es lunes

Hola
A few interesting observations
1. There is no law about wearing helmets on motorbikes
2. There is no limit to the number of people you can get on a motorbike
3. You only have to wear a seatbelt if you are sitting in the front seat of the car
4. People here are shocked to find out that we have a large gathering with food, music, talking etc when someone dies. Here they go into seclusion and don't talk to or see anyone, they stay home, feel sad and cry a lot. This is totally opposite to NZ don't you think?
5. There are more dogs here in Iguazu than the whole of NZ (well it seems like it)


Today I took an English class, think 15/16 year olds. At the teacher's request, I had made up a list of questions pertaining to the discussion I had had with the class last Friday. After a shaky start where the teacher, Miriam, made the students clean up the classroom (it was a shambles) we had a good time. The thing they found most surprising about NZ was the funeral thing. I had talked about a Maori funeral
and everyone of the students made mention of it. I spent the first part of the morning in with 7 year olds who were having a language lesson. They write nearly everything from the blackboard, narry a photocopy in sight. Today they were learning about common nouns. The teaching here is much more teacher directed, especially in the junior classes. The seniors do more project work that is then presented to the class. The work is done at home. I have seen some impressive projects involving handmade puppets, charts, videos, brochures. I am bringing home some examples to show those teachers who are interested.
I finished work at 12.30 and went home to make lunch for Monica.. who works from 7 until 2pm on a Monday. It was a challenge to make something different to usual as there are very few ingredients and even fewer utensils. Anyway, I came up with a version of fish cakes involving some rice, eggs and sardines. Actually they were delicious and Monica loved them which was the important thing. She really dislikes cooking and only does it because she has to eat. Quite a change from my household!!
I will be really ready to get into my kitchen when I get home.
Not a lot else to report, saw my first Dengy Fever mosquito this afternoon. They have very distinctive white striped legs which are obvious to the naked eye, shows how big the are!!!! I was covered in repellant but decided to give outside study a miss and come down to the internet cafe instead. There is no cure for Dengy Fever and they have had some outbreaks here.
I think I may have finally, successfully sent home some photos, so if I have, John will put them on this blog. Fingers crossed.
That's it for now. Thanks for your emails, I appreciate it.
Hasta luego (that's 'see you later' Ali)
Viv