It honestly was beautifully done.

so today marks the first event that i'm genuinely upset i'm not home for: the modest mouse / frightened rabbit combo. COMBO. it pains me to think about it. i do still live in hope for another frabbit date in the not too distant future, considering they have yet to headline an indoor show in belfast (i believe?) but modest mouse?! yes, i may be in south america having the time of my life, but it does make me feel a bit sick in my stomach knowing isaac brock will be up on mandela stage in all his insane, criminal, brilliant glory, and i can't be there. but i guess that's the way the cookie crumbles. keeping on the musical theme, i need to find myself an internet cafe with decent wireless so i can get my hands on the brand spanking new sixstar album. it's a work of art, from what i've heard off of it, (as was to be expected) and you should rush out right now and buy it.
as for me, i am well! seriously, every morning i wake up and realise i'm happy. it's a nice feeling. can't be bothered with much of an indepth blogging number so i'll just give you the deets of my day. got up at 7.30, showered, changed, devotionaled, etc., and bused it into town to pick up some brekkie for tanja maria emanuel and myself. then headed for the nursery. the kids aren't in this week, we've just been preparing for the big end of year party on friday which should be fun! then bused my way back home and had some lunch. gonna finish up here then head back into town to meet tanja and juakim for coffee and to take a photo of ourselves to put on a mug for maria (what more could you want for christmas?!) then have to pick up a few things. gonna come back here and finish making these wee bookmark things for the kids in the shanty town school. it's the last day there tomorrow so i'm making these and baking a cake. then gonna have some dinner and write some emails before facundo comes for his tutor sesh. after that i'll bake up a storm then settle down for some desperate housewives action. not especially interesting, but enjoyable nonetheless.
i hope you have a nice day too!

Six Star Hotel - Gloria! Gloria! / I Fell Awake from Bandwidth on Vimeo.

Oh you pious and profane, put away your praise and blame,

a glass can only spill what it contains!

well hello! sorry i haven't blogged recently, but i've been ever so busy. seriously, i've been more productive in the past few weeks than i have been in my whole life. long gone feel the days of aimlessly dandering around tescos at 3 o'clock in the monring and, for the record, bumping into at least a dozen people i know who are doing the exact same thing. so yes! all is well in arge. more than well actually. have the morning off today because the school shut due to heavy rain. if that's the way things worked at home i probably wouldn't know how to read. so what to report? well i've seen a bunch more brilliant t shirts. this one, for example, which i like because it is shrouded in mystery...

BEST QUESTION EVER
[though what the question is we may never know]

also...
I ♥ NO
[typo?]

and this one, my fave thus far...
DREAMING OF SWEET, SWEET SOUP
[...pardon?]

fantastic. i need to get myself one of these. or several. didn't do much with my morning off. wrote some letters, did some cleaning, cooked lunch. did go to the supermarket though. when i got on the bus the busdriver told me i was very lovely and asked my name. so i told him and he said he would be very popular in the busdriver cave now because i've been their main topic of conversation for a while. goody for me, i thought. but he was actually quite nice and there was no-one else aboard so we chatted for a while. he asked me if i was catholic, for reasons passing understanding. i thought maybe it was a trick and someone had been sent from belfast to spy on me. but when i told him no he didn't seem to care. he did also ask if i was french though, which i couldn't help but agree with.
anyway, been here for a month now and am really really enjoying it these days. things are staring to wrap up though, and by the end of next week all the schools and nurseries will close for summer. so here's the happs for the rest of my stay.

from the 15th of dec to the 15th of jan i don't have much on. going to be starting a wee english course in the village for anyone who wants and doing some work in the market with the pastor of the church i'm at a few days a week. also, none of the work in the church will stop so my weekends will still be wicked busy.

then from the 16th to the 23rd of jan i am going to jujuy, another region of arge...



and from the 24th to the 31st i will be at a great big summer camp in santa cruz bolivia which people come to work at from all over the world apparently, so that should be cool.


