So quick update on things-all´s been very busy here- teaching (first teenagers, then younger kids), doing the art workshops, moving places (still in San Salvador, now having some hostal life) .
School is closed for Holy Week here at the moment. The teenagers were fun when chatting to them but I still have no idea how you are meant to teach spelling to a room of 30 or so of them. The class is so clearly divided into little clicks, the boys like to be cool, hit each other, play with the girl in front´s hair whilst the girls were happier chatting amongst themselves. This is what my classes looked like. Amongst the words I was expected to be teaching them for a spelling bee were ´hibachi´(´small Japanese burning grill´), ´cabal´(unsure on the meaning of this), ´frieze´and ´antifreeze´ (not very common in tropical San Salvador), which everyone seemed to think meant an anti-frizz hair product, i didn´t manage to persuade them otherwise. The collection of words seemed most peculiar to me so we did some other chaotic activities. The last class was fun, they were acting out a story using some of the words, and some of them were pretending to be animals andf fighting, a little too realistically on the floor, whilst others made moustaches out of paper for their stories. Chaotic and I´m sure it makes no sense to read.
The following week, 30th March to 3rd April, I was teaching reading to the 2nd to 5th grade which are 7 to 11 year olds. Very sweet mainly, when you come in after they´ve droned ´Good-mor-ning-mees- Marietta´they like to come up and hug your legs too. We did things like reading stories about mice, and rescuing baby puffins which was quite therapeutic after the previous week. It´s chaos allowing a class of 7 year olds to try and organise themselves into groups, it´s funny how segregated and stubborn kids are at this age, not wanting to work with so and so and so on, ´c´mon guys, collaborative action for the greater good´i enthused, but to no avail. I was also helping out a group of the children with preparing their topics for an upcoming English language speech contest. One 7 year old girl, Arielle, after not being allowed to speak about the Pope as someone else had chosen it, was speaking about Princess Diana and was going to dress up as a princess for the contest. She seemed more interested in running around with her friend Brian than perfecting her monologue which included such topics as Princess Diana´s charitable AIDS work, and the members of her family such as Viscount so and so. Some of the students had written the speeches themselves as opposed to downloading impossible to pronounce words from the internet and were speaking about the importance of the family, having a dog and so on, which were fun. They all seemed quite relaxed about the contest which was amazing given they are so young.
The other teachers were friendly, and they also have a psychologist at the school so I chattted to her to find out what she does. As I was leaving I indulged in another snack from the cafeteria (which serves up healthy donut and chips to the kids everday). I´ve been enjoying their pupusas and quesadillas, but went for a chocobanana- amazing, frozen and chocolate covered. Just as I was about to sneak a bite, one of the teachers came up to say bye, unfortunately it was particularly large chocbanana which was left dangling uncomfortably between us whilst we chatted awkwardly. I remembered during the teaching also what it was like to feel bloody tired again. It´s a tiring thing. It was great though to get the chance to work with all the different ages so I´m very happy for having done it. I also got to observe the new teacher teaching my old class of teeneagers . He seemed to have the whole thing a lot more under control.
Aside from this, I´m finishing up the art workshops, last one on Monday next week. They´ve been so great. the end of one of the classes recently there was a hairy moment when a guy came in brandishing a handful of knifes. ´Cuchillos, cuchillos!´he shouted and all was ok, as we realised he was just trying to sell them to a class of children and not do anything else with them. That´s fine then. The community is known for being a place for crack trading and muggings so you hve to be careful. We´ve been using all the materials in class (watercolours, pastels, ink, charcol, crayons, making collages) which we´ll give to the community when next Monday when hopefully some of the parents are going to come and look at what their children have been up to. Lots of the children seem to be looked after by their grandparents as their parents are in the U.S. working and sending back money. I got to have a look further into the community at the last class when we had to go looking for the key to open up the room. The houses get even more makeshift the more you go in, so many people, I walked past one of the girls that comes to the class and is funny but likes screaming a lot, Daniela, who must be about 13 who was having a bath in a big bucket.
Amber´s been having a tough time recently, and her and Balta are moving back to B´s old place for a bit, so I´ve moved into a hostal. First night last night, it´s a little place, I chatted to a few of the other people, there´s only about 8 or so people here. I seem to be in a room by the door which means sleep punctauted by doorbell. Am going to have a look around the area and see what´s happening and so on. More later.
Bye bye xxx
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Ahoy there from the classroom
Hello and it´s nearly the end of the first week teaching...I actually have 7 classes not 5 as I thought before. It´s fun taking the bus down there, they have mega sound systems and pump out quality tunes in the morning- Eternal Flame etc.. sounds even better on these buses. It is a bloody nightmare being a pedestrian here as cars rule and there´s so much belching smoke and not really much pavement going on by the road. It is pretty much chaos I think I can safely say no one knows what´s going on. I also can now say that teaching adults where they voluntarily come to study as I was doing in London before seems like a total luxury. I´ve been trying out different things and probably have had about one good class with each group. It´s been momentarily fun also knackering and bloody difficult. I salute anyone who teaches this age group, and the thought of doing this in England seems like it would be much much worse. They other teachers have been friendly but it feels like going on an orienteering run with heavy rain obscuring the way. It´s mega challenge trying to keep them all interested, not yelling at them (although one of my colleagues, a teacher from the US, who laughs heartily after all his comments advised me, "if in doubt, shout") also getting a sense of the right tasks for them, I really don´t think I am teenager EFL teacher material.
It turns out the purchase of sensible shoes mght have been a little premature as my last day with these groups is tomorrow. I was substituting while they found the next teacher, who has been found, a good thing for the students. I am going to see if there´s any work with the younger kids though next week. So this weeks been all teaching and the art workshops. Yesterday´s was great and I feel like I learn lots there through working with the kids and being with someone who knows what they are doing.
Things that I have seen that you wouldn´t see in England in the last week- a rubbish collector on back of full rubbish truck eating an orange with bare hands, a invitational poster up by a church to a sermon titled ´the causes of homosexuality´, man on old ladder in middle of road in rush hour traffic fixing wires, puppies packed in cages on the side of the road, live crabs and parrots on sticks for sale at the roundabout near me, the widest selection of stray dogs you´ve ever clapped eyes on...
So a short blog to offset the last one. Hasta la proxima xxx
It turns out the purchase of sensible shoes mght have been a little premature as my last day with these groups is tomorrow. I was substituting while they found the next teacher, who has been found, a good thing for the students. I am going to see if there´s any work with the younger kids though next week. So this weeks been all teaching and the art workshops. Yesterday´s was great and I feel like I learn lots there through working with the kids and being with someone who knows what they are doing.
Things that I have seen that you wouldn´t see in England in the last week- a rubbish collector on back of full rubbish truck eating an orange with bare hands, a invitational poster up by a church to a sermon titled ´the causes of homosexuality´, man on old ladder in middle of road in rush hour traffic fixing wires, puppies packed in cages on the side of the road, live crabs and parrots on sticks for sale at the roundabout near me, the widest selection of stray dogs you´ve ever clapped eyes on...
So a short blog to offset the last one. Hasta la proxima xxx
Monday, 23 March 2009
How not to teach and art fun
Hello from the cupboard where I am pumping quarters to keep the computer alive. Apologies for lack of blogs, part laziness, part occupation, part intolerance of being at the back of the video store, where my companions are normally hormonal boys downloading porn, eating gross food and so on whilst the propietor furiously sprays air freshner, which combined with cheese and hormones makes me feel a little queasy.
So an update on the last few weeks - 2nd March to now, wow it´s the 23rd. Goodness
Week of 2nd March- On Mon 2nd, After having visited a couple of schools to teach in, I went for my first week of ´training´at the Academia Europa, a chain of language schools over in CA. Our trainer was a woman caled Carla with a yellow tooth, "Ok c´mon guys, let´s go!" she yelled at us as we filed off to the classroom. The other trainees were Salvadorean, a French girl and a Taiwanese guy (he was over in ES selling wedding dresses). This is how Carla says you should teach. To teach the word ´open´walk up to the door and open it and yell at the top of your voice "OPEN! OPEN! OPEN!" (Phase One- ´Introduction´) "I need you guys to be really dynamic" she said, which seemed to manifest itself mainly in shouting. "Why do we shout?" she asked, ignoring everyone´s replies, "So the students lose all their inhibitions!" she informed us. Phase Two was ´Role Play´- Walk over to the other side of the room and ask yourself (if you are Carla) "Open the door Carla" then scream WAIT! and ask what are you doing Carla?" then go to the other side of the room and answer yourself "I am opening a door". The next phase was called ´Attack´, and seemed to consist in yelling again at your students to open the door, then screaming WAIT! at them asking each of them what they are doing. Apparently this method is foolproof for teaching any word. "Attack your students! Attack your students!" Carla urged us, looking up between texts. I felt so depressed and fearful of having everything I remembered and learnt previously about teaching washed away by Carla´s belows that I could not face going back after Wednesday.
On Monday 2nd I also started helping out at an art workshop for kids in a community here. I met a friend of A and B´s at an exhibition here and asked if I could help her out, she´s an art therapist and twice a week on Monday and Wednesday afternoons we go into a community in the middle of town and do art things with the kids. It is brilliant and I love it. You never quite know what´s going to happen, who´s going to turn up and so on, how the children will get on... The kids range from about 3 to 12ish. Some are quite wild and crazy and others are so orderly, tidying, fetching water, looking after other kids etc..very sweet. When we arrive we have to go and look for the key to open up the room where there are some desks. Its pretty hot and sticky and often smells of sewage. The houses are all made from corrugated iron sheets but seem amazingly study. Then the kids come in over the course of the next couple of hours, they try out using whatever material it is- crayons, watercolours, charcoal and pastels so far, to create storybooks, paintings, and so on. Sometimes their mums have come along. It can be a bit crazy as things can descend into chaos quite quickly, lots of children shouting at you, attacking each other, sometimes stealing from each other or running around, getting up and running out type things. Last week a 12 year old boy asked me to help him spell his name, and there are some that cannot write beyond spelling out their name. It´s nice to be able introduce them to the paints and things and see them having fun, and I feel lucky to be have the opportuity to hep out, they are all so friendly and great and happy to see you and run up and hug your legs when you arrive which is so sweet.
On Tuesday 3rd, Amber was part of an exhibition here called ´10 words by 10 artists´, it´s the second one she´s been part of while I´ve been out here and it´s very exciting to see her work up and exhibited and doing well. Speaking of which she´s just been accepted into a prestigious art auction in June in Guatemala. Well done Bambi!
On Friday 6th March I went with Amber to have her 4 month scan which was quite amazing. Seeing the little human who´s become a person no longer a jacket potato as in the other ultra pics I saw. He (we think its´s a he as Amber´s older bro, also present, said he saw something larger than the cursor on the scan.) At the end I realised I had wheeled my chair right up to the screen as it was all a bit entracing, like when they put the hearbeat on, seeing the baby doing what looked like smiling, on the screen, all happening inside Amber. Her ultrasound doctor is nice and took lots of time explaining everything. her other baby doctor sounds a little more traditional- we´ve just had elections here, and he asked Amber if she was eligible to vote, if she knew how to vote and then advised her to ´vota con sabiduria´the slogan of Arena, the (now ex-) incumbent party here. Oh no, not what you want at your ultrasound is it? I am learning lots about being pregnant while I´m here which is interesting. Apparently according to Amber´s other brother you need to take straws with you when you go into hospital (drinking in difficult positions).
