Wednesday was a thoroughly enjoyable day for many reasons! The perfect balance of getting new clothes, sunshine, food and dramas.

The day started quite relaxed but also with focus. Time to get myself a skirt. There’s a party happening on Saturday eve and all I have are dresses. No pretty top and jeans combo. Nada. Everyone else always seems to wear pretty tops and trousers so I always feel slightly out of place. Not massively so, but a little. So, with my eyes on the prize, I got myself up early and was about to go on my way when Marta said she’d come with me. Fab. Another pair of eyes and opinions. This could work thinks me. I was thinking particularly of a skirt I had seen the other day in a shop and set my sights on finding it in the same shop (ver) but in a different branch.

Oh the joys! When we arrived at ver and there was one skirt left, and it was in my size! Hallelujah! Since when does that happen? Must be a sign. I was just limbering myself up to part with my hard earned cash and buy the beloved skirt, when Marta surprised me and told me she’d buy it for me as an early birthday present. First birthday present of the year! (If anyone else fancies getting me a present early, I am officially now taking them 😉). Double hurrah! The feeling of having a new piece of clothing is one of the best I feel. With my cash back in my pocket and a new skirt in my wardrobe, we hit some more shops for a wander around. After a while of wandering we split up, with me walking back to the apartment whilst Marta ran some errands.

The next few hours passed by without incident. I spent my time thinking about what I’m going to do for my classes on Friday (I’m teaching back to back again, was only told on Tuesday Eve so not much time to plan! Thank goodness I had all my 1:1s planned for this week) and having lunch etc. Marta taught me how to make an omelette which was exciting. I know they’re super easy to make but I always end up with scrambled eggs. But not today. What it is to be alive!

Soon it was time for me to go off to Camelot for my 1:1s so, with my rucksack in hand, off I go. My first student arrived. “hello! How are you?!” I exclaim and he replies “good! Well. Soso” and I cry “oh! Why so?” And as a response he says “well… My boyfriend and I.. he broke up with me”. … Say WHAT! The day before I had a 1:1 with him and he was talking about his boyfriend, how in love they are etc. To find out they’d broken up was a bit of a shock for me. If it was a shock for me, how much more would it have been for him! Turns out it had happened about an hour before our class. Ooft! To make matters worse, we were supposed to be doing a kind of quiz on love. (It’s called the five love languages. The idea is that there are five ways that people feel most loved and different people feel most loved through different things: words of affirmation, acts of service, physical touch, receiving gifts and quality time). As he was telling me what had happened my brain was rerouting the lesson as I was thinking doing a quiz on love when youve just broken up with someone probably isn’t the one! But, when I said this, he suggested we crack on so off we went.

Then after an hour we finish and my next student comes in. “Hello!!” I exclaim again “How are you?!”. My student “well, I am good. A busy day!”. My interest piques, “oh, how come? What happened?”. “Well,” says my student calmly “my dad came to my work today. And then I noticed he had little pulse so I had to call an ambulance and he’s now in hospital”.. WHAT!?.. “But he’s okay they’ve done tests and he will be discharged tomorrow but everything is okay”. Thank goodness. I know my students dad is the one who has the heart issues but, my poor heart! Can’t take any more drama 😂 found this all to be completely ridiculous and hilarious but not hilarious at the same time but also hilarious. Know what I mean? Just the way things came about 😂

Well anyhow, thankfully the rest of our lesson proceeded without any more drama and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The funny thing is, this particular student is quite chill, very sweet and studies really hard. He has no particular need for learning English just enjoys it and always tries to use the new words or phrases I’ve taught him. It had been his birthday on Monday so I was asking him questions surrounding birthdays to get him to speak. He told me that when he was younger he drank too much and went to too many parties and in his mind he is aged 26. He said he loves to throw a party and usually each year throws several for his birthday. This picture of him drinking when he was younger and going to parties is quite hilarious as he’s like a grown up teddy bear and it just amuses me 😂

Once the hour and a half was up, I meandered back home and started making cookies. (Shout out to Emma Green for providing me, some years ago, with the best recipe for cookies which I still use!). This is quite an operation as the dough makes so many and you need multiple trays and a bucketload of chocolate to chop up. About two hours later I finish and start to wash up. With one bowl left to wash up it slipped from my fingers and smash! Obviously my brain thought, ya know what Nadia? Youve been in this kitchen your whole life. How can you wash something if it’s smashed? Perfect solution. I joke, I joke, felt super bad! Darn my butter fingers…

Well anyways, the purpose of making the cookies was because I was going to the Echevarria’s house for dinner with some pals from the church for “pollo al disco”. Pollo al disco, as it turned out, was basically this huge wok (wok? woc? Wock? Whock? What even is this implement. Also why’s it even called a wok/woc/wock/whock?) -i was going to say cauldron for the lolz but that wouldn’t quite be accurate – over a blazing fire outside with all of the yummies in. Chicken, rice peppers etc. Well anyways, I was faintly relieved that it was just chicken and no dancing was to be involved. When I read the message about it saying “would you like to come for pollo al disco” I was like, surely it’s not gonna be chicken then dancing 🤔 anyhow, it was super super super yummy! 😋 and we had cookies for pudding 😋

Twas a really lovely evening! Got there at about 9.30, started eating around 10.30/11ish I think and by 1am was feeling pretty knackered and ready to go anytime. About an hour and a half later the leaving process started 😂 for an English person, this is super late! I have learnt that there’s no point getting in a stress about it. It will be what it will be 😂 on the plus side, I think I can follow more group conversation now!!! It’s still hard for me to contribute, though I did a little yesterday 💪 but I think I can understand more so hurrah! And even tho I was tired and it was super late I was still understanding a fair amount of it. Learning a language is so weird. How do I just know some of the words now? I suppose I probably am translating it in my head but not consciously! Weird. They were trying to explain a Spanish word to me and I was like “oh, it’s like ademas” which was SUPER weird because I forgot that ademas is a Spanish word. And I was like. Uh. What does that even mean? Couldn’t even remember but it was the right kind of word 😂 freaked myself out with that one.

Anyways, got home and into bed at 3 am! Texted my sister like, “I’m just going to bed and you’re probably just getting up” and she was!! Weird. Always hate it when that happens 😂

Well, there endeth a hilarious and lovely 24 hours! I will probably go back and write a blog post about my whole week so might be a bit out of kilter (soz) but thought today (well, yesterday) was very worthy to report on fully 😂 also, I nearly captioned this blog post “heartbreak and heart attacks” for the lolz because I thought it’d be funny and also my post views would go through the roof 😏 but alas, it would have ruined the punchline of my story so had to withhold from doing so. Alas…

Where I left off was on the happenings of Friday 12th July, so I shall continue with Saturday.

Saturday was pretty chill! Not much to report. I had just been telling Marta I’d pop out to the shops to buy a little food for lunch (as per usual I had basically nothing in my fridge) when she stopped me, proclaiming, no! Let’s go out for lunch! So, off we went 😊 I shall spare you the detailed description of what we had (I’ve been told my blog posts are all about food! 😂) but it was lovely and we had pudding too 😋 twas really nice to spend some time with Nolys grandmother out of the apartment and we had some nice chats 😊

After lunch Nolz came to pick me up and supposedly, I was meant to do some planning for my 1:1 on Monday but in reality I just felt shattered and so off I went to have a ciesta. I’m someone who ciesta-s now man! Never used to be able to actually sleep but my ability to have ciestas seems to be improving.. I don’t think Noly’s parents even realised I was in the house until Noly returned back from band practise to pick me up for youth haha.

Things of note from the youth group: – we set up a secret santa kinda thing as on Saturday it’s due to be the day of friendship here! Thankfully I knew who I had. The budget is $100 which is about £2. Owp!

