Almost a year has past since my last post, and much has happened. This poor blog remains forgotten no longer!

For starters I met Naty at the start of the year and we've been together ever since, well almost. Whats important is we're together now, and more together then ever.

Conor and Sarah came over and enjoyed some south america for the first time, hope fully, not the last!

I now work as an english teacher who teaches IT to a band of unruly brigands, in a public primary school, just a couple of blocks from a major shanty town. If theres one thing I've learnt is that anything can happen!

I'm also wrapping up my second quatrimestre of the cisco networking cert, only 2 more to go to get basic certification.

And plans have been put in motion that will have me studying programming next year, off to university for me... again, hope to finish this time around!

It is currently 1.37 AM of the 12th December, I'm in Cordoba, and the weather is very strange, just heard thunder thatlasted a full 10 seconds, not making this up, very load too, quite eery when its THAT long. Its been thundering 'n lightning 'n raining since Friday, with spells of extremely hot and humid hours in between, not the best weather I assure you.

And to cap it all of, plans are that I'll be somewhere over europe for christmas, literally. Taking off from Ezeiza, BA on the 24th. Destination: Pakistan. With any luck, I'll be spending New Year with the family, all of them, in India! But who knows, flights need confirming and its taking longer then usual, also visa needs be gotten, passports need renovating, and croatians need making. For that last one I will apparently have to do an intense course on croatian history as well as family history.

I bid you all adieu, who knows when the next post will come, could be today, could be tomorrow, or could be in a year or so. BE VIGILANT!

So incredibly tired.

It's been 2 nights since I had a decent sleep. I can't remember what I did Sunday night, but I went to bed rather late, and Monday had to wake up at 6 to go to the ANSES at 7 and start queueing (even though Anses opens at 7.30, when I got there there were already like 50 people ahead of me). For those of you not in the know, the ANSES seems to be some kinda of state/ government body in charge of things to do with money, I think. Something to do with pensions, the thing is they give u something called a CUIL which is a number which u have to give to employers and the like, I don't understand an of it myself... Well, afetr that work started at 9, twas a rather hectic day what with first day and everything new and what not. Got a birds eye view of the programs they use to manage accounts and calls, was introduced to Merlin, which is a sort of encyclopedia with everything u need to know about MCI in it, though I must say the indexing system is none to good. They'd do well to use google's indexing system. After all that, was out by 3.30, went home, cleaned up a bit and then met up with Giuli who was understandably rather mad at me cos I hadn't seen her since Imoved to Cordoba, had a few drinks then went back to her house and stayed for dinner, which was most welcome cos I had absolutely no intentions of cooking (my bro is in Rio IV, eating alone is nothing if not depressing). Got back to my apartment about 11pm and then met up with Pia cos she's off to BA then to her parents house and I probably won't see her for about 2 or 3 weeks. Finally got to sleep about 1am, and this morning had to wake up at 6 again to go have medical tests carried out on me, again, start queueing at 7 even though the place opened at 7.30. Had a slight problem with money, the not having any. I had barely enough to get a taxi out to the place and back, that is to say, I didn't even have 5 cents left over, whats more, I was 5 cents short on the ride back. But I made it and went straight to change some money, but because of that, couldn't have an breakfast. The teacher woman (Naty) was quite clear yesterday that she would strike down with the hand of god anyone who dares to undermine punctuality.

Today was all pretty easy going, despite being excessively tired, more working with the system, trying to find out stuff with Merlin, the only bad parts, well, maybe not bad, but i made me flush rather. We were introduced to the plans they sell, local, long distance and international plans, that kinda thing, and we had to grab one and make a song out of its characteristics, like and ad... and tomorrow we have to sing it! Also, from now on we have to be in at 8am, so its 7 and 1/2 hours everyday, supposedly cos we can't come in on the next 2 sundays cos of the holidays, but come on, they kinda knew it was coming, u'd think they'd factor it in. It's ennoying not so much cos of the having to get up earlier, but because there's been loads of things like that, that they tell us on the spur of the moment, like this morning when naty went haywire over us being late again... we were all waiting downstairs waiting for someone to come tell us we could go in, as has been the norm till now, but we were supposed to "sign in" and be allready at the pc's when she arrived, how in heaven's name are we supposed to know that if they don't tell us!