The weekend of 7th and 8th March I went across the country with B´s family to the mountains near the Honduran border. A place called Montecristo in Chalatenango in the North West. It is fairly high up there and was my first experience of proper cold since January which was very weird. I went with B´s family (His mother, Elsa, His sister, Patty, his sister´s husband, Toyo, their daughter Alejandra, her boyfriend Carlos, Alejandra´s daughter Sofia, Baltasar´s neice, Reina, and Patty´s other daughter Esmeralda, oh and her husband Mario and their son Fernando, and his nanny (Fernando´s). I got to experience a large Latin family excursion which was fun and interesting. It was beautiful up there, and looked a bit like nice bits of England, with some pines and flowers. We first of all went to visit Reina´s family- her younder sister, Genesis, and her cousin Alejandra, as well as her grandmother and great grandfather who live up there. The house we visited was very simple, with an outside shed with a hole for a toilet, a trough where you have to go and fetch water to do washing up and so on. The people up there are lighter skinned and have rosy cheeks. We had a great lunch with Gallina India style chicken soup with rice, vegetables and cujada (salty white cheese) and some Central American cake with lots of crazy coloured icing. I sat outside and thought about how urbanised I was and tried to imagine what it would be like living there, but my brain is too urbanised i realised. At night we stayed in a hotel where I shared a room with Reina and Alejandra. It was freezing 3 degrees proper cold! The next day we went to visit some flower and veggie plantations, where I brought A&B a camomile plant which looked great but is now on the way out i think, i don´t think they like being inside. We ate some spinach pupsas and then started the slow windy trip back, via La Palma, an artesanal town on the way back. Lots of traffic coming back to the city meant a diversion down a totally unlit road off the main one. It was amazing to see during about 40 minutes, every minute in total darkness someone driving cattle, walking with their family, people cycling, teeneagers walking along alll in total blackness, no one looked scared they might be run over.
The 9th March week was more art workshops, more great pilates with Elio and 1980´s style Salvadorean ladies, and in search of a different school after the Academia Europa brainwash experience. I met someone at AnB´s civil wedding who was involved with a bilingual Spanish-English school here and who took me to speak to someone at the school. Whilst there I also met the headteacher Mrs Arias, who looked like a very scary bird, she looked my casual attire up and down with a face that said ´wrong clothes´ and I was worried I was going to be expelled or something. "We´re very demanding of our teachers" she threatened me, and walked out. The school´s motto is "knowledge, morality, discipline" which pretty much chimes with my own values so I thought I´d fit right in. It all seemed very formal and a bit traditional for me so I put off working there until last week when I started. Will update later.
Saturday and Sunday 15th March - Saturday I went for a run with a group called the hash house harriers who are a group that are round the world who run and then booze and are all a bit macho boys club. I didn´t realise til I got there that it was an orienteering run, since I have trouble with a map, let alone without one this was my worst kind of run. It was fun running through the hills (more walking getting lost really) but the legs managed to get all cut and itchy again from the plants. After the run everyone went to go and play drinking games and sing songs where people are brought into the middle of a circle to be taken the piss out of. I dont like this kind of thing so I didnt like this. On the plus side, the legs of the year are coming on, with doggie and mozzie bites, all over scratch effect from the grasses complemented by descreet lascerations on the heels from my new sensible school shoes.
Sunday 15th was elections day out here and the left party, started by former guerillas during the civil war, have just got in. Bit of a shock to the country after couple of decades of the right. Controversial vicepresident, a guy called Sanchez Ceren a former guerilla involved clearly in some horrendous killings in the war. Although clearly that can be said of many people who were involved in the war which is a fair few people given it ended less than 2 decades ago. Some who were for the incumbent reçight paty are worried that Chavez is going to take over central america- 2 of ES neighbours Nicaragua and Honduras are perceived to be communist. Most people seem to just want a change and are interested to see the changes that wil happen. The next president here is a charismatic guy called Mauricio Funes and his slogan was ´un cambio seguro´and clearly lots of people wanted a change after so long of the right. Its a couple of months til he takes power and everyone´s a bit curious to see what´ll happen. There´s talk of going back from the dollar to the old currency The Colon amongst other things. What would this mean Sarah Bullock, economics expert?
Week of 16th March - I started teaching at the end of the week, I have 5 different classes I think although Ive lost count. The classes are big some 30 plus and the first day was a demonstration of my total lack of ´classroom management´skills. The kids are teenagers from 12 to 16. Argh!! On my first day they asked things like where are you from? what are you doing here? do you have any children? and, my favourite, "Mrs Marietta, Mrs Marietta, have you seen Austin Powers?" When I replied yes, Danny a particularly chatty student said "Beacuse you speak just like that". I have been assigned spelling class, I´m trying to make the most of this my not especially favourite and a touch dry subject. It´s all chaotic in a different way to the art workshops, as I try and figure out hw to teach in a way to get the students interested and active. So far it is chaos though, lord knows if anyone´s learning anything and I feel like a total beginner in the classroom again. This week I also managed to get sunburmt swimming 1.5km in the midday sun with so sun protection on my back. Dont do this it hurts. I got to sample some San Salvador nightlife on Wednesday which was fun to see, although I don´t think I´ll make it as a latin woman anytime soon with my lack of tacones, tight clothes, done up hair and make up. I was out with Alejandra and her friend Lupita. We had our pic taken for a magazine here, which wil be the second time I´ll get in an ES magazine, which is funny and how it is in smaller places
The weekend, Saturday 21st went down to the central cemetary downtown here with Amber. Graves here are more cheerful than in the UK, all turqoise and pink and bright colours. We then went to the market, which has a reputation for being a bit dangerous. All was fine though. there were lots of people screaming on the way out, it turned out there was a big rat running around one of the food places, that people were trying to kill with a broom. Sunday 22nd, went up the Boqueron volcano with Amber to eat tacos, great. It´s peaceful up there
So I´ll be teaching for the next couple of weeks, then things close up for Holy Week when Im hoping to go to Nicaragua. Love and send news! I feel far away from everyone now. Will add photos soon of reent activities xxx
Other
Pippy, films I´ve seen Revoutionary Road (very good I thought, scary portrayal of domestic trappings and stiflings), a docufilm about the maras (gangs) here called La Vida Loca that showed you a horrendous side of life in parts of the city here with lots of premature deaths, a French film at a film festival here called ´Ne le dis à personne´ which was a scary thriller where lots of people were killed and i tried to keep up by reading the Spanish substitles so got a bit confused.
Also, enjoying many bad tv movies of an evening such as something about aid workers with Angelina Jole and Clive Owen where Clive Owen just talked really fast throughout the whole thing in his portrayal of maverick stressed aid worker, a terrible film called Silent Cry about a hospital where there was a baby stealing racket run by doctors who had to keep killing people, both films badly entertaining.
Better books- Reluctant Fundamentalist was good (Thanks Sach) I liked the way it was told through a one sided conversation, and Unbearable Lightness of Being weird and dystopian with the author butting in to say things and the Hound of the Baskervilles which was a bit of fun about someone using a big scary dog to scare people. Must read some Spanish books...
So an update on the last few weeks - 2nd March to now, wow it´s the 23rd. Goodness
Week of 2nd March- On Mon 2nd, After having visited a couple of schools to teach in, I went for my first week of ´training´at the Academia Europa, a chain of language schools over in CA. Our trainer was a woman caled Carla with a yellow tooth, "Ok c´mon guys, let´s go!" she yelled at us as we filed off to the classroom. The other trainees were Salvadorean, a French girl and a Taiwanese guy (he was over in ES selling wedding dresses). This is how Carla says you should teach. To teach the word ´open´walk up to the door and open it and yell at the top of your voice "OPEN! OPEN! OPEN!" (Phase One- ´Introduction´) "I need you guys to be really dynamic" she said, which seemed to manifest itself mainly in shouting. "Why do we shout?" she asked, ignoring everyone´s replies, "So the students lose all their inhibitions!" she informed us. Phase Two was ´Role Play´- Walk over to the other side of the room and ask yourself (if you are Carla) "Open the door Carla" then scream WAIT! and ask what are you doing Carla?" then go to the other side of the room and answer yourself "I am opening a door". The next phase was called ´Attack´, and seemed to consist in yelling again at your students to open the door, then screaming WAIT! at them asking each of them what they are doing. Apparently this method is foolproof for teaching any word. "Attack your students! Attack your students!" Carla urged us, looking up between texts. I felt so depressed and fearful of having everything I remembered and learnt previously about teaching washed away by Carla´s belows that I could not face going back after Wednesday.
On Monday 2nd I also started helping out at an art workshop for kids in a community here. I met a friend of A and B´s at an exhibition here and asked if I could help her out, she´s an art therapist and twice a week on Monday and Wednesday afternoons we go into a community in the middle of town and do art things with the kids. It is brilliant and I love it. You never quite know what´s going to happen, who´s going to turn up and so on, how the children will get on... The kids range from about 3 to 12ish. Some are quite wild and crazy and others are so orderly, tidying, fetching water, looking after other kids etc..very sweet. When we arrive we have to go and look for the key to open up the room where there are some desks. Its pretty hot and sticky and often smells of sewage. The houses are all made from corrugated iron sheets but seem amazingly study. Then the kids come in over the course of the next couple of hours, they try out using whatever material it is- crayons, watercolours, charcoal and pastels so far, to create storybooks, paintings, and so on. Sometimes their mums have come along. It can be a bit crazy as things can descend into chaos quite quickly, lots of children shouting at you, attacking each other, sometimes stealing from each other or running around, getting up and running out type things. Last week a 12 year old boy asked me to help him spell his name, and there are some that cannot write beyond spelling out their name. It´s nice to be able introduce them to the paints and things and see them having fun, and I feel lucky to be have the opportuity to hep out, they are all so friendly and great and happy to see you and run up and hug your legs when you arrive which is so sweet.
On Tuesday 3rd, Amber was part of an exhibition here called ´10 words by 10 artists´, it´s the second one she´s been part of while I´ve been out here and it´s very exciting to see her work up and exhibited and doing well. Speaking of which she´s just been accepted into a prestigious art auction in June in Guatemala. Well done Bambi!
On Friday 6th March I went with Amber to have her 4 month scan which was quite amazing. Seeing the little human who´s become a person no longer a jacket potato as in the other ultra pics I saw. He (we think its´s a he as Amber´s older bro, also present, said he saw something larger than the cursor on the scan.) At the end I realised I had wheeled my chair right up to the screen as it was all a bit entracing, like when they put the hearbeat on, seeing the baby doing what looked like smiling, on the screen, all happening inside Amber. Her ultrasound doctor is nice and took lots of time explaining everything. her other baby doctor sounds a little more traditional- we´ve just had elections here, and he asked Amber if she was eligible to vote, if she knew how to vote and then advised her to ´vota con sabiduria´the slogan of Arena, the (now ex-) incumbent party here. Oh no, not what you want at your ultrasound is it? I am learning lots about being pregnant while I´m here which is interesting. Apparently according to Amber´s other brother you need to take straws with you when you go into hospital (drinking in difficult positions).
