On the Job Front...

Some good and some bad news...

I'll go with the bad first.  I didn't get "The Job"  I really wanted.  They said they ended up going with someone with more experience.  So that wasn't the happiest way to start the day. I was really looking forward to it. Se la vie...

The good news is, I have other jobs!  I have been accepted to three other positions. 

The first is with a company called Buenos Aires Delivery.  (check them out at http://www.badelivery.com )
It's a rather interesting company and idea, that really makes some sense.  Here in Buenos Aires ANYTHING can be delivered.  From a cup of coffee to your whole grocery shopping cart of groceries.  So, this company has taken that and turned it into a comprehensive website of all deliveries in the neighborhood.  You can go to the website, choose your neighborhood, and then choose which type of food you want-see what options there are in your neighborhood, and order from them.  It's also in Spanish and English, which is really nice.  I think I'll be working with them to take calls as well as sign up restaurants in the area to be part of the website.  I think it'll be rather challenging...

The second is with a travel guide in Buenos Aires directed towards travelers or expats.  It's called Wander Argentina (http://wander-argentina.com/)  It's a site dedicated to helping people travel when they are here and see some of the off the beaten track places.  The girl who's doing the site is carrying a very heavy load on her own and needs some help with various things.  I think I might help her to write some articles, but realistically I'm better trained to help sell ad space on the website.  So, I might be trying to sell ads and links on the page.  Might be fun...

The third is a nanny job.  I have signed up and been accepted to World Class Nannies (http://www.worldclassnannies.com )  This is a little less permanent, which i think is good.  It could be as much as full time but could also be "gigs."  A lot of families down here are looking for nannies that can speak English with their children-which I could do. 

So...while I'm kind of out of luck with the other job, i do have other things lined up.  I'm going to work as much as I need to for rent and to get by, and thank my lucky stars I do have job(s).

A beauty consultant

Today my walk took some unexpected, funny turns. 

I have been passively looking for a perfume for a while now and so when I walked by someone handing out samples of a perfume, naturally I stopped to smell.  My stop ended up being much more than a smell of perfume; I got whisked away into a back room where I got the spiel of all the perfumes they had as well as hair creams and body creams and anything else you can imagine. 

After "trying" about 6 different perfumes on my arms I was feeling a little nauseated and decided it was time to leave.  The sales clerk had other thoughts.  On the way out the door we took a little detour and she took me into a room where there was a woman at a desk.  The woman stood up bright eyed, kissed me and asked me how I was-and called me her heaven. 

The two women proceeded to enlighten me on the benefits of selling perfume door to door in my neighborhood and how easily I could make as much as $2,000 pesos minimum a month.  That's what some people make with 8 hours of work they said!  I got a full detail of graphs, charts and how this is the best deal around.  Believe it or not, their perfumes were made right here in Buenos Aires in a factory and mimic the leading perfumes on the market for just a fraction of the cost.  (In the states we call that a knock-off). 

I patiently listened to their sales pitch and at the end was going to take their catalog to "think it over."   However, the catalog cost 3 pesos, which i didn't really want to spend.  Somehow I explained to them I wasn't quite the salesperson they were looking for and made it on my way. 

So, technically speaking I got a job offer?

I continued on my walk and made it to Chinatown!  The Chinatown here is very small-only about two blocks long, but it was interesting.  There were maybe 10-12 shops full of Chinese trinkets and clothes.  There was a grocery store as well that was fairly interesting.  They not only had Chinese imports, they had US and Mexican imports.  It was the first time I had seen Skittles and Sour Straws alongside Tabasco and enchilada sauce in Buenos Aires.

Store fronts in Chinatown

Chinatown is located in a neighborhood called Belgrano.  Belgrano is notorious for being a nicer part of town where people go to have families.  It was substantially nicer than I expected so I took a picture of a street.  While this may not come as a shock to anyone else-the streets there (including the sidewalks) are immaculately clean.  This cleanliness may only occur in this area of town, it was refreshing. 

Clean and residential street in Belgrano

Spring Day!

A sign on a bike

Yesterday was the first official day of spring here in Buenos Aires.  For us back in the states the first official day of spring is something to mention and be fairly excited about, but it really has no cause for disruption of the day.  Here it's much different. 

The first day of spring, or "spring day" is also known as students day.  It's a holiday where all the students (elementary to university) have off.  They all take to the streets and basically wreck havoc.  They also go to parks. 

So two of my roomates and I decided to check it out.  We went to a statue that we wanted to see here in Buenos Aires called the rose.  It's a really phenomenal statue of a rose that during the day the petals open up and at night closes-as many flowers would do.  It happens to be in a park. 




a band playing in the park

There were so many people at the rose and even more across the street at another park.  I don't think I've ever seen so many students in one place in my life. 

