Elens birthday, near death, drunken bowling, paraguay.

Monday:
Was elens birthday so after the orphanage [Gabi learnt to kiss cheeks. he kissed mine. hes so cute i just want to pinch his cheeks constantly] we went out for lunch with the girls we met in the bar on thursday and the nice man who saved us from the scary men in the bar on sunday and ali:] we went and got emapanadas and chips and sat and talked and laughed and taught the girls english phrases like pissed as a fart. we decided to go bowling that evening so the girls came round a few hours later and we drank and played cards and Veronica bought elen and a banoffee pie and put a candle in it and we all sang. and then very drunk we walked to the bowling place. i was AMAZING and kicked everyones butts and then we played pool with some guys who claimed they couldnt speak english but they totally could and then we all went for a walk down by the river. we went home and then woke up to go to the refuge the next morning very hungover - and very tired.
Tuesday :
it was a very stressful day because a severely disabled boy called Walter ran into an extremely busy road and was almost hit by lots of cars and was just laughing, i was absolutly terrified and was frozen on the spot. luckily elen was with it and ran after him and threw him on the pavement before he could get hit. we decided that he should go back to the refuge because if he tries that again and one of the kids runs after him then someone was bound to get hurt. elen walked him back to the refuge and the kids just talked about what happened and how scary it was and then misbehaved lots later by pretending they were going to run into the street to scare us. in the afternoon elen had her spanish lesson and i met her there after because the lady also teaches some argentinian ladies english and thought it would be nice for them to speak to english people so we sat around and chatted about our lives/why we are here/ what our plans are etc.
Wednesday:
we felt we needed to make more effort with the kiddies after tuesdays fiasco so we brought oranges with us and did orange smileys :] it was really funny and they went down really well :] i played basketball and football with some of the boys and i think they enjoyed actually playing games whereas we normally leave them to sort themselves out and just keep an eye out for trouble. it was a lot of fun and even though some of the kids still misbehaved i think they like us even more.
there is a lady that goes to the poli and sits in the office and she talked to the kids on our behalf and told them that after what happened with walter they were under no circumstaces to go into the road witout us nearby, whether they want mangos or not they dont need them and must not disobey us or we wont go there and take them out anymore. [she said this because a lot of the boys run across the street to pick mangos without or permission or supervision and the road is dangerous]. she also told me that walter isnt allowed out anyway and she wasnt sure why he was brought with us yesterday and not to worry about him coming again. this afternoon we got off the bus in the centre and i changed my dollars to pesos and we ate lunch [hamburger, chips, diet coke, two pounds fifty] and went to the pharmacy and came home and got ready and went with Belen to Encarnacion, Paraguay, by bus. its takes twenty minutes and costs about sixty pence to get to a whole other country :]
i bought :
a tiny paraguayan flag to stick in my massive argentinian flag
fudge [vanilla and dulce de leche flavour]
pringles
a massive hoody to keep me warm when winter strikes
eight hoodies and four pairs of trousers for the kiddlers, on behalf of aunty C
three nail varnishes for a pound, bright blue neon pink and neon green :]
a phone card to ring the parentals

i also got a new stamp in my passport YAY.

thnak god we took belen or we would have got so lost.

photos of children and drunk nights and paraguay on friday when i go to an internet cafe.

Love,
Bethnal x

¨this is how we´re going to die¨

me and elen were meant to go to san ignacio today to look at the ruins there
but
surprise surprise its still raining.
i got up at nine, showered, ate, bummed, went back to bed until three because i was so bored. got up. me and elen decided we were facing certain death if we stayed bored and in the house for any longer so went in search of anything open, which on a sunday in a catholic country, was gonna take a while.
luckily [or unluckily as the case may be] there is a bar at the end of our street that was open. we went in and said we wanted a glass of red wine and a bottle of Quilmes. the barman just looked at us like we were monkeys that had escaped from the circus and said he didnt understand. we pointed and laughed until we got what we wanted but elen had to have a bottle of wine not a glass haha. we also got two empanadas each and all of it was only ten pesos which is like one pound fifty haha.