The weekend of 7th and 8th March I went across the country with B´s family to the mountains near the Honduran border. A place called Montecristo in Chalatenango in the North West. It is fairly high up there and was my first experience of proper cold since January which was very weird. I went with B´s family (His mother, Elsa, His sister, Patty, his sister´s husband, Toyo, their daughter Alejandra, her boyfriend Carlos, Alejandra´s daughter Sofia, Baltasar´s neice, Reina, and Patty´s other daughter Esmeralda, oh and her husband Mario and their son Fernando, and his nanny (Fernando´s). I got to experience a large Latin family excursion which was fun and interesting. It was beautiful up there, and looked a bit like nice bits of England, with some pines and flowers. We first of all went to visit Reina´s family- her younder sister, Genesis, and her cousin Alejandra, as well as her grandmother and great grandfather who live up there. The house we visited was very simple, with an outside shed with a hole for a toilet, a trough where you have to go and fetch water to do washing up and so on. The people up there are lighter skinned and have rosy cheeks. We had a great lunch with Gallina India style chicken soup with rice, vegetables and cujada (salty white cheese) and some Central American cake with lots of crazy coloured icing. I sat outside and thought about how urbanised I was and tried to imagine what it would be like living there, but my brain is too urbanised i realised. At night we stayed in a hotel where I shared a room with Reina and Alejandra. It was freezing 3 degrees proper cold! The next day we went to visit some flower and veggie plantations, where I brought A&B a camomile plant which looked great but is now on the way out i think, i don´t think they like being inside. We ate some spinach pupsas and then started the slow windy trip back, via La Palma, an artesanal town on the way back. Lots of traffic coming back to the city meant a diversion down a totally unlit road off the main one. It was amazing to see during about 40 minutes, every minute in total darkness someone driving cattle, walking with their family, people cycling, teeneagers walking along alll in total blackness, no one looked scared they might be run over.
The 9th March week was more art workshops, more great pilates with Elio and 1980´s style Salvadorean ladies, and in search of a different school after the Academia Europa brainwash experience. I met someone at AnB´s civil wedding who was involved with a bilingual Spanish-English school here and who took me to speak to someone at the school. Whilst there I also met the headteacher Mrs Arias, who looked like a very scary bird, she looked my casual attire up and down with a face that said ´wrong clothes´ and I was worried I was going to be expelled or something. "We´re very demanding of our teachers" she threatened me, and walked out. The school´s motto is "knowledge, morality, discipline" which pretty much chimes with my own values so I thought I´d fit right in. It all seemed very formal and a bit traditional for me so I put off working there until last week when I started. Will update later.
Saturday and Sunday 15th March - Saturday I went for a run with a group called the hash house harriers who are a group that are round the world who run and then booze and are all a bit macho boys club. I didn´t realise til I got there that it was an orienteering run, since I have trouble with a map, let alone without one this was my worst kind of run. It was fun running through the hills (more walking getting lost really) but the legs managed to get all cut and itchy again from the plants. After the run everyone went to go and play drinking games and sing songs where people are brought into the middle of a circle to be taken the piss out of. I dont like this kind of thing so I didnt like this. On the plus side, the legs of the year are coming on, with doggie and mozzie bites, all over scratch effect from the grasses complemented by descreet lascerations on the heels from my new sensible school shoes.
Sunday 15th was elections day out here and the left party, started by former guerillas during the civil war, have just got in. Bit of a shock to the country after couple of decades of the right. Controversial vicepresident, a guy called Sanchez Ceren a former guerilla involved clearly in some horrendous killings in the war. Although clearly that can be said of many people who were involved in the war which is a fair few people given it ended less than 2 decades ago. Some who were for the incumbent reçight paty are worried that Chavez is going to take over central america- 2 of ES neighbours Nicaragua and Honduras are perceived to be communist. Most people seem to just want a change and are interested to see the changes that wil happen. The next president here is a charismatic guy called Mauricio Funes and his slogan was ´un cambio seguro´and clearly lots of people wanted a change after so long of the right. Its a couple of months til he takes power and everyone´s a bit curious to see what´ll happen. There´s talk of going back from the dollar to the old currency The Colon amongst other things. What would this mean Sarah Bullock, economics expert?
Week of 16th March - I started teaching at the end of the week, I have 5 different classes I think although Ive lost count. The classes are big some 30 plus and the first day was a demonstration of my total lack of ´classroom management´skills. The kids are teenagers from 12 to 16. Argh!! On my first day they asked things like where are you from? what are you doing here? do you have any children? and, my favourite, "Mrs Marietta, Mrs Marietta, have you seen Austin Powers?" When I replied yes, Danny a particularly chatty student said "Beacuse you speak just like that". I have been assigned spelling class, I´m trying to make the most of this my not especially favourite and a touch dry subject. It´s all chaotic in a different way to the art workshops, as I try and figure out hw to teach in a way to get the students interested and active. So far it is chaos though, lord knows if anyone´s learning anything and I feel like a total beginner in the classroom again. This week I also managed to get sunburmt swimming 1.5km in the midday sun with so sun protection on my back. Dont do this it hurts. I got to sample some San Salvador nightlife on Wednesday which was fun to see, although I don´t think I´ll make it as a latin woman anytime soon with my lack of tacones, tight clothes, done up hair and make up. I was out with Alejandra and her friend Lupita. We had our pic taken for a magazine here, which wil be the second time I´ll get in an ES magazine, which is funny and how it is in smaller places
The weekend, Saturday 21st went down to the central cemetary downtown here with Amber. Graves here are more cheerful than in the UK, all turqoise and pink and bright colours. We then went to the market, which has a reputation for being a bit dangerous. All was fine though. there were lots of people screaming on the way out, it turned out there was a big rat running around one of the food places, that people were trying to kill with a broom. Sunday 22nd, went up the Boqueron volcano with Amber to eat tacos, great. It´s peaceful up there
So I´ll be teaching for the next couple of weeks, then things close up for Holy Week when Im hoping to go to Nicaragua. Love and send news! I feel far away from everyone now. Will add photos soon of reent activities xxx
Other
Pippy, films I´ve seen Revoutionary Road (very good I thought, scary portrayal of domestic trappings and stiflings), a docufilm about the maras (gangs) here called La Vida Loca that showed you a horrendous side of life in parts of the city here with lots of premature deaths, a French film at a film festival here called ´Ne le dis à personne´ which was a scary thriller where lots of people were killed and i tried to keep up by reading the Spanish substitles so got a bit confused.
Also, enjoying many bad tv movies of an evening such as something about aid workers with Angelina Jole and Clive Owen where Clive Owen just talked really fast throughout the whole thing in his portrayal of maverick stressed aid worker, a terrible film called Silent Cry about a hospital where there was a baby stealing racket run by doctors who had to keep killing people, both films badly entertaining.
Better books- Reluctant Fundamentalist was good (Thanks Sach) I liked the way it was told through a one sided conversation, and Unbearable Lightness of Being weird and dystopian with the author butting in to say things and the Hound of the Baskervilles which was a bit of fun about someone using a big scary dog to scare people. Must read some Spanish books...
Thursday, 12 March 2009
2 weddings (just to make sure)
Hello, Quite a long time since the last blog and much to catch up on, let´s go.27th February 2009 - So la niña Amber is now Señora or even Doña Amber which sounds a bit scary, lots of gold jewellery etc.. the first wedding was the civil, where the couple sign a contract, a sort of pre-nuptual agreement. The service is MC´d by a lawyer. So this is what happened, the ceremony was held at B´s family´s place (where I´m living at the mo) and it was just for family and the witness friends. Amber looked the bees knees in a wicked 60´s number (her Mum´s) and some excellent glittery platforms (her Dad´s, not really but they were a present from him). Balta was all 50´s, a bit rock n roll with his old school suit and hair. The service was quite short, A & B didn´t have to say much, mainly the lawyer reading lots of legal things and he gave a quick speech about what an unstable world we live in with bad things like disease but that some things must be permanent so that´s what marraige is and he was very proud he´d been married for nearly 40 years. Then they signed and then me and B´s witness, Sapo, signed. Then lots of nice food and a proper latin disco ensued with some kareoke and Amber´s Dad on the geetar for a spot. A&B dance well, it´s nice to see. Let´s see some pictures of A&B, A and her bro Vyvyan and latin disco time:
1st March 2009 - The religious wedding followed on Sunday, after not much sleep for Amber trying to sleep on a head of curled hair, Amber went to get flowers put in her hair and then we went over to her Mum´s place and got ready there (scary dogs tucked away).
The morning before:
When we were all ready and many pictures had been taken of A, we headed off to downtown San Salvador where the Iglesia El Rosario is. The wedding service was integrated into the Sunday mass so it was low key. I was looking over at B´s mum for my queue to go up to the altar to do my bit, as I suddenly seemed to have all the symbols on me. These were, a lazo, like a lassoo, a thin gold chain which was meant to go round A and B´s heads. I did not get a chance to lassoo them as Padre Carlos (younger and hipper than Padre G) did not include it in the service. This is probably a good thing as I could see me getting in a terrible tangle with it with comic chaos ensuing. The next symbol was the "aras" normally gold coins which symbolise all you´ll share in the marraige. You can have semillas (seeds) too and this is what they opted for. The seeds A purchased on Saturday, not able to find orange or lemon seeds, she chose tomato seeds and now has enough for 2000 plants which is rather a lot. After the seeds are exchanged, the rings are given and then the mass continues with some hymns and communion where everyone comes up much more informally than England with all that kneeling business, much more relaxed. Amber´s first communion seemed not to happen so we were all confused about that but there you go
Lunch after for the 30 guests was by the lake at Illopango. Below, we have B & A listening to her Dad´s great speech, having a sit down, Amber showing off her jelly shoes and her bro showing his pointy numbers, and a nice Amber pic
Below the fantastic yellow cake with A´s mum Adela, A and B, and their first dance to music played by a "combo" group, playing salsa, merengue, cumbia and so on. The group of about 10 musicians were nearly all blind which was quite a thing, they had to lead each other when they left. The music was great
Below there´s me and A´s brother Vyvyan, me n A and some more great dancing including, A with her Dad, Winter, and B with his mum, Elsa, Adela with Vyvyan and Baltasar and his neice Reina
Below, me and A, Amber and the mums, Elsa and Adela and some dancing with a dog
Below Amber´s lovely hair and the bouquet keeping cool in the ice box, and the mini cava bottles engraved by A
Y por fin, down by the lake at dusk
It was a top day, very beautiful, simple and peaceful looking out to the lake, with lovely sun, dancing, drinks (in A´s bottles), food. A and her brothers did a great job of looking after everyone and everyone did a great job of drinking. All of Amber´s many efforts before the day led to a great afternoon and evening. A wedding by a lake in the sun is a lovely way to do it
Bye bye for now xxx
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
Over the border and far away in Guatemala
Hello again, and firstly apologies, Im not very frequent with this blogging, this is in part due to the fact that I am writing from the corner of a small video store that has a handful of computers which are confined to these cupboard like things where fuction triumphs over comfort.
So, last week I moved out of Amber´s and am now staying in her hubby´s(!) old family place which is very nice. Amber and Balta´s dog, Capitan, lives there. He is very friendly and bouncy and not bitey so I am happy. Balta´s family are also lovely- 4 generations in the same group of houses. After this I made a short trip to Guatemala, involving a 6am TICA bus from SS to Guatemala City or Guate to those in the know just so you can sound like a local. Easy peasy. A slow affair, I kept on looking out for when the busdriver might have been dropping off extortion money, although apparently Amber told me later this doesnt happen on TICA buses. The slow part was mainly the border crossing when the border officials get on to check everyones passports and then 5 mins later you all get off and go through this again, just to make sure. I managed to change money very badly at the border, although this was mainly due to my checking of the exchange rate after i´d changed the money. There were a group of Mexicans that the border police were interested in and so they had to get off the bus with all their stuff for inspection and be questioned for a hour and a half whilst we waited and sweated, discussed él grupo´and their origins and looked at the border selling activity outside, mainly money changer man wandering around with huge wads of cash and women and children selling drinks and pupusas, corn pancake things.
