I am an island

I like Chile. I like Chile more than I like Argentina. It´s true the people speak much faster but when you indicate that you don´t understand, they slow down and repeat themselves clearly. They are punctual, cheerful and polite. I like Chile.

I´m actually on the Island of Chiloe, in it´s capital Castro (don´t know if that´s anything to do with Fidel or not). When I think of capital cities, I think big, noisy, busy, impersonal. Not Castro. I doubt it´s much bigger than Ramsgate but it is much more chaotic. I went shopping for supplies because everything is shut tomorrow (New Year´s Day and all that) and manouvering around the supermarket was 'interesting' - more of an obstacle course than a pleasant hours shopping but I got everything I needed (and some chocolatey treats). I haven´t bought any alcohol as I don´t have anyone to drink with and I couldn´t work out whether it is sadder to be on my own and alcohol-free on New Year´s Eve or drinking alone. I think probably the second.

I´m staying at the hostel recommended by Jayne. I´ve wished the owner Martha Feliz Nuevo Año and she remembers Robyn. It´s nice and quiet, something I need as I´m still recovering from this cold and I´m looking forward to a day of doing nothing tomorrow followed by a couple of days church-viewing. Watch out for more photos soon.

Sailing

Yesterday I went on a trip down the Beagle Channel, one of three ways to get from the Atlantic to the Pacific (or vice versa) in this part of the world. It was a lovely calm day and we stopped off to look at the sealions and penguins. In fact we saw two types of penguins, the Magellans and the other type (is it obvious that I can´t remember the name?) the ones who were in an animated film, yellow feet and beak with a fairly long grey tail, yes them.

To be honest the best part was the actual sailing. I was on a catamaran along with about 50 other people but I spent a good deal of the time on deck just staring at the scenery. I was filled with an incredible sense of peace and I have some understanding of why people enjoy sailing.

Today I´m flying to Puerto Montt in Chile and from there I´m going onto Chiloe for New Year. An odd thing has happened, Argentina has put its clocks forward an hour so it´s now 11:30 here. I´m totally confused about how this relates to the UK but I´ll sort it out in Chile.

The ups and downs of travelling

Today I went on a 4x4 ´trek´. I like these kind of treks as they involve absolutely no walking at all! Instead you are picked up in a 4x4 and driven along unmade roads, mud tracks and along the lake shore until you reach the site where you will have lunch. Now that all sounds pretty straightforward, no? Well, they use 4x4´s for a reason - and that reason is the sheer joy the drivers gain from pushing the vehicles to their limits. We went up near vertical slopes, down near vertical slopes, along at impossible angles where the only thing I could see out of the passenger side window was the road. We went through mud so deep that it came up to the tops of the wheel arches and through water so deep it came up to the top of the bonnet. And we did all this without getting wet ourselves. It was amazing just how calm and competent the driver was (of course, he does this just about every day of the week) but he had a mischevious streak and pushed us as much as possible to get a reaction. I loved, loved, loved it. Remember I love rollercoasters and this was better than the best rollercoaster ever. On top of all this I had the front passenger seat (I don´t know how the hostel arranged this but it was reserved especially for me) so I got to see everything and take some photos.

For lunch we had a barbecue by the lakeside and while we were waiting for it to cook we all wandered off - and I saw a fox, I even managed to get a photo of it. Of course, this was slightly spoiled later when the fox came back a practically posed for us - it could smell the cooking food and was waiting for us to disappear - still, I saw it first.

We were supposed to go canoeing after lunch but the weather turned a bit off (very windy and squally rain) so that was cancelled (can´t you tell how heartbroken I am) and another rollercoaster 4x4 drive was substituted - Woohoo!

On another note, I´ve managed to catch a nasty cold (sore throat, temperature, blocked nose) but I´ve been to the pharmacist and I´ve got some kind of drug. I´m hoping it´s just that week two of the holiday illness that everyone gets. Whatever it is it isn´t going to stop me doing stuff - if I can teach like this I can 'trip' like this.

It´s ice Jim, but not as we know it

It´s early (for me) Thursday morning and I´m waiting for a taxi to take me to the airport where I´ll fly to the end of the world more commonly known as Ushuaia. I have 245 photos on my camera to upload!!! I hope there´s a fast connection down there.

I went to see some more glaciers yesterday via boat. We were surrounded by icebergs and even hit one. Not quite Titanic, but a lot of pole, rope and hook work was done to pull it on board so that we could continue and all I could think about was how nice a gin and tonic would be.

I´m also learning how to catnap - something I´ve never been any good at but absolutely vital when travelling - so I caught forty winks on the journey back and managed to miss the condor sitting on the banks of the river. Oh well, at least I´ve seen several of them in flight.

More soon my lovelies.

Ice, ice, baby

Hey, it´s christmas day and I´m in El Calafate. The sun is shining and I´m chilling out after drinking too much beer and champagne last night. The atmosphere is friendly and laidback. Yesterday I went to the Perito Moreno glacier the world´s only growning glacier (I think). To be honest I wasn´t expecting much exept a wall of ice but the warm day combined with no wind meant ideal conditions for calfing ie the glacier was dropping bits and pieces off itself left, right and centre. I saw three pretty big calfings and managed to photograph them all In fact I was directly in front of the calfings on two occasions - bloody spectacular. You don´t realise just how big the bits dropping off are until you feel the captain of the boat turn the bow to meet the oncoming wave - not quite 'A Perfect Storm' but decidedly wobbly. Photos will be on flickr soon (the internet is pretty slow in this part of the world and I don´t want to waste too much time in front of the computer.

Time moves in a different way here. The sun doesn´t set until 11pm and comes up again at 4.40am so the evenings are long and beautiful while the mornings are bright and sunny. And it´s hot, even with the constant wind, it´s hot. While we were on the boat yesterday we could feel the warm breeze coming down off the land until we were close to the ice-face when the breeze was cooler but once we turned back towards the shore the breeze got warm again. I am enjoying doing nothing and I´ve met some really nice people (another post).

To those of you who I didn't contact over christmas, I was thinking of you, in fact as I lay in bed last night I listed you and wished you happy christmas individually - maybe you feel an odd breeze at about 5am UK time/6am Italy time?

Happy....

Happy Christmas, happy hunnaka, happy kwanza to each and everyone of you.

I´m off to look at a glacier. Have fun (and I apologise for any spelling mistakes but it is only 7am).

Speed O Post III

Just a quick post to let you know I´m still alive. I´m in El Calafate and tomorrow I go to the glacier at Perito Moreno.

Camera
Since I last posted I´ve spent an immense amount of time in internet cafes trying to upload more photos. Specifically of the Petrified Forest just outside Sarmiento - some photos are there, more to follow.

Wind
Nobody told me the wind blows all the time in Patagonia. I haven´t had a still day since I arrived but the sun is shining so it evens itself out.

Timewasting
Over the last couple of days I´ve spent a lot of time waiting. Waiting for bus connections, waiting to buy tickets, waiting for people to stop queue jumping. A lot of waiting (and a real waste of time)

Railway Museum
While waiting in Comodoro I went to their Railway Museum. Very small but with some wonderful artifacts. I have a photo of me in the cabin of a steam engine (non-working) - eat your heart out Den.

On being alone
Before I started this I was worried about being surrounded by people all the time but having spent two days not in a hostel and therefore away from other backpackers, I come to realise just how much I need to have like-minded people around me. Thank god for hostels.

Swaying
I haven´t slept properly for two days and as I sit here I´m swaying. More soon.

