In the US, especially corporate America, job discrimination is a huge deal. If you even give the interviewee a peculiar look, you're going to get sued for discrimination of some type or another.
Not so in Argentina.
In my human resources class, we recently talked about the hiring process and all that other jazz. The professor was talking about the hiring of different positions and we eventually got the secretaries. The conversation went something like this:
P for professor and M for me.
P- So, what are you looking for when you hire a secretary? You want a nice young lady who can get the job done. I'd say somewhere between 20 to 30 years old.
M- What, so you're saying that you can hire based on age and sex?
P- (Confused) Of course, everyone knows that women make the best secretaries. It's obvious.
M- But what if you have a guy who really wants to be a secretary?
P- Honestly, what guy wants to be a secretary?
M- But that's not the point, if you want to be a secretary, you're a guy, and you're qualified, you should get the job.
P- Yes, but no guys want to be secretaries. Also, what kind of boss wants a male secretary.
M- But isn't that discrimination?
P- Yeah, but it's not a big deal.
He just honestly didn't understand where I was coming from, so I eventually just quit trying.
On ALL the job posing websites here, directly after the requirements for education and experience, they have an age limit and whether it's a job for a male or female. Also, the majority of positions in the service industry require that you attach a photo to your resume. They hire based on looks too.
Another crazy thing they do here during the hiring process is come to your house to meet your family and have a look at the environment you're coming from. They'll talk with your family, have a look around your house and room, ask your neighbors questions about you, all to "make sure you're not about to hire some crazy guy with a communist flag hanging on the wall in his room."
Once again, I couldn't believe my ears when he was saying this. I raised my hand, and in disbelief asked if he was serious. Everyone in the class turned around and was shocked to find out that in the US, your future employer can't send an inspector to your house.
Pretty crazy if you ask me.
Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Friday, November 14, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Nice and Sharp!!!
Got a package from Mumsy the other day, and I just bite into a nice thick slice of Wiconsin Sharp Cheddar. I've never been more happy in my life. After 9 months of horribly bland cheese here, eating some quality Wisconsin cheese put a smile on my face. The homemade cookie bars were great too. Thanks mumsy for the package!!!
Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Summer Here I Come!!!
Just got this e-mail from my academic adviser at school! Woo-Hoo!!!
____________________________________________________________________
Hi Patrick,
Just a quick note to confirm receipt of your Leave of Absence form. I've entered it into the system, effective Spring 2009.
When you're ready to return to school, please email me again and I'll have you complete the Readmission form. Also, as an FYI, registration for both summer and fall courses typically takes place in April, so March would be a good month to take care of your readmission paperwork.
Enjoy your extra time in Argentina!
Best,
Laurie
_____________________________________________________________________
Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina
____________________________________________________________________
Hi Patrick,
Just a quick note to confirm receipt of your Leave of Absence form. I've entered it into the system, effective Spring 2009.
When you're ready to return to school, please email me again and I'll have you complete the Readmission form. Also, as an FYI, registration for both summer and fall courses typically takes place in April, so March would be a good month to take care of your readmission paperwork.
Enjoy your extra time in Argentina!
Best,
Laurie
_____________________________________________________________________
Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Monday, November 10, 2008
Spring and the traffic system
As you´ve all noticed, the blogs have been coming at a much slower rater lately. As I continally say, I´ve quit being a traveler in the city, and I´ve started becoming a citizen. I´m no longer amazed by the weekly protests by unions, student groups, teachers, inmigrants, etc. It´s just the same old same old. I still enjoy the sight of a huge group of citizens marching down main streets with flags and drums, and I still jump whenever they launch M80 fireworks into the air, but now it´s normal. I just keep on doing what I´m doing.
The weather has really taken a turn for the better lately. Spring came about nice and slowly, the days slowly got warmer and the sun started to stay out a bit longer. However, from one week to the next, it became summer. It´s just a heat wave, they say, but it has gotten REALLY hot and humid down here. 85 degree days and blue skies are what I´m waking up to every morning. I think it must be cloudy once every two weeks here. However, with the heat and humidity, comes the increase in air density. All the pollution in the city hangs a lot lower in the air, and I can definitely see significant increases in the smog levels, etc. I´ve never had allergies before, but i´m pretty sure all the smog has given me a consistent runny nose.
