I trust in the due-timeliness of the universe, and it's certainly not that things are going poorly here, but I've started to feel a little uneasy.
I know myself well enough to know that this is due, 100%, or at least 99%, to the fact that I am not busy enough. The working situation we had envisioned before we ever boarded a plane has not worked out. This was fine, because I went to Spanish school instead. But now that's over, and even though I study every day on my own, I have come to realize that I am putting the bank CEO´s kid through college thanks to all my atm fees, and I need to work.
I have been browsing job listings here, which are limited for me with my lack of Spanish. Plus, it's the same problem I always ran into in the motherland: I don't really want to work for someone else.
Having just celebrated (awesomely, thanks to Brent) my 29th birthday, I can't help but reflect a bit. I am excited to be here, excited to get Vemma up and running in this country, but the truth is that I simply haven't found my driving force yet. I feel weird about that, almost guilty, but although there are many things I enjoy doing, I haven't found one that I'm willing to give up all the rest for.
I know it's out there. This might be the year. I don't believe in being ordinary, so something will come about. In the meantime, my head is rattling, I'm spending all day looking for ideas (breaking only to go to the gym, study the español, or make pumpkin bread), and counting on my survive/thrive genius to pull me out of what has become a little slump.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Friday, November 25, 2011
Weekend getaway.
It's nice to escape to a new country for a three-day weekend. We went to Colonia, Uruguay for the last one. It was a trip inspired by the necessity to renew our 90-day visa in Argentina, and when we made plans last week it felt like more hassle than fun, but that changed as soon as we got off the ferry.
Colonia might indeed be the exact opposite of Buenos Aires. Don't get me wrong, we love our new home, but this place is chaotic. Colonia was quiet and clean with wide stone streets, well-kept buildings, and traffic that honors the pedestrian. We crossed streets whenever we wanted, danger-free!
We were thrilled to be able to buy a four-museum pass for US$2.50. We love museums, so it seemed the perfect way to spend an afternoon out of the hot, hot Uruguayan sun.
Yes and no, as it turned out. The museums weren't so much good as they were hilarious. One of them took about two-and-a-half minutes to see. Another was nothing but old stone weapons from one of the indigenous tribes that lived there long ago...and all the weapons were round gray rocks, some of them with notches if they had once served on the end of a hatchet. This place took about four minutes to go through. The other two were much better, and the workers who stamped our tickets were so friendly and welcoming, but still. Museums. Hm.
If you read a guidebook, it most likely calls Colonia a ´´day trip´´ and indeed, if you were on a tight schedule, you could easily see it in that much time. But we spread it out, walked around, lingered over fantastic meals, and could have probably spent another week there if the real world hadn't been calling us back.
The view from the sitting room above our sleeping room:
A playground. That is a barrel. You can crawl inside to swing. This is not the only place we saw them.
First time in Uruguay!
Colonia might indeed be the exact opposite of Buenos Aires. Don't get me wrong, we love our new home, but this place is chaotic. Colonia was quiet and clean with wide stone streets, well-kept buildings, and traffic that honors the pedestrian. We crossed streets whenever we wanted, danger-free!
We were thrilled to be able to buy a four-museum pass for US$2.50. We love museums, so it seemed the perfect way to spend an afternoon out of the hot, hot Uruguayan sun.
Yes and no, as it turned out. The museums weren't so much good as they were hilarious. One of them took about two-and-a-half minutes to see. Another was nothing but old stone weapons from one of the indigenous tribes that lived there long ago...and all the weapons were round gray rocks, some of them with notches if they had once served on the end of a hatchet. This place took about four minutes to go through. The other two were much better, and the workers who stamped our tickets were so friendly and welcoming, but still. Museums. Hm.
If you read a guidebook, it most likely calls Colonia a ´´day trip´´ and indeed, if you were on a tight schedule, you could easily see it in that much time. But we spread it out, walked around, lingered over fantastic meals, and could have probably spent another week there if the real world hadn't been calling us back.
The view from the sitting room above our sleeping room:
A playground. That is a barrel. You can crawl inside to swing. This is not the only place we saw them.
The Uruguayan flag also has a sun with a face.
First time in Uruguay!
Friday, November 11, 2011
Gainful employment.
At long last, Brent's Argentine chiropractic office is up and running. And he already had to replace his receptionist.
A few weeks ago, I manned the door while Brent and his chiropractor friend and partner conducted inverviews to find the perfect assistant. The woman they chose was the obvious choice amongst the applicants: she was friendly (a rare quality in service employees here), retired (no danger of her running off to find a better job; also, no danger or her having child or boyfriend or husband drama), and she had been under chiropractic care already (so she already had a basic understanding of the philosophy and what is involved).
She started training, and the guys had a couple of hiccups with her in the first few days, but they thought she was just nervous and overwhelmed, and after speaking with her determined that she would be fine.
Unfortunately, after about three days of official work, she called Brent and the others aside to say, in short, that she couldn't do it.
Thankfully, the chiro team had another woman in mind for the job, and she was able to step in after just a couple of training days. So far so good with this one.
We've heard consistently that finding good help is hard work around here. The laws protect the employee, making it very hard to get fired, so there is no real incentive to do good work. (In fact, another one of the chiropractors here fired one of his receptionists because she was stealing -- but she sued him and won, anyway.) This is why it's possible to go into a department store for something specific, stand around for 10 minutes, finally catch sight of an employee, ask the employee for assistance, be told to wait a second, then see that same employee chatting it up with his employee buddy, and leave the store empty handed. Of course, this is a generalization, and we have had some very good service on some occasions, but we've seen this enough times (and had it confirmed by enough Argentines) to realize that bad service is the norm.
So, we're counting our lucky stars and loving the receptionist. She's going to be great.
A few weeks ago, I manned the door while Brent and his chiropractor friend and partner conducted inverviews to find the perfect assistant. The woman they chose was the obvious choice amongst the applicants: she was friendly (a rare quality in service employees here), retired (no danger of her running off to find a better job; also, no danger or her having child or boyfriend or husband drama), and she had been under chiropractic care already (so she already had a basic understanding of the philosophy and what is involved).
She started training, and the guys had a couple of hiccups with her in the first few days, but they thought she was just nervous and overwhelmed, and after speaking with her determined that she would be fine.
Unfortunately, after about three days of official work, she called Brent and the others aside to say, in short, that she couldn't do it.
Thankfully, the chiro team had another woman in mind for the job, and she was able to step in after just a couple of training days. So far so good with this one.
We've heard consistently that finding good help is hard work around here. The laws protect the employee, making it very hard to get fired, so there is no real incentive to do good work. (In fact, another one of the chiropractors here fired one of his receptionists because she was stealing -- but she sued him and won, anyway.) This is why it's possible to go into a department store for something specific, stand around for 10 minutes, finally catch sight of an employee, ask the employee for assistance, be told to wait a second, then see that same employee chatting it up with his employee buddy, and leave the store empty handed. Of course, this is a generalization, and we have had some very good service on some occasions, but we've seen this enough times (and had it confirmed by enough Argentines) to realize that bad service is the norm.
So, we're counting our lucky stars and loving the receptionist. She's going to be great.
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