Staying in Argentina

So my internship has officially ended, but as you may have noticed, I am not back in the United States.  During my internship I did not have a chance to job search, so I figured, why come home now if I am just going to sit around on the computer for a couple of weeks searching and applying to jobs.  I can sit around here for a few weeks and search and apply to jobs.  My Spanish can still use some improving as well.  I also missed the summer in the U.S. so I am hoping to stick around so I can experience at least the Argentine spring. 

 

I do like it enough here that I will look for jobs either here in Argentina or in the U.S. (the closest to Kansas City the better.)  However, I would love a job in which I could travel and use my Spanish skills (though be it they are not perfect.)  Ideally I would like to use my economic and mathematics background as well, maybe something in finance.  Part of me also wants to do something crazy like work on a cruise ship for awhile.  Or just find whatever job that will pay me money in hang out in Argentina for awhile.  I guess we will see what happens in the coming weeks.

 

In October, I will be going to Chile for a week for a CFCA (Christian Foundation for Children and Aging) Mission Awareness Trip.  (www.cfcausa.org) It is the organization that I sponsor a couple of kids and they visit each of their sponsored countries and visit the projects.  There happens to be on in Chile in October and I figured it was so close, why not go?  Jean (my big sis) will meet me in Chile, then we will travel back across Argentine to Buenos Aires and in to Uruguay.  Jean will head home the 11^th and as of now I will be heading home on November 13^th.  We will see how all of that goes.  But as for the next few weeks I will be job searching and traveling around Argentina as I see fit.

 

Last Monday I moved out of my host families house.  I love them to death, but was starting to feel claustrophobic….they are a little too helpful and parenting.  For instance one of the last days I was there, I was hungry in the afternoon and made myself some soup.  Miriam (my host mom) came home while I was still cooking it.  She was very concerned that I was just going to eat soup.  She offered to make me a pizza or heat up leftover and told me she had pasta she could add.  She couldn’t accept the fact that I just wanted to make myself soup and just eat soup. 

 

I moved into an Argentine “pension”, which is an unexplainable mix between a shared house, dorm, and sorority house.  There are 12 girls in total and I share a room with two others.  There is a kitchen, dining room, study room and two bathrooms (but only one shower!, which doesn’t really matter to me as I have no particular schedule, and it doesn’t really seem to be a problem with anyone else either.)  They also have a computer with internet that is shared and supposedly wifi, though  I have been here a week and there is no wifi signal, they told me they will call to figure it out but haven’t done so yet.  My roommates are both really nice.  Isable, turned 24 two days after me, and Danielle I think is 25, so they are older (some girls are 18, mainly students live here.)  Another girl in the pension turned 24 the same day as I did.  She is also very nice and we went out together on our birthday.  I am sure I will have more fun “pension” anecdotes in the future.

 

Now that I am not living with Miriam I like her so much better.  She is such a great person that I can pretty much stop by anytime I want.  Last night I went to pick up some stuff I had left the night of my birthday.  I ended up knitting and staying for dinner until 11pm.  I am headed over there tonight again.  Miriam works super close to where I live now and she is going to walk home from work today, which is quite a walk and I told her I would walk with her.  I am hoping to finish the project I was knitting tonight.

 

Anyways, that is it for now.  Hope everyone is doing well, I miss you!!!

Internship Wrap-Up

My internship officially ended on Friday, September 12.  However, the week following I was more busy than I had been since I arrived.  I finished buying all the supplies for the comedor.  On Tuesday, the new group of interns came and painted the inside of the comedor (this time with a much better quality paint…or maybe it is because Fabian didn’t add water like they told him to, if you don’t add water, paint is less watery!)  On Wednesday afternoon I held the brief hygiene workshop.  I don’t know if they got much out of it.  I also wasn’t very prepared and am not much of an expert, so I am not sure if there was much to get out of it.  But if nothing else, at least now they spray bottles which they can fill with bleach solution to clean and a variety of new wash clothes and cleaning supplies that can be used.  I still need to buy a few more things with the money that is left, but am waiting to find out how much they need to buy materials to build the table.  Then I will know how much is left to buy the few small remaining items.