School is coming to a close. All in all, it has been a good experience, but I really enjoy the US school system a lot more. It´s much more organized and rigourous, and you know what you´re supposed to learn. Here, classes don´t always have a very defined structure, and you just kind of listen to what the professor says, and hope you can remember it when you have your test. Speaking of tests, almost all of my classes have just one, oral, final exam. We sit down with the professor and we tell them what we know. They decide if we pass or not. It´s pretty intimidating, especially when students have up to three chances to pass the final with the professor. I know I´ll get through them decently, but it´s definitely more relaxing to have a USA-style final exam, and know exactly what kind of grade you need to pass the class. It´s just another one of those efficiency things. I love living here, but efficiency just doesn´t exist. Lines in super markets can last 45 minutes, and no one seems to take notice. Any US citizen here IMMEDIATELY learns the times when you can go to the super market and not spend an ungodly amount of time waiting. Whatever people say, we have efficiency and working rules in the USA, and I miss it.
Speaking of these rules, I´ll give you a little taste. Throughout the entire city of Buenos Aires, you might be able to count a handful of stopsigns. If the street isnt a main thoroughfare(which has a stoplight), there is no way to metering traffic. Cars, at night time, will drive towards unprotected intersections, flash their lights(because they don´t find it necessary to use headlights) and bomb through the intersection. They expect the other cars to stop. If two cars meet at the same time, they both creep along until someone gives some gas, and goes. You can ALWAYS here tires screeching on the pavement because someone expected the other guy to stop. It the heart of downtown, in probably the most congested are of the city, there are no stop signs. Cars, buses, and motorbikes beep and honk their way through the traffic. The simple placement of two stopsigns at every intersection would make like ridiculously more easy. However, they wouldn´t respect the sign. Red lights don´t really matter if its nighttime, and cops are too busy cat-calling girls to pull people over for breaking traffic laws. If you get a traffic ticket, you either bribe your way out of it, or, after you get it, you drive away and throw it out the window. There is no way of enforcing the rules, so no one gives a shit.
That´s my only real rant about Buenos Aires. The system of transportation monitoring is absolutely horrible, but people have gotten used to car accidents being a common thing. Stop signs, simple metal objects that could change the entire way this city drives. Motorbikes fly between cars, and no one follows the speed limit. If teh cops started busting people like they do in the states, or had speed traps, and actually ENFORCED the fines, maybe take away driving privledges for months at a time, this city could really turn itself around.
Hope you enjoyed that little gem. I´ll write more on the positive side sometime soon...maybe tonight.
patrick
Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina
The weather has really taken a turn for the better lately. Spring came about nice and slowly, the days slowly got warmer and the sun started to stay out a bit longer. However, from one week to the next, it became summer. It´s just a heat wave, they say, but it has gotten REALLY hot and humid down here. 85 degree days and blue skies are what I´m waking up to every morning. I think it must be cloudy once every two weeks here. However, with the heat and humidity, comes the increase in air density. All the pollution in the city hangs a lot lower in the air, and I can definitely see significant increases in the smog levels, etc. I´ve never had allergies before, but i´m pretty sure all the smog has given me a consistent runny nose.
School is coming to a close. All in all, it has been a good experience, but I really enjoy the US school system a lot more. It´s much more organized and rigourous, and you know what you´re supposed to learn. Here, classes don´t always have a very defined structure, and you just kind of listen to what the professor says, and hope you can remember it when you have your test. Speaking of tests, almost all of my classes have just one, oral, final exam. We sit down with the professor and we tell them what we know. They decide if we pass or not. It´s pretty intimidating, especially when students have up to three chances to pass the final with the professor. I know I´ll get through them decently, but it´s definitely more relaxing to have a USA-style final exam, and know exactly what kind of grade you need to pass the class. It´s just another one of those efficiency things. I love living here, but efficiency just doesn´t exist. Lines in super markets can last 45 minutes, and no one seems to take notice. Any US citizen here IMMEDIATELY learns the times when you can go to the super market and not spend an ungodly amount of time waiting. Whatever people say, we have efficiency and working rules in the USA, and I miss it.