One of the funny things, at least for me, is that naty has a rather latin accent, and just about everybody else whose been in to talk to us aswell, some u wonder how the hell they got in to the company! I've probably got the best english there, except for one person who has an american accent which they obviously prefer. Going back to the people who came in to talk to us, one was in charge of the monitoring department, her motto: we're here to help you get better... yea right, its a mix Nazi concentration camp with american brain washing technics, except everyone has to smile and be all yuppee, life is great we love you. Some guy came in to talk about quality... we're supposed to be upbeat, personal, formal, build up a rapport with the customer, solve their problems, try and sell them new packages/features/plans and all in 3 min... and we can't hang up on them, and if we forget one of the steps, theres someone with a whip behind you to make sure u know it! Well, not literally but they have this system of points where by they tick the steps you complete and the ones u don't and then start wittling at you're paycheck depending on how u did. They tried to convince us that the points system has been abolished and now they use.. can't remember the exact words but it sounded a lot like a politicians speech, a lot of spinning but in the end, the same thing. Its easy to see theres a lot of bull shit going around.

That being said, I do like a challenge, and the people are agreeable enough, Naty is very sound, stopping for ciggy breaks every now and then, and everybody is ready to give u a hand if you need it. I suppose its just that I find it really hard to stomach american consumerism...

Ta ta for now, the migster

The Return of the Bum - Part Deux

So there we were, me and my cousin, she studying for some exam she had to do that morning and me drinking mate. Eventually we were joined by my other cousin, Albert, and the unveiling of the gifts commenced. All was merry. I can’t really remember anything else about that day until the night, when I belive Marina made an excellent dish of potatoes and milk, doesn’t sound great, I know, but it was. Sadly there had been some beer drinking and chips eating so nobody was really all that hungry.

Twas then that me cousin’s best freind Jerry dropped by, and the night started to look rather promising. Mummy was also there (Albert’s girlfreind), but she is extremely shy and quite so she doesn’t feature prominently in this book. Now as the fernet was flowing it was obviously time to unveil the bong. Of course, it was all in its various peices, so poor Jerry didn’t know what I was on about, but he gasped for air when twas all made into one. The merry making had begun. As time went by, we realized we just had to test the bong out. So we all got in Jerry’s car and of we went to Quilmes, to some guy’s house I don’t know. It was quite a grand gathering, u’d think they were all just waiting for me to arrive... We got there, the bong was put together and after a certain impasse.... as it were, one of the pipes were blocked, so I spent a good 20 min searching the house for some garden wire and eventually had to do with a small metal rod I found in the shed, and to everyone’s joy the pipe was up and running. Now the owner of the house had some lemon tasting tabacco to trie it out but it quickly ran out, so the bags of weed were opened and some joe had the excellent idea of filling the bong up with whisky instead of water, Diarmuid, trust me, if u haven’t done that yet, you’re way behind! I don’t know who provided the weed, but there seemed to be a constant flow of it, I myself didn’t take more the 3 or 4 puffs, my cousin did otherwise and he finished all curled up on the garage floor sleeping till we left. As for Jerry, I have no idea, and don’t want to know how much he smoked/drank cos he drove us back, rather well I might add. My first night in Argentina, a wild success, but by no means was I satisfied.

The next day was just as eventfull. I believe it was Sunday. I joined up with another cousin, Eloisa, and her boyfriend and went to Abril, which is a closed community of sorts with very grand houses, all built in this huge farm that was there, which is where Rosalia and her family lives (yet another cousin). I had my first argentine BBQ in 6 months, courtesy of Martin (Rosalia’s husband, though Elo’s boyfriend is also called Martin). We had great fun, ate till it was physically not possible anymore, talked about everything and a bit, and played around with Eli and Manu (their children which are oh so cute, if rather wild) and the dog, which has just way too much energy for its own good. And so the evening went by. We eventually got back to the capital (this place is a good 40 km distant).