-twas one of the girls’ birthdays so what did that mean? They’d done an asado for us. Hurrah! Plus I lucked in as the plate I managed to sit myself behind was a huuuge slab of meat 😋

Sunday we had church and then off we went to the golf club for lunch as Cristian was playing in a tournament there again. There was the normal suspects for the usual Sunday lunch plus the Echevarria family from church so we were a merry little party! When we got back to the house I finally found the strength to plan for my 1:1 the following day and then got to watch Stranger things afters with the Nolzster before he dropped me back to Marta’s.

Monday came around which meant it was time to get back to work! Although, first, just time to nip to Goly’s house (Marta’s sister) for her birthday bash. As an English gal who dislikes being late, this only gave me minor heart palpitations (an improvement) as we didn’t start eating till about 2.15 and I needed to be at work at 3! I needn’t have worried because it was fine and my student was late anyways.

On Tuesday Noly popped over and we worked together, had lunch in the apartment with Marta as well, watched an ep of stranger things and then went back to working together. Afters, Nolz dropped me off at Camelot institute and I sat in on the Tuesday class with Laura.

Wednesday was quite a slow day. Was just having lunch when one of my new 1:1s for later that day texted me to cancel as he was feeling unwell, massively freeing up most of my day, apart from the other 1:1 I had scheduled. After that I popped to the city centre to buy some bits. Sometimes Noly and I ask each other “what could I do to love you better?” And Noly, for once, had something for me when last I asked (usually it’s me who then gets out my long list of complaints hahaha) and said “well… I like surprises..”. Haha, I love this. Requesting a surprise somewhat takes away the surprise element I feel but heyho! So anyways, I was on the hunt to buy the ingredients for one of Nolys fave cakes which his mum taught me how to make last time I was here. It’s fab, it’s basically a biscuit cake with chocolate milk & dulce de leche 😋 so when I got back to the apartment I busied myself making said cake and dinner (such a domestic goddess I know) and round Noly came for dinner. Have to persuade him to see me somehow 😉😏 We then watched another ep of stranger things – it pleased me that I was wearing my stranger things pj top 😏

Thursday was a pretty chill day with nothing especially to report. Spent the day doing a bit of work, reading and then going to Camelot institute for the evening class. In this class the students were doing an exam. Partway thru their exam Laura summoned me and called me into one of the younger classes who were doing exams as they wanted to meet me. Oh my word! They were so sweet. Especially one of the girls who was just trying so hard to remember the words but really couldn’t remember bless her heart. Possibly the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. And that includes all the puppy videos I’m constantly watching on Facebook..

Friday was a super busy day! In the morning I met with one of Moni’s friends to discuss her and some members of her family having some English lessons. After that I walked into town to meet some of the girls to go to a place called Casa Dir. It’s hard to explain what it was (and I myself am not entirely sure haha) but there were loads of rooms decorated differently and in different styles that you could wander around. Twas a bit like a museum but I actually enjoyed it because you could touch things and sit on the sofas that were dotted around etc haha. Plus it was nice to do something with the girls 😊 after that we walked to Luci’s and loaded in her car to drive to San Lorenzo for lunch where we were joined by some other pals and Nolz too. We had empanadas and it was super nice 😊 they all then went for a walk but sadly I had to go as I had work, so Martin who also had to go into the city centre dropped me into town. Friday’s I work from 4.30-8.40 and usually it’s four classes back to back but this week the students were doing exams, meaning four hours of doing nothing! Felt really tired! Watching other people working is just exhausting 😂😴 after I’d finished at Camelot I walked back to Marta’s and then Nolz came to pick me up as he had some meeting thing and then we went to watch the Lion king at the cinema.

Saturday was ‘la dia de amistad’ here, meaning friendship day, so the evening youth group was a little different than usual in that we played loads of games for a while first and then had a talky talky bit. Bizarrely, the point of the game was to bounce a ping-pong ball once onto two plates and then for the ball to land in a bucket. For some reason that I can’t fathom it was a very compelling game and I really wanted to win 😂 another game we played involved trying to throw a ball thru a hoola hoop as it’s rolling across the floor 😂 I found this one slightly less compelling but it was fun nonetheless! We then had a brief lil talky bit and then had food 😋 after food we got presented with our secret Santa presents which was fun! I got some nail varnish (which i promptly put on) and moisturiser 😊 had been feeling a bit down because of friends day and having felt a bit lonely here but it was nice – Nolz was tryina cheer me up saying, just think, someone (hopefully a girl) has had to think what to buy you this week and has gone out and bought you a present, which was a cheering thought 😊 I have my suspicions on who it was but not 100% sure!

On Sunday, Nolz was preaching. Bless him he was a bit nervous but he did so well. He talked about using what God has put in your hand, even if it seems really small, talking about Moses when God turned his staff into a snake and then with David and Goliath. After church we all bundled off to Vivi and Billy’s house for a spectacular lunch. There was so many of us! So nice to have such big gatherings on Sundays for luncheon 😊

After lunch us girls went off to the fair to do a spot of shopping. Was feeling rather tired and kind of just wanted to rest but decided to rouse myself and go, since I’d been feeling a bit upset about not having many close friendships here yet. It was fun! Although I only lasted an hour before I’d had my fill of hunting so I went and sat and wrote this blog post for a bit. I bought a jumper and a top ☺️

After shopping at the fair I went to Nolz’s and we hung for a bit before going to sleep.

I’m gonna write the next week in bullet points as this post is already super long.

-This whole week students at Camelot were doing speaking exams and I was one of the examiners leading part of the exam. This was good to help me start learning some more of the students’ names.

-Monday: I had a 1:1, followed by the speaking exam and then a new 1:1. This new 1:1 is really sweet! I asked him why he wanted to learn English and he didn’t really have a purpose for it, just likes learning. He said he sometimes wonders why he’s rushing around learning and doesn’t just rest but would prefer to learn so 🤷 kinda sweet! After this I went to Cris & Luci’s for an asado (BBQ) with some of the gang which was a really nice eve! Barely spoke because group conversation is still the hardest thing about Spanish for me but it was nice to be there 😊

-Tuesday: cheeky breakfast out with Noly and speaking exams

-Wednesday: speaking exam and grammar 1:1. Oosht! Grammar is very heavy but lesson went well I think 💪

-Thursday: went to the arty crafty class with Sofi again 😊 then speaking exam and impromptu dinner out with Nolz. We went for sandwiches. I can’t even explain why the sandwiches here are so good they just are! Maybe it’s the fried egg that does it for me 😋🍳

-Friday: the first time I taught four lessons back to back. Oosht! They went fairly well! I was happy with 3+1/2 / 4. Which I guess is pretty good for the first time but it did make me feel a bit wobbly. In three of the lessons I did the same thing and on the other one I experimented with an activity I saw online. The students really enjoyed it! So gonna keep that one in my belt. After the lessons I went off to band practice. I wasn’t really in the mood as I felt a bit down after the class buut it was good to go and helped me get out of the funk. I didn’t have any food in for afters so Nolz, like the total cutie that he is, brought me food 😋

-Saturday: was cooking with Marta to use up some chicken I had left. Nolz came round for lunch and we all ate together before cleaning up and then Nolz and I went to a park nearby, had a wander round and read part of a book together. We then went for ice cream before Nolz dropped me off for the other half of band practise. After band practise there was yoof and I spent a while talking to Cami & Luci en Espanol and then Vale and her friend (I think Valentina) all on my own! Go me. Felt very satisfied as I was more or less able to communicate what I wanted to and this was helpful for me to feel like I can have friends here etc. Then yoof actually started and we sang a song together, prayed and listened to a preach. Everyone was feeling pretty tired so I think most people left and didn’t stay for food. Nolz and I skidaddled as well, got food and then went back to his to get some much needed sleep.