we went round the back bit to play pool and almost instantly were talking to some fourty-fiftyish year old men. they wanted to play pool with us and we figured - free game of pool- sorted. they didnt really get that we didnt speak spanish and kept trying to ask us stuff that we didnt understand. it got a bit creepy after a while coz one of them kept asking if we wanted to leave with them and we just kept having to shout no no no no no no no and look disgusted and we decided to leave after that game of pool but unfortunately it was like a never ending game that no one could win. the oldest man came up to me after discussing something with his friends and just went ¨F*** YOU¨ in my face! i was just like whattt is going onnnnn and eventually the game ended and we [it was half past four] said ohhh nooo what a shame weve got to go and have dinner what a nightmare so sorryyy and they sooo didnt believe us because of the time but nevermind. we practially ran out fo the bar and two of them left at the same time but luckily were headed in a different direction to us, but we started walking in the wrong direction just in case someone followed us. then this other man whod seen all that came over asking if we spoke english and we said yes and he said are you ok you look worried are you lost? and we explained about the scary bar men and were just generally chatting to him when one of the scary bar men came out and stood next to us obviously waiting for us to finish our conversation so we told the nice man that he was one of the scary men and just with us and pretend we were having a normal conversation until he left, and the nice man said yes of course in fact if we walk away he´ll probably go back to the bar so we walked off and found out that hes learning english and portuguese at college and so we invited him to elens birthday lunch tomorrow along with the drunk girls we met on thursday and told him to bring english speaking friends and we´ll all have a very random and fun time.
we then went in search of another less creepy and likely to get kidnapped and raped type pub .
we walked into the centre singing bohemien rhapsody [its quickly becoming the soundtrack to this trip] and after asking a friendly - neighbourhood- gun - carrying policemen bar? with beer? who pointed us in the right direction and we sat and drank and ate crisps and played cards until we were cold and then we walked home.
somehow we always manage to befriend random people and luckily most of them so far have actually been really kind :]

tonight for dinner weve got some kind of bean arrangement which has been sitting on the table for half an hour because i dont dare to eat it. it looks intimidating. might just have a ham roll instead :/

off to the refuge again tomorrow woop :]

Love,
Bethnal x

Pedro - The cow impregnafier..

Me elen ali tamara and marcelo - turns out his name is marcelo not marcel which i have been calling him the entire time - went out last night first to play some pool and ended up in power. pool was girls against boys and we lost like four times we were so terrible. me and elen drank stella and speed, the speed actually makes stella bearable. ive found Quilmes, the beer here is actually acceptable by itself even though i normally hate beer, stella however, im still not a fan of. we had lots to drink and then went to power where we had quilmes and speed. i just generally have all my drinks with speed now. in case you are concerned about me suddenly partaking in casual drug abuse -which my aunty jenny can probably give me some facts on - family joke haha- i am not, speed is just argentinas version of red bull. anyway we met lots of marcelos friends and his son and stayed out til three am and me and elen decided to head home coz we were still way tired from the night before. we got outside and realised we were starving so we found a burger cart thing and were just drunkenly shouting HAMBERGUESAAAAAA over and over again and these two guys came over and started talking to us. they were asking where we were from and why we were here etc. i.e. the normal questions we get asked when we meet strangers which we do a lot of by the way. so we explained that we are very drunk volunteers in desperate need of a burger. while the burgers were being cooked we talked to these guys and decided we were all going to be best friends and they asked for our numbers which obviously, we dont have numbers here, so we told them wed add them on facebook, so one of them gave us his card. hes called pedro. we got EXTREMELY excited because the other day i was saying how much i wanted to meet someone called pedro. we asked how old they were and pedro said he was twenty three, to which his friend just said ¨no youre not¨ and he said ok im twenty nine, his friend :¨no... your not¨ pedro : ¨its only one year off¨ friend :¨hes thirty¨ haha
we said we had to go and they offered us a lift home to which Elen said ¨STRANGER DANGER¨ and we politely declined and got in a taxi. when we got in we went on the computer to add pedro on fcebook and studied his card in more detail.

on pedros card there is a picture of a cow, and underneath is says ¨Genetica Argentina semen & embriones¨

Pedro, it would seem, is basically involved in making designer cows. we laughed at this for about ten minutes, and decided we would add him anyway, mainly so we could ask if giving people this card normally gets girls to ring him haha.

this morning we slept in and were meant to go to paraguay this afternoon but elens card has stopped working so she cant get any cash out so we are going to try with her other card later, and hopefully go to san ignacio tomorrow and paraguay another day.

im planning on spending the rest of the day bumming about, as im very tired and hungover.

also, empanadas, in case you are wondering, are just pasties.

Love,
Bethnal x

The day i got peed on... Twice.

