First days of work….

For those who have been to Buenos Aires, we live in a neighborhood called “Belgrano”, which is next to well-known Palermo (SOHO & Hollywood). Belgrano is where high middle class families live. We live in a building that is not open to the public, so I feel very safe. I have my own room (with a double closet, tv, desk, world’s comfiest bed!!!) and my own bathroom. We also have wireless! YAY! My office however, is on the other side of town one metro stop after ‘Avenida de Mayo’ and right off ‘9 de Julio’, which are both very important main streets of the city.

Just like the first days of kindergarten, my Argentina dad (Gustavo) treated me like a Princesa! He drove to the apartment at 7am to make sure my “despertador” (alarm) woke me up, made me fresh café just the way I like it, toasted “medialunas” (croissants) and prepared them with butter & “dulce de leche”. This is a typical “desayuno” (breakfast) in Buenos Aires. We conversed in Spanish for 30 minutes as meal times are for bonding and sharing your life with the family. Gustavo presented me with instructions on how to get to my office, 2 metro tickets, 20 pesos for lunch and a “manzana” (apple) for snack. He then walked me 3 blocks to the metro station giving me a “beso” (kiss) on the cheek once the correct metro line arrived. Wow, he’s a great dad!

Once I arrived at the office, I met the staff over some café- bonding time again! (It’s considered rude to not accept an offer for café). Many have been asking what exactly my job is and I guess if you have never studied abroad before this concept is difficult to explain. I am an International Director, which encompasses a variety of things. Some examples of work I’ve completed so far today:

(1)Germans come every year for study and their Visa applications were in error. I had to contact the government office to request forms to change the dates.

(2) Tomorrow we host a special luncheon for an American group. Guess who did all the planning? Me!

(3) Two groups of high school students arrived today and I hosted the orientation (in English & Spanish) about Argentinean customs, do & don’t’s, emergency info, etc with a powerpoint. (I’m not supposed to tell them I am American. This way they don’t speak English to me. They all think I am from Chile haha!)

(4) A group of volunteers are coming soon and they attempted to write a “thank you host family for accepting me into your home for one week” letter. It’s my job to correct their letters in Spanish.

(5) Various USA universities have competitions to send 1-2 college students each summer to create community projects in the “campos”, the poor inner regions of the country. The most recent project, establishing a school, is sponsored by “padrinos” (godparents) from the USA. I translated a 5 page Spanish newsletter today so the American sponsors can stay up to date on how the money is spent. I imagine next week I will be translating their English responses into Spanish for the school director haha!

(6) “Open Hearts” is a new project beginning this summer. Guess who is in charge of the marketing? ME! That I will have to start brainstorming tomorrow.

It’s 4pm and my boss said I work too much and I should go home. I have only been here 7 hours- during that time I have taken the customary 3-4 café breaks, one hour lunch to bond with the staff over empanadas and dulce de leche cookies, 30 minute bank run (very long lines), and I played on Facebook & checked my personal e-mail lol. I impressed my boss with level of productivity and so tomorrow she is giving me my own set of office keys and cell phone. WOWEEH!

Well, if this isn't 'living the dream'.....wait, this IS living the dream, MY DREAM!