#9 Villa Maria - Highlights and Despedidas

My 7 weeks teaching and living in Villa María came to an end on April 29^th and the time had absolutely flown by!  It was a great 7 weeks and I was sad to see them come to an end; marking the end of my time teaching in Argentina...and...technically the end of my year abroad! This is really sad news but here’s some highlights from Villa María which will always stay with me!

A Family Get Together

On my first weekend we drove an hour to Córdoba capital to meet the extended family for a big celebration of birthdays!  I was a bit unsure of how my Spanish would hold out but the afternoon was really fun and filled with chit-chat, empanadas – small pasties with a whole range of fillings – birthday cake and champagne!  I was still very much a stranger to my hosts but I was welcomed as part of the family and the day reminded me hugely of my own yearly family get-togethers, which I had unfortunately missed out on this year.

Family birthday celebration

Peanut Factory

One Friday I joined one of the teachers in his weekly lessons at the factory and offices of the international peanut company, Manisel.  Afterwards I donned a sexy white overall, hairnet and helmet and got a tour around the factory.  We started by seeing an enormous pile of field-fresh peanuts towering in a dark warehouse to them all bagged up according to size and weight and being loaded on to a shipping container headed for the UK! 40 days by sea it would take to arrive; looks like it would beat me there then!

Brunch

Two of my fellow teachers showed me how to do weekend brunch in Argentina and took me to a stylish independent tea house where I dug into coffee and homemade ricotta cake.

Brunch

Home cooking - Indian curry

I may have mentioned a few too many times that the most popular takeaway in Britain is the Indian curry as I found myself cooking a Chicken Jalfrezi, for the first time ever, for my host family...plus guests!  Argentina doesn’t do spicy food so spices were collected from far and wide and I followed a recommended recipe to the letter – though not so many of the green chillies!  Nevertheless, the end product was unbelievably spicy; even for me - this dish was lethal to any typical Argentine!  Pouring off all the liquid - 3 big bowlfuls of it – the curry finally calmed down and, I am thought to believe, the dinner was a success!  Though whether these guests will choose an Indian curry again I’m not so sure...

Despedidas (send-offs)

Through my last teaching week at Rainbow I collected a pile of the most endearing hand written letters and drawings from many of my students.  Gifts of food, an incredible handmade and personalised tea box, a beautiful mate and bombilla and Argentine silver and stone jewellery from the students, teachers and my host family!  This was the Christmas I had missed!

On the last day of teaching, the lessons were filled with despedida celebrations where students produced homemade cake, biscuits and drinks and an adolescent class even sang the Argentine despedida song used to send people off. 

A musical end

My final class of the day was filled with music.  Two of my talented students played the guitar (I am now committed to learning the guitar this year...and proving it!) and keyboard brilliantly whilst the other three of us sang along, belting out the English songs; it was, of course, still an English lesson!  I gave them my own rendition of a popular Argentine song (Nunca Quise, Intoxicados) which caused much amusement.  Apparently I sounded German!

Needless to say, I look back at my time in Villa María with fond memories and I hope that the people I met and worked with enjoyed the experience as much as me.  Most of all thanks to my wonderful, welcoming and lovely host family! :D

#8 Dropping into an Argentine State School

My two placements here in Argentina have been in private English institutes and in my final week in Villa María I went to a local secondary state school which teaches ‘technical’ subjects: Electronics, Electricity, Mechanics – subjects I know nothing about!  I joined my supervisor/host Mum to drop in on her regular English lessons and show my face and native language to the lads!

Tuesday morning and we walked into the large, white-wash building with tall ceilings and thick brick walls that kept any little heat from the sun firmly outside!  I walked into the classroom to be met by 24, 18 year old guys sitting slouched around the walls of the classroom, Spanish echoing round the bare room. 

Short, foreign and female - I felt distinctly out of place here! I was pretty intimidated and nervous to say the least! 

Anyhow, 80 minutes later and despite the wide range of levels of English - from nothing to intermediate - we had successfully learnt a lot about each other and were leaving with smiles on our faces. 