We arrived around midday in massive Guate. It is known for being the most dangerous city in CA, and it is huge. The bus drew into the abandoned ´Fun Plaza´shopping centre and from there, I went looking for some other travelling people to go on to Antigua. Not many on the bus it turned out. These included, a couple, probably Dutch I decided, where the girlfriend was a nervy type in black lycra, presumably to streamline travel. There were 2 Texan youths, topless and whiter than even me, with one walking around with a camera slung around his bare torso, drinking a beer. I hoped for him that wasnt going to be his look for exploring Guatemala city. "Are you going to Antigua?" I asked them, "Isn´t that a country?" one of them replied. A few minutes later I found a nice Italian couple who were indeed going there. I bossily organised some taxis and we were off with the Texans safely in tow.
Arriving in Antigua is funny, suddenly there´s a cobbled entrance off the normal road and there you are in a cobbled colonial town. It felt strange being there with lots of tourists after being used to not many in ES. I stayed in a lonely planet reco, a hostel called The Black Cat which it assured me was in the heart of the action. Staying in dormitories is cheap and a more sociable option to hanging out with myself. I also find it a bit fascinating seeing all the travelling people. The first night´s occupants of the room were Ray, a handsome Canadian paramedic who liked salsa dancing and thought it was beautiful to watch. He had diamante studs and was friendly. There was an older Swiss man, also friendly and possibly a bit mad, who spoke in a soft voice and showed me some of his photos. He was planning to help a local family near Lake Aititlan open a B&B. "Great!" I said, "How?", "I think I will take them 2 tubs of Nesquik" he replied. The business plan was basic but sound. He also then said "And I bought some chicks!" I was expecting the birds to pop out from under the bed, although he said hed already given them to the family which was a disappointment. Night one room vibe was chilled and respectful.
My first afternoon I spent wandering around, I bought an overpriced hiddeous towel with a scary parrot on it as i´d left mine behind and chatted to some people in the market. I wasn´t very good at the haggling so i didn´t buy much, although there are many beautifully coloured things like covers and slippers which I bought for me and Amber. (Any requests Emsy?) I walked to the edge of the town and an old lady in green neon flares spat on me so decided to go back. It was fun talking to people, one asked me when I said I was from England, "how do you protect your skin there in the cold? I heard it burns people´s skin in Canada" I said yes, dry skin was a problem at home. The next day, I enjoyed a delicious and massive breakfast tipico of plantain, avocado, tomato, frijoles and eggs and had an outdoors shower, not so fun as i stood there shivering trying to balance my clothes and cash in a not wet place. More walking about and a salsa class in the avo that Ray had told me about. And why not? There were 3 of us gringos shuffling amusingly to the instructions of Gloria (think Dirty Dancing, holiday camp scenes), who looked a bit tired from her full schedule of slasa classes and maybe bad salsa men. It was an iritatingly sexist dance, where we were constantly remided that the man had to lead and have control. How amusing I thought, as I shuffled with my 19 year old Dutch boy partner. I met a nice Norweigen girl there however. Back at the hostel I was engaged in conversation by an Aussie guy who looked like he´d been travelling a long time and clearly had the opportunist´s knack as within 3 mins of meeting me he was asking me to show him around San Salvador whilst negotiating a cheap flight with the girl on his other side who worked for an an airline. I spent the evning having drinks with the Italian girl I went to Antigua with and a French girl who was teaching in San Pedro Sula in Honduras. 3 introverts having a chat, which was nice, but we do find it hard at first sometimes us introverts. I went to bed for sleep which was fairly pointless given that the world´s noisiest hostel occupant was staying in the room, which mainly involved drunken shouting and repeated falling off her bed.
Whew, still writing. Don´t worry onto the last day- more wandering, and standing about to take pictures, I chatted to an artist painting on the side of the road and told him my dad painted too. It was nice just standing about quietly, not buying just looking at people and being peaceful. More chats with people in the market. One couple told me they´d worked there for 25 years. The woman, Angelica, told me her husband helped her sew blankets but that the other men teased him because it wasnt men´s work. Talking to other people, they said it was normal for the men to do this kind of work, including one man who said that men worked much harder than women and raising children didn´t count as work. I disagreed. After more salsa (now not in my top 5 exercises) I went for a drink with the Norweigen girl Ann-Elin. her life sounded pretty cool in Norway, working as a hiking and climbing tour guide around the world and also when at home, with a social project for young people with drug and alcohol problems. I could quite fancy becoming a Norweigen tour guide.
It´s clearly a lot easier as a tourist in A ntigua than in ES where the tourist infrastructure and comforts aren´t really there. There are also many cool things nearby I shall have to return to see like Lake Aitlan and Semuc Champey. After a third night of no sleep and more drunken roomates, I made my way back to Guate on the chicken bus with the Australian guy who seemed to be leaving at the same time. The road out of Antigua was steep and swerving. It´s about an hour back to the city, where I had to wait for some hours for the bus back to ES in the ´Fun Plaza´ whilst my travelling companion regaled me with horrendous tales of things that had happened to hapless touirsts in CA, whilst he reassured me how much more dangerous the bus we were taking back to ES was than a chicken bus. Relaxing. Another long bus ride back, with another ear blastingly violent rubbish film on the TV (Transporter 2), during which travelling companion was taken off the bus and searched by the border guards which made me a little nervous, who asked if we were travelling together. All turned out ok, but the guards are quite scarey. 5 hours later it was back to SS in time for the weddings..more soon with pictures!
love xxxx
So, last week I moved out of Amber´s and am now staying in her hubby´s(!) old family place which is very nice. Amber and Balta´s dog, Capitan, lives there. He is very friendly and bouncy and not bitey so I am happy. Balta´s family are also lovely- 4 generations in the same group of houses. After this I made a short trip to Guatemala, involving a 6am TICA bus from SS to Guatemala City or Guate to those in the know just so you can sound like a local. Easy peasy. A slow affair, I kept on looking out for when the busdriver might have been dropping off extortion money, although apparently Amber told me later this doesnt happen on TICA buses. The slow part was mainly the border crossing when the border officials get on to check everyones passports and then 5 mins later you all get off and go through this again, just to make sure. I managed to change money very badly at the border, although this was mainly due to my checking of the exchange rate after i´d changed the money. There were a group of Mexicans that the border police were interested in and so they had to get off the bus with all their stuff for inspection and be questioned for a hour and a half whilst we waited and sweated, discussed él grupo´and their origins and looked at the border selling activity outside, mainly money changer man wandering around with huge wads of cash and women and children selling drinks and pupusas, corn pancake things.
We arrived around midday in massive Guate. It is known for being the most dangerous city in CA, and it is huge. The bus drew into the abandoned ´Fun Plaza´shopping centre and from there, I went looking for some other travelling people to go on to Antigua. Not many on the bus it turned out. These included, a couple, probably Dutch I decided, where the girlfriend was a nervy type in black lycra, presumably to streamline travel. There were 2 Texan youths, topless and whiter than even me, with one walking around with a camera slung around his bare torso, drinking a beer. I hoped for him that wasnt going to be his look for exploring Guatemala city. "Are you going to Antigua?" I asked them, "Isn´t that a country?" one of them replied. A few minutes later I found a nice Italian couple who were indeed going there. I bossily organised some taxis and we were off with the Texans safely in tow.
Arriving in Antigua is funny, suddenly there´s a cobbled entrance off the normal road and there you are in a cobbled colonial town. It felt strange being there with lots of tourists after being used to not many in ES. I stayed in a lonely planet reco, a hostel called The Black Cat which it assured me was in the heart of the action. Staying in dormitories is cheap and a more sociable option to hanging out with myself. I also find it a bit fascinating seeing all the travelling people. The first night´s occupants of the room were Ray, a handsome Canadian paramedic who liked salsa dancing and thought it was beautiful to watch. He had diamante studs and was friendly. There was an older Swiss man, also friendly and possibly a bit mad, who spoke in a soft voice and showed me some of his photos. He was planning to help a local family near Lake Aititlan open a B&B. "Great!" I said, "How?", "I think I will take them 2 tubs of Nesquik" he replied. The business plan was basic but sound. He also then said "And I bought some chicks!" I was expecting the birds to pop out from under the bed, although he said hed already given them to the family which was a disappointment. Night one room vibe was chilled and respectful.
My first afternoon I spent wandering around, I bought an overpriced hiddeous towel with a scary parrot on it as i´d left mine behind and chatted to some people in the market. I wasn´t very good at the haggling so i didn´t buy much, although there are many beautifully coloured things like covers and slippers which I bought for me and Amber. (Any requests Emsy?) I walked to the edge of the town and an old lady in green neon flares spat on me so decided to go back. It was fun talking to people, one asked me when I said I was from England, "how do you protect your skin there in the cold? I heard it burns people´s skin in Canada" I said yes, dry skin was a problem at home. The next day, I enjoyed a delicious and massive breakfast tipico of plantain, avocado, tomato, frijoles and eggs and had an outdoors shower, not so fun as i stood there shivering trying to balance my clothes and cash in a not wet place. More walking about and a salsa class in the avo that Ray had told me about. And why not? There were 3 of us gringos shuffling amusingly to the instructions of Gloria (think Dirty Dancing, holiday camp scenes), who looked a bit tired from her full schedule of slasa classes and maybe bad salsa men. It was an iritatingly sexist dance, where we were constantly remided that the man had to lead and have control. How amusing I thought, as I shuffled with my 19 year old Dutch boy partner. I met a nice Norweigen girl there however. Back at the hostel I was engaged in conversation by an Aussie guy who looked like he´d been travelling a long time and clearly had the opportunist´s knack as within 3 mins of meeting me he was asking me to show him around San Salvador whilst negotiating a cheap flight with the girl on his other side who worked for an an airline. I spent the evning having drinks with the Italian girl I went to Antigua with and a French girl who was teaching in San Pedro Sula in Honduras. 3 introverts having a chat, which was nice, but we do find it hard at first sometimes us introverts. I went to bed for sleep which was fairly pointless given that the world´s noisiest hostel occupant was staying in the room, which mainly involved drunken shouting and repeated falling off her bed.
Whew, still writing. Don´t worry onto the last day- more wandering, and standing about to take pictures, I chatted to an artist painting on the side of the road and told him my dad painted too. It was nice just standing about quietly, not buying just looking at people and being peaceful. More chats with people in the market. One couple told me they´d worked there for 25 years. The woman, Angelica, told me her husband helped her sew blankets but that the other men teased him because it wasnt men´s work. Talking to other people, they said it was normal for the men to do this kind of work, including one man who said that men worked much harder than women and raising children didn´t count as work. I disagreed. After more salsa (now not in my top 5 exercises) I went for a drink with the Norweigen girl Ann-Elin. her life sounded pretty cool in Norway, working as a hiking and climbing tour guide around the world and also when at home, with a social project for young people with drug and alcohol problems. I could quite fancy becoming a Norweigen tour guide.