then the plan is to come back to salta for a week, wash clothes, see friends etc. then i'm taking two weeks off to go adventuring. i'm so excited. i've already started booking bus tickets. thus far i know i'm taking the bus from salta to san pedro in chile. it only takes around ten hours and it looks something like this...


oh. baby. like bestie cal cal put it,
"oh my goodness. you're currently on the same land mass as that? i'm on the same land mass as some sheep."
so so excited. it looks incredible and i really really miss the sea so getting to the beach will be pure heaven. i've a friend out here from england who's been in s.america for a few months and she went to san pedro as well so we're meeting up next week so she can tell me all the places i need to go to.

anyway. i'll prob stay there around five days or so, then make my way up to peru for five days. not sure yet where i'll stay because the only place i know i really have to visit is this bad boy...


safe to say, i'm pretty excited about my life right now. but anyway, then i'm back in salta to chill out fo a week before i get back to work when school kicks in again for march and half of april, and then i head homeward! it sounds like no time at all really, and i think it's going to go very very fast. just going to enjoy every day as much as i can! the weather's been slightly more homelike recently. and by homelike i mean overcast, it's still bloody hot. but anyway. i have many's an email to send so i best be off.

If it's love or death, baby, no need to decide.

it takes me an obscenely long time to eat a yogurt. seriously. since i got here i've been eating these strawberry mousse yogurt things like they're going out of business. they're like 200g pots or something. average sized like. then last night i realised i'd been working on one for an hour and a half. i don't understand why this happens. it's not like i set it down for any sizeable length of time. i think, perhaps, i have tapped into my superpower.
i have to go do prep for my tutoring sesh later, i just felt i needed to share my discovery.

We all recognise, that i'm the problem here.

so i've noticed that my blog has become increasingly whiney lately. i know! i hear you cry. you're in south afuckingmerica, wise up! and wise up i shall. but anyway, i've decided to dedicate this blog to some observations i've made since my arrival.

firstly, bus times. here's me today, just on the bus, gazing out the windy, merrily on my way to work in the loveliest school in the world. there were literally about 100 other seats free, and yet on pops nanny mcnag, and sits down right next to me. sigh. five minutes in and i realise she's been talking animatedly to me for some time. why do people do this? i mean, i clearly had headphones on. not even discreet little earphones, no, great big make-you-look-like-a-twat headphones. plus, the album i was listening to was what can only be described as a guilty pleasure, and i would have appreciated being left to enjoy my shame in peace. but i politely took them off to listen. however, used though i am to elderly strangers on the bus having a bit of a rant, this one was in spanish. in fairness now, my spanish is pretty damn good, but i have to concentrate pretty hard to participate properly in conversation. safe to say i was in no concentrating mood, but from what i gather she was pretty peeved about something. anyway, she got off soon enough, and just as she did, a woman with a child takes her place. i will reiterate, if i may, THAT THERE WERE A HUNDRED OTHER FREE SEATS. but no, captain unnecessary plops her child on the seat next to me and just stands there. sigh. so obviously i have to ask if she would like my seat. she would, thank you. OH YOU WOULD, WOULD YOU? WELL YOU CAN'T HAVE IT, i screamed inwardly, as i politely slid past her and sat myself down on one of the (many many other) free seats. bus wankers, it seems, are the same the world over.

on average it's about 36 degrees over here right now. that's pretty hot by anyone's standards, and yet, everyone's running around wearing all of their clothes. seriously, the amount of people i've seen milling about in suits and jeans. it's madness. believe me, if it was considered socially respectable for me to be teaching english to children in just my underwear, i would be. speaking of clothes, i've also noticed a considerable number of people wearing those ridiculous slogan t shirts, but made all the more ridiculous by the fact that they clearly have no idea what they say as the words are in english. here are a few of my personal favourites:

UP AT EIGHT, AND LOOKING GREAT
[ah, my friend, you have been fooled by time. it is, i'm afraid, no longer 8 o'clock, and while you may have looked great at some point this morning, the moment has unfortunately passed]

JUST ANOTHER GUY, LIVIN LIKE A ROCKSTAR
[yeah man, fuck society!]

