I do work here, honest!

Contrary to what some people appear to believe I am actually working here in BA. Apparently because there are currently no pictures of BA on my facebook some of you have your doubts that I’m even in BA and think I’m just gallivanting about the country and making weekend trips to Uruguay (because that IS documented on facebook and facebook is of course the law – if it’s not facebook official it’s not official after all. What crap. If you ask me, we (and I do include myself in this) should all stop wasting so much of our lives on facebook and go out and experience the real world some more. But you didn’t so I’ll move on.)

Anyway at risk of falling into the narcissistic trap of using this blog to go on about myself (which is not my aim)or as a vent for nothing more than mundane ramblings I will briefly account for my actions the last few months. I arrived with nowhere to stay and no plans other than “find a job so I can afford to eat”. Actually I lie, I did have a bit more of a plan than that, it was more like “find a job that pays well enough that I can afford to eat steak…a lot.” So anyway I’ve ended up living with said Argie at-first-strangers-now-friends of the long winded connection sort.

I work for an IT company in the rather nice but far too expensive to buy my lunch there part of the city that is Puerto Madero, the harbour. The company is expanding to do more business in the US and hopefully Europe so wanted someone to translate stuff from Spanish to English, proof read existing material in English and do an English version of their website. Proofreading technical IT manuals is not exactly the highlight of my day but perks are my hours are flexible so I can pretty much turn up and leave when I want, I work from home some days, speak Spanish in the office, get paid and It’s not quite full time so I have time for other things such as…

The English classes that I teach. A couple a week to some of the guys who work for the IT company and some for another company that just wanted a native speaker to give conversation classes to its staff. The rest of my week/weekend after that is made up doing touristy stuff around the city (museums, markets, sightseeing, the odd day trip out to the provinces to escape the city, mate in a park or coffee with friends, prep for classes, intercambios (language exchanges) with a few of my Argie friends, frequenting the odd milonga or tango class, going to the theatre, a bar or boliche etc. It’s a hard life.

I looked into various volunteer work things as well but had to wait till I knew how much time my job and classes would take up then either bureaucracy stuff didn’t work out or I now can’t dedicate enough time to it as I’m leaving for Peru in a month. Bit annoyed with myself about that but there we go. (Failing to volunteer I mean not going to Peru). The deal with Peru is I’ve decided to go back to Pisco where I did some volunteer work 3 years ago after the earthquake and visit the families we lived with, see some old friends and visit the previous projects we worked on. It means this last month in BA is going to be a little crazy as I have to do extra classes and work to make up for the fact I said I’d still be here for the whole of June but it’ll be worth it! VERY excited to be going back to Peru. :D So, next blog entry could well be about Peru rather than Argentina but at least you now know that I really am here!

You fly to the other side of the world and your bedside reading is…"Frome – A Special Town".

I kid you not. So in other words, literature about a town 15 minutes down the road from where I just came from!

For those who have never heard of Frome it’s a little town in Somerset. Anyone reading this who is not from Somerset might not find it that interesting so perhaps go read someone else’s blog, muse over what to eat for dinner, trim your toenails or whatever form of procrastination/timewasting that so takes your fancy. Those who are from Somerset will know that views on this town range from it being “quaint and full of history” to “a bit inbred and chavvy”. I shall not pass judgment as I do not wish to become embroiled in a debate between “Froomies” and “Non-froomies”! (Being an Ex-froomie myself I have somewhat conflicting allegiances!)

Anyway the story behind my finding myself in Argentina with a book on my bedside table (which would actually be the floor but for the sake of this blog we’ll just say I have a bedside table) that recounts the “delights” of Frome is this:

Here in BA I live with 2 Argentine friends who I didn’t know from Adam before I came here but who my family has an extremely long winded, tenuous connection with (our neighbours’ daughters’ husbands’ parents’ friends’ daughter. Actually…I’m not kidding, that genuinely is it!) Anyway the first thing I noticed on the bookshelf in the room I’m staying in when I arrived was the afore mentioned book about Frome. The explanation for this is that the neighbours’ daughter I mention above lives in Frome. I had a quick flick through this book – some examples of a few of the chapter titles are:

“What’s so special about living in Frome?”

“An outstanding Education”

“Commerce transformed”

“Employment prospects”

“Frome at play”

“The media are alert and alive”

And other such intriguing titles. Interested? Want to affirm, contest or reminisce over some of what is implied here? Well you can pop over to Argentina then and ask my friends if you can borrow it! Perhaps the world is a lot smaller than we think after all!

Better late than never... i'm working on Argentine time now!