Speaking of these rules, I´ll give you a little taste. Throughout the entire city of Buenos Aires, you might be able to count a handful of stopsigns. If the street isnt a main thoroughfare(which has a stoplight), there is no way to metering traffic. Cars, at night time, will drive towards unprotected intersections, flash their lights(because they don´t find it necessary to use headlights) and bomb through the intersection. They expect the other cars to stop. If two cars meet at the same time, they both creep along until someone gives some gas, and goes. You can ALWAYS here tires screeching on the pavement because someone expected the other guy to stop. It the heart of downtown, in probably the most congested are of the city, there are no stop signs. Cars, buses, and motorbikes beep and honk their way through the traffic. The simple placement of two stopsigns at every intersection would make like ridiculously more easy. However, they wouldn´t respect the sign. Red lights don´t really matter if its nighttime, and cops are too busy cat-calling girls to pull people over for breaking traffic laws. If you get a traffic ticket, you either bribe your way out of it, or, after you get it, you drive away and throw it out the window. There is no way of enforcing the rules, so no one gives a shit.
That´s my only real rant about Buenos Aires. The system of transportation monitoring is absolutely horrible, but people have gotten used to car accidents being a common thing. Stop signs, simple metal objects that could change the entire way this city drives. Motorbikes fly between cars, and no one follows the speed limit. If teh cops started busting people like they do in the states, or had speed traps, and actually ENFORCED the fines, maybe take away driving privledges for months at a time, this city could really turn itself around.
Hope you enjoyed that little gem. I´ll write more on the positive side sometime soon...maybe tonight.
patrick
Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Keep On Keepin´ On
Sorry for quoting such a cliche lyric, but it just came to me, like most cliches things, which most people reject using, pop into one´s mind. However, it´s rather fitting for the situation.
So, what have I been doing lately. Well, for one thing, I speak pretty good spanish right now. As I was telling Dad the other day, I was hanging out with a friend in a park, and we were just talking, back and forth, about this and that. After a while, it just kind of hit me, that I was having a good conversation with someone, completely in spanish. It was a cool feeling to remember back in April and May, when having a conversation was incredibly stressful, and you kind of wanted to run the other way. Much like Adrian back in the States, I feel that I´m in the sponge stage. Instead of hearing a super long word, I can now pick out each sound, and that super long word turns out to be a sentence. At this point, seeing as I can hear the words, I can start to figure out words via context clues. However, sometimes, like Lindsay said, it´s very easy to just block out the words that you don´t understand, because you understand the general idea of what the person is saying. I need to start really training my ear to pick out the words and make sure I really listen, rather than just pull out the main idea. All in all, it´s very cool. I´m learning. I remember just being amazed watching Holly and Lindsay speak this foreign language after they came back from their studies abroad, and now, I´m part of the cool kids group. When we all get back, it´ll be the United Nations of Spanish Speakers. I speak like a Porteño, Holly like a Mexican, Lindsay like a Colombiana, Adrian is Colombia, and Juan Felipe rounding out the group with Salvadorean.
So, I´ll clue you all in on my plans now. Here´s how it goes down. Classes end the first week of December. Now, it would be possible for me to come home in early December, and start school back in Minneapolis in January. However, when thinking about this, I get sick. December will be the start of 4 glorious months of summer vacation with my friends. There is no way I could leave warm sunny Argentina at the start of summer, to return to cold, miserable Minneapolis at the start of a grueling winter. The mixture of reverse culture shock and change in lifestyle/temperature would put me over the edge. So...I´ll be staying in Argentina until around March or April. After classes end, I plan on getting a a job at a hotel as either a bellboy or a catering worker. Lots of English-speakers come down here, and hotels look for extremely handsome, well-versed native english speakers, so it looks like I have that job all wrapped up! It´ll be nice to make some tips in greenbacks. Haven´t seen any of those in a while.
