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.

My Long Weekend

The things I should have done over the long weekend:

1. cleaned my balcony


2. cooked food for the week


3. (then cleaned the cooker)


4. repaired some clothing


5. started practicing yoga


6. gone for a couple of long walks


7. organised my Italian file


8. (and done my homework)

Things I did do over the long weekend:

1. sleep


2. muck around with my laptop


3. watch television


4. make brownies


5. watch tango


6. go to the cinema


7. (and doesn't Bruce Willis look good for 57?)

Roll on next weekend

Tango, go, go

I spent the afternoon at the Rural Hall in Plaza Italia watching Tango. The World Championships are on at the moment and everyone is dancing. L and I went to see the Salon Tango qualifiers. Salon tango is the kind that everyone does, the kind you see in milongas and the kind L and I tried to learn. There were 250 qualifiers from all over the world and this was the dance-off for a place in the semi-finals.

I have to admit it was freezing cold in the hall but we were lucky because we managed to get seats right at the very front so there were no heads between us and the stage. However, the minute either of us stirred in our seats, someone was there ready to take our place.

Despite this L and I watched 12 rounds, each with 11 pairs. I took a fair few photos but the lighting was low and the dancers were in constant motion which is demonstrated by the photos (now uploaded to flickr). One of the things I love about tango is that it is inclusive. There were couples who looked about 18 years old and others that looked 80 years old. There were tall people and short people, fat people and thin people, men taller than women and women taller than men.

I also did something new with my little digital camera - I took a couple of short videos. I've uploaded them to google video and you should be able to watch them by clicking here:


and here:


Hope you enjoy them.

End of The Week

A round up of the week's events.

1) Back to the dentist, had another wire added. Things are definitely moving in my mouth and it ain't that pretty at the moment.

2) Semi-booked a long weekend away. The weekend after my birthday is a holiday weekend so L and I are going up to Iguazu Falls.

3) Got a gas bill for 100 pesos (up from the average 30 pesos) - surprise, surprise this money pit of a flat strikes again. God only knows what the bill would have been if my heating had been at 20 degrees instead of the 17 degrees I keep it at.

4) I've been observed twice by CELTees. I haven't had any problems but there has been upset elsewhere.

5) I have a Proficiency Two class (one level below 'native speaker', give or take) that I call my baby birds. This is because whenever I ask them something and they don't know the answer, instead of speculating, guessing or having a go, they just look at me (with their mouths slightly open) waiting for me to give the answer. It's not that they are stupid (they speak English almost as well as I do) or lazy (although they are always complaining of being tired), it's just that the dynamic in the classroom means that none of them were willing to be the first to speak. However, with the start of the new term I've acquired a new student who is very talkative which means things are looking up. Downside is I've lost three students to another proficiency class and they are my most regular attenders. Despite this the CELTee observers said they enjoyed the class - weird eh?

OK, I guess that's about it - wish I had something more interesting to tell you about.

On speaking Italian

I'm not what you would call a dedicated student. Despite having a very good reason to learn Italian (after all, I want to live there permanently) I am having a little difficulty. I can't quite fit the pieces together and the fact that I'm not doing my homework doesn't help. My teacher, Ana, is very patient with me but I often feel as if I'm groping in the dark. It's my own fault as I should be studying but (and this isn't just an excuse) I've just started the second, and final, term at school and I'm knackered.

Of course having the internet at home doesn't help - I'm not that good at going to bed early when there's a whole world the other side of my keyboard. How did I live without it?

Smells

I was thinking today about smells. My sense of smell is pretty good - I'm usually the first to smell gas or something burning - so smells in general are important to me. With this in mind I was thinking about:

The worse smells in the world: (bear with me, this is only my opinion)

damp dog - usually the smell which greets me when I get in the lift here

butane gas - from space heaters and currently being blown into the classrooms at work

BO - wash no, scrub, people and wear deodorant and clean clothes EVERY day

rotten meat - I must empty the bin more regularly

Sean's feet - ok I'm remembering back about thirty years and nowadays they are pink and lovely but that smell... it will live in my memory forever

freshly extinguished candles - snuff them out, don't blow

towels that haven't been dried properly - don't put them away damp, it's lazy and unhygienic

stale urine - why do people use public spaces as public lavatories?