Moving on

Today I´m moving on from Puerto Madryn to Comodoro Rivadavia, a place with no redeeming qualities according to the guidebook but the nearest bus stop to Sarmiento. And just outside Sarmiento is a petrified forest - and who can resist a petrified forest? I´ll only be in Comodoro for two nights so keep your fingers crossed that I can arrange a day trip to the petrified forest at short notice.

For those of you who don´t know how to check out the photos, you can go to www.flickr.com and search for Puerto Madryn but it´s easier to click on the flickr badge in the left hand column (just a little further down from this post).

Happy hunting

Jam today

Guess what I had for lunch today. Tagliatelli with runny jam. That wasn´t the plan but the waitress assured me that the tagliatelli with salsa agridulce was delicious. Now I know that salsa agridulce is sweet and sour sauce and now I know why there are very few sweet pasta dishes.

Still the ice-cream I had later more than compensated for it.

A few more details

I'm in the process of uploading my photos as I type. I haven't edited any of them so sometimes all you can see is a black line on the horizon. That's the whale. Click on the photos and magnify for a better shot. One day (when this trip is over) I'll go through the photos and pretty them up a bit (crop, resize, delete etc.) but for now it's a case of uploading and leaving them there as a permanant record. If you search carefully enough you'll even find a photo of me.

I have to say that, exciting as the whales were, I really loved the penguins - there were a pair who seemed to be posing for us - and the armidillos. I'd always thought of them as bid slow animals, a bit like an old fashioned vacuum cleaner but, in fact, they scuttle about at an incredible rate on their bowed-legs. Their armour plating is hard but they also have a lot of fine hairs which are incredibly soft.

I also saw the Elephant seals, big buggers and soooo noisy. It sounded like Sean after he'd had a curry.

The Hostel I'm staying in is very nice although it's been a bit of an adjustment for me. I've gone from living on my own to sharing a dorm with three other women, one of whom thinks nothing of rolling in at 2am and turning on the lights (we all got our revenge by contantly wandering in and out of the room this morning as she tried to catch up on her sleep), and from having my own kitchen to sharing with a million strangers some of whom think washing up means running their cutlery under a cold tap for a milisecond. I could go on about the different types of travellers I've encountered so far (and many of them are French) but I'll leave that for a rainy day (or one when I'm feeling evil).

Thar she blows!

I went on a trip today. A whale watching trip. With whales. Which I watched.

There were also penguins, Elephant seals, sealions, armidillos, guanacos, rhea, stormy petrols (I think), and buzzards.

I´ve taken a shed-load of photos which I hope to upload tomorrow.

Watch this space (and the whales)

Over and done with

My dears, how could I be so slack? It´s been two weeks since my last post, shame on me!

Firstly, thank you and welcome to all those who recently left comments - my lack of posts has nothing to do with that. It was nice to be contacted by a fellow Shiralee and if you leave your email address in the comments (not to be published) I´ll contact you directly.

Secondly, it´s all over. The reason for my long silence was a combination of a lack of oppotunity and a lack of privacy. The last two weeks at work were (almost) non-stop mind-numbing drudgework. Inventorying the books, electrical equipment, uncle Tom Cobbly and all. I did manage to get slightly sloshed on champagne and orange juice a couple of times and went out for a couple of nice meals to say goodbye to people. I will miss my colleagues but not Buenos Aires.

Finally, I´ve packed up and gone. The keys to the flat have been handed over and all my stuff gone. I´m actually in Puerto Madryn now after a relatively comfortable overnight bus ride. Tomorrow I´m off looking at wildlife so watch out for the photos.

Ciao lovelies

Sorting things out

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm sitting in an internet cafe. It is very strange. Yesterday I packed up my laptop and items of special significance and today they are flying back to the UK curtesy of my good friend Jayne, her partner David and their daughter Robyn.

In all honesty, I feel bereft without my computer. Even when I didn't have access to the internet, I still played on my computer, listened to music, typed out my thoughts and generally amused myself. Now there's just a big empty gap on the table (and in my psyche) where it used to be.

In addition, I've been sorting out all the paperwork I've collected over the last two years, bagging up the rubbish for recycling and sorting out my clothes to be passed onto some (un)lucky recipient. The flat is in total chaos - I've never seen it so messy but I am bringing it to order.

Next on my list is mending my clothes for the journey ahead. I'm only taking old clothes and they aren't in the best state of repair so out have come the needle and thread - it's something to do instead of being on-line.

I am feeling both excited and nervous. A little afraid of what I've let myself in for but I also know that if I don't do this I'll regret it forever.

More during the week.

Speed-O-Post part II

Year End
So, the normal teaching year is over and the intensives begin tomorrow. That means two more weeks and I finish here in Argentina.

Journey Home
My journey home is more or less planned. I'll be in South America until the beginning of March then I fly to Australia for up to six weeks (taking us to the middle of April). From there I'll fly to Europe but quite where in Europe will probably depend on flight availability, price and how I feel.

Telephone Call
Changing the subject completely, I had a telephone call yesterday from a telemarketer asking if I was interested in buying a plot in a cemetery! I've heard of cold calling but that is downright weird.

Dentist
Went to the dentist yesterday and had the brace on my top teeth tightened. It is a little painful at the moment and some of my teeth are numb. Now I know that sounds odd but I didn't realise just how much sensation I was receiving from my teeth until it stopped happening. It's like when your leg goes numb and when you touch it you only get the signal from your hand - just like touching someone else in fact.

Packing
I've started sorting my stuff into three groups. The first is to go home immediately, the second is to travel with me and the third is to be left here/given away. This kind of clearing out is very tiring but very therapeutic.

Ok, that's it.

Yet another quick update

Hurray, hurray, it's a holi, holiday (well, nearly). I've handed out my last report, given my last pep talk to my last lazy student and done all the paperwork involved in wrapping up the academic year. We still have a week and a half of intensive courses and odd jobs but what the hey!

Sometime next week we all have to go to the post office and send telegrams of resignation - it seems everyone has to do this, Argentine and foreigner - I guess it's so that there is an official record somewhere. And all the people who are staying on next year have to go to the police station, be fingerprinted and get a police report saying they are honest/not a criminal (it might even be checked through interpol, who knows?). I remember when I was in Egypt we had to have AIDS tests - only applicable to foreigners because Egyptians don't get AIDS - go figure.

My journey home is planned except for the Australia/New Zealand leg - any suggestions or information about where to go and what to see while there would be warmly welcomed.

Oh, and if you want a copy of my itinerary, let me know.

Over and out

It's Friday evening again and the end of another long week. I've been immersed in marking exams, giving grades and writing reports. My eyes feel like someone has rubbed sand into them (more on that later) and I still haven't finished.

Two more days of normal teaching then we're into intensive courses. A week and a half of that and it's all over. Over the weekend I'll be finalising my trip around South America, sorting out the things I want to go back to the UK and packing them up, and repairing the clothes I'm taking with me.

Going back to the subject of my eyes, with the arrival of summer has come the arrival of allergies. I never used to suffer from hayfever but over the last few years it has become worse and worse. It isn't unbearable but at the beginning of the season I start sneezing, not just once but in a series of three to five atishoos (just like you mum) which do nothing to alleviate the irritation and can have some odd side effects. One of these happened the other morning. Sitting on the loo (as you do) I started sneezing. Being in the bathroom, I had tissue handy and wiped my nose. However when I'd finished my business and looked in the mirror, what did I see but green gungy fluid in the corners of both eyes. I had sneezed so hard that the 'snot' had gone upwards rather than downwards - nice.