Jokes and laughter from unexpected answers, such as that I enjoy fernet and Coke; hurriedly whispered translations to friends who hadn’t understood; moments of absolute silence where all eyes, even from the less-interested ones at the back, were focused on my every word; and the amusement of this English girl reeling off phrases of Castellaño in the final few minutes made the lesson, the first of several, pretty special and amusing for all!

For many of the students it was their first time meeting a European, even foreigner.   I heard that several of the guys had promised my supervisor that they would study harder or were really keen to attend a private institute! What a brilliant surprise - though whether this follows through I will never know! 

The great thing was that I had influenced them in some way, something which can be very hard to realise when you’re on the inside.

Whilst the classrooms in the school were...err...less than spectacular, the workshops were adorned with electrical technology and equipment that I wouldn’t even know where to begin with! 

Four sparkling new cars sat around waiting to be played with and an old banger sat as an empty metal shell soon to be revamped with the latest engine and wiring.  What a playground; isn’t school great!

#7 Villa María - teaching placement no.2

The bus pulled out from Retiro bus terminal, Buenos Aires, leaving the bustling capital behind it and taking me to a new and unknown destination in the province of Córdoba to start my second placement of teaching in Argentina.

After 550km of dark roads and a disturbed night of being paranoid I might sleep through my stop, we arrived into Villa María.  Wow...couldn't really get much more silent and sleepy; though for 6am on a dark Monday morning, I thought I should probably give it more of a chance!

Despite the early hour - when normally I would barely be able to muster a polite 'hola' - I was generously welcomed into a beautiful home and shown what would be my own personal bedroom and bathroom for the next 7 weeks.  Oh, the luxury!  Having not had my own space for many months and been living out of a bag with a very limited variety of clothes for the past 3 months, this setup, plus being reunited with everything I owned in Argentina, was quite exciting!

Now to set the scene of what has been my life these past 5 weeks.

I am working in Rainbow Academia de Ingles, supporting the teachers in their lessons by bringing aspects of English culture and native language to the lessons.

From this point of view, my responsibilities are slightly different to how they were in Comodoro where I was the teacher who planned and took the lessons of some weekly classes, set the homework and, not forgetting, disciplined the students too - yes, I do mean you, Ped...
...nah, I won't mention any names!

The small, stylish and recently refurbished institute has 4 incredibly welcoming and outgoing teachers who I work with, plus the director (my supervisor) and a stream of enthusiastic students from children to professional adults.

I am living with my supervisor, her husband and their old dog Frida - aka ovejita (little sheep) for her curly white hair - and, because the institute is tucked neatly at the back of the house, from my bedroom window I can hear the kids running through the garden to class.  This has been unbelievably helpful when I wake up 6 minutes before class starts!  Although, it also means that sometimes I don't leave the house and can pass my day without realising the strength of the late summer sun or the autumn leaves starting to drop, let alone daily life around me.

Villa María riverside

Having said that, just 2 blocks (streets) from the house is a gushing river, bordered by lush green grass, beautiful trees, benches and outdoor gyms which provide entertainment for everyone.

Personally, it's a great spot to run or read and book and drink mate, but equally people choose to fish, camp - with or without a tent -, light up an asado (BBQ), or drive their motorbikes along it so as to avoid the road - each to their own; though being fair that was only one occasion!

#6 New Years Eve in Córdoba...?

Sitting on a bus at the start of 20 hour journey from El Bolsón to El Chalten it seems fitting to begin this post this way:

The past three weeks we have crossed over Argentina towards the cordillera and headed southwards through Chile and Argentina.  For merely 24hours in one place I have done journeys of over 6 hours on either side – something I would have ruled out as a ridiculous idea before I came to Argentina...but maybe this year I will return a humbled and educated individual that ‘saw the light’ during the many hours spent contemplating life from a bus window and, therefore, no longer think that a 5 hour drive to the Lake District is too far for a week away...

Yeah, on second thoughts, that’s not going to happen!

(NA - by the time we had arrived it had been a 24 hour bus journey, including a little stop to..er...fix the bus!)