 

The following are accomplishments of my internship: 

 

1. Raised $445 from friends and relative in the United States to assist the comedor.

 

2. Bought needed basic kitchen supplies, cleaning supplies, and a cabinet to keep them safely stored.

 

3. Led a workshop on hygiene and cleanliness so food preparers would understand the importance of a clean kitchen and disinfecting work areas.

 

4. Made needed repairs to the panadería, including installation of electricity and sink, fixing cracked walls, fully closing the room, and laying fresh concrete on the floor.

 

5. Painted inside and outside of both the comedor and panadería.

 

 

Apart from the comedor, I also worked on creating an updatable database of Argentine resources to facilitate connections with short-term interns.  The database is still in the works, but I am in the process of collecting information from people who would like to volunteer their time to help with internship projects, or who can give helpful tips on where to find resources related to a particular area.  Once I have gathered several resources, I will work on putting them into an excel spreadsheet so that future interns can access the information and hopefully quickly find resources they are looking for.  I will also create it so that interns in the future to contribute to the growth of the database. 

!MUCHIÍSIMAS GRACIAS!

Thank you so much to everyone who donated to my internship project.  $445 was raised in total.  The money was used to buy many of the supplies needed.  Kitchen utensils include: good cutting knives (no more steak knives to chop potatoes!), spatulas, stirring spoons (no more nasty wooden ones!), potato peeler and shredder, can openers (see my blog on my can opening experience), plastic cutting boards (the wooden ones they were using were old and shedding splinters), and lighters for the stove.  Cleaning products were also bought so they can keep everything sanitized: sponges, wash clothes, and towels, brooms, mops, soap, and bleach to disinfect everything.  (I also held a short workshop on hygiene, so that all the women would be on the same page in terms of how to properly disinfect and clean their work areas and utensils.) 

 

A large cabinet was bought to store all the kitchen utensils, so that they would no longer be hung on the wall or places on a table (which is a large improvement seeing as the room is not fully sealed to outside critters.)  Materials were bought to fix one of the stove tops burners and to build a new one, they will also get materials to build a sturdy table in which to place the burners.  There was also enough money left over to buy concrete to lay a fresh sheet on the floor….the floor has lots of holes and was nearly impossible to sweep free of dust.  A new floor will also give a good study base to support the new tables.

 

Thanks to everyone who donated – you are all amazing, I appreciate it tons as do the women who will get to benefit from all the new supplies!

Staying in Argentina

So as some of you have already figured out, I have decided to stay in Argentina, “un ratito”, at least until the end of October.  As I do not have a job waiting for me in Kansas, I decided there wasn’t a huge reason to come rushing home.  I haven’t had a chance to travel yet and my Spanish could still use improving, and I am really not certain what it is I want to do “with the rest of my life” yet. J

 

My internship ends next Friday.  Hopefully, everything will pull together in the next week…we will see about that.  If not at least maybe I will be around to see some progress.  I am looking for a place to move to at that time.  My host family is great and they have offered to let me stay, but another intern is coming to work at my same comedor and he will be living with my family.  I want him to have the experience to live with a host family without another American living in the house.  Interns that stay for long periods of time usually move out of their host families homes after the first two months and live in a “pension” or rented room in house or apartment building, usually with students and usually in a shared room.  Two of the interns in my group are long-term interns and have already found a place to stay.  (Mary Andrews in a room in a house and Jennifer in a pension.) 

 

I will then spend the next couple of weeks doing “heavy duty” job searching.  What kind of job am I looking for?  I have yet to decide.  Where do I want to work?  I have yet to decide.  I am going to look for stuff both here and in the U.S., around the Kansas City area.  I may even look for stuff outside the KC area but still Midwestern….5 hours is a perfect weekend drive J. 

