A real job

Today my boss offered to start paying me next month. The salary he offered, though laughable by American standards, is about what an experience professional in Argentina would expect to make, so I have no complaints.

In truth, I like the job. It's something I'm good at, and the atmosphere is pleasant and low-stress. The only issue is that I really don't many opportunities to practice spoken Spanish in this job, which is really what I was looking for. So, now I need to make a decision....

Great Aim

Today is my lucky day. I'd lived nearly 40 years without a bird pooping on me, but today that streak ended. As I was walking to the bus this morning, I walked under a tree that happened to have a bird in it. And the bird decided to relieve himself on my shoulder. Oh wait, did I say shoulder? That's where I wish he would have done it, but unfortunately he decided to deposit the white fluid on my face. Thanks, birdie.

Another first: Today my boss kissed for the first time. Hmm, I'd better clarify. I mean that he greeted me with a kiss on the cheek, which is common here among friends. He also offered me a "real job": in other words, he offered to start paying me next month. Now I just need to decide if that's what I want.

Tango

I went to see a documentary on tango today, and I was by far the youngest person in the theater. I guess it's not a subject most young people are interested in, but it had some great music in it, and I enjoyed the story as well. A couple of the songs in the movie even got applause from the (very small) audience in the theater.

Before I came here, "tango" to me was just a dance, but it's really at least as much about music and culture as it is about dance. Maybe it's sort of what big band music was to Americans.

Hairstyles here aren't that different, but there are a couple of trendy hairstyles sported by young women that I haven't seen in the US. One of them can only be described as a female mullet. Think Mel Gibson from Lethal Weapon. It's not very common, but I see it occasionally.

By the way, you can buy Paul Newman salad dressings here for US$7 a bottle.

Azithromycin

You gotta love a country where you can buy (some?) antibiotics without a prescription. (Yes, Dad and Mom, I hear you groaning already.)

I've become convinced that I have a sinus infection. I was planning on going to the doctor on Monday, but someone thought to mention that you can get azithromycin over the counter here. After some reasearch, it appears that this drug is used to treat sinus infections. So I went and bought some and just took the first pill. Hopefully I'll feel better soon. And if not, I can still go to the doctor.

Interestingly, this is the same drug I took last fall for pneumonia, after finally convincing the %!@# doctor that I had something more than a simple cold. Unfortunately, it does have one side effect, which I can confirm from personal experience: deposociones blandas. It sounds so pretty in Spanish, doesn't it? Those of you who don't speak Spanish are going to have to ask a someone who does.

Fashion

I forgot to mention that a little over a week ago there was a rainstorm and that since then the temperature has been lower. The weather is quite pleasant now. You sometimes need a jacket or sweater early in the morning or late at night, but that's just fine with me.

By the way, even though overall I like using public transportation here, I have to admit it's less pleasant when it's raining like it was yesterday. Luckily I was on my way home when the bus splashed water on my pants, so I was able to change clothes.

I renewed my current apartment for another month yesterday. That will give me some time to find a new one. I spent about 10 minutes in a smokey little room chatting in Spanish with 5 Argentines. We even talked about the cockroach problem. They assured me that just about every apartment in the city has them, which could be true or not. I understood all of the conversation except for one joke about the cockroaches, but luckily I was able to guess the joke and laugh along with everyone.

In the last few years in the US women (especially young women) have been wearing tight-fitting shirts that are short enough to leave an inch or two of skin showing around the belly. That same type of clothing is popular here. In the US, it's common to see a teenage girl wearing a shirt like that even though she is significantly overweight. That happens here too, but people here tend to be a little thinner than they are back home.

However, you see some things here that I don't remember seeing at home. For example, maybe once or twice I've seen a pregnant women in the US wear one of those short, tight shirts, but here you see it daily. And I mean short and very tight. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, of course, but it's an interesting cultural obsevation.

But it goes beyond that. You also see women whose bellies are covered with stretch marks wearing shirts like that. That kind of surprised me. But what I saw yesterday took the cake: a woman with a big hairy mole on her lower back, showing it off to the world. Not something I really needed to see. How do you say "tuck in your shirt" in Spanish?