General Villegas -> Córdoba

Jess and I had heard a lot about the city of Córdoba, the second largest after Buenos Aires and one of the most popular places of study for Argentine and international students.  Surely, the second perfect place to see in 2016!  Arriving at midday on the 30^th to the recommended ‘lively’ hostel, we were surprised to find it was really rather empty and so set about making a plan so as not to find ourselves asleep in our dorm come midnight!  However, much investigation brought us to the conclusion that nowhere would be open.  Of course, this is Argentina and people don’t go out until 2am, earliest!  For most people, midnight would be spent inside the home and the party wouldn’t begin until after that...leaving us travellers, well, rather stranded!

Anyway, back to the city....

True to the rumours, Córdoba was a beautiful place and reminded me of European cities (which I know realise are more special and unique than I used to give them credit for) with its leafy peatonal area, elegantly classic town buildings and cathedral and array of interesting museums and art galleries...all of which were shut!  We really hadn’t given much thought to the idea that New Years is an international holiday and so found ourselves making the most of the select bits of culture we found on the streets.  Unable to enter the art gallery we stood for 40 minutes on the street analysing the only piece of artwork on display outside and then concluded our cultural education with a Starbucks vanilla iced latte and 6” turkey sub from Subway! 

Córdoba -> La Rioja & 2016

Realising that New Years Eve could be a bit of a lost cause in Argentina we decided to move on in the hope that our first day in 2016 could be spent seeing the stunning and secluded Talampaya National Park in the north of Mendoza province, just a short bus ride from La Rioja.

December 31^st, 11pm and Jess and I were sitting in a honeymoon suite with peeling wallpaper, a smashed window and a side table covered with a holey, breadcrumb coated tablecloth feeling rather out of place as the family of the hostel owners gathered around their dining table in the pretty courtyard outside for their festivities.  Tummies grumbling, we ventured out into the town in hope of a restaurant, bar, cafe...anything!  Half an hour before midnight we skulked past the family with carrier bags in hands:  2016 would be seen in with a micro-waved 20 peso pancho (hotdog), can of beer, variety of slightly-too old snacks and dodgey wi-fi that meant we managed the first 10 minutes of ‘Starsky & Hutch’ before giving up.  It was hilarious!  We had food, (a) friend, a bed and good humour – the four key parts I now think constitute a good New Years Eve!

Happy New Years!

There was only one, slight, downer on the situation.  The National Park was in fact a 4hour bus journey away.  Longer than expected but do able; if the ticket office had been open in time for us (New Years Day is still a national holiday!) to get the earlier bus in order to do the national park that day. 

As much as I wanted to see the national park we were wasting precious money and time and we had to be out of the country within the next 5 days and still wanted to see Mendoza. Getting ourselves out of this sticky mess we bought the next bus to Mendoza city; though that still meant spending the next 12 hours waiting in the sleepy city of La Rioja where we really got to know the menu of the most posh - and only open - hotel in town! 

Hello 2016!

#5 One chapter ends and the next begins with...an Argentine Christmas

After saying a sad goodbye to my host family, I boarded the plane at Comodoro Rivadavia to head to Buenos Aires to start the next section of my year abroad.

I had spent four months in Comodoro and it had shown me just how much can happen and how much you can learn in four months!  For anyone who wants to be challenged and stretched in new ways then I can’t recommend living this type of experience more.

Anyway, leaving Comodoro, I also left the idea of work and teaching firmly in the back of my mind to think about the next 12 weeks of travelling round Chile and Argentina; first though...Christmas.

Christmas

At the start of the programme, plans for Christmas in Argentina had always been a topic on my mind.  I quickly clocked those other teachers that would be staying here for the festivities and so Jess (from the US and also teaching English) and I found ourselves planning together how to make Christmas the best we could.

Christmas is quite a different festival in Argentina to what it is in Britain and the States.  I presumed that, being a Catholic country, Argentina would celebrate Christmas to the same extent – if not more – than we do in our Western countries; I was very wrong.  I left Comodoro 10 days before Christmas Day and Argentine friends still seemed rather unsure as to how they would spend Christmas.  This seemed a bit odd to me - but maybe that is more because my family, me included, are super organised!

At the start of December, Jess and I received an invitation from the Argentine friend of a English-teaching-friend based in a town in Buenos Aires Province.  On December 23^rd we took the 8hour bus to General Villegas and were welcomed into her home by her and her family with more warmth and generosity than we could have ever expected.  I felt incredibly lucky. 

