As promised, here is
my post about my travels around the countryside with my host family. Last
Thursday morning, Luis, Agus, Nico and I set out for the north of the province,
with Elsa to join us the following day. In less than half an hour I was able to
get myself ready and gather what I would need for the four days away - a handy
skill that I have picked up from the Argentinians. Considering it used to take me at least twice
that time just to prepare for school each morning back home in Australia, I
think it's pretty impressive. We were heading for Andacollo and Huinguan-Co, a
couple of small towns where my host family used to live, located about 450km to
the north. I spent most of the trip staring out the window as the landscape
slowly changed, taking on a more brown
and dusty feel, though still very impressive.
One of the coolest parts of the trip was seeing the migrating horsemen bringing
their herds down from the mountains before the cold weather sets in. The sheer
number of animals that could be moved by only one or two horsemen was
incredible. As we slowed to make our way through the animals (usually goats or
sheep but sometimes cattle) Agus and I opened the doors and the
windows so that we could lean out and get some pictures.
This (on the right) is one of my favourite photos so far, partly because I was leaning out of the side of a moving car to take it. Immediately after I captured it, the man's smile broadened and he chuckled "No fotos - estoy feo, feo!"
Every herdsman that we passed gave a smile and a wave and often rode by the window for a brief chat. Andacollo was formed as a mining community, so there were some pretty cool scenes happening - winding dusty roads in the mountains and large mining trucks passing through the migrating herds. This was quite a different experience for me that I am very glad to have had.
We were to be travelling backwards and forwards between Andacollo and Huinguan-Co for the duration of the four days, seeing as they were only five kilometres apart. Apparently when the family lived in Andacollo, Luis would walk to work every day in the smaller community of Huinguan-Co. The latter was our first point of call, as the school Luis used to work at was celebrating it's 90th birthday and Elsa's sister in law was celebrating 25 years of teaching in the area. Elsa's brother was an absolute character and is certain to make an appearance in fictional stories that I write in the future. Carrying quiet a large belly as well as a large grey beard, he spoke English quite well but liked to answer every question with "Because it's raining" - something that he claims to have done in an English test one time. He enjoyed quoting The Taxi Driver, which was very amusing with his Argentinian accent. When he was speaking his native Castellano I could have listened to him for hours on end. He had a soft yet deep voice and spoke to a distinctive beat - almost as if to the beat of a heart.
He also gave me my favourite gift that I have received over here so far. At one point it was being discussed that I had not yet chosen an Argentinian football team to support - so he decided to try and sway me to his favourite team by giving me one of there old playing jumpers. Needless to say I am now an avid Independiente supporter! The following day I sat glued to the telly to see my first match as a supporter - a local derby against their rivals, Racing. Independiente came out on top, 4-1, with un unusually large number of players receiving yellow and/or red cards. A great match all round! Elsa's brother (whose name I cannot remember) was thrilled to see me later on, proudly wearing the red and white.
I lost count of the number of times that we travelled back and forth between the two towns, never eating two meals in a row at the one house. Agus, Nico and I slept at the house of some of their very close friends. They were really lovely and told me several times that they have a relative currently living in Melbourne. The surroundings differed greatly between the two communities and were (once again) very beautiful. While the places looked quite lovely, I'm not sure I could live there - they were a little too small for my liking. A couple of residents said that while the places are lovely to look at, they aren't the best places to work or live. Nethertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and would happily return for another visit if the opportunity arises.
This (on the right) is one of my favourite photos so far, partly because I was leaning out of the side of a moving car to take it. Immediately after I captured it, the man's smile broadened and he chuckled "No fotos - estoy feo, feo!"
Every herdsman that we passed gave a smile and a wave and often rode by the window for a brief chat. Andacollo was formed as a mining community, so there were some pretty cool scenes happening - winding dusty roads in the mountains and large mining trucks passing through the migrating herds. This was quite a different experience for me that I am very glad to have had.
We were to be travelling backwards and forwards between Andacollo and Huinguan-Co for the duration of the four days, seeing as they were only five kilometres apart. Apparently when the family lived in Andacollo, Luis would walk to work every day in the smaller community of Huinguan-Co. The latter was our first point of call, as the school Luis used to work at was celebrating it's 90th birthday and Elsa's sister in law was celebrating 25 years of teaching in the area. Elsa's brother was an absolute character and is certain to make an appearance in fictional stories that I write in the future. Carrying quiet a large belly as well as a large grey beard, he spoke English quite well but liked to answer every question with "Because it's raining" - something that he claims to have done in an English test one time. He enjoyed quoting The Taxi Driver, which was very amusing with his Argentinian accent. When he was speaking his native Castellano I could have listened to him for hours on end. He had a soft yet deep voice and spoke to a distinctive beat - almost as if to the beat of a heart.
He also gave me my favourite gift that I have received over here so far. At one point it was being discussed that I had not yet chosen an Argentinian football team to support - so he decided to try and sway me to his favourite team by giving me one of there old playing jumpers. Needless to say I am now an avid Independiente supporter! The following day I sat glued to the telly to see my first match as a supporter - a local derby against their rivals, Racing. Independiente came out on top, 4-1, with un unusually large number of players receiving yellow and/or red cards. A great match all round! Elsa's brother (whose name I cannot remember) was thrilled to see me later on, proudly wearing the red and white.
I lost count of the number of times that we travelled back and forth between the two towns, never eating two meals in a row at the one house. Agus, Nico and I slept at the house of some of their very close friends. They were really lovely and told me several times that they have a relative currently living in Melbourne. The surroundings differed greatly between the two communities and were (once again) very beautiful. While the places looked quite lovely, I'm not sure I could live there - they were a little too small for my liking. A couple of residents said that while the places are lovely to look at, they aren't the best places to work or live. Nethertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and would happily return for another visit if the opportunity arises.
 |
| View from the streets of Huinguan-Co |
Returning to the more familiar surroundings of Junin, I felt the sense of
returning to the comfort of 'home' - probably a good indication that I've
settled into life here reasonably well. After waiting out the week long period
that I had decided to wait before hopping on a bike again (see last post), I
decided to brave the wind and the cold and ride my regular path the Monday
after we returned from the north. As I rode back into town, I was
treated to a private march past at the local military training facility. At first
I was only able to hear the sound of the marching music and men yelling
something in unison, however when I rounded the corner I was greeted by the majority of the military contingent here
marching by in formation, their leaders wielding large swords and barking
continuous orders. Hopefully I can time my bike rides to coincide with this in
the future.
I've been lucky enough to get many days free of school over the last few weeks. We don't have the
two weeks off school for the Easter holidays over here, however they might as
well have. With all the public holidays for various reasons and our trip away,
I think I only attended school for two days in the weeks leading up to and preceding Easter. On the Wednesday
of Easter week I was supposed to have classes in the morning so I got out of
bed at the usual 7:30 to be at school by 8:00 only to find the teachers hadn't
thought it worth coming to work for half a day. So I returned home and slept
until lunch time. I recounted all this to my Spanish teacher and she just
laughed and said "Welcome to Argentina!".
My Spanish is coming along really well! I'm starting to feel a very noticeable improvement in my understanding. I am almost always able to understand the general topic of conversation in my host family and sometimes feel that I am understanding everything. I am even able to understand some of the mumblings of my peers at school and sport! My speaking still needs some work when it comes to conversation, however I am able to communicate necessities, make simple jokes and participate in some banter with my host brothers so I figure if I could get by with that. It's been a good experience for me to not be the one doing all the talking. When I get the opportunity to talk to people in English I find it very difficult to stop talking.. It's as if I'm trying to make up for everything I haven't been able to say in Spanish. I even find myself thinking in Spanish quite a bit! Although this can be a tad frustrating considering my vocabulary is probably equal to that of an eight year old (at best).