 

After applying to numerous jobs in numerous places, I will do some traveling (everyone knows you just have to wait around til someone calls you back anyway, why not enjoy Argentina in the meantime?)  Maybe John and Jean will come visit me, but I definitely will be traveling around.  Then in mid-October I will be going to Chile for a CFCA Mission Awareness Trip (check out their website, www.cfcausa.org for more info on sponsoring a child!)  Then  I will return to La Plata for a few days before flying back to the U.S., visiting Elise for a few days, then flying to KC on November 2.  That is my plan as of today.  But we all know I am fickle…we will see where the wind takes me!

Miriam’s Birthday

Thursday was Miriam’s birthday (my host mom).  A ton of people came to our house to celebrate.  Around 5:30 women from her work came and stayed til around 8:30, eating sweets and drinking mate.  Then for dinner was the more “intimate” crowd, the people that always come over for asados, Amber and Jenn’s host families, Patricia (neighbor friend), Vivi’s in-laws, etc. and we had hamburgers (very mediocre, which is the norm for hamburgers here.)  Miriam’s mother and sister also came (Susana, Miriam’s sister is Javier’s mom).

 

I am a terrible host daughter and did not get her a birthday present.  First off, I am generally late on getting presents, ask anyone I know.  Second I am not exactly sure what to get her.  I also am supposed to live in a couple weeks and wanted to do a really nice “goodbye” present.  I haven’t told her this yet, so she probably just thinks I suck as a person…

 

Javier’s family arrived on Thursday night as well, his mom, dad, and sister.  Claudio was right, Javi’s dad is impossible to understand, he mumbles and talks fast…and he likes to talk, so I missed a lot.  It is unfortunate I didn’t understand him very well, because he seemed to have interesting answers to a lot of the questions I asked.  Karina, Javi’s sister was very nice too, she is a clothing designer and getting ready to open her own store.  She brought some of her clothes, which were very cute, but didn’t fit me right L  And I love Javi’s mother, Susana, Miriam’s sister.  She was more “tranquilo” or calmer than Miriam.  She also seemed to understand the whole international thing…I am not stupid, but if you talk slower I can understand, and you have to explain expressions or look for others words to explain things.  I very much appreciated her.

 

On Saturday, Javi’s family, minus Javi, took me to Buenos Aires and we toured the La Boca and San Telmo areas.  I really liked it.  I think I would enjoy living in Buenos Aires….maybe that will happen soon.

Comedor Progress

Things are slowing starting to pull together in the panadería.  Daniel, Marta’s husband, had off this week so he was able to get some work done.  He tiled the concrete table and installed the sink, though water still need to be connected from the comedor side.  Things that still need to be done: tile backing to tile table (wall covering), water installation, lock on door, concrete cover on floor, metal bars on window, and chains drilled into floor to secure mixer. 

 

My latest challenge with the comedor is the quality of work that is being done.  I am really not satisfied with the work has been done (with the exception of the electricity my host father installed, which was awesome.)  I used part of my seeds fund budget ($200) to pay a guy to fill in cracks in the wall with concrete (because I thought it would get done faster that way, yeah right!)  The places where concrete were added look horrible.  Concrete is splattered all over wall and floor and it was not smoothed out after it was applied so there are very rough spots in the wall.  It looks really bad.  The concrete table is supported by three pillars of bricks that are all slightly tilted.  The sink that Daniel installed the other day is also supported by tilted bricks.  I did notice this as he was starting and was going to say something, but before I could he explained that it had to slant out because he miscalculated the distance they needed to be apart.  I also spent several hours painting the outside of the comedor a very light green color that did not really cover the rust underneath, which a water-based interior paint.  I didn’t even bother asking why.  I guess I just don’t feel criticizing what they are doing – and it is probably what they use to pain their own houses and who am I to say its not good enough – or not even worth doing.  This is my latest frustration.

 

We painted the comedor, inside and outside.  Both with thin, runny water based paint.  The outside we painted a dull green color and the inside white.  The paint doesn’t really cover well, the white reminded me of painting something with glue, kind of a translucent coat.  It really bothered me that we painted the outside with water based paint to.  However, I didn’t say anything, I don’t really feel qualified to criticize what they do.  Marta also confirmed today that it is the same paint that they used for their house, so I am glad I didn’t mention that for me the paint wasn’t good enough.  I just have to get used to the fact that things are done differently here, and if they are happy with the work, that is good enough, it is their comedor. 