The parents, and two sons (8 and 18years) and daughter (25years) lived in a rustic and homely bungalow that looked out onto a large grassy garden with a swimming pool and tinkling wind chimes at the edge of the town.  I couldn’t have been in a place so different to Comodoro!  Green, flat campo stretching for miles, constant background noises of birds and insects and, most of all, temperatures averaging 35˚C meaning I practically lived in my bikini that week!

Christmas Eve merges with Christmas Day

For me and Jess and our friends, Christmas Eve was spent in the garden by the pool, chatting, sipping the cold fruity version of mate, ­­­­terere ,and generally relaxing in a way I hadn’t for what felt like years!  Overall though, I felt very, very un-Christmassy!  The parents of the family spent the majority of the day preparing an amazing assortment of cold foods which were to be eaten that night.

It’s all about the grub...

At 11pm, Jess and I joined the family of five plus their Aunty and gathered around the set red-clothed dining table. 

The Christmas Dinner menu:

·        Torres del Pancaque – literally a tower of pancakes separated by mayonnaise, cheese, ham

·        Pionono – a long sweet and savoury Swiss-roll filled with mayonnaise, cheese, tomato, lettuce

·        chicken meat wrapped around eggs, olives  a sweet dried fruit and then cooked slowly on the parilla (BBQ)

·        hard boiled eggs stuffed with a home-made tuna pate

·        mini pastry cups stuffed with home-made chicken and pepper pate topped with an olive

It was all very tasty food but when I get back to the UK in July, even though it will be summer, I will be cooking an English Christmas dinner that’s for sure!

[From conversations with other Argentine’s it seems that a big asado – a very meaty BBQ typically cooked over an open fire – is more common and traditional for Christmas dinner.]

The main course was over and some sweet foods were put out for dessert: chocolate covered raisins, sugar-coated nuts, a sweet bread and then at midnight we all held our classes of recently-popped Champagne, or non-alcoholic equivalent, and wished each other ‘Feliz Navidad’, kissing each family member on the cheek - the common Argentine greeting.

Papa Noel pays a visit

Soon after midnight the 8 year old was ripping open his presents from Papa Noel, that had magically appeared in the corner of the room in the 3 minutes that his auntie had taken him out the room!  The older son and daughter also received a few presents but it appears that presents are mainly for the young children of the family.

Completely surprised, Jess and I were presented with two lovely wrapped parcels!  We couldn’t quite believe it having obviously expected a present-less Christmas!  The family had given us each a bilingual book all about the main sights along the Ruta 40 which runs the length of Argentina.  An amazingly thoughtful and generous gesture from people we had met only the day before.

Partaaayyyy time

A mayor difference between an Argentine Christmas and a British Christmas is that on Christmas Day early morning all the young people go out to a big party!  In Britain, I couldn’t imagine a Christmas Day without the silent roads and an evening spent inside, feeling stuffed and sleepy!

Anyhow, the meal, presents and group photos over, me, Jess, the elder daughter and our friend headed to one of the big outdoor parties happening in the centre of the town.  Arriving at 3:30am there were already quite a lot of people dancing and chatting in front of the dj stage and for the next 2 hours South American pop music, Cumbia and Reggaeton boomed from the speakers.  We were quite obviously the foreigners here!  Without even the faintest tune of popular European or American music, I expected to not know any of the songs.  To my surprise, I recognised a lot of them, proving to myself how much I had been subconsciously learning the Argentine popular culture!

People were still dancing as it got lighter and at 6am, with the sun up, the dj called the party to a close.  Unashamed to say it, Jess (who doesn’t even like dancing and parties , poor girl) and I, were pretty happy to be heading home to bed.  As much as I do like some of the popular South American music and the spirit, dedication and confidence in the dancing of the men and women, (British guys could definitely learn a thing or two!) I very much miss going out to hear European music.

The rest of Christmas Day was spent sleeping, sun-bathing, sweating, skyping the family in England and eating left-overs!

Not my typical Christmas, and not a particularly typical ‘christmassy’ one, but one I won’t forget quickly!  A lovely invitation from a wonderful family that shared their home and traditions with us at a time that is probably the biggest celebration of the year in the UK.