It´s clearly a lot easier as a tourist in A ntigua than in ES where the tourist infrastructure and comforts aren´t really there. There are also many cool things nearby I shall have to return to see like Lake Aitlan and Semuc Champey. After a third night of no sleep and more drunken roomates, I made my way back to Guate on the chicken bus with the Australian guy who seemed to be leaving at the same time. The road out of Antigua was steep and swerving. It´s about an hour back to the city, where I had to wait for some hours for the bus back to ES in the ´Fun Plaza´ whilst my travelling companion regaled me with horrendous tales of things that had happened to hapless touirsts in CA, whilst he reassured me how much more dangerous the bus we were taking back to ES was than a chicken bus. Relaxing. Another long bus ride back, with another ear blastingly violent rubbish film on the TV (Transporter 2), during which travelling companion was taken off the bus and searched by the border guards which made me a little nervous, who asked if we were travelling together. All turned out ok, but the guards are quite scarey. 5 hours later it was back to SS in time for the weddings..more soon with pictures!
love xxxx
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Quite a lot of cultural activities
Hello from Disneyland, Guatemala, (Antigua) and a bit of a catch up. Last week (15th Feb), more Salavdoran wedding preparations were afoot. Shoes and underwear were bought, (from a shop called Temptations, there's only a handful of undies shops here, so you have to try and search for something amongst the all in one synthetic lace body stockings and so on, unless youre looking for all in one lace body stockings, and youre laughing, or maybe itching. Amber has done an impressive job organising all herself for what will be a lovely small pair of weddings- here you start with the civil ceremony where a lawyer marries you, and then follow i tup some days later with the 'religious' ceremony. Amber's will be amongst the normal mass in church this Sunday. All feels very different to English weddings and their formats. Let's hope she passes Padre Gregorio's ominous test and all goes ahead!
Point number 2- I have taken up Pilates with a great teacher called Elio who is Cuban. It is definitely in my top 5 exercises. Hard work on the old muscles, with those exercise balls that look all nice and colourful at the off, which become less benign as you contort, stretch and squeeze yourself around them. Elio walks round with a stick to make sure you areadhering to Mr Pilates special angles. He is great. It is fun going with Amber, and sharing the pain. A point that I did not mention before I realise, is that Amber is pregnant. Yes, having a baby which is very exciting. Apparently pilates is good for that and Dona Elio did it til she was 7 months pregnant. Gruesome aside- Amber said she once saw Madonna in a gym in London, 8 months pregnant and doing sit ups. Made her quite queasy. I'm glad Madonna lives up to her hard bastard image and really does wear leotards off stage though.
Point number 3- Last week was a week of assorted cultural activities. 1.) A couple of exhibitons. First one by a Barcelonan guy, entitled 'rare works' although he seemed to have found plenty of them to exhibit which confused me. There was a great waiter there with a solid neck on his solid body, who Dad would have made a good drawing of (my mark of a good face), who wouldn't let people at his tray of wine til they'd been round the exhibition. Brilliant. Amber's octogenarian uncle was there. He seems a legendary character, although walking was clearly hard for him he was still there. Amber told me she was a little nervous, as he liked to joke around, and had interrupted at a past wedding, during the 'does anyone have any objections' point to tell one of these, not entirley clean, jokes, about marriage. I had a fun chat with him and talked to some of A & B's pals. The other exhibition had some interesting sculpture. Again there people asked surely I was related to the other whiteish person in the room? (Amber) which has been quite funny.
2.) Some music. First off, Thursday eve with a group who played what perhaps could be described as 'progressive rock soundscapes', and why not? although a genre that is not in my top 5. The band seemed very pleasant, but the music, which was described as 'a protest against the global system' (im not sure of the specifics) under headings such as 'The Alchemist' and 'Introspection' was a little heavy on the prog-rock soundscapes for me. I did try. Amber and i had a chat about nachos, and then realised that someone was filming the concert with us behind the singer. More music on Friday was a nice outdoor Vivaldi concert given by a youth orchestra with very young people doing impressive violining, in a small pretty town near SS called Santa Tecla. This was followed a trip to a great small local cafe, La Rayuela, where there was a compact Mexican guy, playing and singing great songs, which was fun. He was joined by a lady with a recorder who did not play London's Burning but some very good music. We were all getting into in, when a man in a suit with a pen in his top pocket decided to get up and sing his stuff. Pens in top suit pockets are never good musical omens and so it was.
End of the week on Saturday was a trip to the beach, Sunzal. Where most of the tourists to ES go. It was funny to see after being in untouristy SS. Lots of surfers. Water was quite rough and I managed to somehow be flung to my knees and dragged under about 6 inches of water. Evening was a trip to one of the very few theatres (in a mall) in SS. A man with a monologue about a daughter he lost who turned out not to be his. I kept up at the beginning, but my Spanish let me down around the time he opened up a shaft of grain from the theatre ceiling onto his head and then started hacking up raw meat and throwing it about, including dangling it in his mouth, which made us worry about him catching some e-coli.
Right, am off now, but will update on Guatemala soon, where I arrived on Sunday and am staying til tomorrow. Bye bye xxxx
Point number 2- I have taken up Pilates with a great teacher called Elio who is Cuban. It is definitely in my top 5 exercises. Hard work on the old muscles, with those exercise balls that look all nice and colourful at the off, which become less benign as you contort, stretch and squeeze yourself around them. Elio walks round with a stick to make sure you areadhering to Mr Pilates special angles. He is great. It is fun going with Amber, and sharing the pain. A point that I did not mention before I realise, is that Amber is pregnant. Yes, having a baby which is very exciting. Apparently pilates is good for that and Dona Elio did it til she was 7 months pregnant. Gruesome aside- Amber said she once saw Madonna in a gym in London, 8 months pregnant and doing sit ups. Made her quite queasy. I'm glad Madonna lives up to her hard bastard image and really does wear leotards off stage though.
Point number 3- Last week was a week of assorted cultural activities. 1.) A couple of exhibitons. First one by a Barcelonan guy, entitled 'rare works' although he seemed to have found plenty of them to exhibit which confused me. There was a great waiter there with a solid neck on his solid body, who Dad would have made a good drawing of (my mark of a good face), who wouldn't let people at his tray of wine til they'd been round the exhibition. Brilliant. Amber's octogenarian uncle was there. He seems a legendary character, although walking was clearly hard for him he was still there. Amber told me she was a little nervous, as he liked to joke around, and had interrupted at a past wedding, during the 'does anyone have any objections' point to tell one of these, not entirley clean, jokes, about marriage. I had a fun chat with him and talked to some of A & B's pals. The other exhibition had some interesting sculpture. Again there people asked surely I was related to the other whiteish person in the room? (Amber) which has been quite funny.
2.) Some music. First off, Thursday eve with a group who played what perhaps could be described as 'progressive rock soundscapes', and why not? although a genre that is not in my top 5. The band seemed very pleasant, but the music, which was described as 'a protest against the global system' (im not sure of the specifics) under headings such as 'The Alchemist' and 'Introspection' was a little heavy on the prog-rock soundscapes for me. I did try. Amber and i had a chat about nachos, and then realised that someone was filming the concert with us behind the singer. More music on Friday was a nice outdoor Vivaldi concert given by a youth orchestra with very young people doing impressive violining, in a small pretty town near SS called Santa Tecla. This was followed a trip to a great small local cafe, La Rayuela, where there was a compact Mexican guy, playing and singing great songs, which was fun. He was joined by a lady with a recorder who did not play London's Burning but some very good music. We were all getting into in, when a man in a suit with a pen in his top pocket decided to get up and sing his stuff. Pens in top suit pockets are never good musical omens and so it was.
End of the week on Saturday was a trip to the beach, Sunzal. Where most of the tourists to ES go. It was funny to see after being in untouristy SS. Lots of surfers. Water was quite rough and I managed to somehow be flung to my knees and dragged under about 6 inches of water. Evening was a trip to one of the very few theatres (in a mall) in SS. A man with a monologue about a daughter he lost who turned out not to be his. I kept up at the beginning, but my Spanish let me down around the time he opened up a shaft of grain from the theatre ceiling onto his head and then started hacking up raw meat and throwing it about, including dangling it in his mouth, which made us worry about him catching some e-coli.
Right, am off now, but will update on Guatemala soon, where I arrived on Sunday and am staying til tomorrow. Bye bye xxxx
Monday, 16 February 2009
Boom shake the room
So hello again, firstly in response to some people asking 'what are you doing?' i should reply that I have come here to unleash my finely honed teaching skills on the people of San Salvador- i was teaching (Tefl) in London at the end of last year, but thought that it would be good to teach somewhere new and exciting, so here I am.
this last week there's been more San Salvador based fun
Wednesday 11th: Football. El Salvador vs. Trinidad & Tobago in a world cup qualifier. Firstly, is anyone else surprised to learn that Dwight Yorke is still playing for T&T? He's been playing for about a million years. We drove up to the Cuscatlan stadium full of excitement at being able to see some international footballing and parked the car, assisted by a young boy who said in not a totally convinced way 'It (the car) should be fine..I don't think any gangs will come'. I had already been advised to wear trainers (in case of tremors or a fire) so it all seemed a bit more 'edgy' than a Saturday eating soggy pies sponsored by Barclaycard in a london stadium. We sat in the 'Sol' section, which is the cheapest. Not too much sol as it was an evening game. No soggy pies either, but icecreams, burgers, nuts, pop and the world's largest hotdogs being ketchuped and mustarded up from a big cardboard box by a group of women who were selling up at the front. All seemed to be going drastically wrong for ES, the crowd were showing their detest for the 'pendejo, mexicano mierda' referee and linesmen by throwing little water pouches that they sell in the stadium, onto the pitch. We were sitting at the bottom of the sol section and just about managed to avoid being soaked as the little blue bags rained down around us. I the last 10 minutes, ES were down 2-0 and the the number of litle blue bags flying through the sky increased, and then 2 great penalties and the game had turned around, all the men were suddenly at the top of the fence shaking it and cheering and the mexican referee lived to ref another day.
Thursday 12th: Amber and I went up to a mountain town called Suchitoto, which the government promote as a tourist centre. I imagine it's like Antigua in Gautemala- all clean, cobbly, painted up and colonial. It's much much hotter there than in San Salvador for some reason. (Why is this?) When we arrived, we went for a drink at a posada that looked out onto lake Suchitlan below, just enjoying said lake, when a man and his camera came up to the table, filming some kind of publicity for the hotel or town. I was asked if I would send 'saludos' (greetings) to 'all our Salvadoran brothers and sisters in Washington' which was a touch unexpected. The man kept haranguing us and Amber advised that it's better not to be filmed as 'you never know where it'll end up', so I gave up my chance of centralamerican celebrity. Unfortunately I managed to spend the night under the only mosquito net in Salvador to be poplated entirely by mosquitos as my legs now attest (which with accompanying teeth marks are really looking lovely). I might call them itchy and scratchy.
Friday 13th: Surely far too inauspicious a day to do anything?
Saturday 14th - Sunday 15th: Woken up by a tremor which shakes the room and bed and is quite dramatic. A bit like living in Queens Park, when my bed would shake as the trains wen past, but a bit more scary. In the evening we headed off to the coast and spent a night at the sea at a place called Balsamar (not Baltasar). As we were unpacking our things, and Baltasar went off to the bathroom, a scorpion sprinted out, which he squshed with his shoe. Ye gads I thought. No one told me about them. Apparently they like dark damp places where they can go about their scorpion business. I spent much of the night in a neurotic fear, (after I'd managed to force myself to go into the bedroom) hoping that my bed was not going to be charged upon by the scorpion family avening the loss of one of their brothers. To mine and Amber's delight there was a ping pong table at the beach. Whilst we dazzled each other with our moves, i suggested we enter the 2012 Olympics as the El Salvador table tennis team, an idea I must follow up.