Besides that, all is pretty well. Being down here, I see business ideas left and right. So many possibilites for tourism and so much new money available. I think it´d be interesting to come back here after graduating and seeing if I could get something set up. Like Dad said, after 4 months at a nice hotel, I very well could meet some successful local business people who are looking for business students. That, OR, get a job with a US company down here, and get paid in dollars. If you can make around US$30,000 a year, you´re living REALLY well off. Steak and wine every night of the week if you wanted.
Probably time I should wrap this up, but one thing, can SOMEONE please send me SOMETHING! I don´t even care if it´s just a random postcard. I´ve been here for seven months, and the only letters I´ve received came from my University´s Office of Transcripts. So, I pose a challenge to those who read my blog. Maybe you know me and are a friend, maybe you´re a fellow study abroad student, or maybe some blogger from England. Either way, I´d love to get some mail. If you write me, I´ll write back!!!
IES Buenos Aires
c/o Patrick Jones
Carlos Pellegrini 1069, Piso 13
C1009ABU, Buenos Aires
Argentina
I´ll try to write a little more often. Feels good to let ya´ll know what I´m up to. Two friends and coworkers from the Loring are coming down to my part of the world. Brett is currently in Peru, and is slowly making his way to Buenos Aires. Brittney is somewhere in Europe, but is meeting Brett in La Paz and joining him on his way to Buenos Aires. If either of you read this, prepare for greatness! Buenos Aires is absolutely amazing. You´re going to be here during, in all likelihood, the most beautiful time of the year.
Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina
So, what have I been doing lately. Well, for one thing, I speak pretty good spanish right now. As I was telling Dad the other day, I was hanging out with a friend in a park, and we were just talking, back and forth, about this and that. After a while, it just kind of hit me, that I was having a good conversation with someone, completely in spanish. It was a cool feeling to remember back in April and May, when having a conversation was incredibly stressful, and you kind of wanted to run the other way. Much like Adrian back in the States, I feel that I´m in the sponge stage. Instead of hearing a super long word, I can now pick out each sound, and that super long word turns out to be a sentence. At this point, seeing as I can hear the words, I can start to figure out words via context clues. However, sometimes, like Lindsay said, it´s very easy to just block out the words that you don´t understand, because you understand the general idea of what the person is saying. I need to start really training my ear to pick out the words and make sure I really listen, rather than just pull out the main idea. All in all, it´s very cool. I´m learning. I remember just being amazed watching Holly and Lindsay speak this foreign language after they came back from their studies abroad, and now, I´m part of the cool kids group. When we all get back, it´ll be the United Nations of Spanish Speakers. I speak like a Porteño, Holly like a Mexican, Lindsay like a Colombiana, Adrian is Colombia, and Juan Felipe rounding out the group with Salvadorean.
So, I´ll clue you all in on my plans now. Here´s how it goes down. Classes end the first week of December. Now, it would be possible for me to come home in early December, and start school back in Minneapolis in January. However, when thinking about this, I get sick. December will be the start of 4 glorious months of summer vacation with my friends. There is no way I could leave warm sunny Argentina at the start of summer, to return to cold, miserable Minneapolis at the start of a grueling winter. The mixture of reverse culture shock and change in lifestyle/temperature would put me over the edge. So...I´ll be staying in Argentina until around March or April. After classes end, I plan on getting a a job at a hotel as either a bellboy or a catering worker. Lots of English-speakers come down here, and hotels look for extremely handsome, well-versed native english speakers, so it looks like I have that job all wrapped up! It´ll be nice to make some tips in greenbacks. Haven´t seen any of those in a while.
Besides that, all is pretty well. Being down here, I see business ideas left and right. So many possibilites for tourism and so much new money available. I think it´d be interesting to come back here after graduating and seeing if I could get something set up. Like Dad said, after 4 months at a nice hotel, I very well could meet some successful local business people who are looking for business students. That, OR, get a job with a US company down here, and get paid in dollars. If you can make around US$30,000 a year, you´re living REALLY well off. Steak and wine every night of the week if you wanted.