Overall, the way people dress here isn't that different than it is at home. Jeans, for example, are very popular. So, most of my clothes fit in pretty well here. People on the street occasionally ask me for directions, so must not stick out too badly.

More boring stuff

I started my job on Monday. It takes about 45 minutes to get there: first a bus to the train station, then a train to where I work. Things are going fine so far. I completed a short project on Monday and Tuesday, and today I started researching a solution for my boss.

I'm not taking conversation classes anymore, so I'm looking for (cheaper) alternatives to keep practicing. I've got some leads, which I need to follow up.

I still haven't found a permanent apartment, so I'm going to try to stay in this one another month. I do have a couple of apartment possibilities that I need to call about. Maybe one of them will work out.

As of yesterday my cold is officially 4 weeks old. I've never been sick this long in my life, not even last fall when I had pneumonia. For the first three weeks it was pretty mild, but since late last week it's come on with a vengeance. I think I set a world record for mucus produced over a 6-day period. I'm tired, and the fact the my ears are blocked doesn't help me communicate with people.

In spite of the cold, I've been going out most every day or evening. On Friday, I went out to dinner with three Argentines. We started at about 10:30, and I didn't get home until about 2:30. (That's not particularly late for a Friday night in this city.) On Saturday I visisted a museum and then went to see an Argentina movie. It turned out to have almost no dialog, so I didn't get to practice my Spanish much, but at least it was a "cultural experience", right?

On Sunday I went to a suburb of the city and had lunch at an all-you-can-eat "Chinese" restaurant. Chinese in quotes because although they did have some Chinese-style food, the majority was just normal Argentine food served in a buffet. Actually, they also do prepare some dishes fresh in this restaurant, so you have that option if you're not fond of buffets. After that we went back to one of their houses and drank mate, which is both a tea-like beverage and an important part of the culture.

Last night I went to a conversation group, but there were only two of us there. The other guy was an Argentina, so we talked for about an hour in Spanish and English. He invited me to a social event (in English) on Friday, so I might go to that. If nothing else, it's a good way to meet some new people.

Living here is certainly different that I life I was used to. I wonder how much of that has to do with being in a new country and how much has to do with being in a huge city. In any case, it's a good experience. I think I needed this to help keep me from living in a rut the rest of my life. One thing I don't miss is my car, which would be pain in the butt. In a crowded city, public transportation is easier and cheaper. Since hardly anyone has a car, most people carry with them what they need for the day in a backpack or shoulder bag. Finally, a place where it isn't weird to carry a murse! (Yes, Ryan, I'm thinking of you.)

Get a job!

Three weeks ago today I left the US. It seems like much longer, but I guess that's because every experience is new. Things are going fine so far: I don't feel homesick, I'm more confident speaking Spanish and I'm starting to know my way around the city.

On Monday I begin an internship. I'll be working with a consultant who has his own company and supports the server infrastructure for serveral other small companies. It's a bit outside the city proper; I think it will take me about 45 minutes to get there from where I live now. That's not much time, actually, because there are places in the city that take much longer to reach. My plan is to work for him for about a month and then decide whether to continue or not. He's going to try to get me some opportunities to deal directly with clients for speaking practice.

For my Spanish conversation classes I've been reading some stories by well-known Argentina authors and then discussing them in class. It's been fun to get some ideas of Argentina literature, and plus it gives me something to talk about in class.

Friday is a holiday here, so I have a chance to spend the day as I please. Maybe I'll go to Tigre. It's a little ways outside the city itself, apparently in a rich area which several people have told me is worth seeing. I need to do some research to find out what to see there.

For the past day and a half subway hasn't run because of a strike. So far it hasn't affected me too much, but they say traffic is a lot worse and the lines for the bus are longer.

Today I went looking for an apartment, but I didn't have any luck. There aren't very many apartments available for rent in the neighborhood I was looking at. I did see one, but the huge dead roach in the kitchen convinced me to look elsewhere. (Of course I was assured that they were all gone now since the building had just been fumagated. I offered to sell him some mountain-top property in Florida in return.)

This past week

On Wednesday I saw Woody Allen's Match Point, in English. If you've seen his Crimes and Misdemeanors, this would make a good companion piece.

