Points to remember

Just to let you all know I´m still alive and kicking.

This week I´ve sat and drunk a lot of tea, got windburnt (or sunburnt, who knows), taken photos of rocks (note to self "I Spy"), fed a llama, eaten local food (but not llama - yet), visited ruins, drunk a lot of very good wine, slept fitfully, had the trots. More details when I´m back in BsAs.

Possibly the laziest weekend ever

Ohh I am soooo relaxed. I haven't done anything worth mentioning since I woke up yesterday morning (at least I think it was morning, who checks clocks when they're on holiday?).

The things I've done which are not worth mentioning are; all my washing, some shopping, eating food (quite often), drinking tea (accompanied with it's partner... going to the loo) and.... watching Star Trek The Original Series almost in it's entirety!

Eight hours of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. It's old fashioned, it's trite in places and a little repetitive but THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU Mauro for sending the DVDs to me. I'm one very happy woman.

And very relaxed.

School's Out

Just as you are breaking up for your summer holidays, we're breaking up for our winter holiday (although, truth to tell, the weather is like a nice British summer day, warm and sunny with a gentle breeze but not so hot that you can't breathe).

Yesterday was Friendship Day here and everyone was supposed to go out with their friends (obviously) - well all the restaurants and cafes were full and getting a table was not easy. Most of the teachers were meeting up for an end of term drink but the place chosen was not a place I like at all - dark, loud music, bad beer - so I decided not to go. However I didn't spend Friends Day alone, L & I went somewhere else and had a very enjoyable dinner.

This morning I went into work to clear up some admin stuff and collect all my books so that I could plan for next term. I did intend to do my planning at work but I felt tired and achey. My arms and shoulders felt as if I'd been weightlifting or long-distance swimming although this has eased off now. I think it was just the stress and tension draining out of me. In fact for the last few days I've found it difficult to put a coherent sentence together (Jayne, I've invented another word - complode, a mixture of collapse and explode which was how my head felt at the time) and on Wednesday night I almost fell asleep at the table at the restaurant where we went to say goodbye to A (I've just had to rewrite that sentence about five times before it made any kind of sense).

Tonight I'm going to K's along with most of the other female teachers to have a 'girls' night - it should be fun and a chance to bitch gossip about our colleagues, put the world to rights and generally bond. I'm taking icecream and a bottle of wine... DO NOT PHONE ME EARLY TOMORROW MORNING!

Stereotypes

One of the joys of getting older is that you become more aware of the behaviour of the people around you and the possible underlying motives for such behaviour.

Those of you who've known me since university days may remember Jonathon. I went to university after working for the social security for four years. I'd gone from very naive to very cynical. When I arrived at university I wanted to go back to my natural trusting nature and be open to new experiences (get your minds out of the gutter!) so I allowed the cynicism to slip away. Unfortunately with it went a layer of self-protection. My friendship with Jonathon was very destructive, I was manipulated, made a fool of and plunged into debt. I was lucky, I got myself out (by fair means or foul) and it left me wiser.

A few years later I was living in a housing co-operative and sharing a house with Martin. We weren't friends as such but Martin maintained an aura of integrity which lasted until he left the co-op owning a considerable amount in unpaid rent. One of the reasons I didn't become particularly friendly with Martin was that I recognised the same personality traits as Jonathon had. Both were very charming, extremely articulate, completely selfish and very good at discovering which buttons to press.

Since I've been here, I've discovered that two of my colleagues have those traits. I enjoy the company of one of them but we both recognise that we're never going to be best friends because I won't put my needs second to theirs and I'm not affected by silences and attempts to play me off against other people. The other one is much younger and still trying out their power. This person knows that I think they are lazy, selfish and manipulative. They daren't confront me about it (it isn't their style) but they have, on several occassions, tried to make me look stupid in front of other people. What this person doesn't seem to realise is that I'm on to them (btw the use of the plural pronoun is deliberate.)

I am a straightforward person, I believe I'm generally diplomatic and careful with words especially when tackling difficult subjects. On the other hand, I'm not afraid of dealing directly with problems - I don't sneak around. This means that most people like me and trust me, after all what you see is what you get.

The next few months are going to be fun!