Probably time I should wrap this up, but one thing, can SOMEONE please send me SOMETHING! I don´t even care if it´s just a random postcard. I´ve been here for seven months, and the only letters I´ve received came from my University´s Office of Transcripts. So, I pose a challenge to those who read my blog. Maybe you know me and are a friend, maybe you´re a fellow study abroad student, or maybe some blogger from England. Either way, I´d love to get some mail. If you write me, I´ll write back!!!
IES Buenos Aires
c/o Patrick Jones
Carlos Pellegrini 1069, Piso 13
C1009ABU, Buenos Aires
Argentina
I´ll try to write a little more often. Feels good to let ya´ll know what I´m up to. Two friends and coworkers from the Loring are coming down to my part of the world. Brett is currently in Peru, and is slowly making his way to Buenos Aires. Brittney is somewhere in Europe, but is meeting Brett in La Paz and joining him on his way to Buenos Aires. If either of you read this, prepare for greatness! Buenos Aires is absolutely amazing. You´re going to be here during, in all likelihood, the most beautiful time of the year.
Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Life Is Great!!!
Hey ya'll,
Just to let you know, I'm unbelievably happy with my life in Buenos Aires right now. I'm living in a great apartment with two really fun young Mexican guys who are living in Buenos Aires and going to school. I barely speak English and it feels great. It's not like last semester where I was speaking more English than Spanish. Now it's 100% the opposite. My classes are all going great, and the professors are all very accomodating to the foreigners in class, which consists of me and four Germans, who I have become good friends with. I've met a lot of people through my school, the Universidad Museo Social Argentino, and we are hanging out a lot. It's part of a language exchange that the school does and I've become good friends with two of my language partners. All in all, life is going really well. I'm not writing as much as I was last semester because I'm having too much fun to sit down and write it all down. Just know that this semester is amazing and I'm enjoying every second. PLUS, Spring is on the way and every day is a bit warmer, with a bit more sun. Life is good!!
Your Argentine Connection,
Patrick
Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Just to let you know, I'm unbelievably happy with my life in Buenos Aires right now. I'm living in a great apartment with two really fun young Mexican guys who are living in Buenos Aires and going to school. I barely speak English and it feels great. It's not like last semester where I was speaking more English than Spanish. Now it's 100% the opposite. My classes are all going great, and the professors are all very accomodating to the foreigners in class, which consists of me and four Germans, who I have become good friends with. I've met a lot of people through my school, the Universidad Museo Social Argentino, and we are hanging out a lot. It's part of a language exchange that the school does and I've become good friends with two of my language partners. All in all, life is going really well. I'm not writing as much as I was last semester because I'm having too much fun to sit down and write it all down. Just know that this semester is amazing and I'm enjoying every second. PLUS, Spring is on the way and every day is a bit warmer, with a bit more sun. Life is good!!
Your Argentine Connection,
Patrick
Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
A Brief Hiatus
Hey everyone,
Well, Colombia was a great experience. I had a great time with the family for the first week in Bogota. Jimmy got there the second week and we really started tearing it up. Adrian's family is absolutely amazing and I had a great time. However, now I'm back in Buenos Aires and life is even better.
The first four months in BsAs were very fun, but it still like I was this new study-abroad student. However, after taking a month off and getting away from the city for awhile, it feels so much more like home to come back. I've moved out of rich, touristy, old-money Recoleta, and I'm currently living on the border of Palermo Viejo and Almagro. Both of these barrios have a really great vide, or as they say in BsAs, buena onda. I'm not surrounded my tons of clothes stores and expensive tourist restaurants anymore. I'm just living in a really Buenos Aires-ish barrio now, and I'm super happy. If you come here, you'll see what I mean.