So yesterday we went out and it was a bit of a failure at first, we went to play pool, but the place was closed for a private party, so then we decided to go to a karaoke bar - i really wanted to see hyunjins rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody - but there was only the woman who runs the place, and one lonely boy in there, so we went straight to the pub we were going to end up in which was dead aswell but we just sat down and started drinking. there was me, elen, ali, marcel, hyunjin, and the lady that runs the refuge, tamara. we all drank lots, then marcel got us into the vip section on a balcony above the dancefloor, it was packed by this point, and we drank speed and vodka and lots of old men kept talking to us and telling us they spoke english when they didnt. elen started to feel a little queesy, so we went to the toilet and somehow managed to befriend some girls who are studying to be english teachers and they wanted to talk to us to practise their english. eventually we decided they should come out for lunch with us for elens birthday on monday and it turns out one of them lives on our road haha. anyway we eventually rolled home at about half four this morning, and went to the refuge this morning not sure whether we were hungover or still drunk. so we werent really up for the kids today but we didnt do too badly. i carried gabi down to the poli and realised after a few minutes that i was significantly more ..damp than i had been before. ew.ew.ew.ew.ew. i put gabi down and just led him to the poli and let him do his own thing, we taught some of the older girls the macarena and they thought it was really funny. i found gabi crying and realised verryyyy quickly that he was a very smelly baby and hed done a big fat poo. delightful. so i took him back to the refuge to get all cleaned up and then as i carried him back to the poli he fell asleep in my arms so i gave him to elen and supervised the others. Gabis older sister walked witme back to the refuge and she was going really slowly so i carried her, and after a few minutes she said ooo i think i need the toilet. my thoughts : i think you needed the toilet. past tense. as she had ¨needed the toilet¨ all over me. i got urinated on twice in one day by the same family. joyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. anyway ive showered now so we´re all good - lunched and about to have a well deserved siesta.

think we´re going to power tonight to meet some of mercels friends

Love,

Bethnal x

Death Taxi

This morning the rain stopped long enough for us to go to the refuge and take the kids to the poli for a while. A lady that works at the refuge was there and she gave all the kids some chalk and they drew everywhere it was really funny. it was also ali and hyunjins last day so everyone was taking photos and posing. i took quite a few photos because dad said he wanted to see some of the kids so there was lots of attention grabbing and posing and arguing ¨PRINT ME THAT PICTURE¨ ¨BRING IT TOMORROW YES??¨ hehe. it started to rain so we took the kids back and i played with the youngest baby there. she is so cute and absolutley tiny and seemed to think my face was hilarious haha. i found out some more stuff about the refuge aswell, the food is supplied by the local government and they have plenty for each child for breakfast lunch and dinner so nobody ever goes hungry. there are around 60 kids there in all but ive only ever seen around thirty at one time, some visit their parents, or go to school in the mornings. the woman who runs it works their full time for nothing, and her parents were the ones who opened it. there are two young babies there, one of which is the daughter of a lady who as far as i can understand, was raised there and now lives there but helps run it. the other babies mother is just someone who couldnt cope with supporting the baby so gave her to the refuge.
it started to chuck it down again while we were there so we got a taxi home, as we were driving along - he was driving like a maniac like everyone does - i thought, oo, its getting a bit chilly in here, and i noticed lots of people were beeping behind us, so i looked around and the boot had flown open while we were going along, so i started shouting ¨boot!!boot!!¨ and ali, who was sitting in the front was going ¨what are you talking about boots for, do you want to go shopping? its raining.¨ by then hyunjin and elen had realised and we were all shouting booootttt !!at the driver until he realised and pulled over. he had to tell hyunjin to get out of the car so he could fix the boot.. which he did... WITH A PIECE OF WIRE . he just looped this pathetic peice of wire around the bit thats supposed to lock the boot and the boot floor. we were all going what the crappppp. this is so dangerous no wonder it flew open!! because the weather was so terrible people were driving worse than normal because they couldnt see anything. i swear we nearly crashed like ten times lol. but we made it out alive and i ate lunch, siesta´d, read, lost my camera cable, found my camera cable, uploaded some photos to facebook, printed some photos for the kids on my baby printer, my camera died and now its charging, so il upload more later!! i also emailed my mother shamelessly begging her to post me a hoody, leggins, one of my flowery tops and my skirt to go out in. haha. its colder, and more sociable than i thought here. unfortunatley i dont have a mac at home so may have to buy an argentinian one!!!
i think as its the boys last night we are going to play pool and then to a pub :P

if the photos dont show up on here, heres a public link to the album on facebook : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2040455&id=1229883324&l=80cbb80097
enjoy!

Love,
Bethnal x

The day the rain came..