Flowers and the like

I was checking through my archives and I found a post I'd written but hadn't published - don't know why but I probably thought you'd all be bored with Colonia. Anyway, being a thrifty sort of person I can't let my good work go to waste so here it is.
_____________________________________________________

Originally written on June 1st 2006.

One of the lovely things about Colonia is the way trees and shrubs grow all over the town. Even though it's the end of autumn, going into winter here, things were still in flower.

So here we have Cocoa beans still on the trees...




An orange tree with oranges...




Convolvulus and Cacti...




Mossy trees. I think the moss is a parasite but the effect is lovely...




This is the most common sight, either in this dark red or a lighter pink colour...



...the trunks are twisted together to support the flowering top and just about every street has two or three. In fact one house we saw had three of these plants to itself.


And I couldn't resist this combination...



There isn't a lot of colour here in Buenos Aires so this makes such a nice change.

They are over

Hallelujah, the exams are over.

Exams are serious business here. Everyone wants to pass, everyone takes them very, very seriously. I had a short toilet break between my two evening classes today and on the way to the loo I was amazed at the serious atmosphere in the school. Students coaching each other on the different conditionals, testing each other on the past simple versus the present perfect, checking the meaning of vocabulary - "What's a synonym for serious?" I know I get stressed when I have to take an exam but I never realised how stressed I get when I have to invigilate one - it's a serious business.

And sometimes students do stupid things. It's unbelievable the number of times I have been asked, in all seriousness, the meaning of a word. Seriously, students have asked me what answer they should put for any number of questions - and I was seriously pissed off when one student told me it was my fault that she didn't understand the questions because they were the wrong format (they weren't) and I, as a teacher, shouldn't make mistakes. I was seriously tempted to dock her some marks (but I won't, I take my job too seriously for that).

So, hallelujah, the exams are over. Now I just have to give them the results... where did I put that flak jacket?

This post was brought to you by the colours orange and purple and the word serious.

Murder Hits A Sour Note

or "amateurs do it for free".

Buenos Aires has a daily newspaper written in English called the Buenos Aires Herald (or 'erold for short). The school gets it every day and I take it home every night. The writing isn't brilliant but it is the news as seen from an Argentine perspective so I knew that the teamsters were boycotting the Chinese-owned supermarkets while everyone else was wondering why there wasn't much milk in their local shop or that the dispute over the building of a pulp mill in Uruguay has reached the World Court (didn't even know that existed before I came here) and that the court has ruled in favour of Uruguay - maybe not earth-shattering news to you but at least it's not USA-centric (is that a word?). One of the things the erold has is a listing section where all sorts of notices are placed and this week one of those things was a production by The Suburban Players. The setting: A Chicago Supper Club. The time: New Years Eve 1955. The problem: MURDER. You may have seen those "Host a Murder" games in your local supermarket/games shop. They were very popular a few years ago (and maybe still are). I hosted one myself when I lived in Charlton and great fun was had by all (or so they told me). Anyway, tonight The Suburban Players put on a performance of "Murder Hits A Sour Note". 25 pesos (dinner included).

A fine evening of entertainment. Obviously it had it's faults (the biggest of which was the music - electric guitars and rock and roll - it would have soooo much better to put on a tape of crooners, a little bit of swing, and have the performers lip synch to it) but the players were enthusiastic, the food was good and the beer was cheap(ish). It dragged a little at times but nowhere near as bad as the St Georges Quiz Night. Too much feedback (insisting people gave their theories even when it was obvious they didn't want to) and the denouncement (to be said in a French accent as de-new-mont) could have been better handled. I initially identified the culprit but changed my mind and got it totally wrong (just as well I'm not a copper). Overall I really enjoyed the evening. It wasn't in BsAs but a smaller town called San Isidro which is only 20 minutes away by train. I've given them my email address so they'll keep me posted on what they are doing.

The whole evening made me nostalgic for my time in AmDram and L (who went with me) and I spent a fair bit of time comparing our experiences. It's unfortunate that The Players aren't more local to me (or me to them) because I'd like to get involved but I guess it's not to be.

No more maudlin sentimentality - I'm off to bed!

One more week

Ah the end of another week. It's funny how suddenly the end of the first term has arrived. I have one more week of exams/results etc. then two weeks holiday. I've been here five months now and I still feel like everything is new. It is hard to believe that we're half way through the first year.

