After my
schlep through town, I therefore hastily changed into a relatively clean shirt
and shifted into interview mode as I made my way through the door. I needn´t
have bothered: the shaven-headed, sleeveless-shirted hulk on the other side was
extremely friendly, and mention that I was looking for work was enough for me
to be promised a meeting with the boss, Victor. That never really came, but a
series of informal chats with Victor and the hulk (Brayan) established that I was
indeed going to work here, and started this (Monday) evening.
The place seems to be a cash-cow for a bunch
of Brazilian students, who took over the place only in the last seven months
and are still working out how best to make the place work. Victor has put on
hold his architecture degree to run the hostel on a daily basis, and Brayan
seems to be giving up on sleep in order to help out alongside his
degree-studies in medicine. They´re the only two staff with any English; although
with the extremely relaxed, convivial atmosphere within the
hostel-cum-guesthouse I´ve still to work out which of the other people in the
hostel are other staff, and those who are long-term guests.
Although
conscious that I´ve traversed half the world to still be cleaning bogs; said
atmosphere, the presence of a rooftop-terrace for stargazing, fresh croissants
for breakfast and the prospect of full-on immersion meant that I spent
the weekend trying to comprehend my luck. I´d been taken by Rosario´s looks from
the start, with attractive houses and boulevards to go along with the usual
collection of statues, monuments and churches. Possessing beaches and nearby
islands (I´m still on the Paraná) to camp on, it´s going to be a difficult
place to dislike.
Further
affection for the city stems from the tremendous welcome I´ve received, thanks
to a friend-of-a-friend back in England. She´d put me in touch with her twin
cousins, who, together with their family, made my first few days in Rosario a
delight. They´ve already shown me to several of the city sights, and invited me
to accompany them on outings to the island on the family speedboat. Whilst the
world´s widest river is not it´s prettiest, skipping across the murky
green/brown (whatever) Paraná is still a pretty good way to begin an afternoon.
On my first trip I was treated to a tour of the islands, with uncle and avid
nature photographer Edgardo slowing the boat down to allow a better view of the
magnificent white cranes and hawks perched on the river bank, and the strands
of spider web held hanging over the water by the breeze. All very idyllic,
until the uncle began to point out the ceibo, Argentina´s vivid red national flower,
resplendent amongst the foliage. Cue “¿como se dice ´colourblind´ in
castellano?”, and five minutes´ puttering along close to the riverbank and
jabbing fingers at the trees. I was too embarrassed to admit that I was still
none the wiser, but closer inspection reveals that it is indeed very pretty.
After
patiently enduring a series of half-conversations (waiting for the idiot on the
other side to work out what he wanted to say), the cousins must have been
pretty relieved to let their chatterbox uncle take up some of the slack.
Wandering up and down the beach with them, with Edgardo explaining (either in
limited English or with drawings in the sand) the terms I´ve not understood,
has allowed me to take part (however hesitatingly) in my first relatively long
conversations. And begin to develop a zoological vocabulary in Spanish…
Having
since been invited to interpose myself on other outings with the whole clan,
I´ve now talked at and been patiently talked to by the boyfriends and
grandparents as well. Their efforts have been a huge fillip (not that I needed
it) to get on and learn, as well as to find other conversation partners to
avoid putting the burden solely on them. Fortunately there is a sizeable
couchsurfing community here, and my first encounter with several (at a language
exchange meeting in a local bar) proved them to be very friendly. Have tentative
arrangements to meet a couple more over a beer, and after a recent craving to
play tennis I´ll hopefully meet one or two on court as well...
After
several days searching I´ve also found some tuition on which to spend the money
I´m saving on accommodation. Thanks to the local custom of closing for siesta
for any number of hours between 12 and 5, wandering around looking for courses
turned out to be a fairly ineffectual business. The tone was set by my first
enquiry of the city´s public (free) university: it was only after walking the
corridor past a series lectures that I realised I was in the science faculty. I
was directed to the teaching office, where the very kind lady gave me details
for the humanities department, but informed me that the little darlings needed
their rest and were closed until the Monday. In the end I needn´t have
bothered: word had got out amongst the friends of the hostel staff that a
gringo was looking for a teacher. After a flurry of emails and another day
walking round I returned to be introduced to trilingual Daniele, who lost her
job when her company folded and is now looking to make a career out of teaching
Portuguese and Spanish. Music to my ears was her Ecuadorian dialect, and that
she was unwilling to charge me as much as the established schools. Pretty and
cheap would probably have been enough (usual story), but that she offered the
opportunity to be taught the sounds used by the majority of the
Spanish-speaking world (with y and ll both pronounced as y rather than the sh
of Argentinian caste-sh-ano) made it a done deal
So I now
have a city and some sort of routine to settle into. Will reserve judgement
until I´ve had a full day´s work (we´re pretty busy over carnaval weekend this week), but at the moment I´m thoroughly looking
forward to spending a month here, if not longer...
No comments:
Post a Comment