Posted on

Teaching English

Who thought I would be teaching English in a high school here in Argentina? I certainly did not.

A friend of mine on staff here goes every Wednesday to the local high school to teach English. He will be away for a week or two shortly and the classes need to continue, so I wandered over there to join him in his classes. This would give me some clue as to what to do when I take them over while he is away.

School in Pirayui
The school we teach at (on the right).

The first thing that impacted me about it all was the newness of the school. It was a reasonably large school and I had seen dozens of children walking to and from the place every day, yet there seemed to be very few around as we entered the yard. Perhaps this was just because they were all in classes. We had arrived a few minutes late.

I guess I was expecting some sort of class when we turned up, some sort of assembly of students either inside or outside of the classroom. On the walk here I had been warned that at times the students do not turn up or arrive late. We had discussed how the class had dwindled from around 20 students to significantly less… it was just that I was not expecting this much less.

Continue reading “Teaching English”

Posted on

Religious Parade in Corrientes

There was a religious parade in town the other day. The police and firebrigade were all involved, with sirens blazing. It was quite a show, with all of the cars and bicycles following along behind them all going at a slow pace. I don’t think that I have seen anything quite like this before.


The firebrigade carried the idol for everyone.


The parade with the police blaring their sirens infront so everyone would know (click for larger photo).

Posted on

Remembering Friends

During the week in Belo Horizonte, Brazil when we were in the YWAM Conference, I met up with some amazing people. The best of them came from Norway, at the Creative Aalesund site (something I just discovered now).

So how did we meet? Friends of a friend really. Lehman, my good friend and work colleague here in Corrientes met these guys when he was up in Central America. So when he saw them again, I was introduced. We all became great friends after that, and here are the photos to prove it (thanks Franziska for the photos)…


Most of the team altogether


Enjoying lunch together


The three main culprits
Continue reading “Remembering Friends”

Posted on

Winter inside of Summer

Hot
It was only a few days back that I was sweltering in my house. There seemed to be no hiding from the intense heat as it climbed into the high 30’s, touching on the 40’s. Windows open, doors open, even a breeze could not bring reprieve. With these sorts of temperatures the excessive humidity only served to intensify the heat, exacerbating what was already an almost impossible situation.

There were various methods employed to try and escape. Icecream ranked high on that list, as did tereré, the mate drink here in Argentina served with the coldest cordial or softdrink you can conjure up. There is no difference between the two drinks in how they look, but the taste is miles apart. Tereré gives the cordial a very pleasant taste. During this heat however, even the icey waters of tereré was not enough to reduce the suffering.

Think Australian desert. It was hot.

Cold
But not so today. Last night it was so cold that I had to go and steal a blanket from storage just to stop me from shivering, and that was while I was lying in bed wearing a polar-fleece jumper. Things change here. Fast.

Today it is cold. The house is shut up tight and I can feel any tiny breeze as it comes in through any tiny hole it can find. Jeans and my trusty polar-fleece from last night keep me warm enough if I don’t venture outside. My faithful flip-flops have been traded for some decent socks tucked inside warm hiking boots. Tereré is not an option today. Instead we all return to mate served with its customary near-boiling water. We appreciate all the warmth we can get.

Now don’t get me wrong here. It is not polar arctic cold. The temperatures are not sub-zero and there are no icicles growing out of my running nose. These are truly extreme temperatures. No, it is not like that. But it is still cold. And compared with only two days ago it does feel somewhat like extreme weather.

Wet
So why is it so different now compared with only two days ago? Why, for that fact, does it change so drastically overnight as it did and does here? Why? The answer is simple. Rain.

Rain dropsThere has been a distinct pattern starting to emerge now with every rain. It seems that just before rain comes there is a continual increasing in temperature. This climb in temperature is accompanied by an equal climb in the humidity until the two combined produce an exhausting heat. While the rain still has not arrived, this level of heat can hang around for several days or more.

The worst I remember it was one night when there was a brown-out and we could not use any fans. I lay in bed sweating so fast that it felt like it was rain drops running over my body. Most times it does not get quite that hot.

Once the rain comes, the temperature drops remarkably and rapidly. The amount of time the rain hangs around directly affects the temperature. If it is only a short shower then the temperature becomes bearable for a short while before soaring back up into crazy heat once again. If it is for sufficiently long enough, which is hard to actually put a time frame on, then we end up with really pleasant temperatures for at least a couple of days. This is a good rain.

Sometimes, such as happened this time, the rain comes during the night and drops the temperature radically. If it then hangs around a bit longer, this temperature reminds us more of winter than of the late spring that we are currently living in. Such is our situation today. When the rain goes, we will once again start to experience the warm to hot but liveable weather customary for this season.

This pattern with rain and temperatures occurs throughout the year. If it is summer, the temperatures slightly towards the hot end. If winter, they shift towards the cold end. In fact, in winter, with a pattern like this coming through, it can sometimes drop to several degrees below zero.