WHY WON'T YOU JUST LOVE ME?
[this one speaks for itself, really]

GODFORCE: SET FREE AND SENT FORTH
[in fairness, this guy also had a bumbag and a guitar, so i'm pretty sure he knew exactly what message his t shirt was sending, but it was just too good to leave out]

so anyway, things are all pretty good on the arge front. i'm planning on having myself a touristy day on friday, and taking lots of pictures in town. i've also found an internet cafe with wireless so i'll hopefully bring macca and then i can share them with you. ciao for now!

Please don't say anything for me to take as your last words.

so i was on the bus coming home from the shop earlier and was gazing out the window at the very wet wake of the horrorshow thunderstorm that had just been when i spotted some guy squatting on the kerb taking swigs from a very big bottle of stella. it sure did feel like home.
not feling terribly creative right now, will probably blog later with all the happs but i need something to do while the kettle boils..

What was the last thing you put in your mouth?
apple juice. with ice in. i've gotten into the habit of putting ice in all my drinks. i like it, the chinky noise makes me feel like i'm on holiday. and i mean chinky in the onomatopoetic sense, not in a racist way. not that i don't hate gooks or anything.

Have you ever kissed anyone named Matthew?
yes.

Where was your default picture taken?
ah, this is meant to be done on facebook. ooooh i have broken the rules. well, my profile picture on blogalog was taken at belfast castle. in the cat garden.

Last person you rode in a car with under the age of 20?
nivia. probably my best friend in salta thus far. she's a lovely girl. and incredibly pretty. like, incredibly pretty. she is wasted here. i keep telling her how lovely her face is. i think i make her slightly nervous.

Can you play guitar hero?
yes, badly though.

Name someone that made you laugh today?
roberta.

How late did you stay up last night and why?
until desperate housewives was over, so around midnight. all you plebs back home haven't seen the start of the new season yet. oh my oh my oh my.

If you could move somewhere else, would you?
been there, done that. don't have a t shirt yet though.

Ever been kissed under fireworks?
no.

Which of your friends lives closest to you?
cecilia. she lives here.

Do you believe ex's can be friends?
yes. but not unless you let everything go completely.

Calling or texting?
calling, i hate texting.

How do u feel about Dr pepper?
apathetic.

When was the last time you cried really hard?
saturday.

Where is your biological father right now?
a cemetary in portstewart. how depressing.

Where are you at right now?
in the study in cecilia's house in valdivia in salta.

What bed did you sleep in last night?
mine, i guess.

What was the last thing someone bought for you?
i don't think anyone's bought me anything since i got here, so the maritime mug that hannah gave me at the airport.

Who took your profile picture?
gillian birnie, i believe.

Who was the last person you took a picture of?
vanesa.

Was yesterday better than today?
no.

Can you live a day without TV?
yes.

Are you mad about anything?
i am not.

Do you think relationships are ever really worth it?
i do, actually.

When was the last time you were extremely disappointed?
probably a couple of weeks or so before i left home.

Are you a bad influence?
it depends.

Night out or night in?
night out, usually. but i'm starting to appreciate nights in much more.

What items could you not go without during the day?
chappy the chapstick, brother pod the ipod. i tend to personify things, by the way.

Would you share a drink with a stranger?
let's not lie to ourselves, i would.

Who was the last person you visited in the hospital?
probably janet after she popped out jose, and that was a few years ago.

What does the last text message in your inbox say?
"see you soon"

How do you feel about your life right now?
i feel good. i am learning a lot and rediscovering things and generally feeling more fulfilled than i have in a while. BOOM.

Do you hate anyone?
no.