Sunday was spent mainly in a hammock which is one of my favourite inactivities. I finished my brilliant book- 3 Cups of Tea, about an American ex-mountaineer nurse who is building schools, especially for girls, in remote parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. I also ate a delicious ranchero breakfast- corn tortillas, eggs and fresh cheese. I have decided I can never eat another corn lead weight tortilla. There was a bit of time in the sea too on Sunday, not all hammock. I can't get over the fact that the sea is warm here. We went back in the evening stopping for a coffee at a nice beach-side place at Playa Zonte. I'm getting used to drinking black coffee, following the docs advice to avoid 'lacteos' dairy. Although he also said that 3 weeks into my recovery I might be able to eat 'safe' things like MacDonalds so I'm not sure about that.
Now back in San Salvador and I'm planning some trips out and then back here for A & B's wedding in just under 2 weeks. I'm going to be her witness which is exciting, as long as I get fearsome Padre Gregorio's seal of aproval, which considering he is, somewhat curiously, insisting Amber has her 'first communion' right before she gets married (which involves studying 30 units on God he has kindly emailed over, in the next week and a half, which he will then test her on and judge wheher she's ready to be communed and wed), it seems like it might be unlikely. We're sure that he's possibly inventing new rules as he goes along, which may involve him changing the country's constitution.
Well done if you're still here. Have god weeks. I hear the snow has gone and Israel has gone super right wing. Oh dear. Besos y un abrazo fuerte xxx
this last week there's been more San Salvador based fun
Wednesday 11th: Football. El Salvador vs. Trinidad & Tobago in a world cup qualifier. Firstly, is anyone else surprised to learn that Dwight Yorke is still playing for T&T? He's been playing for about a million years. We drove up to the Cuscatlan stadium full of excitement at being able to see some international footballing and parked the car, assisted by a young boy who said in not a totally convinced way 'It (the car) should be fine..I don't think any gangs will come'. I had already been advised to wear trainers (in case of tremors or a fire) so it all seemed a bit more 'edgy' than a Saturday eating soggy pies sponsored by Barclaycard in a london stadium. We sat in the 'Sol' section, which is the cheapest. Not too much sol as it was an evening game. No soggy pies either, but icecreams, burgers, nuts, pop and the world's largest hotdogs being ketchuped and mustarded up from a big cardboard box by a group of women who were selling up at the front. All seemed to be going drastically wrong for ES, the crowd were showing their detest for the 'pendejo, mexicano mierda' referee and linesmen by throwing little water pouches that they sell in the stadium, onto the pitch. We were sitting at the bottom of the sol section and just about managed to avoid being soaked as the little blue bags rained down around us. I the last 10 minutes, ES were down 2-0 and the the number of litle blue bags flying through the sky increased, and then 2 great penalties and the game had turned around, all the men were suddenly at the top of the fence shaking it and cheering and the mexican referee lived to ref another day.
Thursday 12th: Amber and I went up to a mountain town called Suchitoto, which the government promote as a tourist centre. I imagine it's like Antigua in Gautemala- all clean, cobbly, painted up and colonial. It's much much hotter there than in San Salvador for some reason. (Why is this?) When we arrived, we went for a drink at a posada that looked out onto lake Suchitlan below, just enjoying said lake, when a man and his camera came up to the table, filming some kind of publicity for the hotel or town. I was asked if I would send 'saludos' (greetings) to 'all our Salvadoran brothers and sisters in Washington' which was a touch unexpected. The man kept haranguing us and Amber advised that it's better not to be filmed as 'you never know where it'll end up', so I gave up my chance of centralamerican celebrity. Unfortunately I managed to spend the night under the only mosquito net in Salvador to be poplated entirely by mosquitos as my legs now attest (which with accompanying teeth marks are really looking lovely). I might call them itchy and scratchy.
Friday 13th: Surely far too inauspicious a day to do anything?
Saturday 14th - Sunday 15th: Woken up by a tremor which shakes the room and bed and is quite dramatic. A bit like living in Queens Park, when my bed would shake as the trains wen past, but a bit more scary. In the evening we headed off to the coast and spent a night at the sea at a place called Balsamar (not Baltasar). As we were unpacking our things, and Baltasar went off to the bathroom, a scorpion sprinted out, which he squshed with his shoe. Ye gads I thought. No one told me about them. Apparently they like dark damp places where they can go about their scorpion business. I spent much of the night in a neurotic fear, (after I'd managed to force myself to go into the bedroom) hoping that my bed was not going to be charged upon by the scorpion family avening the loss of one of their brothers. To mine and Amber's delight there was a ping pong table at the beach. Whilst we dazzled each other with our moves, i suggested we enter the 2012 Olympics as the El Salvador table tennis team, an idea I must follow up.
Sunday was spent mainly in a hammock which is one of my favourite inactivities. I finished my brilliant book- 3 Cups of Tea, about an American ex-mountaineer nurse who is building schools, especially for girls, in remote parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. I also ate a delicious ranchero breakfast- corn tortillas, eggs and fresh cheese. I have decided I can never eat another corn lead weight tortilla. There was a bit of time in the sea too on Sunday, not all hammock. I can't get over the fact that the sea is warm here. We went back in the evening stopping for a coffee at a nice beach-side place at Playa Zonte. I'm getting used to drinking black coffee, following the docs advice to avoid 'lacteos' dairy. Although he also said that 3 weeks into my recovery I might be able to eat 'safe' things like MacDonalds so I'm not sure about that.
Now back in San Salvador and I'm planning some trips out and then back here for A & B's wedding in just under 2 weeks. I'm going to be her witness which is exciting, as long as I get fearsome Padre Gregorio's seal of aproval, which considering he is, somewhat curiously, insisting Amber has her 'first communion' right before she gets married (which involves studying 30 units on God he has kindly emailed over, in the next week and a half, which he will then test her on and judge wheher she's ready to be communed and wed), it seems like it might be unlikely. We're sure that he's possibly inventing new rules as he goes along, which may involve him changing the country's constitution.
Well done if you're still here. Have god weeks. I hear the snow has gone and Israel has gone super right wing. Oh dear. Besos y un abrazo fuerte xxx
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Some things about El Salvador & pictures!
Hello hello! On my left we have a wonderful tree in the mountain town of Panchimalco (maybe on my expert map) above San Salvador. The tree was massive and beautiful. It´s great here at about 5.30, 6 when the sun goes down (it stays around 30C here in the day year round), as depicted, as it gets all cool and still. Panchilmalco is one of the few places with an indigenous community left in El Salvador. Baltasar (Amber´s beau) got a haircut up there. i reckon this guy could give Hamilton a run for his money Ian. Pictures below at various stages of haircut, sensing it wasn´t quite going to plan, and realsing that the clippers only have one setting.
¨
Thanks for your comments and suggestions for the blog - I have added some pics to the first ever post, New York, which is a good representation of the amount of time i spent eating. In an effort to rearrange I seem to have lost the pic of the church with the stained glass and weaponry on the wall so I hope you got a good look at that.
So, now for you some things I have seen and learnt about El Salvador while I´ve been here
There are many many buses, mainly repainted US school buses. Nearly all have religious slogans laminated on, such as "In God we Trust", or other such things like inspirational quotes "It is better to live your life standing up than on your knees" (can you see it on the London buses?), and also quite often support for Barcelona (footie club). Barca and Real Madrid are big here and often get more support than the national side. The buses seem to operate with a guy hanging out the door pulling people up and on to the bus, whether it´s the right route or not, which he then makes money out of. smart. I expect I would probably end up in Mexico if I took too many.
There are many bejwelled and done up mature ladies or "doñas". Impressive characters. One of whom was working in the jewellery shop we picked up Amber´s engagement ring from. probably in her 70s, she had peroxide hair, shocks of rouge on the cheeks and looked like she was made of strong stuff. As Amber admired the ring, the lady, looking me up and down, asked Amber; "¿Esta casada?" (Is she married?). When Amber replied no, she looked puzzled and said "No es fea...es bonita" (She´s not ugly..she´s pretty). Well thank f for that i thought! Whew! And there I was thinking I was not going to get married due to my ugly mug. In the car on the way home, I saw Amber was bleeding from her ear. This turned out to be the rouge effect rubbing off on her though so all was well. The culture you could say is still macho, Amber was telling me how it´s normal for there to be an efeminate man in lots of towns that the tough guys will have sex with to prove their manliness. I wonder if it works?
There are many many malls here. Lots of empty shops at the moment. We went last night to one for cinema purposes to see Benjamin Button. It gets very quiet at night here generally and no one is out on the streets really when it´s dark. In the day the informal sector is crazy, shopwize. In downtown San Salvador the street vendors eclipse the actual shops that are paying the rent for the shop space, which adds to the squeezed feeling in bits of the city
Globalisation is alive and well, whether it is in support for Real or Barca, the music on the radio, much of which is the same as home, or in the gossip section of the papers- while Ive been here I´ve been cheered to see the exportation of Great British culture in the paper here- pictures of WAG Abby Clancy, an admission by Victoria Beckham that she ´likes women but is not a lesbian´and news of Robbie Wiliam´s return to Take That. NUTS.
On a positive note, because Salvador is so dinky, you can get around it and see lots of different things quite easily. It´s not far from the beach (where you can search out pretty empty ones, Ive only seen a handful of tourists so far) or from the mountains and hill towns like Panchimalco or Boqueron. We went up to a coffee plantation in one of these which was beautiful and a bit wild and nice and high up to see everything and see the city down below.
Below are some pictures of A & B, and me here. love to you all xx
Note for Pippa- films Ive seen while I´ve been here-
Zohan, Australia and Benjamin Button. Have you seen them? Hugh Jackman is in Australia! I am retrospectively excited that I saw him now.
