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!