-Sunday: sang in the band at church today! Very high harmonies haha. Sometimes I wonder if I sound a bit screechy but apparently not haha. After church we headed off to a place called ‘Libertad’. Libertad in Spanish means freedom. Which sounds like a wonderful place to be. In reality, this ‘libertad’ is a shopping centre! I think libertad is the name of the supermarket there but I’m not 100% sure. Well anyways, we had some yummy food and then wondered around the shops for a bit. There’s a clothes shop there I wanna go back to as it had nice things but I didn’t let myself look as I really shouldn’t spend any more money this month haha. Don’t think much will happen to report on for the rest of the day. The plan is that Nolz is gonna do some work for a bit then later we’ll watch a film. I’ve decided not to work at the weekends (generally, sometimes I might have to) because otherwise I just wear myself out. Have decided I will have to get up early in the mornings to do my planning for my 1:1s and any lessons I have at Camelot.

Anyways, this is all for now! I shall leave you with a picture of some lettering I did recently.

I’ve been here about 8 weeks now and already it feels like I’ve been here for an aaageee! Although not in a bad way I might add, just feels very normal to be here with Noly. Other things don’t feel so normal yet but I am getting more used to being here and the cultural differences etc.

I’ve had some definite ups and downs but when I started this blog post (a few weeks ago) I’d had quite a hard week (in terms of adjusting) so I thought I should write a list of my best bits thus far to remind myself of all the really fab things that have happened whilst I’ve been here for these last 8 weeks. I will probably have mentioned most of these but heyho! Here goes…

• One day in June Noly decided to surprise me! Well, kind of. He told me a surprise was coming but I didn’t know what it was. I returned back from work and then soon there was a knock (technically a ring on the doorbell) on the door and Noly turns up, gliding into the room proclaiming ‘DINNER IS ON ITS WAY’ and proceeds to set up an indoor cinema date night. So cute!
• I was super brave one day with speaking about my feelings and in Spanish too. Both of these things I find difficult to do! It was when I found myself on a girls shopping trip with Luci, Moni and Vivi (Lucis mum) and Vivi asked me how I was settling in, asking me how are you reeaallyy. It was the first time I felt someone had really asked me how I was doing and so I told her that I was feeling a bit lonely and she suggested a few things I could do that might help me.
• Cuckina’s birthday party! This was such a good night, one of my favourite ones I’ve had here thus far. I managed to speak to Luci and also Noly’s cousin Facu who up until now I hadn’t really been able to speak to much as I had struggled to understand him. I also managed to get to the funny part of what I was trying to say and conveyed it in Spanish 💪 and was complemented on my improvement in Spanish. I was really able to roll my rrs too! Although this has since faded. I think, in truth, this was perhaps helped by my having drunk a glass of wine 😂 loosened up the tongue nicely 😂
• In a time when I was feeling a bit down about not being able to communicate as much as I would like to with Noly’s family and people here, every member of Noly’s direct family and a few further afield seperately said something encouraging about my Spanish getting better, complimented me or said something sweet to me.
• I’ve started 1:1 classes with a student and I really enjoy them! From what he’s said to other people he really enjoys them too. In fact, in the winter break he suggested we meet up and have a class and he’d pay for me to have something at a cafe as well as paying for the lesson. He also got me some chocolate. What a star.
• If you follow me on my lettering Instagram (cheeky little bit of self promo I love it, @joyfulventures check it out!) you may have seen that I’ve really been reflecting on my identity whilst I’ve been here. It’s so easy to think about all the things I’m not and compare myself to other people and forget that my identity is primarily as a daughter of God. After having a conversation with my very wise sister about it that helped, this was reinforced by a card that was written to me by my Auntie. She wrote it before I came and said for me to open it on a random day when I felt like getting some post. Her words reflected exactly what I’d been doubting about myself and reinforced the message that I am a child of God and that’s my primary identifying factor.
• Making cabsha with Vale & Sofi! This was just such a lovely evening – the perfect mix of girl time, chatting and cake. This was one of the first times I did something without Noly as well (#missindependent), which if I was in England, I would have no problem doing but here it’s harder when I don’t have him to rely on to supply my words for me if I can’t find them in Spanish and don’t always know the cultural/social expectations of me. But I was brave, I did it and it was really fun! I’ve since been doing more things without him too so go me
• After having mentioned to Moni one day that I would like to buy a medium layer coat, a few days later I found myself shopping for one at some second hand stalls with various members of Noly’s family. Noly himself, Moni, Javier & Marta. I found this so sweet! All of us just searching for the perfect coat for me and offering suggestions. Made me super happy. Plus I got a new coat so win win.
• Surprisingly, something I really enjoyed was budget planning with Noly. What a bore I have become. Who ENJOYS budgeting? Me, apparently. Argentina has changed me. I’m not even sure quite why. I think maybe because it just made me feel a bit more like I have a plan (albeit a very vague one) with my finances and gave me more of an action plan rather than just being unsure all the time about how much I should spend etc.
• Weekends generally! Each weekend thus far I have spent at the Matus’ and that’s been really nice to get a change of scene and also to see Noly for more than just a couple of hours.
• So far we’ve only been to one, but going to the art class with Sofi a few Thursdays ago was really fun! Not just the art class itself but getting to know Sofi some more plus she helped me with all the logistical things of getting there etc, as I would have had no idea what bus to take etc.
• Being able to work the gas hob for the first time in my life! And also cooking with LENTILS! Also for the first time! (Although this was a bit of a cheat as all I had to do was reheat them but shh)
• I’m not sure if I will be able to convey the hilarity of this last one, but I shall try. One day I saw Moni wearing some rather fetching leopard trousers. I complimented her on them as she really suited them and a while later, she produced a matching pair. For me! Well, up until this point in my life I had never thought of myself as a leopard print trousers kinda girl but they’re super comfy and y’know, sometimes you have to try new things so there you are. About a week later, Noly told me his Auntie had bought a present for me. We arrive to meet her and lowe and behold! A leopard print cardigan. Apparently, I had complimented her on one that she had (must have been a closet leopard print fan) and she had promised to buy me one too. And what comes next in this thrilling tale I hear you cry? Well, it was the day after Marta came back from Spain. I’m in my room. She turns to me… Look! Here are some trousers I never use but are lovely. Would you like them? Well, at this point who am I to say no? Once again, super comfy and leopard print! Who knew I liked leopard print this much? Certainly not me! Now I am just waiting for a t-shirt, perhaps a hat and some socks and I’ll have the full set…!

Well, there endeth my best bits for now!

Tuesday this week it was a bank holiday (independence day for Argentina) and so went out for luncheon with Javier, Monica, Nolz & Marta. En route Marta said to Noly ‘a donde vamos?’ (Where are we going?) and Noly replied ‘a Dubai’ (a restaurant called Dubai). I figured this was most likely the restaurant and we were not, actually, going on a surprise trip to Dubai (although, I wouldn’t be against that) but couldn’t resist the chance to say ‘Vamos a DUBAI?!’ (We’re going to DUBAI?!) haha.

Anyways, off we went to have lunch and it was delish. Interesting to have food from a different culture! I feel like we don’t have Arabic food in England, although maybe we do and I’m just completely ignorant, who knows. It’s very yummy! Noly & I shared a thing called shawarma (kinda like a pitta bread filled with yummies) although I was tempted by the Arabic empanadas. An empanada is classic Argentinian food. It’s a bit like a cornish pasty but much smaller. The Arabic ones are my favourite though I can’t remember why especially. Generally you only eat a few, though I remember when I was on my gap year here about 4 years ago us English kids didn’t know that! I’m pretty sure I ate about 10 and one of the boys nearly ate 20!