Smells that you would expect to be bad but actually aren't:

manure - it's shit but it's good

cabbages - not the best in the world but the smell of my home town

new magazines - sour and yet heady

The best smells in the world:

warm cats - soft, furry and purry : heaven

tea - the first cup of the day : bliss

fish and chips - there is no meal more perfect

I'm sure there are more and I'd love to hear your opinions (hint, hint, leave me some comments, please)

Random Thoughts

I have absolutely no idea what to write about. I've been sitting here for at least several minutes on end desperately trying to come up with something amusing or interesting or at least not outright boring to write about.

Having this piggyback internet connection means I am more up to date with what's happening out there in the blogosphere but I'm trying to limit the amount of time I spend reading about other people's lives. I do find it fascinating how they find something (or nothing) to write about on a regular basis. I've kind of fallen back to the 'what I had for lunch today' posting and I don't like it.

Hey ho, time will tell if it gets any better.

Odds and Ends from the week

I am soooo tired. One week back at work and I'm knackered - what is wrong with me???? Still it's one more week closer to the end of the year.

Good news time. I got my phone bill today and, thank god, I'm no longer being charged for an internet connection I've never had so that's a huge weight off my shoulders.

Additional news, the school is running a CELTA course at the moment (entry level certification) and I had a couple of the trainees watch me teach today. One of the advantages of doing the DELTA is that I'm totally unconcerned about being observed - in fact I forgot they were in the room and they behaved perfectly. U was also observed but one of her CELTees was less than well behaved (U described him as having a stick up his backside). It always amazes me just how daft some people are. It's not that this person is going to be working with us but his recommendation will reflect his attitude and U has already told the DoS that the CELTee in not welcome in her classroom again.

People tend to think teaching is a one-person situation, you the teacher in the classroom (albeit with a room full of students) but the reality is that teachers have to be team players. We depend on each other for lesson ideas, shoulders to cry on, ears to whinge into and people who really do understand the demands made upon us. If you decide to play the prima donna in the staffroom you'll soon find yourself isolated - and that ain't a good feeling. Let's hope this guy listens during his tutorial.

Reading Material

Oh joy, oh wonder. One of my colleagues spent her winter break in the UK and being the generous, kind-hearted soul she is, she agreed to bring back some magazines.

I am now the proud possessor of two EVE magazines to read. (U has already been bugging me for a look-see and I've been evil and said no). I shall be retiring to my bed for a snuggled down, long, long read.

See you soon (-ish)

First Day

So today was my first day back at work after the holiday. Lessons went well, nothing special but a lot of what did you do during the break. One of my students had been to the UK (on a business trip) and brought in his photos - on his digital SLR camera. Think of my big camera then make it digital. A beautiful piece of kit, so comfortable in my hands, just the right size and weight, and the photos - 10.1 megapixels - clarity and detail, beautiful colour realisation. I am in love, so much so that I almost knocked my student out and ran off with the camera. Downside is that it cost in the region of £500 and I just can't afford that.

However, the photos I get from my camera, copied onto CD are just as good - see...



And these I can afford.

Last day

I went out with L and U today to a shopping centre (that being the main form of entertainment in this city). It was busy, interesting - I bought a t-shirt - but mostly just something to do on the last day of our holiday.

For lunch we went to a Peruvian restaurant. I had mixed seafood - bloody fantastic. It was all deep-fried but included a piece of fish I would swear is cod. So, almost had fish and chips for lunch (but I think the squid and octopus makes it a little different).

Fish isn't often on the menu here which is odd considering the long Atlantic coast but I think it's because the beef is so plentiful and good - nobody has bothered to develop any other dishes.

Apart from that... well, I made brownies this afternoon.

Ho hum, back to work tomorrow.

Photos

I've loaded all my winter break photos onto flickr so click on the thumbnails in the left hand column or go to www.flickr.com.

I've tagged them with the name of the places eg. Posadas, Trinidad, San Ignacio Mini but feel free to have a good old dig around as there are about 200 photos there.

Enjoy.

