Further to my previous blog post, a few more photos, these of the immediate neighbourhood... (click on the first image below to enlarge and see some descriptions)
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A friend back home recently emailed to say she'd be interested to see more photos and learn more about the buildings around here -- she'd noticed the many apartment blocks where we live, and wondered if this was indicative of the Buenos Aires city scape in general. So I decided to write about that. I'll begin with the view from our roof top terrace, where the pool is, and where we begin each morning with Tats leading us in a short exercise routine... (click the photos to enlarge) As evidenced by the photos above, tall buildings are in abundance here in Buenos Aires. In a city of nearly three million people, real estate is at a premium (ironically, prices are far better than in large, North American cities), and so every square inch is consumed with concrete, be it the European architechture BA is so famous for, or more modern, western-style Condos including swimming pools, tennis courts and the ubiquitous "parilla" patio, all jammed into the common space. Buildings are literally built right up against one another, with no space in between. Even "houses" are attached to buildings on either side. Where in North America an alleyway would be found, in Buenos Aires there is a two-story house or a series of home-built shanties squeezed in under a roof of found materials. Green Space Portenos and Gringos alike try to counteract this building-frenzy-induced loss of green space with container gardens; the vast majority of balconies feature a variety of pots of greenery. (Our own came with no less than 9 outdoor plants; we added to that -- in more practical fashion -- a pot of cherry tomatoes and two containers of herbs, which I planted a week after our arrival!) Depending on the neighbourhood, some streets also have a few trees. Cement barriers between bus lanes sport little clusters of flowers sprouting out from small, round holes drilled into the concrete. And then there are of course the botanical gardens, the zoo and the Japanese gardens, which are public green spaces. Interestingly, the people crowd to these patches of green, especially on weekends. As we witnessed during our recent visit to the eco-reserve by the water, no second thought is given to setting up a family picnic right next to a factory, so long as there is some greenery on hand! Political Protests and Rallies Another thing that is typical of life here is protests, and the streets are set up to reflect and support this. Argentinians are a passionate bunch, and if there is something to stand up and fight for, they do so. Marches and demonstrations are as abundant in the capital as are celebrations. The other day, we stumbled upon a loud, rowdy group setting off fireworks and making all manner of noise. Although there were plenty of police on hand, we're still not sure whether it was a protest or a celebration, lol! (click photos to enlarge) A few days later, we witnessed another protest (this time we're certain it was one), complete with full barracades around the Pink House and surrounding area, which we were transiting. An abundance of police officers were managing the situation, including several heavily-guarded passages through the protest march route, so that non-participating locals could be on their way through the various barricaded areas with relatively minimal disruption to their day. It is truly remarkable how "normal" this sort of activity seems to be for the average Argentinean, and I have to smile when I consider that both Alex and Simon barely noticed the police escort through the barriers and crowds while they chattered away merrily to one another as we moved through the busy city on our way to our destination that particular afternoon! Big City Streets Whereas many of the smaller side streets are cobble stone affairs with -- unless you live in a "suburb" like we do -- limited sidewalks, there are also several larger arteries. Some of these are 12 lanes wide... ON EACH SIDE!!! Afternoons and evenings, they are full of cars, but on a Sunday morning, they are as empty as University Avenue in Toronto at the same time of day. At first I was desperate for the comparatively lush greenery of Toronto, and of course, the water. I'm getting used to looking out onto concrete rather than the lake. Today's Literacy lesson is on photos and captions. Before the boys do their blog assignment, I thought I'd better model a few for them... These photos were all taken in the past week, here in Buenos Aires. The small cafe in San Telmo, recommended by our Welsh guests, where we picked up sandwiches to eat at the part across the water. They have interesting decor, lots of records, and make delicious marinated beans! Buenos Aires is full of music -- many musicians set up and play right in the subway, collecting donations from patrons. The San Telmo market on Sundays features a number of individual, classically trained musicians as well as raunchier, party bands like this group of street musicians, who held the same crowd captivated for over an hour!
Down by the water, we came across a public, outdoor gym! (click photos to enlarge) Exploring a tree on the eco-reserve by the water, where we were unsuccessful in locating a geocache allegedly hidden amidst the "big branches of the tree", according to the clue! Most days I am enjoying the increasing warmth as spring creeps ever closer to summer here in the southern hemisphere. But sometimes , as I gaze into the greenery of Buenos Aires, I think of home, and miss the fall colours of Ontario.