Yesterday was another fun filled morning at the Refuge. when we got there little Gabi had had an accident and no one knew, so when i picked him up coz he was crying i got poo all over my hand.. nice. then one of thr girls cleaned him up and he was all squeaky clean again so we took some of the kids down the the poli. it was a bit less manic today although there was a bit of mango drama.. i.e. some of the boys climbed a tree to pick mangoes and one of the girls stole them all and wouldnt give any to the little ones. it took a stern look and a bit of minor theft for me to share them out but by the end everyone was happy. Gabi kept climbing the wall and escaping the park through a hole in the fence so i had to keep running after him before he got in the road. after i while i just took to following him around and picking him up whenever he was about to escape. he didnt like me very much after that until i sung twinkle twinkle little star and then bohemien rhapsody to him and then he fell asleep and i carried him back to the refuge haha. hes blatantly such a Queen fan, and so flipping cute.
in the afternoon we went with the boys to the football, this time prepared with deck chairs and oranges. but it was a bit too chilly for the oranges to be truly appreciated and then it started raining so we all went home and decided wed do oranges today. the rain didnt stop all night and this morning it was raining cats and dogs so we didnt go to the refuge because the point of us going is to take them out to get some fresh air which we obviously couldnt do. now that the weather has calmed down a bit me and elen are going to the pharmacy to buy cleaning stuff, plasters, and head lice shampoo, which the lady that runs the refuge said they needed.
i feel a bit silly now because when i was packing mum said what if it rains have you got a mac? and i, being stupid, said PAH im going to argentina mum im not going to need a mac. i was very much wrong and if this rain carries on i may be in the market for a hopefully acceptable mac, dont know how much luck im going to have with that here. i also rejected the idea of bringing a hoody, or actually anything at all sensible. lesson learnt.

Love,
Bethnal x

El Refugio

Today was me and elens first day doing our volunteering at the orphanage or el refugio as its called. alli and hyunjin took us over there and as soon as we walked in all the children were shouting tio and tia and holding our hands and pulling us all over the place to show us things. i brought some stickers with me because we were told they like stickers and they were stolen off me and run off with as soon as i got there. there was a girl whose laces had come out of her shoes and she didnt know how to get them back in so i laced them for her - my retail experience coming in handy..- then we all took the kids down the poli which is a nearby park. we played ¨it¨ and generally ran around like maniacs. then a girl called Michala, who has extremely short hair, presumably she had to have it shaved off because of headlice or something nasty, taught me a dance routine shed made up and she was really sweet.
theres a little todler called Gabi who wanted to play with the skipping rope when me, Michala and Hyunjin were playing and Michala didnt want her to so she ran off with it, Gabi started to cry and was pointing at the rope and michala so i picked him up and went over to Michala. i tried my hardest using spanish to explain that gabi wanted his turn and that shes not being very fair and she just laughed and ran away, wanting me to chase her, and quite obviously just some attention. so i told gabi we would go and play by ourselves until Michala was going to behave. he doesnt speak yet but i think he understood. we sat on the floor and rolled limes to eachother until michala came over and hit gabi trying to get more attention and then again running off with the skipping rope. i made it clear to michala that that is the wrong way to get attention but she misbehaved for the rest of the day, biting jumping on and hitting me so i continued to ignore in the hope of teaching her some manners. we´ll see how she is tomorrow..
it was really sad to see all the children wearing clothes that didnt fit, were dirty and had holes in. there was one boy wearing just trackie bottoms which were filthy and had a whole right on the bum and he didnt have any pants on and i was just thinking can they at least not get him some underwear? also hardly any of them have proper shoes, and they dont have specific pairs for each person they just have big piles and they just grab which ever pair is less wrecked. they also have a habit for asking for things you have on. i was wearing my st. christopher necklace that aunty jenny and uncle peter gave me, and literally about ten of them just said ¨can i have that¨and they would just try and grab it. alot of the time i just had to stand up and tell them no you cannot and look angry before they would leave it alone. the children really stank aswell as if they hadnt been washed in about a week, but it must just be because they play in the dirt alot because when we got back to the house after the poli the older girls were washing all the children with a hose in the garden.
we work monday to friday from 9 til 12 and have our afternoons free. this afternoon me and elen went along to the boys project - playing football with kids to get them off the streets. we sat on the sidelines and cheered and then we were convinced to join in a passing game but the one time a boy kicked the ball to me - i had asked them not to- my shoe flew off with the ball so they learnt their lesson. it was really funny because Marcel told us after that the boys really enjoyed having female coaches and please can we go back tomorrow hahaha. i think we are going back with oranges to give out at the end and deck chairs so we dont have to sit on the grass. so that should be fun :P
its flipping hot here and i already i cant remember what¨it feels like to not be sweaty haha. ive already got into the habit of having a siesta aswell and am starting not to have that sicky groggy feeling after waking up from a midday sleep which is good. when i get back to england my sleep patterns will be all over the place i bet.

Love,
Bethnal x

days one, two and three.

