|
2nd - 9th November: I no longer have time to help building the kitchen or the bathroom as the english lessons are proving popular. Although there is massive unemployment, only the school children, who have to study, are my regular students.. the adults come irregularly. It seems sometimes as if the poverty is self inflicted. I know that this sounds grim. I am still searching to find exceptions. Waiters are all over you before you have seen a menu then try their best to ignore you. A boy of 15 exits the door of a party - and follows me down the street, eventually asking whether he can stay with me. Can his actions be changed by the force of my reaction or will it make him feel even worse. I still believe the latter is true. Talk of the Argentine economy is warned about in my guidebook which is more than a year old.. and now people love to talk about how bad the economy is. Money is eventually talked about by all the people that I know... perhaps the allegedly uncorrupted and poverty stricken Bolivia holds people who care more about life. Argentinians will check everything concerned with money, even with friends.. is this normal? Yes, trust and reliability seem to play little role in friendships that I have seen here, including my "friend" Leopoldo and me. How to help these people if I feel on guard all the time? I go to the Rugby Union game between Australia and Argentina in the same stadium as the Chilli Peppers concert and the La Boca - River Plate game. What a different crowd! The queues are untroubled and the Argentinian anthem very moving.. it starts soulfully and ends on a triumphant note. Although I try to educate the others on the pronunciation of Oi Oi Oi after Ozzie, they still need a little work. The Argentinian kicker misses 5 penalty goals.. by the fifth miss I am starting to feel a little nervous for his safety in this familty crowd. |
|
 |
|
 |
|