Here are a few "back home" pics sent to me from Toronto recently... The boys finally finished revising, editing and publishing their blog posts about Iguazu Falls! Although I was eager to get them online, I also wanted to ensure that we used this opportunity as an authentic writing experience. They really rose to the challenge, making changes and edits to their writing -- based on our co-constructed criteria -- over several days before finally posting their completed drafts. Click here to read Alex's post, and here for Simon's. Finding myself locked into the apartment (I was about to head out for groceries -- I'm on dinner tonight -- when I discovered that Tats and the boys had one key, while our visitors had the other, leaving me key-less and therefore, unable to actually physically get out!) and suffering from moderate to severe culture-shock-induced depression (I'm firmly rooted in the "Negotiation" phase), I elected to consider my Literacy program, and do a little professional reflection instead. I've been setting up an amalgamation of Fountas & Pinell's Guiding Readers and Writers program and the Sisters' Daily Five/Literacy Cafe, and I'm discovering that having only two students presents both pros and cons, when it comes to a rich literacy program...
With only two students, I can focus on 1:1 instruction daily or nearly daily. That's a huge plus, as I've already observed by the dramatic improvements in both boys' fluency, which was their goal area set at the beginning of the school year. I also don't have to consume as much paper, since we often just gather around a book to look at a chart, or post things on large stickies -- everyone in the class has a front row seat! Best of all, I can use strategies that I rarely have time to do effectively in a larger class, like record each student reading aloud so that the student can hear for himself what his reading sounds like, and where improvements are needed. One downfall of having such a tiny class, in my observations, is the limited input, in terms of generation of ideas when discussing a mentor text. Some of this comes from each boy's academic anxiety in front of his brother (and mom!) I'm sure, but I truly believe that they also just have a fairly narrow scope in some areas, which -- in a regular classroom -- can be enhanced through the ideas of others. A few things that I think work well to counteract this is the fact that we have various people visiting here and there, and the boys get to talk to them and hear some different perspectives on things (as an example, we've currently got a Welsh couple staying with us a few days, and the fellow was sharing a story of a motorcycle heist he witnessed downtown, which quite intrigued the boys, and they were able to ask a number of follow-up questions). We've also got a play date set up for next weekend, with another ex-pat family who is living here in BA whose mother is a teacher and a writer I met online the other day... if things work out, that relationship will provide a similar-aged peer for the boys to engage with once in a while. (My other hope is that they'll make some chums at next month's basketball camp which they are signed up for at Club de Amigos. This will generate additional fodder for informal literacy-building.) Sunday mornings we do a little math 'round the breakfast table. Everyone gets a clue, and then we work together to solve the math problem. We've begun with mystery numbers on a hundred chart, using this great app to help us out. After each person reads aloud her clue, we use the process of elimination to discover what the mystery number is. Once we're pretty sure we've figured it out, we re-read all the clues to make certain, then we celebrate our success!
This morning’s big plans to return to the wildlife sanctuary to catch the 10-o-clock English tour did not pan out… posted schedules seem to be more of a guideline than an etched-in-stone sort of thing. So, we had our driver take us up the road to the “Biocentro Iguazu” www.biocentroiguazu.com instead, which worked out well: Kids were free, and adult admission considerably cheaper than at the wildlife refuge. There was no English tour available here either, but a guide who spoke a little English gave us a short intro, and then sent us on our way independently, past a river and through the reptile house. The boys were amazed at the array of HUGE snakes on display, and told us a lot about a smaller, coral something or other that is extremely poisonous, and several fakes that often get mistaken for the real one. (Both the fakes and the real thing had enclosures there in the Biocentre’s reptile house, and I was very impressed in their ability to point out subtle difference in the four different specimens on display!) Crocodiles, turtles and even armadillos also brought smiles to our faces, and we visited both the butterfly habitat and the orchid house, the latter of which was home to several busy hummingbirds. The centre raises several species of butterfly and releases them into the wild, to “replenish the supply and decorate the jungle”! The sign at the centre’s exit, as well as the fact that children are free, speaks to the fierce commitment and optimistic attitudes of some here to education and conservation, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. (The rainforest here, which once comprised over 1 000 000 square km of land where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet now measures less than 7% of that, seriously endangering the many species of flora and fauna there, and threatening to destroy the many medicinal and other benefits to