Looking at the good part of this, it means that in every season our whole wardrobe gets a chance to be used. It also means that there will eventually be a break from the current weather, be it the heat of summer, or the cold of winter. Whatever the weather, it is great to have a change. So while I am shivering away here, I am still thankful for the few days that we are having which serve as a break to the heat of summer that is approaching with alarming rapidity.

Winter inside of Summer. It isn’t such a bad thing.

Posted on

Photographing Storms

Last night there was a fantastic storm that came past with fierce lightning and heavy rain. I loved every moment of it, and once it had passed enough to be able to point my camera out the door without flooding the house, I had a go at photographing the lightning.

Lightning out of focus
My first photo attempts of lightning ended up out of focus

It was my first time ever at doing anything like this, and the night was very dark, so my first attempts ended up with some amazing lightning that was very out of focus. After some checks during the process I discovered this and took a few more shots and managed to capture at least the essence of the storm. That sort of “amazing” photo of lightning eluded me this night but it won’t be the last time that I try this now.

Lightning
After re-adjusting the focus things turned out clearer

One of the most amazing things was seeing the photo below after taking it when I could hardly see a thing. The night was so dark and the lights on the buildings were so dim through the heavy rain that I struggled to get a decent focus point. When I set up the camera I was still experimenting with exposure times (and later discovered that I needed double what I had here for anything reasonable) when lightning struck nearby.

Lightning lights up the night
Lightning lights up the night

Posted on

The Conference – Day 1

The first day is still going strong, and it has been very interesting to see people from so many different nations here. I have already met people from bases in Norway, Panama, and Brazil, spending time with them all over lunch. There is a person here from almost every country in the world.

Still tired from such little sleep last night, it is a struggle to stay awake during the meetings. Perhaps this is why I decided to break away from my original group of travellers and sort myself out with a place to stay with a real bed.

You see, they have found a great place to stay just across the road from the YWAM base here. In a way I think they have a better deal, although a concrete floor is all that is available to sleep on. These are the ones without money who still wanted to come regardless of their situation. They suffer whatever hardships they need to so that they can remain here. A free concrete floor is certainly a very enticing offer.

So I have left them there, and moved in with my other Corrientes YWAM staff. It is said to be a very nice place, but that is something I will not discover until later tonight. For now, there are many people left to get to know and lots of great Brazilian foods to discover. And for drinks… the Guarana is my favourite of all. It beats Coke by a long shot.

Just being here amongst so many interesting and amazing people has been great. I have met so many people that I know from meeting them from here or there. It is amazing to see the connections that happen in an event like this. For me though, I most enjoy the friendships and developing those that already exist plus adding a few more along the way.

So now it is back to the conference again. Until next time…

Posted on

Belo Horizonte at Last

Well we finally arrived in Belo Horizonte, 2 1/2hrs later than our scheduled time, and 5 1/2hrs later than the planned time.

During our journey we travelled through fog so thick we could hardly see the other side of the road, something that proved fatal for a truck and bus which collided in the obscurity. We passed them and some cars that had also hit them while it was still very hard to see. What we did see however, was the bus hanging over the edge of the road pointing down a super steep hill and looking extremely precarious. The authorities had arrived by now and all people were removed from the scene so I am not sure of the severity.

Moving onward, our journey became somewhat monotonous with the occasional stop at a roadhouse dedicated for buses every now and then. There was any supplied videos on the bus, but a man travelling from Ciudad del Este was carrying dozens of DVDs (mostly fakes from what I saw) and we had the privilege of some movie entertainment on the way which helped pass the time. The most interesting however was a Rodeo video with all of the cowboys bouncing around on the back of the bulls and dozens of shots of them falling off. Hmmm, perhaps I am a masochist. 🙂

After stopping in Sao Paulo, we continued north but only for a short time. Suddenly a police vehicle pulled alongside of our bus and indicated for us to stop. Having just overtaken some trucks, I suspected that our driver was in trouble for speeding, but this opinion soon changed when the officers climbed aboard and started inspecting our bags. Before long, we were all out on the roadside, standing by watching as each bag was meticulously inspected, even to the point of cutting through the bag when they could not seen down deep.

Forty minutes later and we are back on our way, finally arriving in Belo at 10.30pm, about an hour after the other YWAM team from Buenos Aires who took another bus which left at the same time as us. It was 1am before we finally climbed aboard the shuttle bus to head to the YWAM base in Contagem and to our beds.

Initially we were expecting our beds to be nice and comfortable, but on climbing into the bus we are told that at this time of night everything is now closed up and there is nowhere for us to stay. So instead, they lead us into the base and provide us with the only section of level space available… the main auditorium stage. Here we sleep the night, finally resting sometime around 2.30am, only to wake at 6am to make way for all of the preparation for the day.

Welcome to the Viva Latina-America conference in Belo Horizonte.