Indications

I have been observing the drivers here in BsAs for some time.

You're standing at a junction late at night (ok, at about 9:30pm) waiting for the opportunity to cross. A car comes along with its headlights on full, slightly blinding you. It slows down but doesn't actually stop, continuing to move towards you until it suddenly speeds up and passes you. As it crosses in front of you, you catch a glimpse of the driver gesticulating wildly in your direction. It seems that the 'slow down' was accompanied by a waving gesture indicating that you should cross. Of course, what the driver doesn't realise is that you can't see a damn thing because of the headlights.

You're standing at a junction at any time of the day. A car pulls up opposite you. As the cars along the cross road are a fair distance away, you take the opportunity to start crossing the road. The driver opposite you however, is so intent on checking whether there's traffic to his right that he can creep out in front off, that he (and I use the pronoun advisedly) doesn't notice you crossing and starts to pull out, almost running into you. At the last minute he checks the way ahead and the shock on his face when he realises that you are less than a metre from his front bumper is comical to see. Luckily his car is only creeping out.

You're standing at a junction (yet again) and you see a car coming along. Interestingly its right indicator is flashing - why interesting? Because you can only turn right into about 50% of the roads in BsAs (it's that damned one-way system) and the next road is definitely no right turn. But, of course, the driver has no intention of turning right, he (or she, but mainly he) hit the indicator by mistake and isn't aware of it. The thing is the car will go merrily on its way indicating right until it actually makes a right turn at which point the indicator will turn itself off and all will be right with the world. The upshot of this is that no-one takes any notice of indicators. I don't know if people ignore indicators because they are misused or they are misused because no-one takes any notice of them.

You're standing at a junction (there are a lot of junctions - a product of the grid system on which BsAs is designed) and along comes a car with both indicators flashing - in other words, its hazard lights are going. You look around for the hazard, wondering why the car is moving so slowly and then you realise... Unlike anywhere else in the world, in BsAs the hazard lights aren't there to warn you of danger, they're just telling you the driver doesn't know where she (yes, I said she) is going.

And I'm sure they believe themselves to be the best drivers in the world

Luverly

It's early Wednesday morning and this is the first time I've been able to get on-line since the weekend. So, what have I been up to?

Well, firstly I've more or less planned the South American leg of my journey home and booked three quarters of the necessary bits (some has to wait until the weekend). Talking of which, I will be planning the Australia/New Zealand leg and making a decision about Asia.

Secondly, I've been invigilating listening and writing exams for the last two days which means marking one set of papers while sitting with the next set of students taking an exam. So far I've managed to keep up with the writing but it's doing my eyes in. Only six students have failed to turn up (and I knew about three of those) and I guess they'll do the exam next week (I hate stragglers). Today (Wednesday) and tomorrow we have the reading and grammar exams which are much easier to mark being either right or wrong. Friday is report writing and general admin leading into last lessons next week.

On a different note, I went out for a short walk on Sunday to photograph the Jacaranda trees as they are in full bloom at the moment. Their blossom is an interesting shade of mauve and when it falls it blankets the grass. Remember the yellow blossom from the Saturday walk last year?


Here's the mauve blossom from my Sunday walk this year.


So that's me, nothing especially exciting, but nothing worrying either.

Oh, and the summer has finally kicked in - we have warm nights with hot and humid days. Lovely.

Planning

Hello again

Sorry for the spotty posting but my internet connection has been a little non-existent - that's the problem with 'borrowing' it. I am surrounded by cafes offering free wi-fi and that's where I get mine from (I think) but during the busy times the bandwidth is restricted and I'm left out of the loop.

Anyhow, I spend yesterday afternoon and evening, and most of today planning my trip home. It is soooo frightening. Partly because I'll be travelling over Christmas and the New Year - prime holiday time for the Argentines - and partly because it involves making decisions and spending money based on those decision. I have to co-ordinate bus tickets, flights and accommodation - should just one be unavailable I'm up the creek without a paddle.

I'm a great believer that everything will turn out ok, that I'll find somewhere safe to sleep and that my booked journeys will all join up nicely, but (and it's a big but) this is South America. I don't know whether to start with the flights (the most expensive part), the bus journeys (the easiest to book) or the accommodation (the quickest to get booked up).

By this time next week, everything must be done... or nothing will happen.

Revision

It's Thursday night and the end of another long, long week. We've been doing revision lessons all week and it has been so tiring.

It always amazes me that students are so short-sighted. They've known from the beginning of the year that they'll have to do an end of year exam but it's only in the last couple of weeks that they've started even thinking about it. All those students who couldn't be bothered to do the homework (especially the writing) are suddenly demanding to know what will be in the exam (as if I'd tell them!) and what they need to know in order to do the writing exam and, boy, does it annoy me when students who've made little or no effort throughout the year suddenly expect to be handed everything they need in order to pass the exam, on a plate.

Still, the week is over and we've just three lesson until the end of term. I'll follow that with a week and a half of intensive lessons for those taking Cambridge exams this December then...

FREEDOM!!!

Photos

I've upgraded my Flickr account to pro which means unlimited uploaded photos all sorted into sets.

Go here and have a look. NOW!

Mataderos

On Sunday L and I went to the Fiera de Mataderos which lies just outside the city boundaries. This is the old slaughterhouse district and centre of gaucho culture in BsAs. The fair runs every Sunday and there's always plenty to see, hear, eat, drink and buy but last Sunday was one of the special Sundays, when the men and their horses come to compete.

They have a specific competition whereby they gallop their horses as fast as possible along the road (which is covered in sand to protect the horses)


and try to pick a small silver ring hanging from a crossbar. It demands a lot of skill (I don't think I could do from horseback even if the horse was standing still).


The ages range from early teens to ancient graybeards (although none of them actually had beards) and when they aren't competing on horseback, they are dancing with their womenfolk.

Charcarita Cemetery

At the beginning of the year I went to Chacarita Cemetery. This is the second cemetery in Buenos Aires. In area, I think it's the largest but in status it's number two. Interestingly enough while Eva Peron is interred in Recoleta Cemetery (number one) Juan Peron, with whom I share my birthday, was interred in Chacarita (although he's recently been moved, amongst much outpouring of emotion).

You may remember here how I felt about Recoleta but Charcarita is even more weird. Not only is it bisected by pathways, it also has roads - and people drive around them. I don't know if the roads can be used as a short cut but I'd swear some of the drivers weren't interested in being in a cemetery (pumping bass music is a bit of a give-away).


As the cemetery has roads, they must be identified. And the authorities have taken the very practical decision to give the roads numbers rather than names.



There is a huge underground vault for those who can't afford or don't want a mausoleum of their own.



And, finally, Charcarita is the final resting place of Carlos Gardel, considered the best Tango singer EVER. His fans still visit and leave flowers especially on the anniversaries of his birth and death.


The photos were taken with my old digital camera.

Food and stuff

I've had a real thing for seafood recently so much so that I've been eating lunch at the restaurant next to the school. It's not cheap but it is good (fresh shrimp and salmon) and it's peaceful. I take the local newspaper to read and don't talk to anyone other than the waiter. I'm not really sure whether it's been the food or the quiet that I've needed but, either way, it's helped to keep me sane over the last week.