Yes i know i’ve been here 3 months and have only just got round to posting a blog entry. I could bore you with excuses (I’ve been too busy, had limited internet access, the dog ate my first attempt) but quite frankly I don’t have one.

So Buenos Aires... where on earth do you start? There are already like a million blogs, articles, travel pieces etc on the internet about BA. Some rave about how it’s a party city that never sleeps where you don’t think about stumbling out of your 24/7 party hostel and going to a bar until about 11pm and then God forbid that you should get to a boliche (club) before 3am! That would mean shaking your hips to all that Reggaeton for a fair few hours (you’re unlikely to get home before 6 or 7am).

Some focus on the rich abundance of art, culture, theatre, dance and music - whether it’s an account of the numerous museums, art exhibitions and libraries or a critique of a show at one of the multitude of theatres that line Avenida Corrientes. Perhaps they mention La Bomba del Tiempo, a drum show that takes place every Monday night without fail in Abasto with a different guest each week. (I have to say it is pretty cool!) Or perhaps the Feria de Libros, the biggest book fair in the Spanish speaking world held in BA every year (BA was appointed World Book Capital 2011 by UNESCO doncha know) or El Ateneo – a majestic bookshop in an old theatre!

This brings us on to what Carlos Gardel would turn in his grave if we forgot to mention… Tango! Whether that be a slightly staged, touristy version you’ve glimpsed in Caminito in La Boca, an expensive show with dinner or some of the real, passionate, gritty stuff you stumbled upon at an authentic milonga.

Some accounts of the city may be the produce of someone who’s spent their time volunteering here or who shunned the glitz of the inner city and spent time in the appalling poverty of the Villas (some say well on their way to becoming as notorious as the favelas of Rio – not a good thing) that surround the outskirts of the city. These authors who are certainly not the owners of a pair of rose tinted spectacles might also mention the high crime levels and violence of the city and its provinces. They won’t just tell you about the impressively skillful pick pockets or guys who will gladly “look after” your car wherever you decide to park it for a small fee (you better pay them if you don’t want to come back and find it mysteriously vandalized. They’ll also fill you in on the darker side of the city: mafia gangs, women being set on fire (surprisingly standard domestic violence), kidnappings, as well as all the standard drugs, muggings, attacks, you get the idea.

Some wax lyrical about the aesthetics of the city.

Beautiful parks, lakes, the brand new glamour of Puerto Madero the harbour area, the boho boutique-café-or-bar-on-every-corner area that is Palermo, the hustle and bustle and shiny high rise buildings of the Microcentro, the almost Parisian feel of Recoleta, chilled out leafy Belgrano, multicoloured La Boca, artesan and old fashioned San Telmo, landmarks such as the Obelsik on the 10 lane death trap that is Avenida 9 de Julio, Recoleta Cemetry, the Flor de Metal, the list goes on and on.

Those who appreciate the pleasures of the city with their taste buds rather than their eyes focus on the gastronomic offerings of the city. Asados, parrillas, (bbqs Argie style where there is simply SO MUCH MEAT), milanesas (a cut of meat or sometimes compacted veg covered in breadcrumbs and fried) , empanadas (bit like small Cornish pasties), picadas and fiambres (salami, chorizo, hams, cheeses, olives, pickles, crackers and bread all laid out on a board), locro (a hearty stew), alfajores (two pieces of biscuit with dulce de leche in the middle covered in chocolate), dulce de leche, medialunas (moon shaped croissants) and other pastries, cakes and delicacies, wine, fernet -THE argentine alcoholic drink-(have it with LOTS of coke if you don’t want a face that looks like you just had to eat nailvarnish remover mixed with fermented vinegar) and of course mate!

Or finally they might fill you in on the daily life of a Porteño. Battles with the rush hour traffic to get to work (it may be cheap but with there being some form of strike or demonstration blocking a road almost every other day your chances of said mode of transport actually getting you to your destination on time may well be slim). Café-ing it up and with your café con leche and medialunas at Merienda time (4/5pm tea). If you’re a student, going to uni for your 3-4 hours of classes, typically between 7 and 11pm and yes, that is quite likely to be after you’ve already been at work since 9am. Dinner, consisting of lots of meat and not so many vegetables (a generalisation but often the case) either at home or out with friends at 11 ish perhaps. Then, depending on the day of the week, perhaps a bit of studying, tv, family time, out to a bar with friends or even a brief siesta before heading to a boliche around 2 or 3am. Yeah that's right, you live here for a while and you learn to function on a lot less sleep.

So there’s not a lot left for me to tell you about really is there... You could just go read one of those.