After i arrived on friday we basically just chilled out in the apartment and unpacked and chatted. yesterday - saturday - me and elen had our orientation around eleven which basically we chatted to Veronica - our in country coordinator and landlady, and she went through the rules, what we´ll be doing at our project turn off all the lights when you leave the house, dont have boys to sleep round etc.etc. lol. then we went on a tour round the city in Veroncias husband Marcels car. then we vegged out again and then around four me and elen decided to go into the city to the paraguayan market which we got totally lost trying to find. then after that we went into loads of cute little shops with random stuff in and i bought an argentinian flag to get everyone that i meet to write on as a memorable type thing. then we tried to find the mall and got a bit lost and i asked - in spanish woop - this man and he understood me and everything and told us where to go. then we went to a fruit shop and i bought loads and loads of fruit for like one pound fifty equivalent so that was good. and then we tried to walk back to our house thinking we remembered where it was but we didnt and we looked on the map and everything but there was no road signs anywhere so i went to a little shop thing and got the map and asked where we were and he didnt understand for ages then he told us it was four blocks down. it felt liked wed walked around for hours but we found it eventually. then we had dinner and around half eleven - after a power nap - we went to play pool at a bar with me elen - welsh girl- hyunjin -korean guy- alli - scottish guy- and marcel. then we went to power which is the BIGGEST club ive ever seen its got like twelve different rooms its ridiculous. we stayed there til about four then we came home and today we just chilled and just now we walked to the riverside to watch the sunset but then the sunset was behind all these buildings so we just sat and drank milkshake and played cards. then we got a taxi back here because my flip flops have made big holes in my feet. yum.
i think this weekend me and elen are gonna go to paraguay - a short busride over the bridge - to see what its like and there are some ruins around 30km away from the city. and another weekend we are gonna go to the iguazu falls im way way excited :P
ive heard all the flights from the UK have been cancelled coz of the ash from iceland . that sucks so much and ive been really really lucky i think i got out the country just in time. a few hours later and id still be stuck in england.
hope all of you that are stuck in random places and cant get anywhere are doing ok..



Love,
Bethnal x

Journey numero DOS

- after internet cafe- went to hotel room. asked at reception about walking tours that i found a leaflet on. she didnt understand what i wanted to know so she just phoned them and told them to talk to me. i ask if its running today. it is. be under the big tree and 2pm. its 1pm. please can you call me a taxi. taxi arrives. i point to leaflet - quiero ir aqui. he babbles something in spanish too quickly for me to understand. i just say si. sit in taxi wandering if i am being kidnapped. we arrive and i decide im not because i pay and he lets me leave the car. ask at tourist information desk if i am here - points to leaflet. she says - si debaja el arbol. ie yes meet under the tree. i see a HUGE tree. biggest tree ever. i will upload photo of the tree if i work out how. realise im half an hour early. walk around. stand near tree listening to two austalian old women talk about australian stuff. tour guide arrives wearing massive walking tours badge. he says we need to wait for someone else. i thank god secretly because i didnt really want to have to talk to the old ladies the whole way round they seemed quite weird. John arrives. john - i think his names john if its not im sorry- is also australian but considerably younger than the old ladies so i decide hes going to be my friend for the day whether he likes it or not i think hes 28 or 29. we go on the tour and its really good - we go to this ¨city of the dead¨ which is a massive cemetry for rich people and they build these tiny but posh housey room type things to bury all their families. and have statues and stuff outside. i saw evitas grave and he told us the story of her life. he tells us intersting stories about some of the other families like this girl and her husband were on their honeymoon in the seventies and there was an avalanche and she was killed but he survived. her mother built a statue at the grave of her with her dog and the husband puts flowers in her hand all the time. after the tour i ask john if he has plans because i am all aloney on my owney until nine pm. he says no lets go get a beer. we start walking and he insists that he knows where we are so i just follow but when i ask he says no we are now completely lost. we find a cafe for nourishment before we work out where we are. beer and burger is a winning combination for those of you who didnt know. jonh is 34 and is surprised that i am only eighteen. i said why do i look forty then and he said no you look older in a good way. i dont understand what this means but whatever its not an insult so il accept it.i let him struggle to speak spanish to various people because its funny and i havent told him that i know some spanish. we walk around til six when he shows me this obilisk thing near his hotel and i was going to get a taxi to my hotel but turns out it was just around the corner. get in room. watch film. try not to fall asleep. get phone call. lady for you in lobby. must be barneys girlfriend. - barney is my aunty jennys friends son who lives there- i go down and meet her and we wait for barney. both very nice and friendly and we go for drink and then icecream. i nearly fall asleep in ice cream shop and go back to my room to sleep. phone rings. hello? beth its john. is this my wake up call? no its john. oh im awake now thnakyou . BETH ITS JOHN FROM THE WALK EARLIER. oh hi john, i was asleep. i realised sorry - i just got back from the footy match and wandered if you wanted to hangout. um no john im asleep and my flight is ealry sorry. hang up. dont feel too guilty because he has my email address, il just apologize later. wake up call. get dressed. taxi. check in. eat breakfast - second meal in my own in restaurant. still not too weird. waste time by walking up and down a few times. go to gate. tele says gate 6 , ticket says gate 11. go to gate 6. airport lady walks past and asks something i dont catch. ask man next to me who looks like a cross between gordon brown and mr blobby - que dice? she said am i going to Cordoba - im not. im going to posadas. he is too. wait for ages. check screen. gate eleven and ask agent. i tell gordon blobby what it says so we go to gate eleven. stand in queue. anouncement and everyone in queue sighs and sits down. i follow gordon blobby and ask whats going on. flight is delayed. we have a weird conversation in spanish in which niether of us really know what was said. he tells me to sit next to him and he will explain anouncements about our flight. get on plane. sit next to nice lady. we are given a cereal bar and a cookie. cereal bar nearly breaks my teeth. it still hurts as i write this. when we are landing nice lady tells me random facts about posadas. land. get bag. meant to be picked up in arrival hall. see no one.nice lady from plane asks if im ok. i say si. stand around. Marcel finds me. takes me to accomodation. its a cute little flat with one girl and two guys here who volunteer. chill out. tv and internet. its hot. i love posadas.