humankind. As the saying in these parts goes, “kill the rainforest, and we will die, also.”) But the fierce determination and optimism implied throughout our visit presents a message of hope and a call to action for the centre’s visitors: As a notice next to a path which had been carefully constructed around a pre-existing tree proclaimed, “the accumulation of small, individual contributions can result in big changes”. After our lesson at the Bio Centre, it was back to our favourite restaurant in town, near the bus terminal: The food is good, the prices are good, the Internet is… not so good today, so this blog post will have to wait until we arrive “home” in Buenos Aires, sometime tomorrow morning, according to the bus schedule. Time, now, to catch our bus for the 18-hour ride back to the city. Good-bye, beautiful Iguazu! NB - this a LARGE post with many photos -- depending on your internet connection, you may benefit from giving things a few minutes to load first. I promise -- it's worth it! And please stay tuned for Alex and Simon's versions: They are working on revising and editing their travel journals, and will post sometime next week. Finally, FINALLY! After months of semi-anxiety about this trip and its ”big-picture” worth, the payoff came in full form today, in the middle of Iguazu’s rain forest! Simon, who had been the more anxious of the two boys about this extended adventure so far from home, was completely overcome with fervor at being in the midst of such a magical place. After we had seen our hundredth Coati (a common, food-snatching critter that runs wild all over the park) and our 4th lizard or iguana, and were surrounded by the roaring thunder of the falls that make Niagara look like a Mickey Mouse operation at best, Simon burst out with, “Mommy, this place is AWESOME! Thank you for bringing me here! This is the best thing I’ve ever seen, better than all my toys, better than my Wii (OMG, did he really just say that? I thought, as I almost wept with joy), Mom, this place is better than cable!!!” All I could do was laugh and smile and hug him close, telling him I loved him, and was glad he was enjoying himself. We were so blessed with a beautiful, sunny day for enjoying the National Park, and we took full advantage of it, heading into every last nook and cranny to look out onto the various falls and get soaking wet! The park is truly an all-encompassing experience, and at one of the look-out points, we could see a young man up ahead of us with his arms outstretched towards the magnificent rush of water, yelling into the roar, his words to God being absorbed by the thunderous falls before him. Truly, wherever one looked, above or below or all around, the grandeur of God was evident in the form of a great and colourful artist! Many of the look-out points offer professional photographers who hound you for an over-priced family or group photo-op; we elected instead to have another trustworthy-seeming tourist take our family photo; I guess when you don’t pay for pics, you end up with a thumb in the lens… oh well! After spending most of the morning walking the trails through the rain forest below the “inferior” falls, as they are called, we had our lunch -- boiled eggs, some crackers and an apple -- on the train (well out of reach of the ever-present, food-snatching coatis) bound to the “Devil’s Throat”, the BIG falls. The boys commented that they didn’t know how anything could top what they’d just seen in the morning. But that soon changed, once they saw the actual MAMMOTH fall ahead: It was an absolutely mesmerizing experience! Apparently, over 1000 species of plants exist in this area, that are not found anywhere else on earth, due to the unique conditions of the constant and immense rush of water and resulting mist and ecosystem! After returning from the Devil’s Throat, Alex was ready for a break, but Simon was game to accompany Tats on one last trail, this time above the “smaller” falls, where we had been exploring in the morning. They soon returned from said expedition, determined to convince me and Alex that we absolutely HAD to see this, too!!! So I stayed with Simon while Alex and Tats went back to that trail, and after Simon had had a little break, we, too, set out for it, Simon eagerly leading the way. (They had been right, it was worth it, and I am glad we went!) Despite being tempted to spend some time at the interpretive centre, we were all tired and hungry, so after a quick stop at the market to pick up a handicrafts (from the boys, “Mom, how do you always get such a good deal?!”), and spotting some toucans IN THE WILD!!! (sorry, didn't get photos of that treasure, but the boys were super excited to see them!), we found the front entrance, and prepared to board the bus downtown for dinner. Finding that we just missed the bus, however, I set out to negotiate a deal with one of the cab drivers parked outside, and we headed into town moments later, comfortably installed in the man’s vehicle. Dinner was at La Roeda 1975, a restaurant recommended to us by some of “our people”. Once again we ate way too much food, and decided this time to walk it off a little after dinner, but wandering through the town, before catching another cab home. What an incredible adventure we had in the rain forest and at the falls today! Tips for Travelers:
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About Vera...Canadian, vegetarian, PPL, certified teacher and mother of twins, home schooling for the year, in Argentina!
Visit me online at www.verateschow.ca Archives
May 2014
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