After lunch, we went to a cross between market and second hand shop, in English terms. Here they call it a ‘feria’ which translates to a fair but that’s not quite it. I had mentioned to Monica that I wanted to buy a jacket here because the coat I have is quite long and heavy and so off on the hunt we go! I found it really sweet because there was Noly (who despises shopping), Monica, Javier & Marta all looking for coats being like ‘Nadia, try this one!’ or ‘What about this one?’ and then evaluating with me whether it was good or not. At the second little market bit we went to there were two contenders! And in the end decided on one which I’m happy with. I always get super excited when I buy something new and get to wear it for the first time 😂 It’s the small things in life that thrill me haha.

The rest of the day passed by with nothing really to report other than I was still feeling somewhat poorly so mainly just chilled the rest of the day.

Due to feeling poorly I took Wednesday quite slowly as well, not really getting up to much until the afternoon where I treated Noly to merienda (#girlpower) with my hard earned cash! (Smoothie and sandwich, as per), we came up with a vague plan for my 1:1 lesson I was going to have the following day and then went back to the Matus’ for a bit to play the crash bandicoot version of mariokart (eek!), have dinner (yum!) and watch an ep of stranger things (help!).

Thursday was the best day of my week thus far! In between the things I have mentioned, I have found this week to be quite a hard week of trying to adjust to a different culture and country, but Thursday was the first day this week where I’ve just had a full, really nice day with no getting frustrated or upset about anything so hurrah! 🥳 Plus feeling very nearly back to normal health wise (although I still can’t hear very well because my ears are constantly blocked. It’s going to be weird to resume life again at normal volume after such a long time!) so double hurrah.

Started the day quite slowly, got up, read my Bible and then started planning properly for my 1:1 student later that day. I spent the time after lunch before my 1:1 beginning to tidy my room a little bit (I’m naturally a very messy person but it does actually make me feel much better and level headed somehow if my room is tidy). Before I knew it it was time for me to head out to have my 1:1 class. It’s still the winter holidays here at the moment so we met at a coffee shop (the same one as last time) and I was greatly pleased to see that I could more or less remember the way there! Usually my sense of direction is terrible so this was gratifying. One of the first things my student said to me was ‘I have a present for you’, which to be honest, is always the best 6 words one could possibly hear, and out of his bag came a big fat lindt chocolate bar. Mmm, what a star! Top student me thinks haha. The 1:1 class went well and before I knew it it was the end of the class. Once again he covered the cost of my smoothie (major news flash by the way! I have decided banana is my preferred smoothie now. No longer is it frutilla (strawberry). Crazy news.) so happy days! The last thing he said was ‘make sure you share the chocolate with your boyfriend eh?’ to which I smiled, nodded, as if a dutiful, loving girlfriend whilst inwardly thinking to myself ‘pssht. No chance’.

I jetted back to the apartment (well. in retrospect I should have but ‘ambled back’ would be more of an apt desciption) to quickly get ready for the birthday party I was going to that evening. Nolz came to pick me up in his new car (ooh yes I forgot to mention this! He got a new car on Wednesday and didn’t tell me anything because he wanted to see my face when I saw it and him. I was very shocked and surprised and now whenever I don’t hear from him very much from whatsapp I’m like hmm.. What are you up to this time?) and back we went to his house for him to get changed and then drive there with his ‘rents.

I wasn’t sure what to expect because I’d not been to a big birthday bash here when it wasn’t in the person’s house. It was such a nice place and the food was mega superduper yummy! Before we sat down it was so lovely because I started talking to Luci in Espanol and could manage to say more or less what I wanted to say most of the time (sometimes with horrendous grammar but she could work it out) and she complimented me saying I’m learning a lot and also I’m talking quicker. That made me sooo happy and I can see that actually, some of the time I am speaking much faster in Spanish and it’s actually super satisfying to be able to. When I notice myself speaking super speedy I’m always a bit like, eyy, check me out! Haha. Also I actually managed a few funnies! Usually when I have a funnies to say I can’t explain well enough in Spanish because I forget the words or say it in a weird way or have to keep asking for the translation so by the time we get to the punchline it’s already fallen a bit flat, but for once this didn’t happen! I’ve realised in recent years I put a lot of stock into making people laugh and so it was really nice to feel a bit more like me again.

After the milling around with canapes bit off we went to go and sit at the table and have food. It was suuper yummy! Definitely want to go back there again as I think everything that comes out of the kitchen is likely to be perfection. Then there was obviously the customary happy birthday singing and then the various different cakes were cut and served up. There was cabsha!! (My all time favourite Argentinian cake) so obviously I was happy when I bagged myself a big fat slice of that bad boi. This second part of the evening was also really satisfying for me because I managed to speak to Facu, Noly’s cousin, with a little bit of help from Noly but mainly not! And I could follow their conversation more or less. I also managed to answer a question directed at me from across the table from Javier without the help of Noly, which I was super pleased about, as often I get the whole rabbit-in-the-headlight sitchu when a question is directed at me infront of lots of people and forget every bit of Spanish I know, but not today amigos! Not today. (Well. Yesterday technically but that doesn’t have the same ring to it). And then Cristian (not Luci’s Cristian, Noly’s uncle) complimented me on my improved Spanish so hurrah! As well as speaking to a few other people in Spanish I spoke with Noly a lot of the evening too. So much so that after a while he looked super tired and was practically begging me to speak in English for a bit. I was in the swing of it though and kept replying in Spanish by mistake haha. Poor love. All the correction gets a bit wearying I think. Later he told me that I go through phases – for a while I will speak almost perfectly with like. No mistakes (don’t fully believe that part haha) and then I will go through a phase when there’s 5 mistakes in every sentence (that I can believe!). Plus, apparently I now talk with intonation – used to speak really robotically before apparently! I also got super excited tonight because I was on a roll with rolling my rrr’s (see what I did there😏) and managed some really good ones! Plus, another exciting thing, I had malbec red wine. It’s supposed to be pretty decent from Argentina and I’ve never had it here. Red wine just makes me think of Christmas because of mulled wine, but actually, I didn’t hate it! Watch this space. Maybe I’m gonna turn into a red wine drinker! Gosh.

Friday – the plan for today is to go to the gym with Noly this morning whenever we wake up and then do a little bit of sorting (I need to get some bits photocopied at the photocopiers but I have no idea how to say what I need to say etc so Noly is going to help me) and then we’re planning on splitting off for a bit, for me to do some TESOL revsion (man. I was going to do so much during this winter break and literally barely done anything! Owp) and him to do revision and then later maybe go for dinner 🙂

To give some background, this weekend just gone myself, Noly, his parents, Luci & Cristian were going to an award ceremony as Javier’s TV channel had been nominated to receive an award. There was a nomination ceremony in the morning which we could all go to and then in the evening the award ceremony itself. Two years ago we all went in to the evening award ceremony as well as the morning, though this year there wasn’t enough space for all of us at the evening do so this year we were just going to the morning bit and only Javier & Monica could go to the evening part.

So this weekend just gone has been a gud’un! On Friday Noly and I boarded the bus and six hours later, we arrived in El Termas de Rio Hondo. Javier & Monica came to pick us up (they had driven down earlier in the car with Luci and Cristian) and off we went to the hotel. We got there without issue apart from a near miss with a very elderly man who nearly reversed straight into Javier’s car. The hotel was a really nice hotel called ‘El Ameriano’ and was where we stayed two years ago when we came last time. By the time we arrived and settled in it was pretty much dinner time so off we went to dinner. After telling Noly that I was only kind of hungry (and meaning it too) I loaded my plate up at the buffet and easily had more than everyone else at the table. What can I say, a girl’s gotta eat right?