#4 Patagonia in three days

Three people, three days, three Patagonian English institutes and 1400km of open road– this was one epic work journey that I won’t forget in a while!

Let the journey begin...

Setting off with my Argentine supervisor and an Irish teacher at 6am on Sunday morning, we hit the highway to travel south and then west from Comodoro Rivadavia.  The rolling waves of the Atlantic Ocean catching the early morning suns ray’s as they crashed onto the stretches of empty, unspoilt beaches and rugged, rocky coastline; all of this contrasting with the harsh, dry landscape that faded into the horizon, scattered with oil rigs and oil extractors. 

Six hours later we were pulling into the green and pretty town of Perito Moreno where the snowy peaks of the Andes protruded in the distance.  The following 4 hours I saw many nervous faces of students from 8 to 18 years old, all here to take their end-of-year English exams!

View from the pit stop - Cordillera in the distance

The largest lake in Argentina and the town of Cherries

Quickly packing up our boxes of sheets, projectors and cables we jumped in the car and drove an hour west towards the Chilean border to arrive in Los Antiguos, a small and beautiful town which every January hosts the Cherry Festival. 

Travelling closer to the snow-capped Cordillera, the dry and flat expanses of shrubbery changed.  The road would unexpectedly descend into shallow green valley’s dotted with some cattle, lush trees and a central house – this being the Argentine estancia, or farmstead.  Soon we dropped down to skirt the beautiful shores of the largest lake in Argentina, Lago Buenos Aires, whose waters also pass into Chile.

Los Antiguos and Lago Buenos Aires

Finally we had left the miles of dryness behind to see a landscape much more varied and intensified by the evening sunlight.  On one side of the road, a collection of rust-coloured, peculiarly pointy peaks sat incongruously, whilst on the other, sporadic green fields and pretty trees bordered the navy blue, agitated waters; in the distance, the warm yellow cliffs outlining the other side of the lake gleamed.

Drawing up outside another public school, this time in Los Antiguos, we rushed inside to do yet more exams – only 2 and a half hours late starting!  Finally, at 12pm midnight we were finished...we hadn’t really stopped going since 6am! 

A delicious meal in an elegant restaurant accompanied by two bottles of the best Mendocino wine was definitely in order!  Now I’m no wine connoisseur but this was gorgeous!  We headed to our hotel, shattered but satisfied and the moment my head hit the pillow I was gone.  I had been waiting for this hotel all week – first time in five months that I have had my own bedroom!

Gobernador Gregores, Gauchos and the only restaurant in town

Gobernador Gregores

That night’s sleep was far too short, and at 10am we were back on the road to head further south to Gobernador Gregores, a small town in the middle of a dry plateau filled with Argentine guachos.  

Gauchos are an important part of traditional Argentine culture.  

Gauchos are the ‘cowboys’ of Argentina, living in the countryside, riding horses, herding cattle, drinking mate and are easily distinguishable by the clothes they wear – particularly their soft, material cap.  When I first learnt about this way of life I expected it to be a dying tradition embraced only by the older generation of Argentina but I have been proven very wrong on this part.

The tiny English institute in Gobernador Gregores had a constant surge of kids for 5 hours, and as the last class came to an end I breathed a sigh of relief!  I could not take anymore!

Dinner was at the only open restaurant in town where a TV murmured with heavy metal music and the cutlery laid on the table sat neatly in clear plastic bags...very classy! 

We moved to the one and only pub in town; though I use the term ‘pub’ loosely as, in general, the volume of music in these places makes conversation more of a shouting match associated with a nightclub!  

Anyway, we were clearly the only foreigners here, accompanied by a handful of young, mostly male, gauchos enjoying the pool table, table football and, incongruously, one kid sat alone in front of a wide-screen TV playing video games!

Some pretty old rock paintings...

After our two days of intense, hard work we deserved a break and decided to travel back to Comodoro Rivadavia and break up the 8 hour journey with a stop at the UNESCO world heritage site, Las Cuevos de las Manos. 