The Argentine Way

Just to demonstrate the typical Argentine way of thinking. This happened in San Ignacio:

• family stands in front of this piece of wall which the foreigner (me) with camera in hand so obviously wants to take a photo of

• family 'discusses' who should take the family photo

• mother takes on photographer duty by digging deep into her capacious handbag to find the camera

• mother then realises she has to put batteries in the camera and digs deep into her capacious handbag to find said batteries

• mother puts batteries in camera with many exclamations (probably about how doing so is ruining her nails)

• mother points the camera and realises that she is too close

• mother backs off and frames shot, ensuring she will get the whole of the wall in shot with her husband and daughter huddled at the base

• father and daughter realise they have to pose and do so, 'discussing' whether daughter should go on her father's left or right

• mother takes photo

• mother then takes second photo 'for luck'

• daughter (aged about seven) exchanges place with mother

• daughter shouts instructions to parents about how they should pose

• daughter takes photo

• daughter takes second photo 'for luck'

• family finally remember frozen foreigner with camera in hand and wander slowly off into the distance

This little episode took forever and made me realise that it was time for breakfast.

Winter Break (Pt3)

From Posadas onto San Ignacio. An hour or so down the road and home to Argentina's most accessible Jesuit ruin. Accessible because it's in the middle of the village (really, really, too small to call a town). A very nice lady at the bus stop offered to look after my backpack and when I declined pointed me in the right direction for the ruins. Now, remember what I said about me and directions? Well, I had a map, I'd read the guidebook and I thought I know where the hotel was. HA! I walked six blocks forward (a block is a standard measurement here, the towns all being built on a grid system - why the hell don't we do that in the UK, eh? Com'on, I want to know!), knew I was lost, asks some kids who pointed me to the left, walked one block to the left and found a street sign, checked my map and walked six blocks back. Just in case you haven't grasped the enormity of this, let me repeat. I walked six blocks forward, one block left and six blocks back. I found the hotel... one block to the left of where I originally started - still the walk was nice.

Booked in (no problem although the full sign went up later), unpacked (as much as I ever do) and went a walking. As I said the village isn't that big and I was hungry so first stop was food. I went into one restaurant, saw the coach party and backed out very quickly. I'm sure the food was fine but places like that make me itchy. I think they're all set up for speed and damn the quality. Went to a scrubby looking place across the road (no coach party would deign to eat here) and had a decent if slightly overcooked steak. Bit more wandering around, bought a couple of pretty but trashy bits of costume jewellery at the market and rounded off the day on the internet. Early to bed because I wanted to get up early the next day. I did eat out that night but, my god, what a mistake.

By then the weather was freezing. Those of you who know me well, know I rarely feel the cold but... a vest, a t-shirt and two fleeces couldn't keep me warm. It didn't help that the 'restaurant' itself was basically just a corrugated tin hut with the kitchen outside and the waiters kept leaving the door to the kitchen open. I didn't quite eat with my gloves on but I nearly did. To make things worse, I couldn't have any tea because they didn't have any milk.

----
As an aside, while in Paraguay, I got used to their version of tea with milk which was to froth the milk as you would for coffee, then add a teabag. It sounds (and, indeed, tastes) odd but I got used to it and it's ok for a bed time drink - especially considering the weakness of the tea here.
---

Having seen the coach party hoards the previous day and bearing in mind the guidebook advice that the best photos are got early in the morning, I was up and out by 8am. Ok that's not early for the majority of you but I was on holiday (and I've never been a morning person unless I haven't been to bed - then, boy, you should see me [or maybe not]) ummm... where was I? Oh yes, at 8:30 I presented myself to the ticket office, got my little guide (not a person) and in I went. I wasn't the only person there but I was one of the first and, because I don't speak Spanish, I sped around the exhibition and onto the ruins pretty quick. I was able to wander around more or less on my own and take lots of lovely photos (well I think they're lovely). I knew my time was up when I had to wait for a family to get out of the way so that I could take a photo. More details of this in the next post.

This all took me to mid morning and brunch. When travelling I find that my days are divided by when I have my meals. This brunch was eaten at a cafe opposite the entrance to the ruins and allowed me the opportunity to watch the coach parties arrive more or less all at the same time. Said coach parties included a group of monks (or possibly trainee priests) who I guessed were local as they were drinking mate. Brunch was followed by a stroll back to the hotel for a post-brunch sit and think. The hotel had a table and benches in the garden which were perfect for doing this. They were in the sun and out of the wind, shady but warm.

Later I strolled out of town to the house of Horacio Quiroga. A Uruguayan writer who was involved in the excavation/restoration of the ruins (I think). It was a three kilometre walk out of town for a fifteen minute look around and a three km walk back but I enjoyed it and it filled the afternoon.

