First of all, I
must apologise for the spelling mistakes in my last entry. I was however, in a
busy place at a busy time - where? No, not at the train station or an internet
cafe - somewhere much more personal and familiar - sitting at a desk in the
dining room of one of Roberto's cousins in Tafi Viejo, Tucuman.
Let's start at the
beginning. We arrived in the evening of the 16th - last Monday, after our bus
ride as described in my last entry ... ok, so it's a week ago already, can you
blame me if can't remember who met us at the bus stop? Ah, yes, it was of course,
Roberto's younger brother, Raul, who hadn't seen Roberto for at least 25 years.
Emotional meeting. Did I mention that Roberto's parents were also travelling
with us? Raul piled us into two "Remisses" which are like pre-ordered
taxis, the advantage of which is (I think) you know more or less what you are
going to pay before-hand, or is it because they are more reliable? Something
like that. 13 Bags and 6 adults and 3 kids in two small taxis - easy.
Driving through the
streets, I wasn't much more impressed than in BA, and perhaps starting to feel
rather less impressed as we went. I am most definitely not criticising, just
commenting, but the place looked pretty neglected. One of our big surprises was
when we saw small sulkies being pulled by smallish sad looking horses - it was
like stepping back in time.
We arrived at our
home for the next four nights, belonging to another uncle whom we would meet
some days later in Catamarca. Large rooms, thick white painted walls, high
ceilings and tiled floors, with ancient antique furniture. Heavy wooden
shutters over the glass windows. Water that was not always available, so
buckets in the bathroom to flush at those times. We unpacked and thus began our
whirlwind journey of the next few days, in the arms of Tafi Viejo.
We walked with Raul
to Roberto's Uncle and Aunt's and piled inside for afternoon tea (yep, at about
6pm). I may get some of what happened over the next few days wrong, but, in
summary, every afternoon till evening was spent at one of the cousins or uncles
houses, with usually all or almost all of the uncles, aunts and cousin,
talking, eating, playing and generally staying up very late. We felt very much
part of it straight away. The general greeting is a mutual kiss on the right
cheek and a hug - adults, kids and all. Much catching up on the part of Roberto
with his Uncle and Aunt, and many introductions for us. Roberto's cousins and
their kids arrived and the 3 girl(second)cousins Elena had been waiting to meet
came, and after little Aussie presents had been given out, it was on. We hardly
saw the kids, as they played hide and seek or whatever, and managed to
communicate without much language quite well.
Each of the next
four nights we were lucky if we were in bed before 1am. Then in the mornings we
would have something to do again, with one of each of the five households - a
visit to a beautiful (I can spell!) lake, a play in a park with the kids (read:
old steel swings, very worn slides and a really big metal climbing thing in the
shape of a wave that our kids loved!) But the best fun was when the girls
invited our kids to their English class. Ha! Could this ever happen in
Australia? Let me tell you what happened...
We were picked up
by their mum, the very friendly Raquel, and she drove us to the small building
where the class was about to begin. Her two elder daughters were already there,
and we were invited in to their class. The teacher was a young guy, perhaps
25-30 who spoke well and had a love of music. The kids were each sat at a
desk/chair and so began introductions. A few simple questions, like name and
age etc. Then he split the class into two for a game. Chris joined one group,
Elena and Nick the other. Each group had to answer questions in either Spanish
or English, or translate from one to the other, and the one who had to give the answer
was usually my kids, and they had to give it is Spanish, so it was, as you can
imagine, great to see all of the kids working together to try to understand the question,
translate for each other, say what they thought the answer was and then get my
kids to practice pronouncing the answer! Precious. Raquel (mum of the girls)
and I got some good photos and little film clips which I will have to share
later. One thing I didn't expect was that Nick got dubbed "the new Justin
Beaver", which, though he isn't a fan of JB, was rather flattering. Chris
took no time to break the ice and hand slaps and high-fives when they got
something right were all the go. The next morning when they went with the girls
to drop by their school it was something like a rock star reception, with all
the girls hanging around and the other boys were trying to look unimpressed.
Anyway, something I don't think they will forget.
Our last night
there was spent at another cousin’s house, and the kids from the English class
were all invited too! I can hardly describe the noise and happy chaos that was
that night! From 2 years to 82 years, each and everyone ate and drank (no meat
or alcohol, which we didn't expect, but thanks for this go to Roberto's father who was the supreme organiser), and talked and played. I led the older kids (6-12)
in a game of heads down - thumbs up with the help of Nick and Elena and also
some drawing and origami. The eldest daughter of Raquel did a great impression
of Tucuman accent, captured on my video. And Roberto did a lot of catching up
with everyone.
As it drew closer
to our time to go, many presents appeared and I felt embarrassed that they who
didn't all have that much would buy so much for us, when our presents, from a
richer country, had been very simple. But, that is how they said their
feelings, and I felt much loved. Very loved. The kids did too, and accepted for who
they are.
This type of social situation, where the family gets together often, and with many (20+), means that they all know each other well, and understand and accept each other for who they are and each child grows up with lots of love and kisses from many. Well, ok, I am an idealist, but I could see that they were happier and closer than what I am used to. For sure.
Now we are in Catamarca, but that is another story, I will now say good night, and talk to you again another day,
Signing out,
Kerrie.