If we were to look in your inbox, what would we find?
it depends which inbox we look at. on my argentinian phone you would find a lot of spanish, and a few messages from hannah. on my real phone you would find a lot of messages from hannah and various other folk, and a selection of saved messages, some of which are stored as cheery memories, the rest as a reminder of how horrible a particular individual can be. for the record, all has been forgiven, and i intend to delete said messages as and when i can be bothered.

Can you easily tell if someone's fake?
it takes me a while to form a decent impression of anyone to be honest.

Say you were given a drug test right now, Would you pass?
in all likelihood, yes.

Has anyone ever called you perfect before?
yes.

What song is stuck in your head?
baggy needles - jocasta sleeps.

Someone knocks on your window at 2am, who do you want it to be?
no-one, please.

Wanna have kids before you’re 30?
i'm not sure.

Name something you have to do tomorrow?
nothing! it's my day off!

Can you whistle?
i can.

Do you sleep on your side, stomach, or back?
foetal position or flat out on back.

Do you think too much or too little?
hmm. probably too little.

Do you smile a lot?
yes.

Who was your last missed call on your Mobile phone?
cecy.

When's the next time you will see the person you like?
i like everyone.

Are you happy with your life?:
increasingly so.

Can you handle the truth?
yes.

What was the last book you read?
god on mute by pete greig.

Do you hate the last guy/girl you had a conversation with?
no.

Is there something you always wear?
yes. the string from kris's girating ball has been tied to my wrist for about two months now.

What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
writing letters and watching the mighty boosh.

Honestly, who was the last person to tell you that they love you?
pedro, from one of the high school classes i do english lessons in.

Did you have an exciting last weekend?
not especially.

Have you ever crawled through a window?
yes.

Have you ever dyed your hair?
yes. pink streaks one summer, blue streaks the next. and it always has a few blonde highlights.

Are you wearing a necklace?
no.

Are you an emotional person?
yes.

What's something that can always make you feel better?
watching the fifth element.

Will this weekend be a good one:
yes! lovely day off tomorrow which i desperately need, and a birthday party on saturday.

What do you want right now?
tea and toasted tortillas.

Have you ever worn the opposite sex's clothing?
yes.

Look behind you, what do you see?
a wall.

Have you ever worked in a food place?
i've never had a paid job.

What would you name your future daughter?
i'm not sure. i like juliette though.

Any summer plans for 2010?
in salta until half way through april. come home and get a wee job and enjoy belfast for a few months and decide on uni for september. am waiting to hear back from london, glasgow, edinburgh, strathclyde and queens.

Whats on your schedule for tomorrow?
sleep forever.

Does anyone know your facebook password?
no.

It's your old friend fox, with a humble request.

it's really really hot in the southern hemisphere. boys a dear. so i'm proper horrowshow hungry right now. all I'd eaten today was half a packet of jelly babies and some crackers so I was all wicked excited about my pasta tonight but the shop's been closed since I got home so I couldn't buy any sauce. gutted. i tried cooking the pasta in some soup but it was nasty so i threw it away. i know, i know, how very inconsiderate of me, wasting my food when people around the corner are starving. well shut it, i'm hungry too. and a little cranky, due to, i imagine, a touch of malnourishment. i had some sausages and toast though. blah. first thing i want when i get home is a dirty chink from sue&jens. proper dog food style. yum. but anyway, enough self-pitying. past few days have been good. i'm major busy working on this script for a big ol' school play. bless. there's three schools doing it though so it's a hella lot of work. and it's in spanish, which makes everything take a little longer. not much to report really, just busying my way through the week. i hope it doesn't get mundane on me. although, i doubt that will happen, what with being in south american n' all. it's funny, every now and then i realise that it's actually november and back home will be all rainy and dark and chilly. it genuinely feels like a million miles away. part of me wishes i was all wrapped up warm, dandering about the continental markets, then going to lavs and drinking too much from the buckfast menu. i don't want to think like that loads though. besides, belfast's always gonna be there. i think i need to start trying to enjoy each day at a time a bit more. it's difficult though, when you're so bloody hungry.