Anyway, what exciting things do I have to tell you today? Ummmmm, well nothing really. We had a cracking thunderstorm yesterday, right overhead, big boom, lovely. And one the things I really like about Buenos Aires is that the rain falls vertically, none of this sneaky sideways, at a funny angle, up your skirt (not that I wear a skirt but you know what I mean) stuff we get in the UK. When it rains in Buenos Aires "it's as if the sea is trying to reclaim the land by airdrop" (Douglas Adams [I think], could be Terry Pratchett).

So the weekend is here, I have loads of exam marking to do (writing, woohoo!) and I might even try to find time to do some sewing.

Don't you envy me?

Sleeping

Now, what shall I write about today?

Students who oversleep and don't turn up to exams then phone their buddies to fix another time? Yep, that happened yesterday. Photocopiers which decide* to jam just as I'm copying the last (and most vital) part of an exam? Yep, that happened yesterday. Inconsiderate adjoining bar owners who decide that jazz played at full blast won't disturb people taking exams? Yep, that happened yesterday. Self-same bar owners who turn down the music on request but then slowly increase the volume over the next thirty minutes, denying having done so when asked to turn it down again? Yep, that happened yesterday. The school fuses blowing leaving the ground floor with no lights three minutes into the listening exam? Yep, that happened yesterday.

No wonder I slept like a log last night.

*Photocopiers are sentient beings. They do know the precise moment at which to cause the maximum distress. They should be treated with much respect. They will rule the Earth.

Exams

Today we swing into the second round of exams. Last week we did the oral exams - bloody hard work - wherein each teacher went and listened to someone else's class talk to a given format. The rationale is that because we don't know the students we won't be accustomed to their voices, tricks of speech, etc. and therefore can provide a double check for the regular teacher about the students' levels. Just in case you haven't cottoned on, it was BLOODY HARD WORK.

Of course this week we're all back with our regular classes and they all want to know how they did. I tell you, it doesn't matter how often you tell them before the exam that they'll get all their results in the last lesson they still think that constant badgering will force you to give them their oral results immediately (and, trust me, I'm not the only teacher who's getting this flak). Anyone would think I'm teaching children with no self-control.

Anyway, today the exam level classes (FCE/CAE/CPE) start their mid-year exams and all classes have exams on Monday and Tuesday. So I'm going to be a marking demon over the next few days, with writer's cramp and teacher's elbow (a variation of housemaid's knee) and a screaming headache from trying to decipher god-awful handwriting!

But, this time next week, I'll be into final lessons and soon - holiday (yeeha!).

Send me love and kisses, I need your support.

Gym'll fix it

Hello lovely ones and how are you today? Me? I'm fine (terrible phrase that I try to stop my students from using - not because it's wrong but because it's sooo booooring). I've been feeling my age recently (and it's 72) - not nice and not helped by a ten year old mattress with no support, oh my aching hips!

Before I came out here, back in the good old UK, I was a bit of a gym bunny (well nicely mature rabbit, but anyway). I went four, five, sometimes six times a week - and it felt goooood!

I came out here with a list of gyms that do the same classes and the strong intention of joining one of them. HUH! Has that happened? Do I go to the gym regularly? Do I heck as like! At first I didn't join a gym because I didn't know my timetable and experience has shown me that my timetable will always (and I mean always) clash with whatever I want to do in my personal life. So I held off for a few weeks.

Then I didn't join because I was sooo busy coming to terms with my teaching schedule, my classes, my students and life in BsAs in general. I kept looking at gym timetables and kept finding that they hold their classes when I am teaching (which makes sense - we both work when our customers aren't).

Finally, last week I thought I'd found a gym, close to where I live, that has classes when I'm available. In I go and in my bestest spanglish enquire about the prices etc. Ten minutes later I'm out on the pavement reeling with shock. The monthly charge was 10% of my income.

So, following the powercut, I've taken to walking up the stairs at home. Not all seven storeys (fourteen flights) at once, no. This week I'm getting off the lift on the sixth floor and walking up two flights, next week I'll get off on the fifth etc. etc. It isn't much but it's something and in the meantime the search for gym nirvana continues.

