Yo estoy en el Instituto Malbran (Av. Velez Sarsfeild 567). Just had lunch with all of the people I am working with and now I have a bit of time before a meeting so I thought I'd update you on Buenos Aires. All really friendly and very patient with my lack of Spanish although I've realised I can usually get the major points of what they are saying without looking like a gombeen. Have a lot of work to do in order to be able to speak the lingo though but I've tried to explain that I'm not normally this quiet and the glazed over look in my eyes is a product of jetlag, pollution and confusion.
The mobile phone situation is terrible and the time difference (only 4 hours) sort of screws everything up. I have to pay to receive international calls which is a pain. Also even though I got a SIM it doesn't appear to be registering with any network. Oh well. Had a really good flight over with very little turbulence apart from a big thunderstorm over Uruguay. Not great when you can see the lightning beside the wing but I was still pretty knocked out to appreciate the danger. Managed to watch the Michael Fassbender film 'Shame' which is probably the worst movie to watch on a plan when one is surrounded by infants and old people. Great film though. Arrived at the hostel at about 10 on Wednesday night and was pretty knackered even though I slept from France to Brazil. The hostel was ridiculously loud and had no curtains. Apparently it's the party hostel but the party looked really lame and I had to be up early on Thursday morning.
Managed to wake up on time and trek across Buenos Aires with all of my luggage to find my new flat in "trendy" Palermo Hollywood. Took ages to find but once I did I met with the girl whose room I will be renting for the next 2 months and she was really friendly. Even spoke a bit of English which was a relief when it came to sorting out deposits and contracts. I'm living with one American (Elliott) who is the same age as me and is also over on a 2 month internship. He's a fluent Spanish speaker which came in very useful when shopping yesterday.
The political system here is very confusing and appears to impact every aspect of the local's lives. Basically a lot of Argentinians like to save in Dollars as its viewed as a more stable currency compared to the peso. Recently the government has cracked down on this as they want people to only use pesos. So when you go to the bank to change dollars to pesos they give you a really bad exchange rate (about 3.9) but on the black-market you can get about 5 pesos to the dollar. Makes a big difference over time so I'm sort of snookered until I figure out a way to deal with it. Might have to get more dollars Fed-Exed as I assume the bank are taking the piss with taking money out from the ATM. Thanks to this disastrous economic policy the country is in a lot of trouble. Massive debt coupled with falling tourist numbers is leading to a lot of anger towards President Kirchner. I'm working for the Argentinian government and it's interesting to chat to them about what is going on. Also I've already been told to avoid talking about las Malvinas (The Falklands) as it's a very touchy subject.
The weather is quite nice (about 20 degrees with some sun). The view from my flat is ridiculous. 18 stories up with a view over the whole city. Nice to wake up to. Still haven't got my bearings so don't really know where the best places are yet but I'm sure it will improve over time.
Made the commute to work on Friday morning which was a great big adventure. Had to find the metro stop and work out the best way to get to the other side of the city. Changed tubes and made it to my metro stop but when I left the station everything suddenly changed. Loads of dodgy looking individuals eyeing up my every move! Managed to find a policeman and he just told me to leave the area as it was too dangerous for tourists. Very exciting stuff. Obviously didn't listen to him (problems listening to authority) and walked around the neighbourhood for about 30 minutes trying to find the big road where my lab is based. Made it there in one piece but when I arrived and started chatting to some of the work colleagues they informed me that the station I got off at (Constitución) is probably the most dangerous in Argentina! Good to know for future reference.
The weather is quite nice (about 20 degrees with some sun). The view from my flat is ridiculous. 18 stories up with a view over the whole city. Nice to wake up to. Still haven't got my bearings so don't really know where the best places are yet but I'm sure it will improve over time.
Made the commute to work on Friday morning which was a great big adventure. Had to find the metro stop and work out the best way to get to the other side of the city. Changed tubes and made it to my metro stop but when I left the station everything suddenly changed. Loads of dodgy looking individuals eyeing up my every move! Managed to find a policeman and he just told me to leave the area as it was too dangerous for tourists. Very exciting stuff. Obviously didn't listen to him (problems listening to authority) and walked around the neighbourhood for about 30 minutes trying to find the big road where my lab is based. Made it there in one piece but when I arrived and started chatting to some of the work colleagues they informed me that the station I got off at (Constitución) is probably the most dangerous in Argentina! Good to know for future reference.
Anyway they directed me towards a bus which goes straight to my house from the lab so that should be easier in the future. Also the buses are mental. They don't have on bus company and every company operates their own routes. The buses only accept coins which is an inconvenience as there are no coins in the country. After the currency was devalued way back in 1999 everyone threw out their coins as they saw them as useless. Couldn't buy anything with them. However, the bus system is yet be upgraded to accept notes and nowhere gives you change.
I have only had one day at work but the project is shaping up to be very interesting. Had a meeting with one of the representatives from the Ministry of Health as I'm trying to get them to give me data for the whole country. They're not very keen on giving out the data especially to a foreigner! Think they might be trying to hide something but the rep from the MoH said she will give me the data if I hand over some money which seems a bit dodgy.
Visited the Irish pub down the road from my flat on Friday night with my flatmate but it didn't have a shred of Irishness about it. Normally never visit Irish pubs but figured it would be a good chance to see what Buenso Aires nightlife is all about. After a drink or two there we walked around to find another place to go and came across a good pub full or Argentinans. Still haven't made up my mind about the Argentian people. They're very like the British in the way that they're unlikely to start a conversation with you but are happy to chat if you start the conversation.
The language barrier is a bit of a pain and I seem to spend most of my time just saying "Entiendo" which means I understand. All the people at work are very patient so I just hope I'm not missing anything important. Had a bit of an awkward one at lunch on Friday when someone asked me if I spoke Spanish and I answered with "bambino" which means child instead of "pequeno" which means small. Managed to laugh it off but now I'll never make that mistake again.
My flat is beside a huge supermarket but as usual my cooking skills and commitment to cooking are lacking. Had about half a cow for lunch on my first day here but now it's back to cooking Bolognese over and over again washed down with some quality red wine.
Don't think I've left anything out but I plan on updating this relatively regularly. This Wednesday is a national holiday for Flag Day so there is no work. Will probably go to some big organised event to celebrate that as it seems to be a bit of a big deal and it's a good chance to try to meet the President!
My flat is beside a huge supermarket but as usual my cooking skills and commitment to cooking are lacking. Had about half a cow for lunch on my first day here but now it's back to cooking Bolognese over and over again washed down with some quality red wine.
Don't think I've left anything out but I plan on updating this relatively regularly. This Wednesday is a national holiday for Flag Day so there is no work. Will probably go to some big organised event to celebrate that as it seems to be a bit of a big deal and it's a good chance to try to meet the President!