And it was not your fault but mine.

so i had a really shitty afternoon. i'd been feeling pants the whole night before and like i didn't know what the point in me being here was anymore and that i was pretty useless and should just be a quitter and piss off home. y'know, a proper emo nervey spaz. then today i was cleaning my bedroom window from the outside with the hose, unaware that the window was crap and not exactly airtight. when i came back in there was water everywhere. fuck. and all over my macbook. fuck fuck. he spluttered and died and the screen was all leaky. fuck shit fuck. i was gutted. i know it's just like a thing and no-one died or anything, but it proper set me off. so i had a big ol' self-indulgent weep and strop session, and then i felt much better. i got my trusty hairdryer and took maccy apart and gave him some tlc. and lo! back to life he came. lovely trusty macbook. i will never leave you unsupervised again. so anyway, i do feel better now. i had a cup of tea and a sit down and besides, i'm sure it'll be alright in the morning. off to a super sweet fifteenth tonight - apparently that's a thing here - so i better scoot.

My shoes keep sticking to the ground.

so i had a really good night. the swede-aussie-anglo combo was great and the craic was mighty. i ate a decent meal for the first time in two weeks which my stomach couldn't quite understand and had a gay ol' time. we split around midnight and off i sauntered to the bus stop but had been walking for a good twenty minutes before i realised i'd gone the wrong way. silly jordan turns around and heads back and gets to her bus stop at 12.45. waits for the 1A for sixty minutes. 1A doesn't come. 1A has been doing it's damnedest to crush jordan's spirit for some time now, and by 2am i am sorry to say it had almost succeeded. but then helpful stranger tells jordan if she gets the 5B it will take her to Libertad supermarket. result! i can most definitely get the 1A/1B from there. so on i hop. but does the 5B go to Libertad supermarket? no sir. 5B goes everywhere in the world except Libertad supermarket. so, one whole hour and an awkward conversation with the driver about how i meant to do this all along later, and jordan winds up back in the city centre. so here's me, with no money for a taxi, no idea at what time the buses stop milling about altogether, and wondering what the hell i'm doing roaming the streets of argentina at 3 o'clock in the morning anyway. fortunately all was not lost. i rang cecy's sister who came straight out and got me and was totally cool about everything and let me crash at her house and come home this morning. thus making herself current front-runner for hero of the tournament. as for you, 1A: thou art a worthy adversary to be sure, but i have been owned for the last time amigo.

Stay until it gets dark.

so i was on the bus today and was looking out the window and saw this guy running. but like, it was really beautiful running. like, he should have been in a field of daisies and approaching a beautiful lady. he was very springy. it was lovely to watch. other things happened today too, but it was just the most noteworthy run i ever have witnessed.
so the past couple of days have been good! the sun is shining, i'm keeping busy, i'm spending less hours wandering the streets with no idea where the hell i am or how i'm getting home. life is good!
was in a high school today and for their english class they all had to gather their desks around me in a circle - much like an interrogation, or a nightmare - and ask me questions. then all the answers went on the board and they had to write a paragraph about me. it was essentially a class about me. they are teaching jordan in argentinian schools. it was pretty weird. and this morning i just hung out in the uzzi college staff room and drank tea and sang beatles songs. i am actually working hard though, promise.
going for dinner tonight with these english and swedish characters i met last week. i've only really hung out with one of them properly. his name's wackamole. or wackim? or guacamole, or something swedish anyway. but yeah, that should be good. getting to speak english all night without repeating myself a thousand times will be nice. there's definitely a bit of a 'gringos stick together' mentality out here.
still home alone. some of the girls from the neighbourhood were gonna come stay over tomorrow night but cecy emailed me today to say she was coming home early, party-pooper.
oh, and it was 'dia de la tradicion' in school today. they asked me if we had a 'tradition day' in northern ireland too. i said yes, it happens on the 12th of july. everyone dresses up in orange and has parades and fireworks and it is a happy occasion for all. my spanish vocab doesn't quite stretch to police raids and pipe bombs yet.