Canon del Rio Pinturas

45km off the main road we came to a hidden away canyon, lined at the bottom with a stream, grass and swaying willow trees.  A guide took us along the side of the canyon and underneath sheer drops of rock to show us over 800 paintings of hands, circles and native animals. 

Las Cuevos de las Manos

These paintings date back around 8,000 years and were created by the indigenous Indian population, the Tehuelches.  Perhaps a mark of territory they also depict the daily lives and staple foods of the people, notably the commonly seen lama-like animal found in Patagonia, guanacos.  The rich red, brown, orange and black colours of the hand prints and shapes were made with raw materials and are so unexpectedly vibrant and in good condition that, for me, I found it hard to comprehend the true age of these paintings.

Tired and weary we spent the next 6 hours retracing our steps through wind-swept Patagonia to arrive into Comodoro at 11pm.  The mammoth journey of over 1400km (870miles) through Patagonian wilderness had allowed me to discover hidden away towns and had shown me a very different side to the meaning of a ‘long distance’ journey!  After so many stops I could not quite believe that this stop was actually our final stop!

Home Again

Patagonian Guanaco

I returned to my temporary home and family and was greeted with smiles and a reminder of my home back in Loughborough – in the corner of the living room glistened a beautifully decorated Christmas tree, much like the one which my family 12,000 km away will soon be putting up too.  What a small world!  It was time for me to get a good night sleep before I returned to work the next day!

#3 The Ups...and the Downs

Monday, 31 August 2015

Social media and the amazing communication technologies we have at our disposal today means we can share our experiences through photos, videos, hashtags and captions written and received almost instantaneously.  Without these brilliant apps, I don’t know if trips and adventures like my own would be embarked upon nearly so much.

However, it is all too easy for them to show a one-sided story – the side that is exhilarating, eye-opening and fabulous all the time. 

During these past 3 weeks in Comodoro and further 3 weeks in Buenos Aires (and province) I have had exciting and eye-opening times but I’ve also had challenging, upsetting and difficult times.  

This is the first time I have properly experienced homesickness.  I have missed my friends, my family and the British culture; been frustrated at not being able to express myself correctly or accurately in Spanish, or understand and participate with conversations; found it tiring that the most basic of tasks – like withdrawing cash or setting-up my mobile – can cause problems and seem to take so much effort! 

These adventures are not without their hardships and it would be foolish to ignore the tough times, to erase them from our memories and from the stories we share with others.  They are normal and expected but I (I am definitely guilty of this, though I’m sure others are too!) often choose to put them in the ‘taboo’ box for fear of giving others the impression that things aren’t going as great as we all expected.  

However, during these harder times I have realised how precious those connections that I do have are, and made me appreciate the good bits of Britain that can too easily be forgotten by the negativity and grumbling that we become part of in our daily lives.

There is no denying that Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and my tendency (and everyones?) to advertise those ‘unforgettably brilliant moments(!)’ to everyone are great.  But they are only a fraction of our real, daily lives and we shouldn’t judge an entire experience - be that a day, a month or a year - on a few photos and hashtags.

Sunday, 6th September 2015

A word about the refugee crisis

This week the news has been a filled with tragic stories about the rivers of refugees pouring into Europe from Syria.  My heart goes out to them and their bravery.  

I felt homesick yet I had a job, a home, a welcoming host family, a support network, money and the knowledge that I can easily return to my home country England if I need to - pretty much everything that they don't have.  The two situations don't even compare and it's impossible to understand how these refugees are feeling but the situation has highlighted to me everything I do have and how unbelievably tough their lives are.  Right now I am feeling rather fortunate and blessed.  

We should welcome these brave, strong and unfortunate families in the same way we would hope to be welcomed if, one day, we found ourselves forced to leave everything we had in order to save our lives.

Read this article from the UN Refugee Agency:  'Key guidelines for dealing with Europe's refugee crisis'.  If you don't want to read it all, skip to the bottom of the article to read 6 concise main points:

http://www.unhcr.org/55e9793b6.html

This charity provides support and help to the people living in affected areas of Syria:

https://www.justgiving.com/HandInHandForSyria

For other charities to donate to or other, more practical ways, to help check out this article:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/5-practical-ways-you-can-help-refugees-trying-to-find-safety-in-europe-10482902.html

Germany welcomes: