The day after the 9th of July.

 WhatsApp is the main form of communication here.  People on motorbikes send voice messages, old ladies in the supermarket text at the speed of light, our water man sends us a message every Sunday night and the kids in high school place it at greater importance than the respiratory system.  We knew Depp had to take some item of clothing to school today but didn’t know what.  A quick plea for clarification on WhatsApp resulted in pictures of neck kerchiefs, like the gauchos used to wear.  The easiest way to describe a gaucho is like a cowboy but I think they are held in higher regard with a slightly mystical ability above the average cowboy.

All the children here have a great reservoir of traditional costumes for just such an occasion.  We however do not.  We rummaged through the tea towels until we found something that was suitable.  Depp was quite pleased with his gaucho pañuelo.  The kinders performed traditional dances, talked about independence and showed some of the traditional toys that children used to play with.  This was also a chance to see some of the things that Depp has been learning.  He’s now an expert on giraffes in both English and Spanish.

FYI Depp's giraffe is the only visible drawing

Truce had her English Open Class today and her class has been learning about volcanoes.  The children gave a very scientific explanation of how volcanoes are formed, the different types of volcanoes and used some bicarb and coke a cola to create some mini eruptions in the classroom.  Unfortunately I was teaching over in the high school during Truce’s open class but Talluah was well enough thanks to a lift into school so she could watch the performance.

Happy Birthday Colleen.

A wet weekend with some weaving.

Today marks Independence Day for Argentina.  In 1816 Argentina became independent from Spain.  This town was named after the 9^th of July and the world’s widest avenue can be found in Buenos Aires, also named 9 de Julio.  We do not know if there were any celebrations on at the town square but considering that it rained most of the weekend we opted for French toast, cubby house building and general lounging about.

As a household we have spent close to two months taking turns with fevers, coughs and flus.  Truce had a soccer goal land on her and several of her classmates’ neck and shoulders.  She has complained, very silently, of having a headache since that day.  These are the cultural differences we notice, where everything is padded and bolted down in Australia, things like goals are held in place with a few spare tyres in Argentina.  We used a few yoga techniques with a sheet wrapped around Truce's waist, I held her inverted for a minute.  She's not as short as she used to be and I'm not as strong as I used to be - perhaps it was only 45 seconds.

Talluah has unfortunately developed a nasty case of tonsillitis and we had to break out some of the medicine that we brought over with us.  We know that most medicines we need are readily available but Talluah has had issues with her tonsils in the past and a quick look in the mirror is easier than finding a handy doctor, explaining medical history to be prescribed something that we already have.  Our medical kit looks a little like we swapped bags with an apothecary at the airport.

Talluah has continued to teach herself new weaving skills with her loom and her latest masterpiece is a wallet.  Next week we are off to Uruguay and I have a feeling that she’s hoping to find some new textures to weave with.

How to bluff a dog.

On our side of the railway tracks, the roads are all bitumen, while the south side of the tracks a majority of the roads are dirt.  Since our arrival the council has been doing road works along Schweitzer, which is one of the dirt roads to school.  Talluah and I have been able to avoid these road works without adding any distance or time to our ride/walk to school to work.  However, the road works have rounded a corner and now cause us to detour around the massive trench they have dug.

The trench is anywhere from three to four metres deep and naturally has dirt walls.  There is no sign of any reinforcing for the walls and men work in there daily.  With the winter rain, I would be hesitant to work in there.  All of a sudden teaching children doesn’t seem so dangerous.

Every other car that has had to divert around the trench has done so in the rain and turned some of the intersections into a quagmire.  Not really a problem when driving but on an undersized clown bike, such as the one I ride, with my fancy Julius Marlow shoes – the ones that are not designed for walking through six inches of mud.  I went down a street that looked the driest with the best intersection.  One canine did not like the idea of me invading his territory and started chasing me.  I’ve had dogs bark at me before and thought nothing of it as they just seem to be showing off.  This one did take a little nip at my ankle.  As I rounded the corner another dog started barking at me and feeling rather annoyed at being bitten, I started barking back until it ran away.

A few days passed and no dogs bothered me until yesterday when the same dog came charging at me.  We had a barking competition and it looks like I won as it backed off.  I think I’ll have to carry some mozzie replant with me in case another dog bugs me.

Bees make butter?

My latest idea to help learn Spanish is to read a children’s illustrated dictionary.  This way everything is in context, there’s no translation and the sentences that explain the word are at the appropriate level.  This involves choosing a sentence and walking around the house for a week reciting phrases such as, The river runs through the valley, The paint tin tipped on the floor, The bee makes honey and The fire is almost burning the entire forest.  It’s very difficult to put these into general conversation.

Can you pass the butter?

            Of course, but did you see that paint tin on the floor?

Just give me the butter.

            This butter?  This butter that runs through the valley?

Pass me the butter before I hurt you.

            This is dangerous butter.  The butter is almost burning the entire forest.

The flaw in this plan is that we live in the pampas where there are no valleys, people always put the lid back on paint tins and while the bomberos here are very busy, fortunately, there haven’t been any forest fires.  I was starting to lose faith in my plan until I had a chat with the gardening teacher.  We were discussing the seasons and gardening in Australia and here when I told her about Australian native bees with the winning phrase, native bees don’t make much honey.

Now I just need to slip the dice have dots on their six faces into a conversation somewhere.