(From left to right) Monica, Javier, Nolz, Nadz, Luci & Cristian

The next day started with the morning award ceremony. We all got dressed up and off we go to, bizarrely, a motor museum! I’m not sure quite why this year it was in a motor museum but whyever not? There was a lot of milling around, giving us a chance to look at all the cars and motorbikes etc as well as trying the virtual reality racing thing. Safe to say, I’m not going to be a F1 driver any time soon. Wasn’t a big fan. Then the certificates were given out, pictures were taken etc and after some more milling around, back we went to the hotel.

The rest of the day was really chilled. Javier & Cristian went off to play some golf, leaving myself, Noly, Luci & Moni at the hotel to chill out. We had lunch together and then decided to go to the pool. The pool was so lush as it was filled with thermal waters so despite it not being a super hot day (it’s winter here after all), the pool was really lovely. Sadly, or not depending on how you look at it, we missed the pool zumba..! However, we did get to go to the hotel spa. I’ve never been to a spa before so I don’t know if this is typical to a spa but there were a whole load of different zones where we went through. We started, weirdly, by having to march in a circle over a whole load of rocks multiple times. Maybe the employees of the hotel were just having a giggle, or maybe this is legit a spa thing and I’m just a noob, who knows? Then we rotated through the pool into different areas which was fun! And ended by having to plunge yourself into cold water. Whilst Noly & Luci were fairly graceful in their descent into the cold water, I regret to say I was not and somewhat plummeted into the water to get it over with, much to the amusement of the other spa goers who chuckled haha. We then went into the sauna which, whilst it was really nice, wasn’t great for me as I had a slight sore throat prior to going in and afterwards it felt a whole lot worse.

After so much relaxation we had, of course, built up quite an appetite and so decided to have merienda. Mm. Toasted sandwiches and smoothie for me!

For the rest of the evening I chilled out with Nolz for a while before essentially double dating with Cristian & Luci for dinner and then going out on the town for drinkies.

The next day, Sunday, we checked out of the hotel and off we went to another hotel! We had to leave Hotel Ameriano because there wasn’t enough space for us that night. En route to the other hotel we stopped off for luncheon and then wondered around a market for a while, as well as stopping off on a very windy road to have a looksee at the view. When we got to the hotel I decided to have a lil sleep as by this point I was feeling super poorly as my sore throat had turned into a cold (typical. I feel like I often get unwell when I’m on holiday). After my cheeky lil ciesta we went for an explore of the hotel. Whilst very beautiful there wasn’t really all that much to do at this hotel. We then had merienda and then played another round of marioparty with Cristian and Luci, which team Nadz’n’Nolz managed to win again, hurrah!

Monday we checked out and back onto the bus we went. There was a slight problem when we boarded the bus, went upstairs to our assigned seats (31 & 32) and found that they didn’t exactly exist. The numbering system went 29-30 & then 33-34. Slightly problematic. But we sat ourselves down in some other seats and thankfully, no one came along to kick us out haha. Felt rather grogged out but we got there eventually! I was dropped back at Marta’s and promptly burst into tears! Poor Marta. I’d been feeling a bit frustrated over the weekend at not being able to communicate fully in Spanish and also wasn’t feeling very well and Marta had just wanted to give me a few tips for a few things and was instead presented with a girl in floods of tears. Once we’d established that I didn’t need to go to the hospital, I made myself a lemsip (hurrah for lemsips!) and was instructed firmly to put layers on and get into bed. Well, who am I to refuse? So there I stayed for the evening. Noly came round and waited on me which quite honestly, was lovely. Considering being ill more often just so he has to sort me out, bring me food and clear everything away whilst I stay firmly where I am. Perhaps. Anyways, we watched two more episodes of Stranger Things (the first of which we’d watched on the first bus ride) and then off Noly went and I went to sleep.

So anyways! I’m now back in Salta and slowly getting better.

A few things I would appreciate prayers on:
– My health. It’s really not that bad in the grand scheme of illnesses and it is lifting a bit but I am still very coldy, with my throat feeling bad, being quite congested and a bit heady at points. I am very grateful that I am at the flat with Marta & I have the Matus family nearby, who are basically my local pharmacy! Javier seems to basically be a pharmacist and know exactly what pill I should take for any ailment and Marta has also been looking after me, ordering me and Noly pizza and making me some food etc so that’s something to praise God for.
– I’m still very much getting used to being in a different country and have been feeling quite discouraged with various things, speaking Spanish, fitting in etc so would appreciate prayers as I’m definitely still adjusting.

I’ve now been here for just over a month (say what!) as I arrived on the 30th May. I’ve spent a month working at Camelot English institute and I am now having two weeks off! It’s the winter holidays here now (weird. England’s weather is just hotting up I believe according to my sources) so no work for Nadz.

Anyways, where I left off on my last blog past was last Thursday when I was just about to head off out to an arty crafty class. I asked Sofi (a girl from church) if she wanted to come with me and so off we went! I was so glad she came with me for so many reasons, but my complete lack of sense of direction was one of them! (Plus, everything looks the same here to me because it all looks so different from England and is set up in blocks so I am forever slightly confused (well. Majorly confused) with what part of the city connects to what part.) I don’t think I ever would have arrived if it was solely up to me 😂 the studio was about 40 mins away on the bus.

It was really fun! The project is basically making a mosaic (ish) frame for a mirror. We spent most of the first session arranging the tiles, glass and bits of mirror onto the frame. Once we’d finally finished with this, we had to number them all and decide what we’re going to do with the glass tiles – i.e. paint them, stick something on them etc – and write that on them. That more or less took us to the end of the 3 hours (what can I say, I am incredibly indecisive!) and so Noly then came to pick us up and take us back. I’m super glad he came because if we’d gone on the bus I would definitely have been late for work! As it was, I got there on time but I was shattered! I think because of concentrating for so long but also spending such a long amount of time surrounded by Spanish, trying to understand it and speak it – during the lesson and before with Sofi. My brain was feeling seriously frazzled and wasn’t ready for English grammar!!

On Friday I had work from 4.30-8.40 and got paid the first big sum of money I have received here. Hurrah! This did send me into a slight (well. big) panic about my finances as the amount here is significantly less than it would be at home but I have to keep in mind that living costs are very different here, in line with what people can afford. After a pep talk from Noly and the promise that we will sit down and do some budgeting (oh joy!), I calmed down and off we went for some pizza.

Saturday was mainly taken up by being at church. Church band practise was scheduled for 3.30 and it wasn’t till we got there at just after 3.30 that we checked the whatsapps and the time had changed. In the end we didn’t start for ages after (gave me a good chance to practise speaking Spanish with different people but did tire me out somewhat) but it was decided that I would sing part of the song in English the following day! It was encouraging because they asked me if I wanted to lead and I said it’s too hard for me to lead in Spanish because of the pronunciation and Cristian (Noly’s brother) added ‘yet’ so that was encouraging! Haha. Anyways, we divied up the song (Oceans by Hillsong) and decided I’d sing verse 2, a chorus and then part of the bridge. After running an errand Nolz and I felt so knackered that we decided to not stay for youth and go home for an early night before an early start for church the next day. It makes me chuckle to myself that here an ‘early’ night means going to bed at midnight 😂

The next day, Sunday, I did it! In fact, not only did I lead part of the song once, I ended up doing it twice haha. After the preach was finished we were up again at the front and we ran out of songs we had prepared so we repeated Oceans haha. I love singing but I am not used to leading so it’s quite scary for me! I prefer being on harmonies as then I can follow someone else.

The rest of Sunday was really nice too, we all piled into Cristian & Luci’s house and had lunch there. As mentioned before, Cristian and Luci have a puppy called Dona who twice fell asleep on mine and Noly’s lap, spread between the two of us. My heart! She’s so sweet. And a little rascal too but (generally) doesn’t leap up and bite your face any more. Not as often anyways!