I spent most of the evening wondering whether I should make the effort to go up to Iguazu falls but the truth was I couldn't be bothered. I was cold and a little bit bored. It wasn't that I was missing BsAs or the flat, just that I hadn't spoken to anyone in English for a week and I wanted to sleep in my own bed (I am turning into my mother). So the next day I went back to Posadas and then onto BsAs.

A few piccies

The Ruins at Trinidad, Paraguay


The entrance to the ruins at San Ignacio Mini



The ruins at San Ignacio Mini

I want to go to Las Vegas

Tonight I went to see Ocean's Thirteen. Nice film, totally predictable but good fun.

After watching CSI for several years, it was good to see a more pleasant side of LV.

I want to go there.

Winter Break (Pt 2)

So where was I?

Oh yes, in Encarnacion, Paraguay. I'd heard about the reduciones at Trinidad and Jesus (pronounced hey-soos) but had no information about how to get there except 'catch a bus at the terminal'. What can I say... I wandered around the bus terminal looking lost until I found a company name I recognised (from my internet research). I tried to speak to someone about a ticket to the ruins but the office was packed full of men and boxes, with a lot of paper being pushed around and signed, general chit-chat and nothing seeming to happen. In the end I gave up and wandered into another office where the man told me I was in the right place and to wait. Half an hour later a bus turns up and the world and it's wife get on board. Luckily I got a seat near the front having checked with the driver that it was going to Trinidad. Later when the driver's assistant came around I checked with him as I wanted everyone to know where I was going.

An interesting thing about bus journeys in this part of the world is that they aren't just a mechanism for getting people from one place to another. The buses also serve as mail carriers so the luggage compartments get full up with small boxes and parcels. In addition, every bus is a selling opportunity. It is normal for people to get on the bus to sell food, drinks (not alcoholic) and nick-nacks such as prayer cards and stickers. These people have a plan... they have a section of the route that they can remain on the bus for and when their section ends, off they get. One last contrast with buses in Europe is that you can flag them down anywhere (when I was in North West Argentina, last July, people would flag the bus down just twenty metres after the last place it had stopped because, well, why should they make the effort to walk those twenty metres?). It is very different from Europe which is designated stops only, no boarding without a ticket, a baggage allowance and no hot food on the coach. Don't know which one I prefer but I guess each is appropriate to the place.

Anyway, back to my journey. The driver stops and shouts Trinidad, I get off, rather relieved but a little confused as I couldn't see any of the signposts that are supposed to be there. Then the driver calls me back and asks if I want the 'ruinas', which, of course, I do. At which point he tells me to get back on the bus and drives a further half a kilometre on before stopping and kicking me off again (in the nicest possible way). There were the signs - big as a house. In my ignorance, it hadn't occurred to me that there might be a village called Trinidad - doh! Thank goodness for the driver. I had a bit of a walk up to the ruins but it was so peaceful that I didn't mind, actually I quite enjoyed it. I took a fair few photos and basically had the place to myself. I really enjoyed the quiet, only the sounds of farm animals and children laughing in the background. I had lunch there and wrote in my diary - I keep a written diary when I'm travelling. After a few hours I walked back to the bus stop and waited... and waited... and waited. It wasn't that late and I wasn't that concerned (there was a hotel at the entrance to the ruins so if the worse came to the worse I would have been able to stay there) but it was cold and I needed the loo. An hour later the bus arrived and we played sardines.

I think they have a policy of never refusing to let people get on the bus as long as there's some room. I am about twice as tall as most Paraguayans (but there are some very rotund women out there) so I could breathe but, by golly, was I pleased when we got back to the bus terminal. At that point I thought I'd check for buses to Jesus for the next day but, woe is me, there aren't any direct buses. What you have to do is catch the bus I'd caught to Trinidad, get off there and then wait for a local bus (called a collectivo) to take you to Jesus - and these buses don't run to any particular timetable. And I made the decision. There was nothing to keep me in Encarnacion for yet another day so one more meal in the hotel dining room (chicken and chips) an early night followed by an early check-out and back to Posadas. The journey back took three buses (but only one fare) and I was back at Posadas bus terminal by midday.

More next post... (by which time I might, but only might, have some photos to share)