I am also living with some new roommates. I had a good time with Sylvia and Carlos, but it was kinda like living with my grandma and her really old stay-at-home son. Either way, it was an experience and I have quite the stories to tell from those first four months. Now, however, I'm living with two young Mexicans who are living in the city. One of them is a chef and the other is in culinary school. We'are always cooking something good, hanging out with our friends, and just chilling. It's so nice to have my freedom back again. I can play music loud, I can cook my own meals, and I can invite my friends over for drinks....life is good.
My spanish has come along amazingly. It had to be the month of intense spanish in Colombia, but wow. I recently saw an Ecuadorian friend of mine whom I hadn't seen in a couple months because of school. When we were hanging out in May, my spanish was pretty miserable. However, two weeks ago, I went to her place to have drinks with her, and her Colombian friend. Well, Carolina was making drinks and her friend and I were just talking about my trip in Colombia. Midway through the conversation, Carolina comes out of the kitchen and basically yells, "Patrick, your spanish. It's amazing! I can't believe how much better is it." I never noticed it getting better, but it's those really slow changes that take someone you haven't seen in awhile to notice. Also, all the IES(my program) staff were thoroughly impressed by my increased level. Now, living with my roommates, taking all my classes at the spanish-speaking university, and living a mostly spanish-speaking lifestyle, I'm really confident I'll just keep getting better.
There you have it. A little update on what's going down in Buenos Aires. I'll post pictures soon. I'm pretty much the slowest picture poster ever.
With love from the 34th parallel south of the Equator,
Patrick
ps- I have a place for people to crash now if anyone is looking to come to BsAs? Everyone says that spring here, which is September through December, is AMAZING!
Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Well, Colombia was a great experience. I had a great time with the family for the first week in Bogota. Jimmy got there the second week and we really started tearing it up. Adrian's family is absolutely amazing and I had a great time. However, now I'm back in Buenos Aires and life is even better.
The first four months in BsAs were very fun, but it still like I was this new study-abroad student. However, after taking a month off and getting away from the city for awhile, it feels so much more like home to come back. I've moved out of rich, touristy, old-money Recoleta, and I'm currently living on the border of Palermo Viejo and Almagro. Both of these barrios have a really great vide, or as they say in BsAs, buena onda. I'm not surrounded my tons of clothes stores and expensive tourist restaurants anymore. I'm just living in a really Buenos Aires-ish barrio now, and I'm super happy. If you come here, you'll see what I mean.
I am also living with some new roommates. I had a good time with Sylvia and Carlos, but it was kinda like living with my grandma and her really old stay-at-home son. Either way, it was an experience and I have quite the stories to tell from those first four months. Now, however, I'm living with two young Mexicans who are living in the city. One of them is a chef and the other is in culinary school. We'are always cooking something good, hanging out with our friends, and just chilling. It's so nice to have my freedom back again. I can play music loud, I can cook my own meals, and I can invite my friends over for drinks....life is good.
My spanish has come along amazingly. It had to be the month of intense spanish in Colombia, but wow. I recently saw an Ecuadorian friend of mine whom I hadn't seen in a couple months because of school. When we were hanging out in May, my spanish was pretty miserable. However, two weeks ago, I went to her place to have drinks with her, and her Colombian friend. Well, Carolina was making drinks and her friend and I were just talking about my trip in Colombia. Midway through the conversation, Carolina comes out of the kitchen and basically yells, "Patrick, your spanish. It's amazing! I can't believe how much better is it." I never noticed it getting better, but it's those really slow changes that take someone you haven't seen in awhile to notice. Also, all the IES(my program) staff were thoroughly impressed by my increased level. Now, living with my roommates, taking all my classes at the spanish-speaking university, and living a mostly spanish-speaking lifestyle, I'm really confident I'll just keep getting better.
There you have it. A little update on what's going down in Buenos Aires. I'll post pictures soon. I'm pretty much the slowest picture poster ever.
With love from the 34th parallel south of the Equator,
Patrick
ps- I have a place for people to crash now if anyone is looking to come to BsAs? Everyone says that spring here, which is September through December, is AMAZING!
Capital Federal, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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