Monday Noly and I went to the gym and quite honestly I still haven’t quite recovered from that. I now can’t go on the treadmill without at least smiling to myself (if not laughing) after Laura (the head of Camelot) told a story about her going flying off a treadmill once as she had an itch on her leg and stopped running on it for a second. Once we’d finished at the gym we both had a big fat burger and quite right too. It was spectacular.

The rest of the day I spent recovering from the gym and was about to throw in the towel for the night when Monica (Noly’s mum) asked if I’d like to go to an art gallery showing with her and Luci that evening. Time to put my big girl shoes on (literally. Shoes here are massive, I think they’re called platform shoes) and off we go. It was such a lovely evening! Nice to do something with Noly’s family without him! Well that sounds bad but y’know, independent girl and all.

Tuesday the Matus’ invited me round for the afternoon and night because there was an Arg vs Brazil footie match on. It was also the eclipse day! I’ve never noticed an eclipse before and quite frankly, probably wouldn’t have noticed this one if Noly hadn’t told me it was coming. He’d told me not to look at the sun and so when the time came I kept sneaking glances outside (but not into the sun) thinking, is this it? Am I allowed to be looking at this? Seems pretty bright to me.. But it was only a partial eclipse in Salta. Shame! I’d have liked to see it all go proper dark! It was a bit murky and definitely darker than it had been though.

Anyways, pre-match we spent a while doing sorting bits – looking at my budget etc, y’know, all the fun stuff. Then watched the match with extended fam which Argentina lost, wah. They always seem to lose when I’m watching. Surprisingly I really enjoy watching the matches with Noly’s fam! Everyone’s fairly into football here. In fact there was a match last Friday and in 3/4 of the classes only about 3-5 students turned up!

Wednesday Noly dropped me back to Marta’s and I got myself ready for my 1:1 lesson with a student who wanted to meet in the holidays and offered to pay if we went to a cafe. Fab thinks me! So off we go and I really enjoyed it! And I got a smoothie too so happy days. After the 1:1 I walked to the shopping centre and Noly and I walked around the shops for a bit and had merienda (kinda like the snack meal of the day, usually happens at about 6ish and is the third (out of four) meals of the day).

Thursday I was chatting a lot with Marta as she’s just got back from her travels away in Spain and she was showing me bits and pieces in the apartment. Skyped a pal and then packed, ready to go away this weekend! Then Noly and I headed out to the cinema and saw the new Spider man film. Really enjoyed it and would defs recommend 😜

Now as I post this we’re off for the weekend, woop! We’re going to a place called Termas Rio Hondo and is about 6 hours away via bus. For me this is quite a long time to be travelling (although not compared to my super long plane journeys to get here) but for Argentina it’s nothing as this country is proper huge! Haha.

Anyways, hats off to you if you got to the end of this post! I’m trying to keep them relatively short but been busy and haven’t posted for a while. Over and out!

Once again, it’s been busy here in Argentina! I can’t believe soon I’ll have been here for a whole month. I’m not sure exactly where it’s gone.

Anyways, on with what I’ve been up to from last Wednesday (19th June) to Wednesday just gone (26th June).

On Wednesday evening I went to the Echevarria’s house (a family from church), where I hung out with two of the girls (Vale & Sofi) who taught me how to make cabsha. It was a really fun evening! Bonding over making cake is definitely the one. Turns out they both speak some English too (when I asked how much they spoke they said ‘oh not much, just went to an English institute for ten years’… TEN YEARS! This makes me feel woefully inaccurate when people say ‘oh so you can speak some Spanish’ and I tell them more or less (mas o menos) as I definitely haven’t been studying for ten years haha) so that’s always a bit easier for me as I can fall back on English words if I don’t know them in Spanish.

Cabsha is my absolute fave cake here! The making of cabsha itself is not actually that hard to follow, just a tad faffy as there are a lot of different processes to follow but easy enough. Well, I say this. The only time I’ve made it was on this occassion under the watchful eyes of pro Vale, so I’ll report back when I try and make it on my own haha. Since this is an educational blog (😉) I thought really, I just had to eat some of the cabsha so I could put a picture of how it looks in the middle for this blog. For blog purposes only, obviously. You’re welcome.

Thursday was a bank holiday so no work for me! (Or most people in fact). This meant that this week (w/c: 17/06/19) I was only at work 2 days! Bizarre. Anyways, so Cristian & Luci invited those in the worship band at church (about fifteen of us) to their house to study the Bible and look at the theme of worship. Supposedly it started at 9 so in reality we probably didn’t start till around 10, 10.30 but it was a really good study. I could understand a fair amount of it and pick up through the context what Luci was most likely saying so it was satisfying and helpful. It ended with burgers and playing with the puppy Dona, so that’s always a win in my eyes! I also found out, by chance, that Sofi from the youth has the same birthday as me. Hurrah!! This is incredibly good news. At church, if there’s been a birthday in the week, they get you out the front and all sing happy birthday to you. This means there will 100% be at least another person out the front with me. Phew!

Friday was my long day at the institute. Although, when I say long, it’s only 4 hours! But it is quite intense going back to back from one class to the next. Once I’d finished at the institute Noly came to pick me up and I went back to the Matus’ for the weekend.

On Saturday I had a pretty severe case of craving all of the food that ever existed. (I was going to refer to this as having the munchies, but I checked it on urban dictionary and apparently that comes as a result of having smoked weed. I’m glad I checked as I don’t want anyone getting the wrong impression of what I’m up to over here..!) I was craving chocolate, crisps and a nice big fat sandwich (with chips) all day. The hour finally came (at about midnight) when the craving of the big fat sandwich con papas was fulfilled and it was glorious. So glorious, that I finished before everyone else and ate more than most of the boys.. Mmm… I should potentially go back to the gym one of these days or it’s likely that I’m going to be rolling home at this point…

Sunday was church followed by lunch at the golf club where Cristian was competing in a tournament. When we got back to the Matus’, I actually had a ciesta where I fell asleep (unheard of for me), although it was somewhat strange as I’m not sure if I had sleep paralysis (I’ve had this before. It’s really horrid!) or I was just dreaming that I had sleep paralysis. Once I’d awoken again, after a while Noly succumbed to my numerous demands of wanting chocolate and off we went to get me some chocolate from the shop. That was also glorious. Then did some prep for the following day as I was having my first 1:1 meeting and then went out for dinner with Noly and his parents. This made me super happy as it’s just so nice being able to communicate more with his family and be more a part of things!

Monday was the day of my first 1:1 meeting! I think it went okay! Although when I asked the student if he liked learning English his response was ‘..no..’ so that’s not particularly ideal haha. I got a fairly good idea of what level of English he has though so that was helpful. It was also the first time I’ve been paid in my capacity of being a teacher so that was exciting!! After meeting with the student I met with Laura and we went through some material together, looking at what we’re going to do in each class this week.

On Tuesday I had another meeting with two students who want to have conversation classes with me. This meeting was just to assess what they aim to get out of English classes and see what level they’re at. I think this lesson is going to be interesting! One lady has quite a good grasp of English and spoke a lot, the other seemed to understand a lot of English but replied mainly in Spanish. This is going to be a challenge! The good thing was that I could understand most of what she was saying in Spanish and sometimes managed to reply in both Spanish and English and on the times when I really didn’t understand, her friend translated for me. Still, this is going to be an interesting mix to cater for both of them! We’ll see how it goes I think.

After returning back to Marta’s from this meeting, I could feel myself slipping into feeling panicky so naturally made myself a cuppa tea (classic British move. Crisis? Have a cup of tea). This didn’t quite work so I rang one of my besties from home who calmed me down and repeatedly told me ‘you’re killing it girl!’ which made me feel better haha. I have since made a list of my ‘wins’ since I’ve been here and I think I will continue in recording my wins each week.