Love,
Bethnal x


p.s. mum thanks for the birthday card i promise i wont open it till the big day. xxx

Journey

drive to airport. get stuck in traffic. panic slightly. get to airport early. bag drop. security. go in search of adapter / camera holder. buy adapter and camera holder. old man in shop explains how camera holders work. well duhh. go to WHSMITH to get book. buy book, newspaper, water, chocolate, lollipops all for 15. im such a bargain hunter. eat alone in a restaurant (giraffe) for first time. realise its not so bad. try to overhear conversation of person A telling person B how amazing argentina is but barely catch a word. pay, leave, find toilet. decide to go find place to get transit to gate. realise i am not afraid fo coming to a new country by myself for ten weeks but my insides still wriggle with fear when i get on a downy escalator. laugh at self. sit and read while waiting for gate to be announced. see man that looks like uncle graham looking anxious. go on transit thing to gate. smile at pilot man in hat. see uncle graham lookalike looking more anxious. get up to board plane. uncle graham lookalike has his headphones in so i tell him we are boarding the plane. he says thankyou he never trusts himself to do airport stuff right on his own. shouldnt really listen to your music then, should you. nobody else moves even thought we are meant to get on the plane. i go first and decide if i have misheard and they are only boarding certain people i will pretend i dont speak any relevant languages and run away. they are boarding everyone, just nobody else heard but me. uncle graham lookalike get on behind me and sits near me on plane and it becomes very awkward. strange argentinian man sits on the aisle seat and i am at the window. there is one empty seat imbetween us, success! leg room central. watch blindside. try to sleep. realise strange argentinian man has strethed his feet out onto the spare seat the ratbag. his feet are touching my leg. i try to move so that he moves but he is asleep. i feel very uncomfortable. try to sleep again but not much success. look out window at most starts i have ever seen in my entire life. try to take picutre. look like an idiot when flash goes off and i have a photo of the window and have woken everyone up. smooth beth, very smooth. listen to snow patrol and get i think a couple of hours sleep. wait for strange argentinian man to wake up so i can pee. i wake up and he is gone. in the toilet i assume. i wait. he takes a very long time. there is a bit of a queue. i think hes doing a poo. other people work this out and most of us laugh at how long strange argentinian man is taking. resign and go to back of plane to pee. i get back and strange argentinian man is waiting for me to go into my sit so he can sit down. acts huffy with me. presumably because i took so long. but maybe because everyone knows what he was up to. read book and eventually fall asleep. land in Sau Paulo and sit the for around an hour. very boring. sleep more. odd brazilian woman sits behind me and pokes her tv screen all the time making my head bob. i bash the back of my seat violently. she stops. and makes a dissaproving grunt. serves her right. eat fried breakfast on plane which is surprisingly nice. feel a bit sick after. realise that i havent even arrived in an exotic country yet and i have been bitten. twice on my face. three times on my jaw. twice on the back of my neck. twice on my wrist. i decide not to worry and hope its not some sort of omen for the whole trip - i.e. that it will invlove lots of bites. that was ages ago now and i dont have a fever so i think we´re good. get off plane. text mum. get bag. ask at booth for taxi to my hotel. nice old man comes and takes me to the taxi. he takes my bag and teaches me the spanish for rain and tells me that it rained last night. he gives my bag to the notsonice taxi driver and i give him a dollar for being cute. i get in the taxi and notsonice taxi driver drives like a maniac making up lanes of his own and bibbing people lots. arrive at hotel. shower. decide im brave enough to find an internet cafe. and here i am :)


might go for this walking tour thing i have a leaflet on. il keep you posted
Love
Bethnal x

Everything tastes like alcohol 2..