Posted on

The Conference – Day 2

Well this place is certainly a mix of people. I am becoming confused in my languages now. Not that I know Portuguese, but when talking with people to buy food and the shops I am trying to speak something that resembles it. This means that when I go to speak to somebody I have to decide which language to try and use. It does not take too long to find out which language however, but then the difficulty is to remain in that language.

Many times I have found myself starting in Spanish and finishing in English, or thinking I was speaking Portuguese (my version of it) but realised that it was only a slightly different accent on my Spanish. There are many multi-lingual people here and that is not such a problem, but if they only know the one language then they just look at me with a quizzical expression on their face. This has happened to me more than one, especially when turning from one person in one language to another person with a different language. The quizzical face tells me quickly that I am speaking gibberish to them.

The conference itself has been in many ways just like any other conference, but with many testimonies of what people have been doing through YWAM throughout the world. One story involved a man asking the NATO team to stop a bombing raid in Haiti so he could go in an speak to them about Jesus and the Gospel. The stopped the raid long enough for him to go in there and speak to the drug dealers and malitia groups that were there. Some of them accepted Christ. He became the first white man to actually go into that place and then come back out again alive. After he returned, NATO continued with their raid and wiped them all out. Only those who had recently accepted Christ survived.

Another story involved a lady from Brazil who has started working in a very Catholic country. Here the church dominates the place (I am not sure if it is wise to share where it is so I will refrain from doing so in the interests of her safety), and yet she has been able to do some amazing things with her ever growing team of people. They have built many houses for the poor and are in the process of building a school right now. She has been involved in many discussions with the government and the president of the nation, talking about how Biblical principles in leadership. A mutual friend that is a reporter has remarked to her that now, in every single meeting that he is in, the President is talking about YWAM and what they are doing. There is a great deal of influence here.

Well, there are many more stories too… and some are just amazing. But time prevents me from continuing to tell more. Needless to say that the even has been very inspiring and meeting so many people has been great. Tomorrow is a rest day, so I will be taking a break too.

Unless of course there is something that I just have to tell you about.

Posted on

The Conference – Last Day

Well it has been hard to find time for Internet during this conference. There is a huge line of people waiting to use the only internet nearby that is available. The first day I missed it was when I discovered that it closes at 7.30pm at night. Doh. Second day I arrived before then, but a huge hail and thunder storm came through and took out the Internet connection so I had no access. Today was more successful though.

The whole thing has been reviving for me. Hearing amazing stories of people doing impossible things is very encouraging. Learning of the size and impact of this organisation called YWAM in the world is also very incredible. Seeing their vision and future direction is something that perhaps I could be coaxed into joining them in. But then the important thing is to keep going the way God directs me.

More people, more contacts, more information, more late nights. That about sums it all up.

Oh, and great food, great fun, great teaching, great friends. The whole picture.

Posted on

The Conference – Day 4

Yesterday, being Sunday, was a day of rest. Sleep was high on the agenda, but so too was time to meet new people and catch up with some of the new friends that I had already made. Wandering around this rather large base property, there were plenty of other people with the same idea.

Entertainment for the family happening at a venue across the road resounded within the trees and buildings that I was walking through, and during my short visit to this place I saw traditional dances from Argentina and Bolivia including Tango, Gaucho something, and Samba or Salsa (or perhaps both, as my awareness of these dances is still not very high except that I know they look great to watch).

After moving back to the base property, I found some friends and settled in for a relaxing afternoon of chats about nothing in particular. Our table was full of laugther that came mostly from tiredness and silly things, amongst other tables of serious talkers. As we relaxed during the afternoon the hour for a football game between Brazil and Chile arrived and in true style, the Brazilians reflected as much vigor, passion, and emotion for the game as the Argentines do.

The first 30 minutes of the game saw Brazil score four goals. It was not necessary to watch the game to know this. Every goal elicited a raucous shout from all of the Brazilians in the area, followed by songs of victory, shouts of encouragment and lots of dancing and jiggling. It was a party atmosphere throughout the whole game, and their high spirits were very infective, placing smiles, grins, and laughs on all of those around.

It was quite late before I finally returned back to my “ranch” where I was staying. During the day I had met a number of fellow Australians spread around in various corners of the globe including Chad, Mexico, and Brazil, and some other interesting people too. One of these people was a man working in the University in Kosovo, teaching the political undergraduate students the Biblical principles they need to be the next leaders of their country.

Today, the “program” starts for real. Our previous three days were totally unorganised (I refrain from saying dis-organised because it was actually organised to not be organised) but now we have been given a German-precision timetable to run by. What a difference. The beauty of so many nations working together is that we get this sort of diversity every single day.

Time for lunch, and I am off to join one of the many queues that abound out there. Asian food, Brazilan BBQs, hamburgers, pizzas, and dozens of other choices abound. I think today will be lunch in the restaurant, where they serve up pastas and rices sufficient for a Sumo wrestler.

Another great day.