I also told Noly that I’d been feeling wobbly and so his response was ‘let’s go out for dinner tonight! ..With chips??’ (referencing my toddler break down I had a few weeks ago haha). Obviously he has picked up on the fact that food tends to make me feel better, so this is a good development in the life of me!

Wednesday 26th was a good day for me! Usually I meet Laura for a while to look at materials but she was busy so all I had on was a 1:1 meeting with a new student. I thoroughly enjoyed this meeting and later was told that he’d said it had been an amazing lesson and he was very content so I’m definitely counting that as a win! So encouraging for me, particularly after Tuesday when I had such a big wobble over doing 1:1 lessons. Next week it’s going to be the winter holidays so I won’t have my 1:1 lessons on, but this student said maybe we could meet over coffee and have another lesson so that’s also encouraging as it seems that he’s keen!

In other news, a funny moment from the other week that I forgot to write about.

Noly and I were in the city centre the other day. Let me paint the scene for you about the city centre- fairly narrow streets so cars very close together, a lot of pedestrians, car mayhem. To while away the time we had la musica on and more specifically, High School Musical ‘Can I Have This Dance’ (I am a sucker for this song and High School Musical generally. Don’t judge me, it’s so cheery!). I was trying to find the harmony for this song and was singing Gabriella’s part (obviously), with my head thrown back in wild abandon and was belting it out, when I happened to look out the window and there was a girl observing me from a passing bus. No smile, no laughter. Just observing me. I imagine she was thinking something along the lines of ‘What a pecular specimen of a human we have here. Interesting.’. I must admit, her complete lack of emotional response ruined my wild abandon as it completely cracked me up but y’know, you win some, ya lose some!

Lastly, some things to thank God for:
– I spoke to Laura, the head at Camelot, and they’re going to try and see if they can put a work visa through for me. This is amazing as it requires her to register Camelot at the migration office in Argentina and potentially other costs and work that needs to be done. The Matus’ told me that most people probably wouldn’t have done that for me, so this is really amazing.
– Whilst I still feel a bit lonely sometimes, the communication barrier isn’t too bad and generally, I’m managing to communicate (unless I’m tired and lacking in energy because then I really can’t understand much). There are also a few things on the cards for me to do in my spare time. I’m going to an arty thing on a few Thursdays with Sofi and potentially might go to some art classes with Luci so I’m looking forward to that!
– I have some 1:1 students lined up! One of these students wants to have 1:1s with me to prepare him for the First certificate (Cambridge English exam) one is a group of two who want to have conversation classes and another two are having private conversation classes with me. Whilst having the responsibility of tutoring someone for an exam is fairly intimidating, this will be good for me as I will have to practise teaching all the skills and not just speaking. Having these 1:1 classes will also be good for my finances!!
– It’s soon going to be the winter holidays from the institute (i.e. two weeks off for me) and myself and the Matus’ are going to be going on a road trip as Javier’s TV channel has been nominated for an award again. The timing of this is impeccable! I’d been wondering what I was going to do in my time off work (when I’m not busy I tend to feel lonely/upset/grumpy/aimless) and so I’m really pleased that this has come up!

For those of you who are reading my blog and don’t speak Spanish, a “gringa” is a foreigner (at least in Argentina anyways). It’s not that anyone’s been mean or nasty to me (on the contrary, everyone has been so lovely! Apart from a particularly grumpy check out lady where my card didn’t work), just that there are a lot of cultural differences between England and Argentina. I was explaining some differences to one of my classes the other day and they found the English way of doing things as bizarre as I find the Argentinian way of doing things!

1. In England, I would say “afternoon” takes place between 2-6. From then onwards it is evening and if you’re anything like me, you’re set in for the night from about 9 and wouldn’t dream of going out. Here, afternoon is anytime between 2-8. When I told the students that in England I have dinner at about 6/6.30 they gasped in shock! Here dinner is from about 9.30 (in fact the other night I went out for dinner at 10 and we didn’t order till about 11.15😂) and therefore bed isn’t until much later, around 1/2.
2. Clubbing! I haven’t been clubbing here (kind of tempted, just because it would be a random & cool thing to have done. Plus it would be good for the game two truths and a lie) but I have it on good authority that there’s some differences there. Whilst they have pre-drinks here, no-one arrives at the club until maybe 2! And then it goes on till 6 (someone else told me 8) and then sometimes there’s post-drinks. Ha!
3. A few students follow me on my Instagram now. For me that’s totally bizarre as that would be super dodgy back home, but here it’s totally fine! Apparently it would be different if I was a teacher at school but as I’m not, it’s more acceptable. In fact, a few are even reading this blog!
4. As mentioned above (point 1), the structure of the day is different. For me, as an English teacher at an institute, the students are at school in the day time and so the earliest I start work is 4.30, and sometimes not until 6.30. This isn’t the case for everyone in Argentina but for me, with my British way of thinking (get up, go to work, evening to relax) I find this so bizarre as I’m going out to work at about the time I would be winding down to come home in England. Bizarre.
5. The type of questions asked here! Whilst the majority of questions students asked me when I met all the classes were fairly standard, there were a few curveballs in there which I wasn’t expecting! And when I say curveballs, I mean personal questions. One question being “Do you want to have children in the future?”. The other question which was asked to Laura, was “Have you ever been in love?”. I can’t speak for everyone in England but personally, I am incredibly bad at talking openly about my feelings and feel a bit awkward, so I was so grateful that last question wasn’t addressed to me! Feelings? What feelings?!
6. Argentinian people naturally gush out their words in a seemingly never ending lovely spiel. I can’t do this at all! I am not a natural gusher! I am trying to cultivate it but I think I am more like a staccato music note at this point 😂
7. I just can’t get in my head the Spanish word for puppy. Whenever I try and say it (‘cachorro’) I just say ‘cuchara’ (spoon) or ‘cuchillo’ (knife), or a mix of the two ‘cachara’, which is nothing at all 😂 . I really just can’t get it in my head! In fact, even writing this part of the blog, I clarified with Noly ‘so you said it’s cachorro?’ and two mins later was like, ‘so what is it, cuchara?’. Haha someone. Help.
8. Being a planner in a non-planning culture. I have always been someone who loves being busy. This has mellowed a little bit as my energy levels have been a bit funny over the past few years, but I usually have at least a few things scheduled in the diary or that are in the pipeline. In Argentina, people don’t massively plan very far in advance. This is hard to get my little brain around! I plan everything – what I will have for dinner each day of the week, what I’m going to do and when etc. Last week I had to rearrange to skype my Auntie about THREE times because plans kept coming up last minute! It’s also hard with food to anticipate how much I should buy because I’m not sure if randomly I might be going out for dinner or be out at an event or something. Whilst I really don’t mind things being last minute, in fact sometimes the most last minute things are the most fun in my opinion, I just don’t know how people don’t plan in advance here like I would do at home!!
9. The time difference. Even though I am very much used to working out the time distance between England and Argentina (Argentina is four hours behind the UK), it can be weird at points. The other night I couldn’t sleep and it was about 3am here and I noticed my cousin had just liked my instagram photo. Because it was 3 am here, it would have been 7am at home and she was probably getting up to go to work! (Hannah, I’m talking about you if you’re reading this! Haha).
10. I didn’t think I had a tenth point and was going to cobble something together, but I’ve since realised I have quite a few more (hence this is part 1 😂). Something I find genuinely really hard, is it’s okay to talk over/interrupt people here in a group setting! It’s usually a case of whoever speaks the loudest get’s to talk 😂 Coupled with the fact that I’m quite quietly spoken as it is and I have to try and work out how to say what I want to say in Spanish, I find this so hard! Group conversations are probably the most hard for me to follow because the topic changes so rapidly so it’s super hard for me to contribute. This week just gone at a Bible study I managed to chip something in to the discussion (😎) and leading up to it my heart was going like BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM 😂 .