And off I went in a rush to meet with Lean, a very good college friend. He was s sleepy from oing god knows what that he actually fell asleep between answering the doorbell (its an apartment) and pressing the buzzer to let me in. Eventually I went up, and it was all hey ho, but we had to go to a birthday party, Ales’ brother’s party (she is also a very good friend), which we used as a very good excuse to meet up and have some free drink and food. Lean’s car had been hijacked by his evil father so we had to take a taxi, the prospect of which I didn’t like one bit, Ales practically lives with the cows, its damned expensive to go out there in a taxi, but it was really late, the subway was closed and I really didn’t feel like getting a bus all the was to Retiro to take a train of a rather shady nature. So of we went to get a cab, but it was harder then I imagined, they refused to take us that far, can you believe it?? The cheek! Something about them turning in in 5 min and not wanting to do a 1 hr 31 min journey. In the end we got there, much to Ales’ delight. We had a grand get together with plenty of beer, fernet, and way too many photos. The last time we had been together was when I left for Pakistan. We stayed the night there, I didn’t really sleep at all, stayed up with Ales’ mum helping to clean up and chatting away, I think I slept about 10 min towards morning when I had a lie down, but the Ales got up and that was that. We hung around the swimming pool most of that day, which was nice and sunny, till about 6 pm (it’s Monday by this stage). Lean had to meet up with some friends of his to finish some work for college (Monday was a holiday by the way), so I did what I do best, tagged along, managed to convince they weren’t getting anywhere (it was a maths problem), bought a couple of beers and that was that, we ended up playing pool nearby. Got back to my cousin’s apartment about 2 am of Tuesday, quite a busy weekend I’d say. That day I got me a new pair of jeans, got the essentials out of my suitcase into a smaller bag and headed of for the farm, which will be part 3 and 3/4. Cheerio

Back to Argentina (first part)

This has been a long time coming, and I'm sorry for that. My memory might well be a bit sketchy on some points, its been a couple of months, but I ploan to fill ou in with some of the more important moments.

It all started back in Pakistan. I was quite anxious to leave, what with not having tanything to do anymore after the car crash, and I really wanted to get back for my cousin Pepe's wedding. Alas it was not to be. Due to visa complications, I had to wait another week, and missed that wedding, the rather spur of the moment wedding of another cousin, Lucia, and Anita's (freind from Cordoba who works in Apex) birthday. Also I was to travel on Malaysian Airways, through Kuala Lumpur and South Africa, that also had to be aborted cos when I got my visa in line, I would have had to wait another week to go with Malayian. But it wasn't all bad, I managed to get a flight on Air France through Paris, which was not tooooo long considering I was travelling half way around the world.

Going to the airport, the mood was rather sad, I went with my dad, he was especially sad. No doubt the prospect of eating spaghetti for the next month or so didn't quite sit too well with his somach (my mum was in Argentina at the time and would stay till I was settled in Cordoba). But my dad managed to bear it stoichly, accompanied me to the VIP lounge, which was exactly too great. My travel plan was thus, Bussines to the UAE (Dubai), and from there all economic to Paris the BA. The flight to Dubai was short and uneventfull, though they did have some very tasty sandwiches, couldn't get enough of them.

Once in Dabai, I spent about a total of 2 hours looking for the Bussiness lounge there to no avail. I walked from one end of the duty free to the other, and believe me, its a big duty free with all kinds of lounges, bars and general spending places. In the end I finished in the first class lounge, so I won't complain. Free (rather excellent) food, free internet, as those whom I've chatted to allready know, excellent smoking room and I was mae aware on leaving that they also provided free phones, which I'm ashamed to say I didn't abuse. I spent a total of 5 hours there, in which time I made a thorough investigation of the electronic part of the duty free, buying an iPod, minidisc or digital camera foremost in my thoughts. I made up my mind due to peer pressure one might say, for I could not decide between them by myself, and getting all of them was out of the question. So it was that my freinds steered me towards the buying of my Canon digital camera, the make and model decided by Garci, thank you very much garci, la camara anda de lujo.