Doing the privates

As I've mentioned before, the salary here isn't good. I want to be able to buy some new clothes, shoes etc. during the next eighteen months, so I've started asking around for private students. I did follow up a couple of names and telephone numbers left on the teachers' noticeboard but that came to nothing. Thankfully, at last, something has turned up. As I've posted before some of my colleagues have left or are leaving soon and one of them, who only works part-time, has several privates to pass on. I met one of them today and it looks as if he's to be mine. I start teaching him after the winter holiday, twice a week for 35 pesos an hour. He's very motivated and plans to take (and pass) an exam in December. This makes the teaching much easier.

I plan on saving the money which should give me a nice little nest egg for the summer holiday (December/January) and allow me to buy some christmas pressie for those at home.

I'm also hoping that by being busier, I'll get more done, feel less miserable and be more inspired in my main job.

Cross your fingers for me!

Electricity

There I was sitting at the computer last night when everything went dark. NO I had not been blinded by a rogue blood clot - we had a power cut!

The lights had been flickering for several hours, nothing serious - it's happened before, I've even had a power cut before. I wasn't too worried. Last time the power was off for about half an hour and this time I was prepared - I have candles (which come in a bag!).

Anyway around about 8:30, off went the lights. I sat here for a few minutes reading stuff on the laptop (which was working on battery) waiting for the leccy to return. Of course, when there's no leccy there's no internet so I just had to play a game (no choice in the matter, the lack of leccy forced me ma'am, honest). After ten minutes I lit a candle (so romantic, not!) and an hour later I had shut everything down and was on my way to L's. She still had electricity - she lives in a civilised part of town (although she couldn't turn the hot tap in her bathroom off). We cooked stew and watched tv. I left her's at about midnight thinking everything would be wonderful at home, but No! Oh no! there is a man and he is digging up the pavement outside of my apartment block and there is the encangardo (cartaker/janitor/doorman) and he is watching the man who is digging up the pavement and we still do not have any electricity and they do not know when we will have any electricity [sorry, felt a bit Eddie Izzard-ish then].

I went to bed and when I woke up this morning - Lo and Behold - electricity had returned. Just thought you'd like to know.

The Mozzies Strike Back

aka how I lost my immunity and patience in one painful night.

Now as you lovely people know I've lived on three continents and in five countries (don't it sound grand when put like that?) and all of them have mosquitoes. You can't escape the buggers nowadays. If they're not hanging around your ankles in the pub, they're hanging around your shoulders in the bedroom.

I've grown used to sleeping with the smell of mosquitoe repellent (in fact, 'raid' do a nice flowery smelling one which plugs into the wall socket) and I've always been lucky in that, when bitten, I only get a small bump which disappears within a few hours - my immune system is very efficient.

That was until I met the Argentine Mosquitoe. Mozzies usually announce their presence with that irritating high pitched whine as, indeed, do most Argentine mozzies BUT (and it's a big but) there are silent mozzies here (and I sometimes think they are invisible as well). You'll be there quite happily doing nothing in particular when your arm starts to itch [go on I know you can feel it itching now] and you casually scratch, but when you look down HORROR you are scratching a mozzie bite and to make things worse, you've scratched the head of the bite so it WILL become infected and irritate you for several days to come.

Things came to a head about a week ago. I'd done the usual visual sweep of the room, looking for telltale signs of mozzies, killed one and was feeling good about that. Bad move - I don't know whether it's the smell of blood from the squashed mozzie that attracts another or whether word gets around and revenge is sought. Either way, I'm in bed, just about to drop off when I hear the whine - right by my ear. Action must be taken immediately, out of bed, on with the light, on with the glasses, up with the newspaper. Now where's the bugger gone? Ten minutes later I'm back in bed, cold and knowing that there is a rogue mozzie out there seeking my blood. What can I do about it? Nothing. Thirty minutes later, just as I'm about to drop off, repeat the whole performance. This time I killed the bugger (two nil to Shiralee). Finally I fell asleep and woke the next morning, covered in bites on my hands, forearms and shoulders. A silent bugger! (seven two to the mozzies) and I'd scratched the bites in my sleep.

I'm hoping that the mozzie that made of meal of me has imparted enough of it's poison to ensure my immune system is back up to par and that the only reason I still have those bumps is because I scratched. Do not be alarmed by stories of huge mosquitoes that eat houses - those are science fiction stories only.

