Morning:
- What time do you get up?
o 7 am with the host family, 7:30 in my apartment, which is a bit closer to work.
- What factors do you take into consideration when deciding what to wear? (ie: weather chances, cultural appropriateness, etc.)
o The weather is the main deciding factor. While it doesn’t snow or hit freezing here for too long, it’s colder than I’m used to—AND, the buildings aren’t insulated like at home. In one office I was in, it was probably around 40 degrees during the winter, which makes it difficult to sit still at a desk and type or read for too long.
- What do you eat for breakfast? At what time?
o I eat breakfast when I wake up, before going to work…around 7:30. With my host family, they had store-bought sweets—cakes/cookies, and toast with dulce de leche or jam. For a while they had peanut butter, which I loved. I also ate fruit. In my apartment, I usually eat bread/crackers with cheese, avocado, or homemade hummus.
- How do you get to work?
o I take the bus.
- How long does it take you to get to work?
o It takes between 20-50 minutes, depending on the bus and the time of day.
Work Day:
- Walk us through your workday (this can be a bulleted list)
o I get in at 9, and greet everyone. We work until lunch, recently my work has been translating documents and going to print/make photocopies of documents for our workshops.
o At noon, we eat lunch together.
o My workday ends at 3. Between lunch and 3, I will sometimes teach English classes, work on the workshops, or research grants for the organization.
- What are some of the challenges you face during your work day?
o Communication is a big challenge, as finding the people you need to talk to and finding time to talk to them can take days in itself. We are under-staffed, and therefore everyone is VERY busy. I also find it challenging to determine when is a good time for someone to talk/explain something.
o Communication has also been a challenge with respect to the language difference. I’m not 100% fluent in Spanish, and this limits what I can do and can be a challenge in explaining ideas/interacting.
- What best describes the communication style of your work colleagues?
o My colleagues are frequently out in the community completing administrative tasks, and communicate by telephone. In the office, face-to-face communication is all that exists. Occasionally, I’ll leave someone a note, however it’s hard to know if/when they’ll find it. Passing messages through co-workers almost always results in miscommunication. We have no internet, so email isn’t used, however it was about equal to passing notes when we did have it. Face to face communication is always the preferred method.
- What are the communities in which your NGO works like?
o My NGO works with addiction, which is a disease that affects everyone alike. As we are not a posh treatment center, our clientele generally isn’t wealthy, but low-to-middle class. We accept all forms of insurance, including that given by the government for those who have no income.
- What time do you eat lunch?
o I work in a day-treatment program for drug addiction. Part of the rehabilitation skills taught are cooking, and therefore the patients and staff cook lunch everyday. We eat at noon in the organization’s kitchen. Sometimes the clients and therapeutic staff eat separately from the administrative staff, sometimes everyone eats together.
o Teaching healthy skills is an important part of our program, and so our meals are much healthier than the typical food eaten in Argentina. Nearly everyday we eat salads (during the summer there are some days when we only eat salads, with a few different varieties). About half the time, the meals are vegetarian, using lentils and eggs for protein. We eat a lot of pasta, and meats such as hamburgers (which are more like meatloaf in hamburger-shaped patties), fish, and menudo,
- What time do you head home?
o My work day officially ends at 3, however I sometimes have errands to run after 3, or leave the office early to use the internet.
Evening:
- What does your evening routine look like?
o Living with my host family, I would go to the gym or nap in the evening. While living with the family, I spent a lot of time exploring bars, restaurants, and cultural events in the city. Living on my own, I usually catch up on email/read/work when I get home from work. I go to the gym in the evening, and eat dinner around 8-9. Depending on the day, I may go out with friends, watch a movie, or take it easy at home.
- What time do you eat dinner?
o I usually eat between 8 and 10 pm. I’m vegetarian, so my host mom would cook separately for me, or occasionally cook vegetarian for her and her husband as well. They ate a lot of chicken and pasta, or milanesas (fried, breaded meat, shaped like a pancake). I ate a lot of eggplant, stuffed squash, or vegetarian milanesas (made from soy).
o When I cook for myself, I cook what I like, but spices are hard to find, especially hot (picante) spices, and ethnic seasonings. Anything “specialty” is also hard to find or very expensive—tofu, couscous, many cheeses, fish is expensive, imported goods are often double or triple the price of domestic products.
- What time do you go to bed?
o I love to sleep, and go to bed around 11-12 if I don’t go out. Going out could mean anything from 1-2 am (during the week) to 7 am or later (on the weekends).
Host Family:
- How much “family time” do you spend with your host family?
o My family made it a point to include me in everything they did. During the week, they worked until 8 pm, although since they owned a store together, one would frequently come home earlier. They would also sometimes be around during the day, but I wouldn’t see them much outside of evenings—dinner time and a bit of TV.
o On the weekends, it would depend on what they had going. They worked Saturdays, so I wouldn’t see much of them during the day. If we had a party or dinner to go to, we’d spend at least 4-6 hours at the event. On Sundays, they generally had “chores” to take care of, which I could have done with them, but they were generally work related. We also spent lots of time together with their family/friends, so I didn’t feel it was necessary to go with them to purchase items for their store, etc. However, it’s worth nothing they have a very active social life (compared to my family), with events happening at least twice a week.
- How do you navigate personal/alone time?
o This was sometimes a challenge with the dinners and celebrations they would go to. However, in the house, I always felt comfortable going to my room, and they worked a lot, so it wasn’t a big issue. I’m sure if I continued living with them, and spoke with them about it, it wouldn’t have been a problem.
- What has been the best part of living with your host family?
o I met so many people, and had great opportunities to practice the language and learn about the culture.
- What has been the most challenging part of living with your host family?
o Adjusting to their schedule.
In General:
- How do you keep in touch with home?
o Internet access is great, however not great enough to rely on Skype 100%. I can always get an email out.
o One huge advantage to living with a host family was the use of their phone, which made calling home very affordable. Since then, I’ve used payphones (my apartment doesn’t have a landline), which aren’t ideal, but work. I also call via Skype, which ranges from good to unbearable. Unfortunately, it’s usually poor, but so much cheaper and more convenient, we make do.
o I talk with them a few times a month.
- Food tends to be a big consideration/source of anxiety:
o I am pretty open-minded about food, and most weird food contains meat, so it’s easy to avoid with the “vegetarian” excuse. However, I’ll always try something (vegetarian), and explain I’m not hungry it I can’t eat it.
o Refusing food is often seen as an insult to the chef—a sign that you don’t like their food. However, there is an easy answer—say you’re on a diet. It may lead to a discussion on whether or not you need to lose weight, but it will save the cook’s feelings and be accepted, whether or not you really need to lose weight.
- Was there something you did not pack that you wish you had brought with you?
o 501 Spanish Verbs was the first thing I missed. (I brought a dictionary.) I also didn’t take the warning about hot sauce seriously, but anything ethnic or spicy is easiest brought from home, although most can be found in Buenos Aires.
-------------snip!
Yup, that’s it…I’m missing me some Mexican food…and Indian, Thai, sushi, Chinese with fake meat…thank god they have pizza!
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