Iguazú Falls

click on picture to see the rest of my photos!

I finally traveled!  August 18 was a holiday – San Martín Day, liberator of Argentina (and Chile and Paraguay?…)  So Amber, Mary Andrews, Kristin and I headed for Puerto Iguazú to see las cataratas (waterfalls).  These huge falls are along the Brazil/Argentine border.  They are not as tall as Niagara, but far more expansive.  See all my photos here!  Actually you will only see a selection of my photos as I took almost 300 while there!

 

 

 

 

Iguazú is in northern Argentine in Misiones province.  We opted for the cheaper bus ride, about $100 round trip (as opposed to $400 in plane) and 22 hour each way!  Definitely my longest bus trip.  Fortunately, since Miriam has taught me how to knit, I brought along plenty of wool and finished two projects.

 

Our bus leaving La Plata was four hours late, so we arrived in Iguazú Saturday afternoon instead of Saturday morning.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time to do anything.  However, we were fortunate enough to arrive during the full moon when they take night tours to the waterfall, so our first glimpse of the falls was at night.  It was huge and beautiful.  The mist was overwhelming and wind blew it towards us ensuring we were all soaked by the time we left.  We also saw a rainbow at night!  (Well that is what they told us it was.)  You could see a white arc, but there was not enough light to see the colors, it was pretty cool!

 

On Sunday we woke early and saw the waterfalls.  We pretty much saw everything there was to see in one day.  They were definitely beautiful and awing.  They were also very easily accessible.  We had to do a bit of walking, but no huge steps or walking down infinite number of stairs or steep slopes (as my experience was at numerous waterfalls in Costa Rica.)  There is also an island near the base of the falls, but there had been a lot of rain recently and the water was high, so the free ferry to the island was not running.  There were also boats that drove you near the base of the falls – so you could get the sensation of being wet.  But it was expensive and really didn’t look that impressive, so we saved our money.

 

Monday we turned around and hopped back on the bus for 22 more hours.  I enjoyed the falls, but was disappointed we couldn’t stay more time.  There are also old Jusuit Mission ruins relatively near that would have been nice to see.  Also, Missiones is the area where they grow yerba mate, the very popular tea like drink here.  It would have been fun to visit a plantation, but also not possible in a one and half day trip.  Maybe I will find myself back up that way some day…

Pics de mi Comedor!

Hi Everyone, I have attached pics of my comedor.

This is the gas tank and burners they use to cook all their food.

Outside of my comedor. the right door is the comedor and the left goes to the panaderia

Outhouse of the comedor, I have been told you need a bucket of water to flush the toiler…I do not know as I have never used it.

You can donate to the Argentine poor!

Dear Family and Friends,

 

In June of this year I accepted a three-month internship in Argentina through the Foundation for Sustainable Development (www.fsdinternational.org).  I am very interested in international microfinance/microenterprise and felt hands on experience within the field was essential.  I also welcomed the opportunity to travel abroad and strengthen my Spanish skills. 

 

I am currently living in La Plata, Argentina (about an hour outside of Buenos Aires) and working in a “comedor” which is a combination of a soup kitchen and community forum.  My primary responsibility is to work with a Panadería or bread bakery cooperative they are trying to implement.  Due to some delays in the bakery project I have also spent significant time with the soup kitchen. 

 

I am writing to ask for your help in raising funds for a project I am working on.  The soup kitchen lacks many basic cooking utensils that you couldn’t imagine cooking without.  A donation of just $5 to $20 would go a long way in helping these people purchase supplies they desperately need.  Donations will be used to purchase items such as:

 

• Cooking utensils
  • Knives
  • Cutting Boards
  • Stirring spoons
• Cloth products
  • Wash clothes
  • Towels
  • Aprons
  • Table clothes

 

• Cleaning Supplies
  • Soap
  • Disinfectant
  • Hand sanitizer
  • Steel wool
  • Sponges
• Tables
• Shelves
• Storage containers

If you are willing to donate, please see instructions below for mailing your donations, or paying online through PayPal.  Please send your donation by Friday, August 22, 2008 so that there is plenty of time for the FSD office to process the donations and get to me so I can make the needed purchases in Argentina.  As FSD is a 501(c)(3) all donations are 100 percent tax deductible.  The women of the comedor and I truly would appreciate your donation.