Monday, 9 February 2009
First week in San Salvador
Hello again if anyone´s still at the other end,
Hmmm... rough few days that saw me go into hospital again with a sudden bacterial stomach infection. I felt really bad. I went in last Tuesday night and stayed in til Thursday avo during which time the nice Panamanian Dr. and the nurses looked after me and pumped me full of antibiotics and painkillers on a drip. Amber looked after me very well too and staying in on the first night which was very nice and good as i was pretty incapable and could hardly move. On Wednesday we enjoyed the plethora of cable channels, watching some American trash tv and a programme about armadillos. They are pretty good on the animal scale. Thursday I had 2 mega doses of antibioics so felt pretty wiped out. Also, it´s quite sore having a drip in at times as your veins feel the strain of it and so the nurses have to find you a new one (vein). It´s a pretty good transportation system for medication though I have to say. I´ve been getting better day by day, the antibiotics are strong and I´ve had a couple of antibiotic íntramuscular injections´(shots in the arse) since coming out of hospital. I´m feeling less blue now which is good and am getting some food down me, although I have to be really careful what I eat and prepare everything at home which will be interesting. Any simple recipes you could send would be great! I´m grateful to still be here after the last week and am feeling a bit more respectful of life and all in it I have to say. Hope you all are well? I hear there´s more snow on the way in the UK, am sad not to see it! Look after yourselves and send your news and recipe ideas xxx
Hmmm... rough few days that saw me go into hospital again with a sudden bacterial stomach infection. I felt really bad. I went in last Tuesday night and stayed in til Thursday avo during which time the nice Panamanian Dr. and the nurses looked after me and pumped me full of antibiotics and painkillers on a drip. Amber looked after me very well too and staying in on the first night which was very nice and good as i was pretty incapable and could hardly move. On Wednesday we enjoyed the plethora of cable channels, watching some American trash tv and a programme about armadillos. They are pretty good on the animal scale. Thursday I had 2 mega doses of antibioics so felt pretty wiped out. Also, it´s quite sore having a drip in at times as your veins feel the strain of it and so the nurses have to find you a new one (vein). It´s a pretty good transportation system for medication though I have to say. I´ve been getting better day by day, the antibiotics are strong and I´ve had a couple of antibiotic íntramuscular injections´(shots in the arse) since coming out of hospital. I´m feeling less blue now which is good and am getting some food down me, although I have to be really careful what I eat and prepare everything at home which will be interesting. Any simple recipes you could send would be great! I´m grateful to still be here after the last week and am feeling a bit more respectful of life and all in it I have to say. Hope you all are well? I hear there´s more snow on the way in the UK, am sad not to see it! Look after yourselves and send your news and recipe ideas xxx
Monday, 2 February 2009
First few days in San Salvador - Part One
Hello all, how´s things? Thanks again everyone for comments and reading. I apologise for incoherence in last blog. I hear there´s a winter wonderland over the south east at the mo which sounds fun. If only those budget Lapland themeparks had got a few more reindeer in they´d probably be raking it in now.
So, I am in San Salvador as above, a little bruised and tired but ok. I got off the plane into the 32 degree heat fairly exhilarated to be alive and walked out to spot Amber in the arrivals bit which was fun. Also a bit of a relief considering the lack of Plan B preparations we had made in case this did not happen (like exchanging adresses or phone numbers). Amber is an old pal from school who lives out here and works as an artist. We haven´t seen each other that much since school so it´s very lovely to be here with her. We go to meet her man Baltasar (why cant English men have epic names like this?) for some food and in between my chatting, Amber reveals that her and B are to tie the knot which is blimmin exciting! This is followed by a further announcement at lunch and the excitement levels are almost too much for my little brain. After a nice bit of nourishment (steak sanger) we go back to Amber and B´wicked flat (all artistic and everything) to inform Emsy and Pippa (friends from this same heady era of wine swigging in school toilets) of the exciting news that has just been shared.Goodness some of us are getting grown up. That´s 3 of my nearest pals that are getting wed this year, a little earlier than the Office of National Statistics records for women of the UK I see. I have a lovely little area in their flat made up and from the window I can see a volcano which makes a change from the car park out the back in Willy G. There´s also a man with a gun, lots of trees, a beautiful breeze in the evening and some street dogs.
On Friday and the weekend, we spent time visiting places around San Salvador which has been fun and lots to take in. One of the first things you notice here is the high level of security. Guys with guns seem to guard most of the establishments here. A little unnerving to have these instruments of death casually dangling at their sides like extra limbs which are sometimes cocked at unnerving angles. You hope they´re wearing sensible footwear. I looked as we drove through the city and saw them not just outside banks but places like the Palacio de Postres (Pudding Palace). This is taking the biscuit I thought! A trifle uneccesary surely? On Friday Amber and I head off to Illopango, a lake near the city. We drive through an area called Soyapango, on of the poorer neighbourhoods and home to some of the ´mara´gangs. There´s 2 major gangs out here- 18th St. and Mara Salvatrucha. Lots of them are comprised of guys who were sent back to Salvador fromthe US- predominantly from LA. There´s a film being released about them called ´La Vida Loca´- we watched a trailor of it and it looks horrendous. Part of the marking of gang territory seems to involve tatooing gang names and symbols onto members´(including womens´) faces.
The lake was very peaceful. There was a woman washing in the lake (herself and her clothes). It is also home to the San Salvador diving club. Maybe I should give it a go? We drive over to see Amber´s mum who is from here. It´s nice to see her after a long time. We chat about things, drink frescas (fruit drinks), eat a corn-based snack (cbs´s are a staple here) and have a look around the house which is fun. Amber´s Mum has 2 dogs and I see the first one who seems pretty chilled. I´m warned about the other one, a 60 lb Doberman who is very protective of Amber´s mum. Can you guess what´s going to happen next readers? So yes on the way out to the car it becomes clear that this dog is out. When I say becomes clear, I mean one moment he is in bark range, the next we are looking at each other, I then think oh shit and make for the car. And doggy takes a big bite of my leg from behind. This is rather painful and a bit of a shock. And so it transpires that just when I thought I´d had enough excitement for 48 hours I am in hospital in San Salvador getting the aforementioned wound seen to. The doctor was very nice, checked that the dog had been vaccinated, dressed me up and prescribed me antibiotics and made me feel better, along with Amber who was great. Thankyou. Let´s move on.
Amber took good care of me at home and made me ice the leg up to stop bruising and we had a chilled evening, followed by a restless night with me feeling a bit freaked out by things and a very windy wind going on outside. On Saturday we went to check out the dramatic but simple church, Iglesia del Rosario, in downtown San Salvador where the knot will be tied in a month. (Picture top left hopefully). El Salavdor is still a very Catholic country (you can see religious slogans on most of the many buses) and most get married in church, which may also include the couple attending marital workshops led by, in A&B´s case, an old-school priest, Padre Gregorio. The architect who designed the church, Ruben Latinez, has incoporated eye catching pieces made from salavaged arms from the civil war which ended officially in 1992. Downtown San Salavdor is at the bottom of a valley so can get very badly polluted. We had a wander round the markets including a whole row of hairdressers inviting us in ´Pasen..Adelante..Pase!´Lots and lots to see. We bought some delicious snacks from outside the church- Pupusas- like corn pancakes (cbs) stuffed with things like frijoles and cheese, pork and ayote (green squash like veg). These were followed by a great lunch of ceviche- a fresh pickled fish affair. I learnt more about Baltasar and the interesting places he´s lived and jobs he´s done which was fun. More on this later... Time for a blog break. Apologies for incoherence in last blog, was a bit frazzled. I note it is full of poor grammar.
Hattie- those lushious NY foods were macaroni cheese and frankfurters
Pippy- the film I watched was the atrocious ´How to lose friends and alienate people´ with the guy from Spaced. Last night I watched ´thankyou for smoking´also not great but a bit interesting seeing the main character of the tobacco lobbyist in action. Amber and I were confused by the casting of Katie Holmes. We may watch another movie tonight. I will of course keep you posted.
Love to you all. Will post some pics if can manage the technology
xxx
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Leaving New York
On Wednesday 28th, the ice storm that's been ice storming across the US arrived in New York. I look out of Pippa's window in the morning and can see thick icy snow on the ground. It's nice and warm in Pippa's flat, although I've been sleeping in a hat which Pippa says makes me look like a smurf. It's early before Pippa goes to work and we go to get some breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien a the bottom of her road. Pippa's dressed up like a Russian James Bond lady in a furry hat and long distingished coat and looks the part. I'm sloshing about in my trainers and hoodie so we look like a funny pair. A distinished lady taking a delinquent for breakfast. Actually that's not far from the truth. At breakast I ask Pippa, 'how is London different to New York'. I have Oliver James' Affluenza i my mind, a sociological observation type book, which opens in New York, fingering it as the centre of the 'selfish capitalist' world and sick modern western society, and I want to hear her thoughts. Pippa says that things are easier here than in London, less hassle, people are eager to do things and are very keen to introduce you to peple they know and to tell you about new places to go, new things to try and see and discover. There is less of the dragging feeling when getting abut it London to go to places, it's more sociable and manageable consequently. I ask abut the work ethic. It's very fast paced she says. Nothing surprising, but I'm interested to hear it from someone living here.
The cold, icy, sloshy weather does not make feel like doing much so I go back to Pippa's and watch Bonfire of the Vanities (to get into a 'new york state of mind' as Alan Partridge once quoted). After this I go for a wander round the local neighbourhoods. It's funny in NYC they go acronym crazy with their neighborhoods - We start with SoHo (South of Houston), then there's NoLiTa (North of Lttle Italy) and TriBeCa (the Triangle below Canal). My favourite is still DUMBO (Down Under the Manhatan Bridge Overpass). Nuts. On my walk I notice no fewer than 4 different dogs wearing shoes. I buy some things in Duane Rede (the US equivalent of Boots- great name). So far the pharmacies/drugstores I've been to here seem half medicines and half sweets and chocs which sems like a helpful vicious circle for the pharmaceutical industry here. I have some trouble comunicating again. Problem words being 'vitamins', 'water' and 'cards; somehow my English ego can't bring myself to pronounce the american vowel sounds and say 'vaitamins' etc.. so I am left trying to explain badly what a vitamin is. On this point, it's crazy the amount of adverts between progammes here that are for medications and their endless disclaimers- antidepressant topups, lawyers wanting to fight for you to get you compensationif are using acontraceptive 'ring' that culd be killing you. All very dramtic. It's enough to bring out the hypochondriac in you. Maybe I do need that cough medicine- it does wonders for mucus don't you know?
In the evening, Tom Pippa n me go out to a great diner under the Williamsburg Bridge on the Brooklyn side. More amzing food. Roasted brussels sprouts- none of the farty OAP fare you get in the UK- great cheeseburgers and some pasta with herbs and something called radicchio. Anyone know what this is? They have lots of funny ingredients which sound a bit poncy here- Arugula (Rocket?) and Farro (Spelt) being other common ones. The diner is super chilled and low lit, wih Morrissey playing in the background- "If there's something you'd like to try'. We sample the cocktails which are served in old school small glasses so they make men feel ok drinking them. The waitress is another tartan shirt and skinny jeans cool type. Not unfriendly or friendly, just kind of cool and knows a lot about the food. It's cosy being here in this little haven which is about the size of a train carriage with the cold outside under the massive unwieldy structure of the bridge. A relaxed alcohol soothed feeling kicks in and I feel content .
Contentness which is broken at 4 the next morning by the shuttle bus coming to pick me up which in the end doesnt hapen for another hour and a half, having woken both Tom and Pippa up several times as the driver claims he has no booking for me. There's nothing like the stress of early morning airport travel. Does wonders for the cortisol. The van eventually arrives and picks me up. The driver's an ase and the music's blaring out at 5.30 in the van with its silent passengers. I shout at him from the back f the van to turn it down. I'm the last one to be dropped off at JFK. This behemoth airport has 7 or 8 terminals and I can't remember which one I'm at so I plump for T7 which turns out t be wrong. 'I just want to check I'm at the right terminal' i say to thedriver as we arrive. 'No. it makes no difference. I'm going' he says and speeds off with me fishing about in my rucksack for the bit of paper which will confirm I'm at the wrong place.
An $8 taxi ride later to the correct terminal and I'm checked in and cold at 6.30 in the airport. There's an item about 'Poison peanut butter' circulating in the US at the moment on the news. The terminal is almost exclusively south and central american flights-, TAM, TACA, Carribean Airways, Avianca. I check out my fellow passengers as we queue to board the TACA airways flight- A peroxide blonde with a fat husband, quite a few very old people, a few families with young kids. In the queue there's a young boy behind me being sick onto the floor and a bit into a little bag. No one seems to notice. I realise that none of the American officials have taken my visa exit slip when I'm onboard which wil make for an interesting time getting back into the US.
