Howdy folks,
It’s official, I can tick the continent of South America off the list as having been lived and worked in. The emphasis in this continent has been more on the living side of things as I have spent 7 and half months in South America, (6 weeks backpacking in Brazil in 2004, 6 weeks backpacking in Colombia in 2007, 6 weeks in Argentina this year and now 3 months in Paraguay) I have spent a lot of that travelling and studying Spanish.
The past month I have been teaching Sebastian, a student that is going to New Zealand on exchange in December – who would of thought a New Zealand speaking English teacher would actually been in demand, haha. I have been teaching him the finer points of the queen’s English, getting him use to the plethora of kiwi slang, teaching him the rules of cricket, educating him how kiwi’s are better than Ozzies (jab jab), showing him how to treat a sheep, having him listen to some quality New Zealand music and having him read some Maori legends. He is now ready, if you see Sebastian walking the streets of Auckland, say g’day, he’ll be going to Rangitoto high school.
I have also become a professional story teller! Yep I have been going around the primary (elementary) schools reading childrens books, well actually the emphasis is more on jumping around like an idiot acting them out as most of the kids don’t understand English. The photo below is me being an airplane, and the 80 kids were meant to be sitting down but it all turned pear shape, ohhh you have to love the enthusiasm of 7 year olds!
It’s usually pretty easy to keep them amused as they haven’t seen a real live person with dreadlocks, and considering until 20 years ago it was illegal to have long hair due to the dictatorship, you can understand why, plus it’s so darn hot here you don’t really want a whole of rope hanging from your head. It was 40˚C today! Bring on the 3˚C days of Ushuaia, although then I will probably be complaining it’s too cold. I leave for Ushuaia on Monday!
I have also made a few guest appearances at Mandy’s school, talking about my goal and my travels. The question time is always quite amusing for both myself and the students. My favourite question was “are you a hippy?”, to which I counter asked the 10 year old boy “What’s a hippy?”, he sharply replied “a person that doesn’t shower”, after having a laugh I replied “well I showered this morning, so I guess I’m not a hippy”. Classic, oh and for the record I’m not a hippy, I don’t make jewelry, I wash my hair, and I value personal hygiene! I just have dreadlocks, that’s all. Remember my names Hap as in happy, not Hip as in hippy.
Peace and love man!