Hola!

Firstly we should apologise for not writing for so long but we have been extremely busy getting up to lots of things here. On Monday, Becki had her first experiences of teaching, with one class of elderly ladies at lunch time and an adult class in the evening, which Jen came along to for moral support. It all went ok as they spoke really good English so it wasn't too scary after all! That evening we went to a welcome dinner with all the other volunteers at an all you can eat restuarant in Puerto Madero (the posh end of town). There was a massive BBQ with all the normal types of meat, however they also served intestines, glands, kidneys and other various type of body parts which we decided not to try out! We went for a few drinks at an Irish bar near to the hostel where Jen indulged in a mini bottle of champers - she's now got a taste for it seeing as its so cheap here.

Tuesday Becki had a day off whilst Jen had an introductory meeting with the teachers at the school she would be working in. Whilst Jen was busy, Becki went to the Evita museum which was really interesting as we didn't know much about her before. In the evening we both went to an orphanage which was a rather long trip from the hostel involving a bus and train. We really didn't know what to expect as we didn't know what ages the children would be so when we got there it was a bit of a shock to find that there was only 2 kids there that week and they were 12 and 16, so they didn't really appreciate the crayons and paper we had bought to entertain them. It was quite awkward as they didn't want to be there or learn any English which made it all a bit difficult! Towards the end of the session they seemed to be warming to us slightly despite our pathetic attempts to speak Spanish to them. It was probably the most challenging placement of them all, but this week we are hoping it will go a bit better now we know what to expect.

On Wednesday Becki went off to a local primary school where she is helping 3 kids with their English as they are behind their classmates. Its a nice school that provides a free lunch - always a bonus! Jen had to undertake a mammouth trek to the other side of the city to get to her school. She spent the afternoon being interviewed by around 40 teenagers who were very keen to know everything about her and England. It wasn't too bad apart from the amount of time it took to get there and back.

Thursday was another day at school for us and in the evening we pigged out on take away pizza and wine. Friday, after school we headed over to Recoleta with the plan to go to the MALBA art musuem. We wandered round for a bit until we realised that we were in the wrong museum ie, not the MALBA! We did eventually find it and had a look at a David Lachapelle exhibition which was really interesting (he's a photographer who takes unusual shots of famous people). In the evening we went to San Telmo with some people from the hostel for dinner (steak again!) but Becki came a bit later after going to a salsa class with one of the other volunteers (it was really fun).

On Saturday we went to a part of the city called La Boca which is a bit of a run down area apart from a couple of streets that have been kept very traditional to Buenos Aires. The streets are full of brightly painted houses and there are many artists and street entertainers including people dancing the tango. It was a really sunny afternoon so we wandered round for a bit and then had lunch at a street cafe. After lunch we headed over to Puerto Madero and strolled along the waterfront checking out all the trendy restaurants and bars. It was such a contrast from La Boca and felt like you could have been in two different cities! We had a little jaunt on a boat that was moored in the dock and checked out a building supposed to be an imitation of the Sydney Opera House - we weren't convinced seeing as we've been to the real thing! In the evening, two of Jen's friends arrive from home, Sarah and Vic. They've come over for a couple of weeks to travel around Argentina and as they were really tired from their 17 hour flight we just had a take away and some wine.

On Sunday we took them to Olson seeing as we were so impressed by it last week. After another mammouth brunch we headed over to the bus station and spent about an hour trying to book various buses - we used a lot of Spanish and we were very happy with ourselves! We then took the girls into the city centre for a look around and had coffee in Puerto Madero. In the evening we went out for a late dinner near to the hostel. Today, Sarah and Vic got the bus to a town called Rosario which is about 4 hours away from BA.

We've decided to have Spanish lessons while we're here as we have realised how little we actaully know. Both of us have had two so far and hopefully we can really improve and actually be able to speak to people!! We are getting into the teaching thing, although it was very scary at first the more we do it, the easier it should get. We've also got to grips with the transport here and we are starting to feel like we know our way round. We're even getting used to the crazy way that they drive - its all going to seem so tame when we get back! We don't have much planned for the next couple of days as we are busy teaching, however at the weekend we are heading north to a town called Mendoza and meeting up with Sarah and Vic for a long weekend. It is meant to be a good wine region so hopefully we can go on another wine tour and sample some!

Hope everyone is well at home.

Lots of love,

Becki and Jen xx xx xx xx xx