Well, it has been two weeks since I boarded a plane to come to Argentina, and I still haven’t written any updates. I have been overwhelmed to describe my new life because there is such an abundance of new experiences that it is challenging to describe it all in words. After having talked to several family members and friends, I’ve realized that even the small, daily events can become an amusing story. So let me try to capture the past fourteen days:

Living in a shared flat – My travel companion and friend, Lauren, and I booked a shared flat online before landing in Buenos Aires. We were somewhat fearful that the apartment wouldn’t even exist when we arrived. They had requested that we wire a deposit to them to book our room (yes, we would be going old-school style back to college dorm days – luckily NOT bunk beds though!), but we figured if we only lost about $90 each it would be worth the risk. Packing for ten months meant a LOT of luggage that we did not want to be dragging around to hostels as we searched for apartments upon our arrival. Looking on the bright side, we figured living in a shared flat would mean meeting some new friends and being forced to communicate in Spanish. Well, I am happy to say that said apartment did and still does exist and we had a place to lay our heads after the long 15 hour journey. Although it’s not exactly what we had pictured, it has been sufficient. We describe it as an “open-air” apartment because there is a courtyard in the middle (which, needless to say, is not very enticing when it’s raining); I’m positive we’ll enjoy having our morning tea in the sunlight once it is actually summer here. Our only complaints are minimal, but should probably be considered mere “cultural differences”. Complaint #1: the bathroom floods every time we take a shower and we have to use a squeegee to push the water down the drain. Complaint #2: although neither of us smokes, we will probably lose years off our lives through second-hand smoke, thanks for our friendly flat mates. *On that note, there is an overwhelming amount of Germans here, and even they don’t understand why so many of them have come here. We have been happy to learn that there are barely any Americans or English-speaking expats in Buenos Aires.

Speaking Argentine Spanish – I have studied Spanish for about 11 years now; it was my major in college and I studied abroad in Granada, Spain for a year. I came here to work on my Spanish because I have not been speaking it all in the last three years since I graduated college. I have been surviving, but nothing could have prepared me for the vast differences between Argentine Spanish and Spanish everywhere else. Buenos Aires served as a port for people from all over the world, and I think they’ve become confused with which influences they want to incorporate into their language. There is an intonation comparable to Italian (think “Mama, mia, that’s a pizza!” with each syllable rising and falling), combined with a gargled, swallowed Spanish, as if they forgot to open their mouths all the way to let the words come out (not sure which ancestry they have to thank for that). Furthermore, a new dictionary for both vocabulary and grammar needs to be created just for Argentina. Instead of “tienes” (“you have”) – as they use everywhere else in the world – it is “tenes”, or “quieres” (“you want”) is “queres”. Instead of “ti” for “you”, it is “vos”; and the “vosotros” (formal “you” plural form) that I drilled into my head in Spain is now nowhere to be heard. I seem to be at a crossroads where I’m not sure if I should acquire this new Sp-arg-nish to blend in, or if I should resist it in order to survive if I ever decide to travel anywhere else!

Looking for a job – There are 2 jobs that just about any English-speaking expat could acquire in South America: teaching English and working in a call-center for outsourced American companies. The former takes a lot of time and work, including getting certified with a TESL/TEFL and sending out many emails and treading pavement to hand out resumes. The latter can easily be applied for through craigslist (how did we ever get by without this invention?) and don’t have many prerequisites. The tough question for me has come down to “what am I really doing here?” Yes, I could make more money in a call center, making sales pitches to realtors in the States, speaking English all day long. However, for me, I am here to test myself and learn if teaching is a career I would like to pursue. With 3 million people living in Buenos Aires, and very few of them being able to speak English (okay, this is just my observation thus far, not a fact), the teaching opportunities are readily available. If schools are not hiring, many people are looking for private tutors. When it comes down to it, I do not want to bash anyone that opts to work in a call center (who knows, I may be flat-broke in a month and need a second job!), but for me I’ve decided that I will feel much more fulfilled and accomplished leaving here without a penny as long as I’ve had experience teaching and have improved my Spanish. I am happy to say that this week I acquired at least 4 hours of teaching business English per week and another potential client for private tutoring. Although I’d like to at least have a part-time schedule, it’s a start! I’m starting to feel like I live here instead of being a long-time tourist.

In summary, I’ve had my up’s and down’s with these three subjects throughout the past two weeks. Slowly, I’ve become accustomed to an overflowing bathroom floor, have appreciated the pleasant, local Porteños (people from Buenos Aires) that try to help me if I don’t understand something in Spanish, and have accepted the fact that jobs will slowly, but surely, come my way. I am learning new things everyday and am grateful for each experience I have here. Please stay tuned for more exciting stories about the local culture, people and food!