On Thursday I saw Ice Age 2 dubbed in Spanish. (The squirrel is still the best part.) Afterwards I met with someone who works in a small manufacturing company to talk about where I might fit in working as an intern. Since it seemed like there might be a place for me, tomorrow (Monday) I have an interview. I be talking with their system and network administrator about the possibility of working there for a time. This company is a little bit outside of the city proper, so I'll need to take a bus and then a train to get there. I don't know how long it will take, but I'll guess 40-60 minutes.

Last night I again made the trek out of the city to meet with the church. Arriving took over 2 hours this time. They were doing construction around the halfway point, so we all had to get off the train and take a bus to another train station and then get on another train. Oh, and of course I had to take a bus to get to the first train station. Next week I'm definitely taking the bus, which costs a dollar instead of 50 cents but probably takes less than a hour to get me there.

Someone asked about the neighborhood I'm living in. Well, it's called Recoleta and it's right in the middle of the city, so it's noisy and the air quality isn't so great. It's near several buildings that are part of the University of Buenos Aires, mostly medicine, dentistry and science buildings, so there are lots of students are around during the day. (UBA doesn't have a campus, so its buildings are spread all over the city.) This neighborhood is fairly residential, so there's few people at night, and on weekends it's pretty dead. Most of the stores are closed on weekends in this area.

Recoleta has a reputation for fairly expensive and for housing a lot of tourists. I live in near the southern edge of this area, so if I walk a few blocks southwest I'm into a neighborhood with few tourists that happens to be a great place to shop for clothes and shoes. I had to go there yesterday to buy some pants for the interview I have on Monday.

Seeking practice

The last two nights (Monday and Tuesday) I went to check out two different conversation groups to practice my Spanish. The one on Monday was bilingual English-Spanish, but I was the only English speaker. Of course, they were happy to have a native speaker, but they also all wanted to practice English. I'll give it another try next week and see how it goes.

Tonight I went to another group that was all non-Spanish speakers except for an Argentina moderator. I'm not sure that this group will be any help to me, but I might try it again next week. Anyway, though, I guess I keep looking for a good way to practice.

I'm continuing to explore the city, though I haven't seen any new parts in the last couple of days. Hopefully tomorrow I'll do some more looking around. I am getting used to the buses and the subway. I finally found a website that will tell me how to get anywhere using the bus or subway. Too bad it's really slow and only works about half the time. Well, I can always ask someone on the street how to get somewhere.

On Thursday I'm going to talk to someone about an internship in a small computer company. If I interesting after talking to him, I can go for an interview. I need to update my resume and translate it to Spanish. Actually, at this point I might as well just create a new one. The old one hasn't been touched in 10 years.

I'm still coughing, but I think it's getting better. Well, at least I hope so. If not, I'll need to see a doctor soon.

Botanical Garden

On Friday night I felt like going out, so I went (with a friend) to a nighttime tour of the Botanical Garden, which is just a couple miles from where I live. To be honest, it wasn't really anything special, but it was an excuse to get out of the house, plus I got to listen to the tour guide talk and practice some Spanish with my friend. Afterwards we went to a bar to meet with an English conversation group that I wanted to check out just for fun. I ended up speaking more Spanish than English (which is a good thing), and finally got home about 1:00 am. Which, by the way, is not at all late in this city. Some people don't even leave the house to go out until 1 or 2 am.

Last night I went to the "suburbs" of Buenos Aires to meet with the church that I know here. I took the train there last night. Overall time to get there was a little over an hour and a half. Beto, a guy from the church, met me in the train station and we rode together to the church meeting. He happens is able to speak with a very clear accent, so I understand nearly everything he says. About halfway through the train ride he switched to English and told me that everyone around us was listening to me very curiously, I imagine because of my accent. He said the same thing happens to his wife, who is from Brasil (and who definitely has a perceptable accent, even to my ears).

I found out later that there's a better way to get there that probably only takes about an hour on one of those really nice buses with reclining seats and A/C. Of course, it costs more, but it's still only a dollar. I returned home last night on the comfy bus, which dropped me off about 12 blocks from my apartment. It was a nice night so I walked home from there.