Week Three

Although the bus companies went on strike last Friday, they resumed service on Saturday, so I traveled to Alta Gracia where I had my favorite day so far. It took 2 hours on 2 bus rides to get there, but it was worth it. Alta Gracia is a beautiful town up in the mountains with many parks, lakes and museums. I visited the homes of Che Guevarra and Manuel de Falla (the composer). I also spent some time perusing a local art fair. I bought so many hand-made souvenirs that I nearly ran out of money! I had JUST enough to pay for the bus rides home.

The next day I went to La Quebrada, a nature preserve about an hour from where I live. I walked around an enormous lake for a few hours and then headed home. For dinner, my host father cooked carne asada (a famous Argentine BBQ dish). Sundays in Argentina are sacred, and everyone stays home to cook with their families. There is a VERY strong, smoky BBQ smell in the air on Sundays.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty typical work days. I´m getting more and more responsibilities at the English Institute, and teaching is always the highlight of my day. I just started a unit on animal vocabulary with my youngest students and we´re having so much fun. They were ecstatic when I brought them animal stickers yesterday. Stickers are rare here, so I´m glad I brought a lot to give them.

Unfortunately, my host mother is making it clearer and clearer that she´s only hosting me for my money. I think I´m a pretty easy person to host, but she can´t wait to get rid of me. She hates the U.S. and automatically associates me with many negative stereotypes about Americans. I understand that she´s a busy woman, but she makes me feel quite unwelcome. At least my Spanish lessons with her have been going well. Last night she taught me about the tradition of Argentine tango, and that was really fascinating.

On Thursday morning I went to school with my host sisters to see how schools differ in Argentina and the United States. I attended a third grade Spanish class and a seventh grade English class. I noticed that there´s a much more casual relationship between students and teachers here. And they have coffee/tea breaks every few hours. Perhaps that´s why they have a longer school day.

Ironically, bus drivers here make more money than teachers or doctors, but they´re still not satisfied with their wages so they´re going on strike AGAIN starting today. To make matters worse, Monday is another holiday so the buses won´t be running for four days! I desperately hope they reach an agreement so that I can travel this weekend. I want to see as much of Argentina as possible and I´m running out of time!

Hasta pronto!