Even so, this evening I had sudden and undeniable craving for meat (get your minds out of the gutter, please) and nothing would do but a freshly cooked chicken. Luckily the supermarket cooks chickens so off I went to get one. It takes about ten minutes max to walk there (and ten minutes back), choosing the chicken took another fifteen minutes (I am a bit fussy) making a total of thirty-five minutes. Why, then, was I out of the house for an hour? Because I spent that extra twenty-five minutes queuing to pay, that's why! I've written before about the ridiculously slow service in the supermarket but tonight was a classic. When I finally got to the cashier my bill came to $44.60, I gave the guy $45 - and he didn't have change. The cry "Cambio" is such a regular occurrence that I have to ask why they wait until they don't have any more change before calling for it, can't they tell in advance?

In other news, I had my hair cut today. I asked for a slightly asymmetrical cut, earlobe length on the left and shoulder length on the right but... it's a bit too short (by about an inch) and I don't like it. The hairdresser spent absolutely ages blowdrying then using the flat tongs to get it completely straight but that's just made it worse. Hopefully by tomorrow it'll be back to it's usual fluffy self and maybe, just maybe, it'll look ok. Either way, at least it grows back.

Over

Phase one is over. The oral exams are done and I have an easy weekend ahead of me. I definitely need to get some sleep and, hopefully, on Saturday I'll get some good news about my mum.

This weekend is also the weekend of the big plan. I've narrowed down all the places I want to visit on my journey back to the UK and I just need to put some more detail into the plan.

Watch this space...

Counting the weeks.

Aaarrrggghhh...

I'm in the middle of exam hell. This week we're doing the end of year oral exams. I have to test students I've never met before (or only in passing), listen to them talk and give them a grade. Sounds easy, yes? NOOOO. It's a nightmare, listening to people talk about the same thing over and over again, hearing their monotonous voices and awkward grammar and trying to shut out the loud lad (and there's always a loud lad) so that you can hear the softly spoken girl (who probably thinks it's too unladylike to raise her voice above a whisper) and try to give them both a fair mark.

On the odd occasion someone has something different to say or a nice turn of phrase, it's like drinking ice-cold beer on a hot day - so refreshing you want to hug them (which, of course, is out of the question).

One more day of this then a week of revision classes followed by a week of written exams and the end of term (which is then followed by a week and a half of intensive exam preparation - then I'm free and clear...


Damn, I'd better start planning my trip home.

Words and pictures

Here are some odds and ends from Sunday (and I promise this is the end of it!)

Gloves for sale,
appetising young gloves for sale,
gloves that are fresh and still unspoiled,
gloves that are only slightly soiled,
gloves for sale

(thanks to The Fine Young Cannibals)

She drove her mother's car, 'twas a deux cheval

(thanks to Lloyd Cole)


The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round

(traditional)

and it's taken my two days to upload these images - I need to get a life.

Sunday (Part II)

So where were we?

Oh yes, we walked down Defensa from Plaza Mayo going past the Basilica San Francisco


I've walked past this several times and never stopped to look in but this Sunday I did. I don't have any interior photos because it wasn't possible but it is very light inside which is surprising for such an old church. Anyhow, onto the market and a cup of tea. The cafe is done out in an Egyptian style and here's a detail...



There were several tables outside in the blazing sun, all were fully occupied despite being crowded together and continually knocked by passing tourists but inside was almost completely deserted!

From there we went further up Defensa looking for a bus stop. Instead we found a pack of drummers following a man with a flag. No idea what it was all about. L said it was a samba rhythm but their faces were deadly serious..




Tomorrow... gloves, CV and bus. Watch this space!

Sunday

Today has been a day of contrasts. It started off with a call from my dad telling me my mum has been admitted to hospital again with a recurrence of her previous problems. He assures me that, although it isn't trivial, the doctor expects everything to be alright. We followed that with a couple of hours on-line crossword completion. This is my favourite way to start my Sundays, it wakes my brain up and gets the day off to a good start.

Later I went to San Telmo with L. I took some more photos (see below) but I have a problem inasmuch as when I look through the view finder everything is out of focus. However the photos themselves seem fine (see below - again). OK, just sorted that out, I've a wheel that adjust the viewfinder focus to allow for different eyesight, unfortunately it's not good enough to compensate for my eyes but I have glasses.

It was a fine afternoon and now I'm at home drinking wine and thinking about going to bed as tomorrow will be a long day.

Anyhow, here are the photos...


Guards at the door of an official building on Plaza Mayo



The jacarandas are coming into bloom



The insignia of "The Mothers of The Disappeared". This is painted around the tall white statue in Plaza Maya. I've been there several times and this is the first time I've noticed it - that's what happens when you forget to look at your feet occasionally.

More tomorrow...

Much ado about nothing

Today I have been productive in a non-productive sort of way:

I have cleaned the flat, which is lovely for about a day then you'd never know;

I have helped U (who is going into hospital on Monday for another operation) load lots of stuff onto her iPod from my computer (I have about 50 gigabytes - yes GIGABYTES - of music and videos on my external hard drive) to help keep her occupied during recovery;

I have washed my bedlinen (although I've yet to remake the bed);

I restarted the yoga (and I really need it) and

Audited the twenty minidisks I bought from U (now she has the iPod she doesn't need them) and checked out the spare minidisk player I've acquired.

So, all in all a productive day but with nothing to show for it.

The wind has been blowing up a storm here all day and I tried to capture it on film but I wasn't successful so here's a shot I took of a building somewhere between San Telmo and La Boca bet they get plenty of sunlight.

View through my classroom window

Doesn't it look exotic!

Basil

I have a bunch of basil in my kitchen. I bought it on Monday from the roadside stall and I've kept in water ever since. Basil is my favourite herb because of all of the wonderful things it does. Combined with tomatoes it brings out all the flavour and alleviates anxiety. It's has antiseptic and antibacterial properties, it can be used as a mouthwash and a footbalm but mostly I love it for it's smell - which is why I keep it by the kitchen door.

Neighbours

I have new neighbours and I can only assume they are American (although they may be Canadian - I defy any of you to tell the difference between the accents). How do I know this? Well, it was the casual comment of "We sit here looking at them, looking at us" as I closed my curtains last night.

New neighbours... not upstairs, not downstairs and not across the hall. These new neighbours are across the street!

MCF:H

I have a new addiction. It's an on-line game, one that I play by myself and it's kept me spellbound for hours. The name is Mystery Case Files: Huntsville and it's a simple spot the (half) hidden objects in a detailed picture then do a Chinese puzzle. So simple yet so absorbing.

Footie Photo

You know, I've been trying to get online all day - given myself a headache in the process! Anyway, an update on the footie photos...

I took 338 photos of which, maybe, four or five are decent. The rest are just blurs or completely out of focus. It's interesting because my hit rate with my non-digital camera is much higher (about 80% decent photos) but I put that down to several factors:

1) I'm still getting used to the camera, it's much lighter than I'm used to and therefore camera shake is much more likely (I have to lighten my touch)

2) I was photographing people playing football, an all-action genre and one I'm not used to

3) It was night-time, under floodlights and I didn't make any adjustments for lighting

Initially, I was a little disappointed at the low number of usable photos but, in hindsight, it's not surprising.

Here's my favourite:



I didn't get a shot of the goal but this was the goalie's reaction (and, yes, it isn't totally focussed but you get the message).

Running on empty

This evening I went to watch the school's over-16 football tournament. As I'm sure you know, football is the national passion here - everyone either plays or watches (in fact, admitting you don't like football is akin to admitting you've cooked and eaten your parents) so this evening's event was pretty well attended.