Many people have commented on how much my understanding has improved and my host family seem quite pleased that I am doing so well. They like to attribute it to the "Che Boludo" Argentinian slang guide that they bought me for my birthday. While it has helped me to cope with the copious amount of 'jerga' and unique gestures that they use, the main source of improvement has definitely been my Spanish lessons. Without them I'm sure I would be improving naturally simply by living here, however the lessons have sped up the process dramatically.
I'd like to finish with a quick story of a near death experience that my host brother and I had on Sunday evening. Everyone else had gone to bed and Agus and I were happily watching the movie 'Due Date' (Spanish title: 'Todo un parto'). Suddenly there was a very loud bang in the room and I felt something small and sharp hit my left shoulder with a fair bit of force. For a split second I thought that I had been shot! My next reaction was that maybe the light-bulb hanging behind us had exploded. As it turned out, a cigarette lighter had been sitting on the top of the fireplace and the heat had gotten a bit much for it.. Thankfully we were both facing away from the fire at the time, otherwise we would have been at danger of losing an eye! It took Luis about two seconds to make it from his bedroom, down the hallway and into the living area where we were sitting in a state of shock. Once we had recovered, determined the cause of the explosion and made sure that nobody had sustained any injuries, we all burst out laughing at the whole situation; Agus and myself white as ghosts and still quite flustered, Luis standing there in his underwear and the shards of green cigarette lighter spread to every corner of the room!
Anyway, that's all I've got for now - once again thank you so much for the support, this blog is nearing 1500 views! I hope I've managed to keep your interest and that you're enjoying life in whatever part of the world you find yourself in.
My Spanish is coming along really well! I'm starting to feel a very noticeable improvement in my understanding. I am almost always able to understand the general topic of conversation in my host family and sometimes feel that I am understanding everything. I am even able to understand some of the mumblings of my peers at school and sport! My speaking still needs some work when it comes to conversation, however I am able to communicate necessities, make simple jokes and participate in some banter with my host brothers so I figure if I could get by with that. It's been a good experience for me to not be the one doing all the talking. When I get the opportunity to talk to people in English I find it very difficult to stop talking.. It's as if I'm trying to make up for everything I haven't been able to say in Spanish. I even find myself thinking in Spanish quite a bit! Although this can be a tad frustrating considering my vocabulary is probably equal to that of an eight year old (at best).
Many people have commented on how much my understanding has improved and my host family seem quite pleased that I am doing so well. They like to attribute it to the "Che Boludo" Argentinian slang guide that they bought me for my birthday. While it has helped me to cope with the copious amount of 'jerga' and unique gestures that they use, the main source of improvement has definitely been my Spanish lessons. Without them I'm sure I would be improving naturally simply by living here, however the lessons have sped up the process dramatically.
I'd like to finish with a quick story of a near death experience that my host brother and I had on Sunday evening. Everyone else had gone to bed and Agus and I were happily watching the movie 'Due Date' (Spanish title: 'Todo un parto'). Suddenly there was a very loud bang in the room and I felt something small and sharp hit my left shoulder with a fair bit of force. For a split second I thought that I had been shot! My next reaction was that maybe the light-bulb hanging behind us had exploded. As it turned out, a cigarette lighter had been sitting on the top of the fireplace and the heat had gotten a bit much for it.. Thankfully we were both facing away from the fire at the time, otherwise we would have been at danger of losing an eye! It took Luis about two seconds to make it from his bedroom, down the hallway and into the living area where we were sitting in a state of shock. Once we had recovered, determined the cause of the explosion and made sure that nobody had sustained any injuries, we all burst out laughing at the whole situation; Agus and myself white as ghosts and still quite flustered, Luis standing there in his underwear and the shards of green cigarette lighter spread to every corner of the room!
Anyway, that's all I've got for now - once again thank you so much for the support, this blog is nearing 1500 views! I hope I've managed to keep your interest and that you're enjoying life in whatever part of the world you find yourself in.
Can we use a word other than "Adventure"? Mix it up a little Ryan!!
ReplyDelete