checkpoint

Last weekend Thomas and I took the bus to Córdoba - a mere 5 hours from Rafaela. The trip included a really lax guided tour of the city, with an Argentine girl a few years older than us who couldn't keep from laughing as she explained historical details; later very hostel-like banter as evening set into night, and a few drinks; then an overly lavish dinner that I was sort of forced into, as I'd have been happy eating some empanadas for 2 dollars, but instead went with Thomas and 2 other people we met to this steak restaurant, where we got complete meals and Mendozian wine, and got to peek at the first bit of a live tango show for free, costing me in total only 25 dollars which, in the long run, is not that much, but still...I guess I'm pretty cheap; followed by our jaunt into Córdoba's nightlife, which under Canadian administration failed miserably, at which point the Swiss guy and I broke off and were promptly directed and escorted to the best club in the surrounding zone by two Argentines (who however left us there and went on their merry way). All in all...a good night. Thomas and I killed the following day waiting for our bus seeing some museums, art and technology, the latter of which was thoroughly more captivating. Saw some progressive designs for lamps, cars, musical chairs ([sighs] not the game; chairs designed ergonomically for musicians, dope!), bunk beds, and a few more useless things like couches you can sit on and napkin holders. So anyway.

This week has been pretty gas (an Irishism), though the best part of it is that Thursday is a national holiday (labour day I think?) and I already have Fridays off, so I get a 3 day week and a 4 day weekend. Everyone's heading to Buenos Aires for the long weekend and we're staying in that fledgling Bostonian hostel in ritzy Palermo again. Maybe this time he'll have real beds. Hoping to see the city a little bit more than I did last time, though I definitely saw more of it than the hungover Irish. In any case there should be more balance this time.

Teaching's going really well. The teachers have been pretty pleased with my lessons. I tend to bring games related to some language feature they happen to be studying, or else I bring a song (sometimes relevant, even) and ask them to analyze it. That's my favourite part, because I feel I'm doing them a pretty good service introducing them to all this good American/English music. The ultimate goal is to give the older ones mix CDs with all the songs I've shared, and after I'm gone, for them to listen to the songs in their spare time. I think that'd help more than anything with their learning of English. Maybe a group of them take the songs to heart, and maybe a few within that group get the CDs of a particular artist and become fans, and internalize some of the lyrics, vocabulary, pronunciation. I'll never know, of course, but that is the goal and the hope.

I prefer the older classes to the younger classes, though it's the younger classes that shower me with affection, hugs and high fives, screams when I enter the classroom. However I feel a bit at a loss for what to do with them. I've sort of stopped trying to concern myself with creating lessons for them, and have begun to hand that job over to the individual teachers, who should have a better idea of what their particular level of English needs. The older classes are really impressive in their English ability and coming up with things to do with them is easy and fun.

Family life's thriving as well. Being able to speak Spanish is making this really awesome, I can express just about anything and moments of faltering communicative ability are more comical than anything. The mother is amazingly adept at being a mother - she works in the mornings, cooks lunch and dinner just about every day, and seriously concerns herself with each detail of her kids' lives (not in a terrible controlling way, mind you, but stemming from her obviously instinctive nurture). I'm treated more or less the same as the other kids, well, clearly less, but enough so that I can see what it's like. It's for sure the most striking difference, as my house was just about the exact opposite. I can't say I would have preferred that degree of meddling growing up, and think it's less a difference of Argentina/USA as it is an issue of individual family differences. I mean, I have friends at home whose parents are like that too. I have respect for it, it's nice to have every bit taken care of, but am glad it was not the case in my house.

So anyway...Buenos Aires this weekend, the bus leaves tonight at 11...I'll update either there or when I get home next week.

P.S.
Of all the things to lose in Córdoba, I lost possession my toothbrush, which was sent specially from the US. I HOPE that I lost it and that someone did not steal it, otherwise I have no faith in the human race. I was pretty pissed at the state of affairs when I woke up on Sunday morning with dirty teeth, but I got another one for a dollar anyway. Also newly lost this week: my camelback sheer black waterbottle, which had made it all through Brazil. I wasn't even travelling though, I lost it here in Rafaela. That's the third waterbottle I've had of that model and I think it may be my last for a while. Fate's telling me to move on.