Social Weekend

So what did I get up to last weekend? Yet again, I was a busy bunny. Friday was full of Spanish lessons, Language Awareness, Teacher development and general admin.

When I got home at 3pm on Friday, it was to discover that I had no gas. They (the mysterious they who shall not be identified) have been doing work on the block, principally the heating system which has been causing damp in my flat. It seems that part of this process involved turning off the gas to the building but once the gas is turned off, it can only be turned back on by a qualified 'plumber'. I was assured that this would be no later than 7pm.

Friday was not a good day, first my Spanish teacher was late and then went to the loo and made a cup of coffee, then most of the other teachers were late for the input session which itself went on way too long, then the plumbers hadn't turned up by 7:10pm and I had arranged to meet L at 7:30 to go to tango. As I left the Encangardo (Janitor/caretaker) told me the plumbers would be there soon (within twenty minutes which in Argentina means within an hour) so I said NO and walked out. I hadn't gone ten metres when I realised that I was cutting off my own nose, so I phoned L but only got her answerphone (twice). So I hustled my behind to be at our meeting place (via the bank) only to find she wasn't there! When she turned up 5 minutes late, she told me she didn't have change for the bus and would have to go back to a kiosk to buy some water. By then I was fuming, it's not as if this was the first time we'd done this journey and knowing that I'd given up the chance to get my gas turned on didn't make things any better. In the end I realised that there was no way I could spend the evening with L and not be extremely nasty to her when she kept me waiting (as she does all the time), so I told her that I was in a foul mood and was going home. And I left.

I got back to the building just in time to stop the plumbers leaving. The turning on ceremony consisted of them turning on the supply to my flat, turning on all the burners on my cooker and lighting them then lighting the pilot of the boiler. This is standard practice but it seemed so unnecessary.

Anyway I was soooo wound up that I couldn't sleep and didn't go to bed until 4am. What's worse is that I woke up at 9am and realised that there was no way I could get back to sleep. So I got up and did all my washing, sorted out a few things and finally plucked up the courage to go to the gym.

The gym was good. The 'personal trainer' decided that my programme should consist of 20 minutes on the treadmill at 6 km/h followed by 15 minutes on the stationery bike. When I'd done that I went to see him and he said I was finished for the day! I put my foot down (in the nicest possible way) and insisted that I wanted to do some strength training. He was dubious, I think he just saw a fat middle-aged woman and couldn't think beyond aerobic/cardio-vascular work to shift the pounds, but he did what I wanted and once I showed I know how to use the machines he was more ameanable. It is a little funny that people who work in the sport/fitness industry can only see fitness in terms of slimness. I don't claim to be the fittest person around but I think I can, and do, do a lot more than the statistics of my age, weight and height would suggest. I ached like crazy the next day but it was worth it.

I'm going to follow the programme for at least a month and then try to get into the classes. Oh, and I'm still climbing the stairs although I've decided to repeat floor four this week and move down to floor three next week.

That Saturday night, I went to another amateur performance in San Isidro. This time it was a two-hander called The Gin Game. I really enjoyed it. It could have been tighter in places and the acting got a little hammy occasionally but it was well worth the journey and the twelve pesos. I have to admit that I was so tired after the play that I went straight home to bed.

Sunday was a lovely, long, lazy day - unfortunately I didn't do any planning but I managed to wing it today - and it was well worth the rest. This week is going to be hectic, we have reports (again!) and I'm leading a language awareness session this Friday and my register is in a bit of a mess - I've done the essential paperwork but not all the little bits that help me keep track of what I'm doing.

I'll be going to the gym tomorrow morning and then straight into work to do admin, reports, sorting out etc. I have a feeling that this time tomorrow night I'm going to be in bed asleep, dreaming sweet dreams.