. Funnily enough the New York Times gave it a damning review - I wonder why? Anyway we all enjoyed it. L and I then went onto Chinatown (really Chinablock) for food - excellent nosh and a problem with the eyes/belly ratio. Got home, logged on etc., realised there was a mozzie - noticing a pattern here? Yep, at 3am I blew the fuses again. Off to bed I went - nothing else to do at that time of night.

Trouble was, the next day was Sunday and could I find a ferret shop open on a Sunday? Could I heck as like! I could have dragged my sorry carcase up to the giant DIY store but that was more effort than I wanted to make. So I spent the day catching up with all the stuff I've neglected since I got broadbanded. Later I met up with L and we went to a milonga (for those of you who don't know, that's when people gather in a public place and tango). It made me realise how much I really do want to learn to tango, so L and I are going to try somewhere more local - it really was getting too much dragging ourselves across town to dance with miniature women! So a relatively early night on Sunday, which is just as well as I have to teach on Monday morning.

Next week - the opera!

History

Now I know I'm stringing out this Colonia thing but the peace is still with me despite a hectic week at work. Today the structures...

We never discovered why this was built but there's a restaurant on the ground floor. We were going to eat there but it (like so many of the restaurants in Colonia) was way too expensive.




A doorway with intricately carved stone surround. Don't even know what it's the doorway to.




This is the local lighthouse. L went up there, I didn't (who needs to climb those stairs?!?!). The attached brickwork is the remains of a monastry (I think) which collapsed before the lighthouse was built. It just seemed logical to build on top of the remains.




Just for you Jayne, a series of small walls (around the base of the lighthouse).




The City Gate. There only seemed to be one city gate and the attached wall doesn't extend very far. I'm sure there was more at one time.



There is more but it's more of the same so I won't bore you too much. Coming up next buildings, then flora. (Just how long can I make a two day trip last?)

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

Well in this case, river side. Buenos Aires and Colonia are either side of the Rio Plata (which we translate as the River Plate but really means the Silver River). In all honesty, when you look at it, all you see is a muddy brown expanse of water but (and it's a big but) the water is actually clean. The brown comes from the soil carried down from the interior. L and I speculated about why it is called the silver river - maybe people managed to pan for silver in its waters, maybe they were just poetic. Then the sun started to go down...

Now I know this looks this a picture of a tree (and dead boring too) but look behind the tree. See the slightly darker area - the (big hint) silvery area below the darker line. Yep that's the river. The Rio Plata turns the most beautiful silver colour as the sun goes down. It looks like molton silver with the texture of silk or very fine sand (can't decide which is better - take your pick).

Being on the river means the waterside is fresh rather than salt, although the ocean isn't far away. The coastline is rocks and grass with palm and other trees thrown in, and a couple of sandy beaches (rather dirty and probably artificial). Here are some more pictures.

As you can see the sun was shining and the tide was coming in. What more could you ask for?