Now, despite accusations otherwise, I didn't go there to see sweaty young men running around in shorts - I went there to photograph sweaty young men running around in shorts! At least that was my excuse to try out my new camera.

Things were going fine (I'm told the football was good) and I took something like 300 (yes, three hundred) photos when half way through the final my battery ran out - arrgghhhh!

So now I'm waiting for the battery to recharge (it takes about three and a half hours and I must get a spare) before I can look at the shots, delete the 299 rubbish ones and show you lot the decent one. Oh, and I've arranged to photograph the winners in school on Monday evening.

32 Degrees

When I left for work this morning at 10:30am there was bright sunshine and an ambient temperature of 32 degrees. At 1pm while I was out getting my lunch the sky was overcast. At 1:30, while I was eating my lunch the wind got up and it got darker still. Then on the stroke of 2pm, as if it were waiting for the pips, the heavens opened and BsAs was flooded again.

Unfortunately I had left all my windows open (32 degrees remember) and what with the rain, I was pretty sure that I'd have some rain on the floor. So on my break I raced home to find...

a swimming pool in my living room.

I was so shocked I didn't even take any photos!

A rapid mop-up followed by a hands and knees wipe over and the floor was dry(ish). The plants on the balcony had taken a bit of a battering and one of the curtains was dripping but no serious damage was done.

Really, what kind of weather is that?

The eyes have it

We're coming to the end of the year here and starting the run up to end of year exams. All those students who've been just a little too laid-back during the year are suddenly starting to look worried and I keep getting comments such as "I owe you three pieces of writing". Now I admit I'm not the best at marking writing, just trying to decipher some of my students' handwriting is bad enough without trying to understand what they are trying to say.

However this is made much worse when I'm suddenly handed a bundle of written work six weeks after the due date. I can't remember what the writing was about at that point let alone how I marked it for the people who handed it in on time. Now, in theory, it shouldn't matter how I marked the others, I should be marking each piece against the criteria set by the original question but, in reality, it isn't that simple. It is pretty commonly admitted in the staffroom that students who do their exams on a different date to the rest of the class usually score lower than their peers. We don't know why but there seems to be some sort of collective consciousness in an exam room that helps participants and the same applies to written work.

Anyway, the upshot of this is that I'm about to be inundated with loads of student writing. My eyes, my eyes.

Walking on a sunny afternoon

Spent today with my friends. We went to La Boca, Plaza Mayo and San Telmo. Here are some shots showing our route...

La Casa Roja

Calle Mayor, san Telmo

Plaza de Defensa, San Telmo

Painted Houses, La Boca

Window Sculpture, La Boca


and this has only taken me three days to upload - ah, the wonders of modern technology.

Zoo

I spent a wonderful afternoon at the zoo with my friends, took loads of photos (a selection of which are shown here) and managed not to get sunburnt even thought it was as hot as hades today. I love the new camera although it's much more sensitive than I'm used to, but with 2 gigabytes of memory I've plenty of room for shaky shots, blurred focus and experimenting.

Anyway here's a selection...


Don't know what this is. Can anyone tell me (I do know it's indigenous to South America)



Can you see the aligator?



Some form of parrot (especially for Audrey)



Did you know elephants can walk backwards? (and do so for fun)

More soon - I'm thinking of starting a photoblog where I post one image a day. What do you think?

Saturday morning

Saturday morning and, after a spectacular thunderstorm last night, BsAs is just beginning to wake up. The sound of bird song is diminishing and the rumble of traffic is increasing, they'll fight a battle over it for a while but ultimately the birds will win.

My friends arrived yesterday, slightly bleary-eyed but full of enthusiasm for their holiday. They brought my new camera with them and I've started taking photos - next up, loading the photos onto the PC. I will be studying the manual for a while. See you later.

Never mind the quality feel the width

It's a quarter past eleven at night and I'm ready to go to bed. This is not normal for me. Normal for me is one in the morning but I just can't keep my eyes open. I think it's the disturbed sleep over the weekend. Four nights of sleeping in beds (or horizontal coach seats) that are only two foot six inches wide (that's about eighty centimetres to you metric types) has not been good. It isn't that the beds are too narrow (although they are) it's that I have nowhere to put my arms. I like to sleep with my knees bent but my arms stretched out - a cross between a foetus and a yearner in the following diagram:



and narrow beds mean my hands hang off the edge - and I don't like my hands to be ahanging! It isn't that I'm afraid of the monster under the bed (we came to an agreement many years ago, I won't push him out into the cold daylight providing he doesn't attack me - it works well enough) I just don't like the dead feeling I get when my hands aren't supported. Luckily I have a wide bed here (a queen sized one - no comments please) and I don't have to share it. So now I'm going to get into it and fling my arms about as much as I please.

Good night and sleep well my lovelies.

Ankles, hips and calves

So, L and I went away for a relaxing weekend in Cordoba.

Now it's three days later and I have a sprained ankle, painful calf muscles and aching hips. - where does the relaxing come into it???

Photos to follow soon.

1492 and all that...

This coming weekend is a holiday weekend which means no meeting on Friday and no teaching on Monday. It's Christopher Columbus day (or something similar - hey I'm British, how the hell would I know?) and the day is to mark his discovery of the Americas.

Of course he wasn't the first to discover the Americas. Apart from the native population, there had been Viking visitors ever since the tenth century (give or take) but I guess Chrissie was the first to make a big fuss about it. Interestingly this continent isn't named after Columbus but supposedly after Amerigo Vespucci. If you want to know more go here. Anyway, the upshot is I get a day off work.

So I'm off to Cordoba (the Argentine one, not the Spanish one) for a few days r&r. I have a stack of homework to take with me to mark but I plan on enjoying some long(ish) walks, taking lots of photographs and catching up on my sleep. I'm going with L so it should be peaceful all round.

Four out of seven

So, what has happened today? Well I started the day feeling a little down after the wonderfulness that was my birthday (did I tell you the school buys cake for everyone on a birthday?).

I looked at the work I had to do for my on-line course and thought I'd never meet the deadlines but this afternoon I had an amazing burst of productivity and managed to do four out of the seven tasks outstanding. The remaining are all 'think/reflect' type tasks which I expect to be able to do tomorrow.

Sometimes I amaze myself!

8th October 1961

It's my birthday today. After many hours of painful labour my mum finally pushed me out at 22:35 GMT. She says it was worth it - I'm inclined to agree.

I'm now forty-six years old. I feel about seventeen and look about thirty-six (or so my students tell me [isn't bribery a wonderful thing] no really they do, honest! would I lie to you?).

Thank you to everyone who has sent me birthday wishes, they are all appreciated and next year I'll be celebrating in the UK.

See you then.

Elephants

Yessssss! I did it. Only for about a minute mind, but I did it.



So that's elephant, camel, horse and donkey. Anything else you think I should ride?

Colour

With the return of the miserable weather has come the return of my miserable sore throat and blocked nose. However I am confident that these will disappear as quickly as they have appeared once the weather improves. In the meantime, to cheer myself up, I have surrounded myself with flowers and the colour orange.



The flowers are a mixture of fresias (from L when she came to tea) and marigolds which I bought for the colour. In addition I have mandarins all over the place. I'm not that bothered about eating them (although I will get around to it eventually), it's more about having the colour around me.