I left Dubai at an inhospitable hour, I believe it was 1.30 AM, though anybody that has made long haul flights know that time quickly looses all meaning, what with the time differences and what not. The flight to Paris was also uneventful. The only bummer was that I had a middle seat, and my god do they suck! that was a 5 hour flight, or there abouts. Arrived in Paris Charles de Gaul ridicolously early, forgot my splendiferous hat on the plane, and only realized when Id' actually left the airport, so I had to make a great hullabaloo to let the guards let me go back in to the airport to see if they could find it for me. Luckily, after going in, back out to ask for more info at the information desk (u'd think they'd have one inside wouldn't ye...) and yet back in to go to the right lost luggage place, I got my hat back, in the meanwhile, I got to witness french racism first hand. It was so feckin in u're face I couldn't believe people stood for it. The guys who check u're lugage for crap, they targeted all the black dudes, I was utterly amazed, I, who went in and out 3 times, never once did they check my lugage. Howsoever that may be, I made my way to the rail station and went on my way to the capital, I had 20 hours til my next flight and I was going to make the best of it.

I headed straight for the gard du Nord, which confusingly, has no sign saying gard du nord, only by chance did I ask someone about it, and had to make a hasty escape from the train before the doors closed on me. Not always eas when you're carrying a 20 kilo back pack. After some really bad french and phone call from a public phone, I met up with my aunt and we went back to her apartment, to have some much needed breakfast with delicious croissants, and then came the best of all, a 3 hour nap. After I went awalkin with m cousin Natty, and started using my newly bought camera. We wondered aimlessly but seemed to have passed through most of the places that appear in Amelie. Apres ca we ended up in a bar where I had a very satisfying pint of beer and a lovely ham sandwich. But the time was acomin when I had to go back to the airport, so of we went to the apartment, quick shower, prompt goodbye (after sending Conor's birthday gift to Sarah via snail mail), I boarded my train and off I was whisked into the sunset, or rather the airport. I was amazingly early, not having accounted for a swift pass though security, and had to wait out like 2 or three hours for boarding (no checking in had to be done, never saw my suitcase between Islamabad and BA). I had me a couple of beers, but didn't over do it, the whole situation of returning had made me a tad queezy and I didn't want to be sick on the flight.

The flight to BA was long, loooooooooooooooong, o so very looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong! And yet again I was smack down in the middle, damned bastards! I forget to mention that on queueing to board, surrounded by (admittedly a handfull of) Argentines and Chileans, I could not wipe a grin of my face, I allready felt at home. There's something about having fellow countrymen close at hand in a distant place and the prospects of returning.

I can't remember anything much about the flight, except that the movies sucked ass. I mean they were really bad. For starters they where dubbed in french and spanish with english subtitles, dude, if you're going to do that choose either a spanish or french film, not an english one! That really go on my nerves, so I mostly listened to musci, which after the 5th hour starts repeating itself and looked at the flight program, that screen where it tells you pinpoint where you're plane is flying over in that instant. We did pass right over iguazu falls, but it was rather dark so I didn't see anyhting, unlike on the flight out.

Upon arriving in BA I was pining, yes pining, for a cigarrette, and such was my confusion that I started to ask a flight airhostess where I could smoke, in english, she had a real hard time understanding me and an even harder time answering, till I realized wait no, she's an argentine.... talk in spanish. My bags took a hell of a long time to come around in that moving belt thingy. When I finally made my way out I was just a tad dissapointed there was noone waiting for me, I knew it would be so, but all the same, its nice to have someone welcome you. So I went to my cousins Albert and Marina's apartment in the city centre, bought some delicious pastries which I had for breakfast with Marina, Albert being asleep.

And thats enough for today, the cyber cafe bill is going up way too much, 1.75 already. I leave you know and tomorrow will probably go on to tell you the next phase, and my great adventure into quilemes with Albert, and that fucker of a bong I brought with me.

Toodles

Ya estoy all cooked out. Por favor que las amas de casa me expliquen como hacen para cocinar un plato diferente todos los dias.

Los ultimos dos dias han sido pura picada, papafritas , queso, aceitunas etc. Sino papas hervidas.

Can't wait que llegue mama, aunq llegua a las 2 am