Making a commitment

As I've said before, there is a rumble of discontent at the school especially about the level of salary and the lack of teacher development. These issues have been addressed (at least partially) in various ways. However, staff morale has been low and it seems likely that the majority of the people I flew out here with will be leaving at the end of the year.

For a while it looked as though I might have been one of those people. My reasons for coming to BsAs were many: I wanted to live on a different continent (done Europe, sneezed at Africa); I wanted the opportunity to visit monuments that most people have only read about; as always, I wanted to experience a different culture albeit a 'Europeanised' one; I wanted to get back to the basics of teaching (students in a classroom, not business people in a meeting room whose attention was always focussed on their mobile phones); I wanted some professional development (sadly lacking in Italy) but most of all I needed to get away from Italy (don't take that too personally all my Italian friends but there is someone there who has broken my heart).

Last year in Milan, I did the DELTA (a professional qualification for serious teachers only). It was a lot of hard work and I thought I'd done my best. The DELTA is assessed in three parts: a) an exam - I passed that; b) a case study of an individual student - I passed that; c) teaching practice with background reading and a written assignment - I was referred on that. I didn't know I'd been referred until I'd accepted the job in BsAs and it came as something as a shock (especially in the way I found out which was via a colleague on the same course and not directly from the tutor). Referral basically means you've failed but you have the chance to make it good. For me to make it good I have to write another background assignment and have a lesson externally assessed. Not too difficult I hear you say (wait till you try it, is all I can say). Apart from summoning the necessary motivation, conversations with other DELTA qualified teachers have left me feeling a little cheated about the quality of the course I did. In addition I would have to pay for the assessor to come to me (the nearest one is in Brazil) ie flights, expenses, accomodation and Cambridge fee, all of which would be approximately the same as doing the course again because I would be bearing the cost alone.

Now this is where all that rambling begins to make sense. One of the other reasons for coming to BsAs is that the school runs the DELTA course every two years and I would be able to piggyback onto the assessor coming out for the next course. However with the ecomonic downturn, the low staff morale, the likelihood of everyone leaving at the end of the year, the lack of regular teacher development sessions (and the piss-poor wages), it seemed likely that it wouldn't be happening next year. If that was the case, I would have had to leave in order to find somewhere else to complete my DELTA. However, on Tuesday L, U and myself sat down with the director and told him that we were prepared to commit to staying for the second year on the condition that the school runs the DELTA. He assured us that the school has every intention of running the course and will be seeking candidates from outside the school to ensure this happens.

So people it looks like I'm here until December 2007 as originally planned. Obviously if the DELTA doesn't run here next year I'll have to leave earlier and the director knows this but the look on his face when we said we were prepared to stay for a second year was 'enlightening'. I have the feeling that apart from the DoS and ADoS, we three will be the only full time teachers remaining which will make us the big guys in the playground next year! (oh, god not responsibility - I can handle anything but responsibility).

Update
I found out today (on the grapevine) that the director was horrified when the three of us asked to talk to him because he thought we were resigning. (As if I'd need to do that as part of a delegation!).

On blogging

When I started this blog I thought I'd have plenty to say. When I lived in Italy and Egypt things were always happening, funny quirks of the people around me (especially my students) and differences in habits, expectations and cultural norms that would continually surprise me. I believed the same would be true of Argentina.

Maybe it's because I only have a one minute walk to work and therefore don't get to see Portenos (people who live/come from Buenos Aires) in the raw; maybe it's because I don't want this to descend into a rant blog (and that's all I've wanted to do recently - don't even get me started on service providers here) or maybe it's because basically I'm a boring person who lives a boring life (not so quick to agree there at the back... I know where you live). Whatever it is I've noticed that I'm not blogging much.

As someone who reads a lot of blogs (20-30 a day) I know how good it feels when one of your favourite writers updates. Now I know I'm not one of your favourites ('one of', me? Boh) but you're reading this so something must be right. I've said in previous posts that a lot has been happening at the school, however this is no excuse not to keep you informed about the minutae of my life and, as things are settling down and I'm getting a little more organised and becoming a little more inspired about teaching again, the time has come to renew my commitment to this blog!

Recent major events include: getting my students to teach each other; potentially getting a private student; booking a holiday for the winter break; football fever; the mozzies strike back; trying to join a gym and making a commitment. I'll be tackling each of these over the next few days but if there is anything you would like to know about, ask and you will be heard.