Orange is my favourite colour (equal with purple) as it symbolises life, energy and vitality without the aggression of red (at least to me) and I need all the life, energy and vitality I can get at the moment. When I lived in London, my living room was painted orange - a very tasteful colour wash of dark orange with terracotta and warm yellow swirled through it. It was always a happy, warm room. As you know, here in BsAs, all the walls of the flat I live in are painted grey - miserable, drab and lifeless. No doubt it would win some style award or something for being shiney if nothing else, but for actually living in...

Whither the weather...

After a lovely day yesterday, the weather gods decided to get their own back today.

I was woken up at 8am by thunder. Now those of you who know me, know I can sleep through anything - I did sleep through the 87 hurricane in London - so for the thunder to wake me it must have been loud. Then, instead of venting it's anger, so to speak, the thunder continued to grumble throughout the day and now at midnight it's still rumbling. On top of that it has rained, oh how it has rained. The old 'cats and dogs' doesn't even begin to describe it. I've said before how it rains here absolutely vertically unless there's a wind blowing at which point the vertical becomes horizontal, well today there was no wind but the rain showers were pretty regular. So about once an hour for fifteen minutes, the heavens opened and the earth was flooded.

I managed to get to and from work (and a quick trip out for food) without getting too wet but some of my students were imitating drowned rats (and only about a quarter turned up). It reminds me of Egypt, land of the eternally warm weather, when it actually rained for three days. Nobody knew what to do as it hadn't rained in Cairo for about twenty years. The roads were mudslides, the cars discovered what the windscreen wipers were for and then discovered that they didn't work - fun for all!

You know I am looking forward to the summer, I need my sunshine but I do miss the British rain.

Busy, busy, busy

I had a wonderful day today. First a talk with my beloved parents about their plans for the future - molto interessante. Then I helped L return a computer she'd borrowed, we had a great parilla lunch followed by an extremely long walk. We (I) needed the walk to, well, to walk-off the lunch and I needed to check the location of the place J will be staying in with her family. However, all that left us exhausted so instead of walking the remaining distance home we hopped on the subte.

By time I got home my feet felt like they were on fire - I haven't done that much walking in a long time and the cheap trainers I've got aren't really intended for city walking. Still it was good to be out in the warm sunshine (even though I stay in the shade) rather than in the dark and horrible flat. BTW I now get about two hours of sunshine coming onto the balcony in the middle of the afternoon (ie the time when I'm at work) but I'm hopeful this will increase as the summer goes on.

I sorted out the strawberries this evening and the fridge is full of strawberry-stuffed jelly while the freezer is full of freshly frozen strawberries - Mmmmmm. Then I've finished the day by doing some of my on-line course stuff.

I am ready for bed.

Red, red fruit

I am up to my elbows in fruit. I went a bit mad today and bought kilos and kilos of fruit. Apples, bananas, pears, mandarins and strawberries (two and a half kilos of strawberries).

I'm going to liquidise and freeze some of the strawberries. Some others, I'm going to immerse in strawberry jelly to pig out on tomorrow - better than ice-cream - and whatever's left will get eaten over the next few days. I shall be smelling of strawberries and sick of them by Wednesday.

Must check to see if strawberries make a good facepack.


UPDATE:

loads and loads of facepacks here.

The smallest things

Had a weird experience today. We were in the middle of a teacher development session looking at 'humanist' theory and practice. We were doing an exercise where you had to talk about a cherished object (normally in class the students would bring something in having had plenty of time to think about it).

When we were asked to find something on our person that was 'cherished', I was stuck. Like most teachers living abroad I tend to travel light and all my cherished things are digital now and stored on my computer or the internet. However, looking through my purse I came across a business card. His business card. The one he gave me the first time we met. And I burst into tears. Sometimes it's the smallest things that throw us off course.

Zero

Ah today...

sometimes it's so difficult to find something to write about but at others it's not. Unfortunately, today it's difficult.

I think I've written before about how little happens here. I'm working on my on-line course in the morning, teaching in the afternoon then straight home to check on the on-line course before going to bed. Time spent in the fresh air - 10 minutes maximum, time spent interacting with people I don't work with or teach - zero minutes.

Is it any wonder I don't have anything to write about?

Sorry I've been a bit slack about posting recently. Partly it's because I'm so busy with the training course but also because I'm not feeling particularly inspired. I did start writing a piece about car drivers who wave at pedestrians to cross the road in front of them - particularly dangerous here - but it hasn't quite come together yet. It's a bit ranty and bitty so maybe you'll get to read it sometime in the future or I might just dump it.

Not a lot is happening at work except my students continue to amaze me. As I mentioned before they are teaching each other and the ideas and sheer inventiveness they display is awesome (and I use that in the non-US sense - I mean they really leave me speechless and completely impressed). I've already filed some of their worksheets (properly credited) in our resources file, I just wish I could come with half as much.

L and I believe we've booked accommodation for the long weekend in October. We're going to Cordoba which is near the centre of Argentina and I'll be taking loads of photos. I've decided to treat myself to a paid flickr account so that I can store all of my photos there and when my new camera arrives I'll be upping the number of photos that I take - watch out!

Card

Thank you mum and dad for the congratulations card. It arrived yesterday and I'm the only one who got one!

Cock of the walk I was!

Posting

I've managed to sort out the problems that were preventing me from participating properly in the on-line tutoring course. I'm now getting into the swing of things but I feel like a latecomer to a party, desperately trying to get to know people who all seem to be best friends and trying to understand conversations that I've joined half way through.

I shall persist and I shall overcome (I've just got to pay for it now).

Lose to Win

I have had a weekend which has been both frustrating and relaxing.

As I've said before, I recently started an online tutoring course. Part of this course involves posting on a discussion board. Now I'm not an expert but I believe I can do this (I often browse the help boards here on blogger for answers to problems). Unfortunately I haven't been able to access the boards properly on the site we're using. I have spent a lot of hours trying and feel I'm getting behind with the course, which I don't want to do. However, I've asked for help and we'll see what can be done by the tech people. That was the frustrating part.

Knowing that I couldn't do the work I wanted to do freed me up to do something completely pointless. The weather here in BsAs has been awful (like the worst British winter days although not as cold) so there's no incentive to go out. On the other hand, U has channels on her tv that I don't (I've been going to hers to watch Dr Who every Saturday) and Sunday was a 'Lose to Win' marathon. I don't know if this programme is on in the UK but basically two teams compete against each other to lose the most weight for a prize. We watched four competitions (eight hours tv) which consisted of 'Engaged Couples'- prize, a dream wedding; 'Restaurant Families' - prize $50,000; 'Military Wives' - prize $50,000 and 'Families who'd had a Crisis' - prize $50,000. In fact the biggest prize for all these people was the improvement to their health and confidence. The format was totally repetitive (something you notice after watching back-to-back episodes) but the results were astounding.

Of course the best bit was sitting on the sofa, drinking diet coke and eating brownies while criticising the whiny girls.

Hypocrite? me? whatever do you mean?

Hair again

I may have mentioned before that Argentines are obsessed with their hair. A couple of examples.

There was a poster campaign running, not long after I arrived here, showing a before and after shot of a lion's mane. Only, the before shot was the mane standing out from the lion's neck and the after shot was the mane lying flat - totally the opposite of the UK.

If you go to the supermarket or Farmacity (the equivalent of Boots here) you will see shelf upon shelf of shampoos and conditioners. Shampoos for blond hair, red hair and brunette hair. Shampoos for straight hair, wavy hair and curly hair. Shampoos for dry hair, normal hair, greasy hair. Shampoos for dyed hair, bleached hair and never touched-by-chemicals hair. And shampoos for any combination of the above. All with their matching conditioners. As if this weren't enough, there are deep conditioners, curl activators, curl suppressants, hair gels, hair mousses and hairspray.