Hi guys
it was my leaving do last night and guess who i mettt
odd knocked out drunk boy Benji who i went in the ambulance with! i was in the regaland i just turned round and i was like OMG I KNOW HIM! i told my brother whi he was and he was like oh yeah thats ben. well yes will i just told you that and he was like no i know him hes friend with my friend. so we went over and he had no recollection of me AT ALL but hes fine and alive and i just made fun of him the whole night it was a veryyy good night :) Thanks to all my lovely friend who came to see me :) so today i once again am hungover and everything tastes like alcohol AGAIN :/ oh well. last english hangover for a while :)
i went out for lunch with the girlies today Bodge King Lou and Hannah, its so weird that i wont seethem for so long! especially hannah, she goesn away just before i get back so i wont see her until the end of august! :( :(
prettyyy much ready to leave now. got me money. got a pile of stuff on the spare bed ready to pack tomorrow ( evening flight dont panic)
the onyl thing i think im missing is toothpaste but il get that at the airport.

all people keep saying about my trip is " thats so brave" but i dont feel brave. i feel like i wanted to go travelling haha :) and " oo are you excited" well yes andnop - it doesnt feel real yet!



not long now!
aghr!
Bethnal x

Insect repellant.. Check. Suncream...Check. Spent all my money.. Check.

Ive had one of those days today where i felt all proud of myself for getting so much stuff done :)

I decided to go into town and collect my argentinian pesos and buy all the odd bits i need for my trip ( meaning a major boots trip ). So first i went into boots and filled my basket with all sorts of goodies like shampoo and conditioner.. insect repellant ( jungle stength.. obviously) .. sun cream ( factors fifteen and thirty) ..and id decided id buy these really cute little heart shaped padlocks for my suitcase ( theyre pink!) then it came to the dreaded moment that id been putting off.. asking the nice bloke for diarrhea tablets incase of travellers diarrhea. i know its an everyday thing for these lovely boots workers. i just happened to be served by this way buff guy who came over all smiley and handsome looking and i just mumbled with a massive red face " ill have some.. of those.. umm... immodium things er.. please." i almost added " i dont have diarrhea, its just in case i get it, while im away.. helping orphans.." but thought maybe that would make me look even more odd. he could tell i was embarassed and blatantly was trying to hide his laugh while reaching for them.

So i got that over and done with and headed off to TKMAXX for my next mission. Mum had insisted i buy some long shorts as hotpants clearly wont be suitable. now normsally tkmaxx stresses me out quite a lot. lots of bargain hunters in one place. quite possibly only one thing in each size. its just gaggin for girl fights and lets be honest. i would lose. but it was quite quiet aqnd after trying on literally 13 pairs of long shorts there were 3 pairs that actually fit, and two pairs that i liked. yay. plus i found a cute billabong rucksack for taking to the projects with all my first aid kit and water bottles and that kind of crap and it wss only a tenner so got that aswell. :) quite successful!
Thennn i went BACK to the travel clinic for MORE injections because ht enurse at the doctors surgery said i didnt need typhoid jabs, then the nurse at the travel clinic said i needed it but gcould get it for free from the doctor, so called to make an appointment at the doctor but they couldnt fit me in until wednesday... i.e. they day i leave. so had to end up having it at the travel clinic and had to pay £30 but i guess its better than dying or whatever typhoid does to you ( i decided not to look up symptoms of the diseases i may get.. less scary). it hurt more than all my other injections. i have an inkling she used a massive needle but i didnt look im too chicken ever since the last time i tried to give blood... and fainted.. in front of EVERYONE. after that little ordeal i went to thomas cook to pick up my currency ( after getting way lost in the lower car park of the grand arcade) and then went to tesco on the way home to buy food for my lunch for the week becuase we didnt have much that i like :)

then got home and was majorly tired and watched neighbours and genereally vegged.

anyway ive not checked my bank balance yet but i think i spent in the region of £500 today. including the currency obviously. so not too bad., but still! im poor again!:(

Was meant to see my lovely friend louise tonight but in a seriosuly dodgy mood, so im sorry louise, you havent text me back so i hope your not in a grump with me and if you are im gonna come round your house and annoy you until you like me again. :) hopefully this public grovelling will help. i love you <3


Love,
Bethnal x

"Are you gonna do any work?" "...Nope."

As of approx an hour and a half ago.. IM UNEMPLOYED!


It doesnt feel like it, but today was officially my last day of work.. and im ashamed to say i did have a little cry at the end of the day. i was fine until i was signing out and dan said " last time you will ever sign out " and my eyes filled up! I then cried on Jess because we started on the same day nearly a year and half ago and shes been one of my best mates since then. It was a bit annoying that not that many people were there to say goodbye to today but im having my leaving do on monday so hopefully msot of them will come then :)

Ive now got a week to chillout and get ready to go on wednesday. yikes. its only a week away. time to start shitting myself now me thinks..