The flight (also referred to at the chicken bus) is pretty much as far away from the spoiling BA flight out to NY. I'm squished up on the small plane and there's only one thing in a bag to open. We wiat for about half an hour to take off. 5 hours in the sky in a tin can. About 4 of which were extremely turbulent. The scariest flight I've ever been on. I definitely thought death was on the cards as we swerved up and down and side to side simutaneously. I kept my eyes shut rather than lok at the shaking plane. Exhausting. i tried to distract myself with the entertainment- The sensitively chosen film- 'Kingdom of Heaven' showing on a screen about 20 rows in front of me or the music channel playing 'dum-di-dah-you're-all-going-to-die!' epic classical music. None of the Brit adherance to rules on the plane rubbish either!! everyone ignoring the 'fasten seatbelt' signs constantly walking up and down the aisle and the 2 people either side of me using their mobiles- 'is that ok to use?' i asked the Chilean boy next to me worriedly- 'yeah it's fine- i haven't got any signal at the moment'. I tried to remember the calming things Emsy, Ian and a man on my iPod called John Kabat Zin said about not worrying about such situations and I managed to enter another dimension of detachment in my head and get a bit calm. Finally after the longest 5 hours, with scant pilot patter (only things like before the turbluence- 'We have turbulence reported between 32 and 34,00 feet. Relax! Thankyou'), we started to descend and i could see volcanoes and the land below which looked very dry. I have resolved to swim home, probably best as the States may not let me back in. I'm off for a blog break now. Back later. Hope you are all well. thanks for all the coments. great to hear your news guys and ladies. I'll be back to the coments in the next post xxx
The cold, icy, sloshy weather does not make feel like doing much so I go back to Pippa's and watch Bonfire of the Vanities (to get into a 'new york state of mind' as Alan Partridge once quoted). After this I go for a wander round the local neighbourhoods. It's funny in NYC they go acronym crazy with their neighborhoods - We start with SoHo (South of Houston), then there's NoLiTa (North of Lttle Italy) and TriBeCa (the Triangle below Canal). My favourite is still DUMBO (Down Under the Manhatan Bridge Overpass). Nuts. On my walk I notice no fewer than 4 different dogs wearing shoes. I buy some things in Duane Rede (the US equivalent of Boots- great name). So far the pharmacies/drugstores I've been to here seem half medicines and half sweets and chocs which sems like a helpful vicious circle for the pharmaceutical industry here. I have some trouble comunicating again. Problem words being 'vitamins', 'water' and 'cards; somehow my English ego can't bring myself to pronounce the american vowel sounds and say 'vaitamins' etc.. so I am left trying to explain badly what a vitamin is. On this point, it's crazy the amount of adverts between progammes here that are for medications and their endless disclaimers- antidepressant topups, lawyers wanting to fight for you to get you compensationif are using acontraceptive 'ring' that culd be killing you. All very dramtic. It's enough to bring out the hypochondriac in you. Maybe I do need that cough medicine- it does wonders for mucus don't you know?
In the evening, Tom Pippa n me go out to a great diner under the Williamsburg Bridge on the Brooklyn side. More amzing food. Roasted brussels sprouts- none of the farty OAP fare you get in the UK- great cheeseburgers and some pasta with herbs and something called radicchio. Anyone know what this is? They have lots of funny ingredients which sound a bit poncy here- Arugula (Rocket?) and Farro (Spelt) being other common ones. The diner is super chilled and low lit, wih Morrissey playing in the background- "If there's something you'd like to try'. We sample the cocktails which are served in old school small glasses so they make men feel ok drinking them. The waitress is another tartan shirt and skinny jeans cool type. Not unfriendly or friendly, just kind of cool and knows a lot about the food. It's cosy being here in this little haven which is about the size of a train carriage with the cold outside under the massive unwieldy structure of the bridge. A relaxed alcohol soothed feeling kicks in and I feel content .
Contentness which is broken at 4 the next morning by the shuttle bus coming to pick me up which in the end doesnt hapen for another hour and a half, having woken both Tom and Pippa up several times as the driver claims he has no booking for me. There's nothing like the stress of early morning airport travel. Does wonders for the cortisol. The van eventually arrives and picks me up. The driver's an ase and the music's blaring out at 5.30 in the van with its silent passengers. I shout at him from the back f the van to turn it down. I'm the last one to be dropped off at JFK. This behemoth airport has 7 or 8 terminals and I can't remember which one I'm at so I plump for T7 which turns out t be wrong. 'I just want to check I'm at the right terminal' i say to thedriver as we arrive. 'No. it makes no difference. I'm going' he says and speeds off with me fishing about in my rucksack for the bit of paper which will confirm I'm at the wrong place.
An $8 taxi ride later to the correct terminal and I'm checked in and cold at 6.30 in the airport. There's an item about 'Poison peanut butter' circulating in the US at the moment on the news. The terminal is almost exclusively south and central american flights-, TAM, TACA, Carribean Airways, Avianca. I check out my fellow passengers as we queue to board the TACA airways flight- A peroxide blonde with a fat husband, quite a few very old people, a few families with young kids. In the queue there's a young boy behind me being sick onto the floor and a bit into a little bag. No one seems to notice. I realise that none of the American officials have taken my visa exit slip when I'm onboard which wil make for an interesting time getting back into the US.
The flight (also referred to at the chicken bus) is pretty much as far away from the spoiling BA flight out to NY. I'm squished up on the small plane and there's only one thing in a bag to open. We wiat for about half an hour to take off. 5 hours in the sky in a tin can. About 4 of which were extremely turbulent. The scariest flight I've ever been on. I definitely thought death was on the cards as we swerved up and down and side to side simutaneously. I kept my eyes shut rather than lok at the shaking plane. Exhausting. i tried to distract myself with the entertainment- The sensitively chosen film- 'Kingdom of Heaven' showing on a screen about 20 rows in front of me or the music channel playing 'dum-di-dah-you're-all-going-to-die!' epic classical music. None of the Brit adherance to rules on the plane rubbish either!! everyone ignoring the 'fasten seatbelt' signs constantly walking up and down the aisle and the 2 people either side of me using their mobiles- 'is that ok to use?' i asked the Chilean boy next to me worriedly- 'yeah it's fine- i haven't got any signal at the moment'. I tried to remember the calming things Emsy, Ian and a man on my iPod called John Kabat Zin said about not worrying about such situations and I managed to enter another dimension of detachment in my head and get a bit calm. Finally after the longest 5 hours, with scant pilot patter (only things like before the turbluence- 'We have turbulence reported between 32 and 34,00 feet. Relax! Thankyou'), we started to descend and i could see volcanoes and the land below which looked very dry. I have resolved to swim home, probably best as the States may not let me back in. I'm off for a blog break now. Back later. Hope you are all well. thanks for all the coments. great to hear your news guys and ladies. I'll be back to the coments in the next post xxx
Monday, 26 January 2009
New York
Finally I am over the pond. (Not 'over it', I've only just got here) Extrication from London after 8 years. A close thing, given that I nearly missed the plane. Fear of missing the plane superseded my fear of flying which was a pleasant change. The BA flight was a bit fun and a little bit glamorous in my mind. There was hardly anyone on it. Bad for global warming but a bit nice in a pathetically human give me lots of space way. Everyone got up to take advantage of this seating boon but were told to sit down in their original seats again 'because of the Trim'- Ian can you explain? They give you lots of exciting things in bags to open on the plane. This occupied me for 7.5 hours pretty much along with filling out the various serious documents to gain admittance to the U.S and eating all the free food, and thinking about my friends and family. It was all very exciting on the final approach in, you could see on the little map the Hudson River where the US airways plane crashed, and the skyline as we came into JFK which was all twinkly. And then we were there like magic - flying and seeing the plane's progress over the Atlantic and Canada on the little map- and then ending up miles away from London a few hours later. Somewhere a lot lot colder too. I caught a shared minibus to Pippy and Tom's apartment in Greenwich Village next to the Meatpacking District, squashed up and trying not to inflict my cold on the others in the bus (although i regretted this altruism later on as some of them were quite rude to the nice driver). i chatted to an English girl studying some history of art Masters upstate, possibly confirming stereotypes, and who went on to be an arse to the driver. An hour's drive in to 'The Village' where Pippa's living, along highways with billboards advertising the usual, along with American touches- 'Need an MRI? Call 1-800 NEED MRI'. The driver assured me that 'The Village People dress differently, they walk differently'. I shall be examining Pippa and Tom for YMCA-themed influences. It was great to finally get there and see Pippa and Tom- A lovely dinner later at an Italian place in a place called the Bowery Hotel, which was a lush spelt salad, pizzas and wine served by a louche (not lush) waiter and we all hit the sack.
On Sunday we got up and went round to another lovely eatery called Morandi for brunch. Amazing eggs. Lots of sex and the city groups of gals around the tables. Another wander and I dragged PnT into Magnolia Bakery. Cupcake, colourful icing and hot bevvy heaven. and I'm starting to see how you could easily get lardy here. Due to the dire exchange rate at the mo, and with taxes and tips added, food is all pretty expensive. Everything is expensive and I'm glad I'm not here for more than a few days from this pov, otherwise I'd be sadly drooling outside these great food places. Tom and Pippa both have cool hats- I bought an Obama hat from a roadside stall. Not cool. We went to see Slumdog Millionaire in the avo which was fun. What did those who've seen it think? It was no Blood Diamond that's for sure. Slumdog was followed by Mamma Mia at Pippa's. Amazing. We had our own singalong and I learnt what Pippa's favourite songs were. Fun happy times.
Monday i took the subway (less hectic than London people say) up to Central Park North- after having some difficulty buying a metrocard for the subway- asking 3 times in one newsagent to be presented with a book of matches. The chances of me raking in free cupcakes from my cute English accent are clearly non existent. Central Park is pretty cool, -different to how I imagined it as an American Hyde Park- it was cold, icy, snowy and wild in parts like the North Woods. And massive. I must have spent about 4 hours wandering around the park, 5th Avenue and around before I realised that my red gloveless hands were about to drop off and it was time to go home, via Hot & Crusty for a coffee. Great name huh? I felt the being by yourself away thing at that time as I was fairly mute between the hours of 9 and 7. I met Pippa at her work in SoHo and we walked to yet another lush eatery called Westville where we waited patiently for a table which was a good thing given the delicious mac n cheese with bacon, soy glazed green beans and franks with peas and bacon. So so good.
Today's been a chilled day. More walking about. Some special boiled eggs sadly without Emsy at Le Pain Quotidien. Later I went past a guy with a kid on his shoulders and saw lots of paps snapping away. I asked a girl who it was and she said Hugh Jackman. He's an actor right? I don't know what he's been in but the camera men seemed quite excited. I managed to walk past him again later. Maybe he wanted to hear my cute English accent? It still feels a bit surreal here, a bit like being in a movie with all the sights and old school americanness, I have to keep reminding myself I'm here, somewhere I am excited to have made it to. The cost of things is tough though, not the best time to be away clearly, and things like the lack of free healthcare make you very appreciative of the NHS. It's so expensive without insurance here. Quite scary for lots of people and you think about how hard it must be for lots of people to be here. Tomorrow's my last day here so more exploring's on the cards. Bye bye from my first largely food themed blog post. Send me your news please xxx
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