Anyway, here's the latest innovation in the advertising war - GOD.

There is an advert currently running on tv for something which helps the curls, and the product is delivered by the hand of God (out of grey clouds) to a woman who's complaining about frizz (a big concern here). Considering that this is a predominantly Catholic country, I find it amazing - I doubt we'd get away with it in Britain.

Shana Tova

It's the end of another teaching week here in rainy BsAs. This week I've taught twenty four hours (including a 'double' class where the students of two classes were combined into one), finished off my adolescent reports, had two Italian lessons (but my teacher has agreed to not give me any homework) and fooled around on the on-line training course. Tomorrow is parent's day for my non-exam classes so I'll be spending the afternoon waiting for the occasional parent to drop in and be reassured about their child's progress. I don't have any problem students, just a few who don't work as hard as they could and some who don't have enough confidence in their own ability.

Wednesday to Friday this week is Jewish New Year or Rosh Hashanah so a lot of my students haven't attended. This meant that I had a 1-to-1 with one of my baby birds. I asked him what he wanted to do (1 to 1's are an ideal opportunity to deal with specific problems or weaknesses) and he said 'Conditionals'. I have to admit I came out in a cold sweat. If there's one area of the English language I cannot get my head around, it's conditionals. I've been teaching for seven years now, I've taught all levels from complete beginners to post proficiency, I've taught general English, business English, English for specific purposes and Cambridge exams. I've taught conditionals several times but never, never, never have I felt able to answer the question 'What type of conditional is this?' Luckily, the school used the same coursebook a couple of years ago and someone went to a lot of effort to create activities which take you through conditionals at proficiency level. So I grabbed those and some grammar books and the two of us worked our way through the exercises. He said he was happy at the end and, I must admit, the time flew.

A thunderstorm has just started overhead, no doubt it's woken up a few people but it doesn't bother me. Truth to tell I love the noise and the drama. I know better than to go outside during one - I don't want to be struck by lightning - but I love the pretty light and sound effects.

Ok, I'm off to bed. Lots to do tomorrow.

PS the title of this post is a traditional Jewish greeting at this time and translates as 'A good year'

I'm feeling totally uninspired

Ah, what to write about today...

The weather has been up and down with hot and humid followed by a little rain and then cold and wet. The problem isn't the weather but what to wear. Do I wear my fleece and get wet and sweaty or my waterproof and stay dry and sweaty? Then, once I'm at work, everywhere is hot so we open the windows but then it's draughty and the insects come in. Decisions, decisions, decisions, life is just sooo difficult at the moment.

Being the sort of person who doesn't do things by half (what absolute rubbish, I do as little as possible) I am currently studying Italian and have started the On-line Tutoring course. This means I've given up my morning lie-ins and had to become much more organised. Now, I know what you're thinking, 'Shiralee is one of the most organised people we know' - HA! is all I can say. Already I feel like I'm running from pillar to post trying to cover everything and I really need another six hours in the day. Luckily I've instituted a system whereby my students teach each other (I'm still there providing guidance, just not pouring all my energy into the classroom) and in doing so I know what I'm going to be teaching those classes for the rest of the year. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) this is only for half of my classes and I still have to look over the material and be prepared for the difficult questions but it has the big advantage of leading my students towards autonomy and thus increasing their confidence.

Oh, and finally and quickly... Dad, you found this place when you were over here and, to my shame I've never tried it. Maybe this Saturday.

Speed-o-post

I'm nicking an idea from another blogger and instituting Speed-o-post. This consists of me making a brief comment about different things with absolutely no attempt to make them into a coherent whole.

Yoga
U has lent me a book on yoga and I've started doing it (almost) every morning. It's only supposed to take a 'few' minutes but I spend about half an hour doing it. This means I have to get up thirty minutes earlier than I would like but, as L says, 'think of it as thirty minutes of intense relaxation'. I am getting more bendy.

Music
I've spent this weekend listening to Led Zepplin. I was sent the complete works in a little yellow box by a certain mustachio-ed friend. I've heard a fair amount of Led Zep (as I will be calling them from now on) but never listened to them over a period of 11-odd hours. They were (and remain) bloody fantastic.

Books
I'm most of the way through reading a book called The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber. It's not the sort of thing I would normally pick up and read but it was lent to me by U and has been thoroughly enjoyable (although not a lot has happened).

Studying
Now that the DELTA is officially over and I am DELTA qualified, it is time to stretch the brain anew. I am currently enrolled on a distance learning course for on-line tutoring. It starts on Monday and should take at least a couple of hours a day. Is there no end to my greed?

Insects
With the warmer weather, there has been an rise in the insect population. The flat has had a silverfish infestation since I moved in (and I'm on the ninth floor), however I was assured this is normal and, truth to tell, they are harmless enough and I don't see them often. Unfortunately, we seem to have a cockroach outbreak at the school so we're having to be extra careful in not leaving food or dirty plates around (I remember it was ants in Egypt). The recent stormy weather seems to have lead to an increase in Daddy-longlegs and I have a couple currently circling the room. No doubt the mosquitoes will be back soon.

Elephants
I had intended to ride an elephant this weekend but that involves a one and a half hour bus journey to get to the elephants and the weather has been overcast, stormy and humid. This makes the thought of said bus journey (which will be very packed) very uninviting. I've postponed it to my birthday weekend. It will be my treat to myself.

Thus ends my first foray into Speed-o-post.

At last...

...my results have appeared.


I have PASSED

If there were any way to make this announcement flash in different colours, play loud music and set off fireworks, I would do it.

I'm that happy.

Picture at the top

Thanks to some help from a fellow BsAs blogger I've managed to change the photograph at the top of the page from the standard issue to one I took on the balcony of my current flat.

Probably the only thing I'll miss about BsAs when I leave are the outstanding sunsets (when you get to see them, rather than the people in the flats opposite).

Here are a couple more...





and I promise I haven't played around with the images

Why are we waiting?

I am in limbo at the moment. I still haven't received my DELTA results and it seems I won't be getting them until someone finds the person who has the key that unlocks the door to the room where the key to the filing cabinet in which the sacred piece of paper is stored. At that point someone might get their act together enough to actually unlock said filing cabinet, take out the envelope containing the piece of paper, read it and write the contents in an email to send to me.

Or maybe not.

Still waiting...

It's 11:30 on Tuesday morning, here in BsAs which makes it 4:30 Tuesday afternoon in Milan. I still haven't received my DELTA results. I think I'll probably be the last person on the planet to get them.

Fever

I think I'm human again. After a sleepless and uncomfortable night, coughing and spluttering, I finally fell asleep this morning and it was like I dropped off the planet. It seems the phone rang four times while I was unconscious with people becoming increasingly worried. Odd as it sounds, that's a reassuring thing to know.

I had a fever and it broke during the night leaving me exhausted. When I'm sick I need to sleep and when I sleep, nothing (not even a hurricane) will wake me up. I am feeling much better now, albeit weak.

Other good news - all my DELTA colleagues passed and were presented with a bottle of champagne by the school (a very nice touch, I think). I, of course, won't get my results until next week when the tutor can be bothered to go into the BC in Milan. Although the office there is closed to the public, the centre is open for course enrollment so I can't imagine my results being difficult to find. Guess it's not that important to him (no, really, I'm not bitter about this).