Things to do:
Get some argentinian pesos
get some US dollars
pack
buy a rucksack
buy sun cream
buy insect repellant
put CDs on my ipod
find ipod charger
buy argentinian adaptor
buy toiletry supoplies for 10 weeks
basically sort my whole life out haha

tomorrow im having a duvet day and seeing a couple of girls from work on the evening for a drinky pinky, so looking forward to an actually chilled out day off as ive hardly had any days off for a few weeks!

Omg im watching JLS's video to one shot, seriosuly whatare they wearing, you know thw hot one, hes a little bit short and quite muscly, wears a bow tie on occasion. what the crapppp is up with his outfit seriousllyyyyyyyyy :/

Oooo i emailed this guy yesterday who my aunty knows - the one who said hed chill out with me in Buenos, hes emailed back straight away saying yes he can still hang out and hes got to work during the day but we're going out for dinner and a drink with his girlfriend :) and during the afternoon im hoping il be able to see my friend Simon who has just done a trip to Rio whos cousin lives in Buenos! so thats all finally getting sorted yayyyy :)

ahhhh a while week of no work.. love it :D

Love,
Bethnal x

Everything tastes like alcohol..

Just a few stories today,
also yesterday i got my second rabies jab thingy and it hurt SOOO bad. i also mamaged to get my anti malaria tablets from the same place i got my jab, which is a load off my mind because i was beginning to think i would have to buy them online and lets be honest, buying any sort of tablet online sounds well dodge. I also bought a first aid kit, whch, wait for it, includes A SCALPEL! when the boy told me this i was like really? what am i gonna need a scalpel for? that thought just scares me, and the nurse was like oh yeah obviously its in case you get something stuck on you and you can say oh heres a clean scalpel :/ oh great. it also includes for this reason.. LIKE FOUR NEEDLES AND SYRINGES :\ theyre massive and scary looking and obviously im gonna take them but i was honestly only expecting like i dunno a few wipes and plasters and stuff!!
yesterday at work that uber nob came back ( the one who had a security tag on his tshirt but no receipt ) and had a huge arguement in the shop with a collegue coming in saying "its not my fault you left the tag on how is this fair on me bla bla bla" to which we said weve told you deary you need proof of purchase then after like 15 mins making a scene he looks all smug and GETS THE FLIPPING RECIEPT OUT OF HIS POCKET!!!! i mean seriously. what an actual nobber. why bother to make that much of a scene and make everyone all annoyed and embarassed when he had it all along!!
Anyway so last night i went out with kelly from work and amy from work and amys bf stuart for amys 18th ( happy birthday baby if youre reading!!) and me and kelly left soul tree to get some chips and while we were eating them these guys ran past us and there was this other guy lying on the floor and we went over to help and he was totallyyyyy knocked out and bleeding :( we managed to get him to sit on this statue thing after he was adamant that he was going to walk off, and i tried to have a little conversation with him to keep him talking til the police got there, i think his names ben or benji or something but tbh he was so out of it i doubt he knew who or where he was at that point. anyway the police were asking us why we were with him as if we were dodgy just for looking after this guy after he got hit which really pissed me off, its no wonder people dont want to help people if there just gonna get treated like a criminal yourself. the police decided that he was ok to get a taxi home so i walked him to the car as he still couldnt walk properly and he realised he didnt have enough money, then some paramdeics arrived to check him out, they obviously realised he was in no state to be sent home. he said he didnt want to go alone so i went to the ambulance with him and they just asked what happened and he ahd literally no idea .. the conversation basically went like this.. :
Me: ( to ambulance lady) "i found him on the floor"
Drunk guy " I WAS ON THE FLOOR?!!"
Me: "yes, so i went over and he was bleeding from his mouth and wasnt making much sense."
Drunk guy " IM BLEEDING?!"
Me: " yes, stop interrupting me, we think he was punched by these guys that ran off" drunk guy : " I WAS PUNCHED?!?!"

anyway they took him to the hospital and i went backt o find kelly. and we went to find amy but shed gone home :( so we went back to Kels house and put on an olsen twin film and fell asleep. we are coooool :)

spent today hanging badly ( hence this post title) and chilling with nan, gramps, uncle g, aunty jennifer, uncle david, lucy and harry. i basically spent the whole day playing this game on harus iphone and making fun of him when he said silly things like they dont let you on the football pitch on tours of the stadium in case you put bobmbs in the ground or move the goal like hahahaha. bless.

Love,
Bethnal x


p.s. if anyone knows this benji bloke, i think he goes to cambridge uni, just let me know if hes alive? :)