Thousands I bet

Walking the City

I've been kind of stuck in a precarious position this last week, which has forced me to do very little, other than sleep in late and walk around the city.  This so called precarious position is that I'm (hopefully) on the verge of hearing back from a company that I would really really like to work for.  The job is at a digital marketing firm (which is also the type of place I worked this summer and loved) and has all the bells and whistles.  It would include a visa, a salary, a year contract and is in a pretty cool part of town, not too far from where we live. So, I've had four interviews with them as well as a psychological test.  (I guess psychological tests are really common here.  Most employers require it.  John took one the other day that included looking at inkblot cards and the whole works.)  So I'm thinking there's a fairly good chance I'll get the job-but I am waiting for a response from them basically until I apply to too many other places.  While it's agonizing waiting for them to get back, it's been quite a nice break to sleep late, explore the city, read, cook...haha, running joke is my "housewife status." 

So, like every day today is no exception.  Woke up around 11:00, had some breakfast, checked my email, regretfully no email...and it's about time to go walking.  I've been picking different neighborhoods to explore.  Sometimes I'll walk all the way to the neighborhood, which could take me up to 2-3 hours; other times I'll take the subway and then walk around. 


I bet thousands show up every week



John and I hugging Malfada

As for the weekend-it's much different.  Johns off on the weekends so I'm able to have an accomplice to do nothing with-ha!  Yesterday we went to an artsy kind of town called San Telmo where we walked around a "feria" or a street fair and looked at all the handmade goods.  It's HUGE!  I've included a picture to see just how many people go to this fair-every Sunday! We also took a picture with Malfalda.  She is a little cartoon character that's really typical to Argentina and I guess it's good luck to take your picture with her.  I think she originated in this area of town but you can see her everywhere throughout Buenos Aires. 

I don't think my eyes were shut-just really sunny...

We also went to "La Casa Rosada" literally, the pink house-but it's their White House.  We just walked around outside the house and took some pictures.  I think it's open for tours on Sunday but we decided to save it for another day. 

Home!

I wanted to title this post "there's no place like home"  but while abroad i tend to hear it way too often.  I guess The Wizard of Oz is the only connection 99% of the world has to Kansas...



Map of some of the city-the red balloon is where we live



Anyhow, we found a place to live! It's in a district called Palermo.  Palermo is a super chic neighborhood in Buenos Aires with lots of little sidewalk cafes and boutique kind of shops.  We live only about 6 blocks from the metro-which is so so helpful!  We currently live with two Colombian girls and an American.  I believe in the next week or so a German guy will be moving in.  It's SO nice to live with other Spanish speakers-the American girl is basically fluent in Spanish, which is super nice!




the bed and bedroom

 

Our room is honestly so cool!  It's nice and spacious and has a little "breakfast nook"  if you will.  What they did is "remodel" the apartment by putting up a wall between the dining room and the living room and made the living room our bedroom...if that makes any sense.  I put remodel in quotes because the wall they put up is more like a small partition.  It makes for a great room though.  Here are some pictures to help explain. 



Our breakfast nook



 It's still a little cold here (coming out of winter) so during the day it's nice to open the windows, but at night we turn on the heater. 

The kitchen is great, stocked with all the pots and pans we could need.  We (really unfortunately) just missed a cook living here.  He moved out the day we moved in.  We're hoping he comes back around to hang out...



The other view of the kitchen

A kitchen view

View of the bedroom and the "nook"



...and in the beginning

We're here! 

I hope I will find the time down here to post stories, pictures, experiences, etc. about our new found Argentine life.  Follow along if you like, there might be some wild rides. 

I've called the blog "A Las Chapas."  It's (supposedly) a typical Argentine phrase that literally means "to the metals" or more appropriately, to go very fast.  I figured my life might be going pretty fast here, so it seemed appropriate.

The first days:

For some reason or another all jobs require mandatory physicals from a doctor.  John and I haven't figured that one out really, but since he has a job, he had to get a physical.  So the second day we were here we decided to get it taken care of.  This is how it goes:

We get to the Dr. office and it's on the third story of a building.  We go in and John gets some paperwork to fill out and a number, like on a ticket.  He fills out the paperwork and when they are ready to take the paperwork back from him, they call his number.  Of course they wouldn't want to be overloaded with people just willy nilly turning in paperwork or anything...

So he returns to the waiting room and sits down with me and we wait. 

Pretty quickly his name "martin" gets called and he disappears back with a nurse.  Not even 2 minutes later he returns and sits back down in the waiting room; they took a urine sample and told him to go back to wait. 

His name is called again and a different nurse whisks him away-again, returned in maybe 2 minutes.  This time they took x-rays. 

The third time he's called they take his blood.

The fourth time he's called he steps into a very small sound proof room and administer hearing tests.  It was kind of like in kindergarten when you push the button whenever you hear tones or high pitched sounds. 

The fifth time he's called they put electro pads to his chest and clamps to his ankles and wrists...to measure something...

The sixth time they play a round of cards (not really)

He's returned to the waiting room and this time waits for quite some time.  We watch Johnny Bravo participate in a lumberjack competition on TV and wait for the Dr.

After quite some time he goes to see the Dr and when he comes out says "I have a funny story for you."  The story entailed the 28 year old doctor asking a variety of questions (in a perfect American accent) what he was doing here, why he was learning Spanish, had he been robbed...and then asked him to friend him on facebook and that we were invited to a party on Friday.  Ha!

What a funny glimpse into a strange lifestyle here in Argentina. 


That's all for now.  I'll see if i can get some pictures up soon.