 

For more information on the specific projects I am working on, or the people I am working with, please feel free to contact me, I would love to share.  I am also keeping a blog (www.jacquelynk.wordpress.com) that has stories and pictures of both my work and life while living in Argentina.  Though I am enjoying my experience and learning a lot, I look forward to returning to the United States in September.

 

With love,

 

 

Jackie Koehler

 

 

CHECKS:  Make checks payable to ¨FSD International¨, please contact me for address to send checks.

Please write ¨Argentina – Jacquelyn Koehler¨ in the notes so that the money goes towards my project.

 

INTERNET via PayPal (you will need a PayPal account to complete the transaction – FSD keeps 5% of PayPal donations for processing expenses):            

Visit www.fsdinternational.org and click on ¨Donate¨ in the left column.  Scroll to bottom page and under ¨Project Development and Capacity Building Fund¨ click on ¨Donate¨  This will take you to a page where you can sign in to PayPal or sign up for an account.  Once you have logged in you can make a donation.  Make sure to in the notes to include ¨Argentina – Jacquelyn Koehler¨ to make sure that the money makes it to my project.

Monday, August 11, 2008

I finally met my host brother last weekend!  Santiago arrived on Thursday morning and stayed till Sunday night.  He is a student in Bahía Blanca about 8 hours south of La Plata along the coast.  He studies there as a mechanical engineering student.  Bahía Blanca is close to Tornquist, the small town where the family is from (everyone else moved up here about four years ago, but he had already started school there so he stayed.) 

 

He was very nice, I am glad I met him.  I am kind of sad he doesn’t live here all the time, because I think we would get along well.  He is not as shy as his sister, our conversations weren’t quite as strained as my conversations with Flor.  Flor is shy as am I, so our conversations are always difficult…and most of the time her boyfriend and friends are around, so she has other things to do.  With Santiago, he doesn’t live her full time, so he doesn’t have friends to go out with.  I did ask him and Flor to go out with my and the other interns several time over the weekend and he never went…it’s probably weird to go out with a bunch of foreigners anyway. 

 

Two of the interns, Samiron and Kristen only have two weeks left.  I can’t believe the time has gone by so quickly!  I on the other hand only have four weeks left.  Everyday I struggle with should I stay or go?  I miss everyone of course (especially Colton and Clayton….no offense to anyone else J ).  But I also feel like I could still use to improve my Spanish.  I also wouldn’t mind traveling around more.  I guess we will see what happens!

 

GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT AT THE COMEDOR!!!

On Friday, Claudio (my host dad) made Santiago go with him to the comedor to install all the electricity.  We went about 9:30 (shortly after the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics, we saw a small part of it).  Claudio thought it would take about 2 hours to install the electricity…we were there until 3:30, that is six hours for those of you who don’t want to calculate it!  However, he did an awesome job!  In the comedor/cooking side of the building, the electricity consists of the wiring strung around the room to whatever location it needs to reach, not necessarily following a hard surface, so in several places there are hanging wires.  Claudio brought his own materials and used plastic tubing that he affixed to the walls and then strung the wires through so that they were not exposed. 

 

Anyway I was pretty impressed.  He also brought some of his own light fixtures, some heavy duty ones with a “turtle” shell covering to prevent it form breaking easily (in the comedor side, the outside light is a bulb with a cut off top of a pop bottle surrounding it).  Claudio also told my supervisor that he would come back this week to rewire the comedor so that the wires are not exposed.  Hopefully he has time to do it…who knows I might become an electrician expert by the time I leave.  I need to figure out how to repay him.  Not only did he give his time, most of the supplies he used were his and not the ones that had been previously bought by the comedor, mainly because his way of doing things was better.  Unfortunately I do not think it is as easy as asking him to write me a bill, I think I will have to convince him to write a bill.