Note to self:

when it's served in very verybig cups, i tend to drink very very too much. Also, Perro Ciego are one of the best bands i have ever seen live, and that isn't just the very very alcohol talking. oh what a night.

Do you still believe in God, said the preacher to the astronaut.

i feel i should blog again after that end-of-the-world style post i left last time. i've been here a week now and, not gonna lie, for the first few days, after i'd realised what i'd gotten myself into, i was hella homesick. got myself all convinced there was no way i could do this and i needed to leave. it's a funny ol' thing, homesickness. because the truth is, i don't think i particularly missed home at all. it's just this overwhelming sense of dread that everything has changed and will continue to change and you're in the middle of it now and there's nothing you can do about it. however, like i said, i've been here a week now and the dread, it seems, has passed. i really like it here. salta is a beautiful town, the weather's lovely, the people are great. am actually home alone for around eight days as cecy, who i live with, has had to go to chile, for reasons passing understanding. i've always loved having the house to myself. and when i got into bed the other night it suddenly hit me that i was officially over six thousand miles away from everything i've ever known. i'm not overly sure how that makes me feel. one thing's for sure though, i did not realise just how wound up and anxious i was all the time until i got here and everything that matters is now back home taking care of itself. so i have a plan of action. yes, during the week i'm really busy with work in the schools and kindergardens and with the young people etc., but the weekends are quieter, and i have fridays all to myself. i'm going to chill out. it sounds easy, but i've spent the past six months of my life doing stuff. literally all the time. it got to the point where sitting alone in the house for any more than an hour made me want to kill myself. but why? i'm starting to settle in here now, and for the first time since i decided to come i'm starting to realise just how good this trip is gonna be for me. i need this. and like the wise man said, everything always works out.

This can't go on, people deserve home.

Oh bugger. What have I done?

Hold up,

forgot Spike from Buffy was in this movie. Going to watch it.

When I fly solo, I fly so high.

Amen brother Hull. So, Buenos Aires. Didn't really stick around long enough to form a proper impression. Got picked up from the airport by Nelson. He seemed alright. He let me sleep for a good three hours and fed me half a chicken, which was very hospitable of him. We had to buy some books and that for Cecilia so we blazed into town in the avo. We'd gotten the stuff and were heading back when he got all excited and asked me something. Up until then I'd been smiling and nodding at most everything he said so I just rolled with that again, and then off we went in the opposite direction of his flat. At that point I'd been thinking how BA was alright, but not especially different from any other city, y'know? No soul. Then we wound up at this canal thing surrounded by wee cafes and such. It was dusk as well which is my favourite time of day so it was all very nice. Turns out he'd brought me to see this dirty great pirate ship thing. It was full of people in fancy clobber, all drinking champagne and pretending they liked each other. Nelson's eyes all lit up like a kid at Christmas and I laughed and he told me he "amo"ed the sea. I told him I lived right near the sea at home and that I loved it too. That seemed to make him happy. I liked Nelson. He didn't speak any English and I had zero idea what he was saying most of the time, but the few things I did catch were quite funny. Sorry Nelson, if you're out there. Were the language barrier not such a cruel mistress I like to think we could have been friends. There was another bloke what picked me up from the airport too. I've absolutely no idea who he was but he hung out at Nelson's place a lot. He didn't say much until we got back that evening and he insisted on showing me loads of youtube videos of people running into stuff and falling down. I think he's my favourite Argentinian thus far. I'll call him Bono. 'cause he's Nelson's friend, and Bono hangs out with Mr. Mandela all the time. Mrs. Nelson was lovely too. She practiced her English verbs on me and bought me a mug. Fine people. Am on the bus to Salta now. It's like Coach Trip, except without Matt and Tom, which sucks. PS I Love You is on and it's a shit movie so I think I'll turn up the Morchestra and get some shut eye.