And, ending on a good note... Ok this has sat here for about an hour and I can't think of any specifically good news to end on - still at least it's not any more bad news.

Poor me, pity me...

I'm ill again. I haven't been this ill for years. It's not that I'm suffering from anything serious but repeated low-level colds, sniffles and general achey-ness is really taking it out of me. I have yet another cold, this one with sneezes which make my head ache and a cough which has kept me awake all night. My eyes are sore again and various orifices have liquids running out of them (I'll leave the rest to your imagination).

L and I have given up on booking a trip to Iguazu, every plan turns out to be more expensive than the last with worse and worse conditions. I think the universe is trying to tell us something. Now we're thinking of going to Corduba - anything to get out of BsAs for the weekend.

I still haven't received my DELTA results but I've had an email from Milan - DG will send me the results when the British Council opens next week. You can see the high priority he gives to this. We think everyone else will get theirs this week and there is a 'celebration' party this weekend - I just hope I'm up to it.

I'm trying to think of happy things to post about rather than depressing whinges so...

I've been drooling over this camera (and I'll be buying it next week) and googling for swimming costumes. I'm making plans and putting things together for my long trip home.

Oh, and one of those things is arranging to ship my stuff home - now that'll be a lot of fun.

Weekend Round-up

Do you want to know how I got on at the optician?

Do you really?

Like, really, really?

Ok then you've twisted my arm.

Let's begin at the beginning. I met with L as arranged and we caught a bus without a problem and arrived early enough to squeeze in a quick coffee. Then to the optician. Which is where is started to go downhill. I was not impressed by the optician himself, he didn't really seem to want to test my eyes (and L who has high interocular pressure had to ask him for a pressure test - standard practice in the UK and Poland). He did this thing where you look into binoculars and a black star on a green background moves in and out of focus. Then I sat in the chair, with my glasses on, and he asked me if the chart projected onto the wall was ok. I said I could read the bottom line and he was satisfied with that - don't know if he trusted me or couldn't be bothered to check. He then asked me what the problem was and on hearing that me vision gets blurred/double after reading for 15 minutes (along with soreness and itchiness) his response was that this was to be expected at my age!

Finally he put some opticians frames on my face an asked me if I could read a card - and I swear he wasn't paying attention to what I said - before putting some grubby lenses in the frames and asking if that was better. He didn't even check how far I was holding the card from my eyes although he did suggest I tried reading without my glasses (only possible if I hold the print about an inch from my face). Finally he told me I'd should have got new glasses two years ago (my current glasses are about 18 months old) and wrote a new prescription. Total time in there 10 minutes. Not impressed. From there things got worse - it took us three buses and two hours to get back to Belgrano, every bus we got on started taking us home then veered off in the wrong direction.

However the day ended well. L and I went to the cinema to see Copying Beethoven. A film I thoroughly recommend, it is centred around the music rather than anything else and I can imagine copies of Beethoven's Symphonies flying off the shelf (or being downloaded). I'm lucky in that I managed to legally download all of Beethoven's symphonies (except number 2) from BBC Radio 3 last year.

Saturday afternoon was spent trying to sort out the weekend in Iguazu - it has been a nightmare and is getting more and more expensive for no added value - in the end we deferred it until Sunday. Saturday evening was spent around U's watching Dr Who, making brownies and chatting about nothing in particular. She's just had two wisdom teeth out but isn't looking particularly hamster-like. I put on a green facepack and she got her camera out, so Dad, your wish will be answered with a couple of photos of me.

Finally, on Sunday, L and went to an airline office to try and buy tickets (which necessitated a long bus ride). In the end we didn't buy any because the price was too high, however L is trying Plan D (that's how far it's got) and is going to try to get bus tickets on Tuesday. We'll see.

It's been raining all day and I've got yet another sore throat and running nose. I swear I'm allergic to this country. I've spent the evening in, cooking and watching television as well as surfing the net. My connection has been a bit iffy over the weekend but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Rambling on

Well hello there again.

It's Thursday night (actually Friday morning) and the teaching week is over. Nothing spectacular happened this week (again). I had a migraine on Tuesday so took the day off. I think I'm getting the migraine due to eyestrain. It's over two years since I last had my eyes checked and what with my advanced years - well you can't be too careful. As it was I spent the rest of the week teaching using a video or doing a writing class.

I have an optician's appointment tomorrow and I'm hoping this will sort out the problems with my eyes - specifically how sore they get once I've been reading for about fifteen minutes. Sounds daft, I know, but I don't think I'd be able to do my job if I couldn't read without discomfort. It's bad enough trying to decipher students' handwriting at the best of times but when I can't focus or I'm seeing double - you see what I mean???

Don't worry though, I'll be fine. I remember when I was in Poland I had my eyes tested and the optician refused to fill the prescription until I'd seen an eye doctor. Turned out I had a form of conjunctivitis - without the gooey yellow stuff. I had a few months of eye drops and repeat visits to the eye hospital where I would stare into machines and press buttons if I saw a dot, and all of this was done in Polish. I didn't actually find out what was wrong with me until I returned to the UK and a local optician decoded the Polish prescription. Anyway, it all turned out fine in the end.

In other news from this end: I finally got around to sorting out my Italian file and writing up some notes on grammar. Learning a Romance language (Italian, French, Spanish etc.) is very different from learning English. When you learn English you are bombarded with vocabulary and the grammar is drip-fed in. With Romance languages you are bombarded with grammar and the vocabulary kind of tags along. It leaves me feeling a little vulnerable because a) I'm concentrating so hard and getting the right ending to the verb (and saying it right) and b) I never feel I have the right words for what I want to say. It is good for me as a teacher to reacquaint myself with this feeling, especially as I'm teaching mainly high level students (which means I have high level expectations). I have a feeling I've been spoilt by the students here. Even though they always claim to be tired (a word I have banned from my classroom along with 'fine') they do learn fast, they are diligent and, usually, highly motivated.

Interestingly, I read an article recently about how parents are over-structuring their children's free time, leaving them little time to play. I have a feeling that's what happens with my teenage students because after going to school all morning and early afternoon, they come to English classes with me and then on to some other activity (usually sport or music). When they finally get home, they have a ton of homework to do (to which I have contributed) before they can relax. I know I appreciate my down-time so I can imagine the teenagers feel the same. However, it does set them up for the future when they will be attending university, holding down a part-time job or internship and attending English lessons. I remember being at university and having a part-time job during the academic year and how there weren't many of us doing that (although others worked during the holidays). I know it is much more usual nowadays. In fact, recent figures have shown that a university education is becoming unattainable for many people unless they want to spend their lives under a mountain of debt and never be able to buy somewhere to live. Bring back the days of free education I say and bugger the tax cost - other, poorer countries can do it so why can't Britain?

OK enough of the politics. I think I've rambled on enough for one night.

Ciao

Changes

Just a quick post to highlight the new stuff in my sidebar.

I've add a blogroll of blogs I find interesting. I've roughly divided them so you have some idea of what to expect and, of course, all of them are work-safe. I don't know if there is a protocol when putting someone's blog on your blogroll so, on the off-chance I've offended anyone, I apologise in advance.

I currently have 76 blogs on my list which I check every day (I don't actually check them myself, I use SAGE to check for me). On average I read about 30 posts a day. About half are ones I wouldn't put on my blogroll for fear of upsetting my (few) regular readers who are of a nervous disposition.

One of the great things about blogs is that whatever your interest, there is a blog out there about it.

Go. Find.