Here endeth part 1! Stay tuned for part 2 😉

Well, as my title says, I’ve had a busy last few days!

Where I left off from my last post was about the events of Sunday with the powercut. In the evening of Sunday, Vivi (Luci (Noly’s sister in law)’s mum) asked if I wanted to go with her, Luci and Moni into town. I agreed, despite not knowing exactly what we were doing and off we went! We went first to pick up some planks of wood from Vivi’s house and then to my favourite shopping centre! (It’s my favourite one because there’s a pet shop with PUPPIES hanging around in the window 😍). It soon became clear we were getting bits for the planks of wood, as Luci had asked me earlier in the day if I would like to go to hers the next day to help paint a table for her house. Whilst waiting in the hardware store, I managed to have a good chat in Spanish with Vivi about how I’m doing. I told her I feel a little lonely here sometimes (well done me! 1, I find it hard to be vulnerable with people sometimes and tell people how I’m actually feeling and 2, I managed to communicate this en Espanol 😎 ) and she was suggesting I get involved in more churchy bits and maybe some of the women’s events at church. I’m keen to do this but it’s quite draining with the Spanish if there’s no-one there who can help me if I struggle so I need to make sure I’m emotionally ready for it! Haha.

After we returned back in the evening, I started having a conversation with Javier (Noly’s dad) about my finances, the possibility of me getting an Argentinian bank account and my job as an English teacher and 1:1 tutor. I felt quite quite satisfied as I had more or less managed to convey everything I had wanted to in Spanish, with only a few English words interjected when I didn’t know the Spanish.

The following day I went to Luci & Cristian’s house with Moni, Vivi & Billy (Vivi’s husband) and we got to work on the table by way of sanding and painting. I really love having a project like this! Whilst we were working on the table (and intermittently playing with Dona, their puppy 😊) Cristian got cracking on lunch. The plan originally had been to have empanadas (a bit like Cornish pasties but smaller) but obviously that had changed because we ended up having an asado (Argentinian bbq). I have never seen a BBQ being started and intermittently kept going through the use of a hairdryer but there you are! Marks for creativity I think 😂

After a well earned lunch, we finished off painting the other sides of the planks of wood and then I ended up having a good chat with Billy. He told me that Luci had told him that I like lettering and the long and the short of it was, he suggested I could letter some bits for the new church building! As Luci is an architect she has a printer that you can use to blow up designs etc, so I’m quite excited about doing that! I need to think about what verses to letter or a phrase to letter.

In fact, I posted something on my joyfulventures instagram page the other day (cheeky little self promotion there. Follow me if you fancy!) and I got a shout out from another lettering page who has 11k followers! She put my post in her story and commented ‘Love this from joyful ventures’ so that was fun 😊

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Anyways, at about 5pm Noly and I headed back to the Matus’ house as Nolz had work to do for exams and I had to start prepping for my class the following day. At about 8 Nolz took me back to Marta’s.

The following day, Tuesday, I spent the day doing a mix of classic procrastination techniques (facebook, instagram, youtube) and preparing for my class for the evening. My class was from 6.30-8.40. I think it went okay! That’s my first lesson here done. Hurrah! I haven’t done any teaching since around March I think? So feel a bit rusty! But I’m glad to have got the first lesson out of the way.

After I had finished at the institute, I headed back to Marta’s. Noly had told me the night before he had a surprise in mind for me for Tuesday evening (I mean, is it really a surprise if you know that there’s a surprise coming? This always baffles me! In my experience, boys don’t seem to be able to do a full surprise 😂 this will always baffle me but anyways), so I returned back and soon enough Noly knocked on my door. In he walks with a bag full of supplies! Popcorn (one each because y’know, who’s got time for sharing?), oreos and chocolate 😋. And then out comes his laptop, his ‘energy giver’ (charging cable) & a blanket and Noly proclaims “Dinner is on it’s way!”. Those must be my favourite 5 words to hear in a sentence. Haha. Dinner was pizza as, in Noly’s words, “What’s a movie night with pizza?”. He makes a fair point. His rules for movie night were quite funny 😂 “It can’t be a film you’ve seen before. Who goes to the cinema to see a film they’ve seen?”, “Lights? You don’t have lights at the cinema!” etc 😂 I felt I should ask him if pyjamas were allowed on movie nights since he seemed very set on movie night being as much like the cinema as possible haha. Thankfully pyjamas were allowed, and in fact encouraged, in this cinema so hurrah! Anyways, it was a very sweet evening and the pizza was glorious! Why is food that you haven’t cooked just intrinsically ten times nicer than your own cooked food? One of the mysteries of life!

Okay, and onto today! Today was looking to be quite a busy day until yesterday, when the majority of my things got cancelled! I was first supposed to be meeting a lady and her friend who want to have private conversation classes, but we had to rearrange due to illness. And the other thing that got cancelled was my time at the institute. I don’t have any classes on Wednesdays but usually Laura and I meet to look at some material or plan for lessons etc, so I’ve just been having a really chilled day! I got my secretary (Noly) to help me with some bits. I’m excited because I’ve signed up to do an arty crafty course thing over three Thursdays 😊 Signing up involved texting back and forwards to this lady to ask questions etc which also meant I had to keep going backwards and forwards to Noly like, “She said this. What do I say now!??”, poor Noly! We got there in the end and I’ve asked one of the girls from church to come with me and help me, so that’ll be nice 😊 I then had a cheeky little skype with my Auntie & Granny and then just been having lunch and writing this post. Nice and chilled 😊 Which is good for me as I think I might be coming down with a cold. I’ve been on the lemsip though! So hopefully that’ll help fend it off.

This evening at 7.30 I’m going to Vale’s house (someone from the youth group) as she said to me the other week she’d teach me how to make cabsha. Cabsha is my favourite cake from here! Lots of the cakes are loaded with cream which I’m not a fan of. This cake is a little bit like caramel shortbread but better. Instead of caramel it’s the glorious thing that is dulce de leche. I can’t really put my finger on why it’s better than caramel shortbread but it just is! I’ll try and remember to take a picture and put it in my next blog post.

Then after going to Vale’s I’m going back to the Matus’ house for the night as it’s a bank holiday (again) tomorrow and some of the youth from church are going to Cris & Luci’s house for some Bible study and worship stuff. Looking forward to it!

Over and out!

You may, or may not know, that there was a huge powercut here in the whole of Argentina today. In fact, as if a powercut nationwide isn’t enough, there was also a powercut in Bolivia, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay!

I have always enjoyed powercuts. Particularly if they’re in the evening and once you’ve just served dinner. The thrill of not quite knowing what you’re about to eat is pretty much what I live for (well. Perhaps this is a slight exaggeration but I hope you can see my point). But I admit, they can be a bit of a pain!

Initially I wasn’t sure if we’d even be able to leave the house to go to church, as there are electric gates in El Tipal (the Matus’ neighborhood) or if church would even be on. Turns out it was (they were using some generators) and we could go because Nolys car wasn’t locked behind electric gates like his parents’ cars. It was Father’s Day here today as well as at home in England, so we started the day with breakfast together, which felt v cosy and romantic as it was by candlelight. Then slowly got up and went to church. For me it felt a bit like Christmas because we were all in pjs, it was dark and cold and the day started quite slowly. Anyways, long story short, the power came back at about 1pm! Good thing too as a lot of people were coming round for lunch and the Matus’ only have an electric oven!

La iglesia