New Friends and Positive Outlooks

At the end of this week I will have 3 weeks left in Argentina. I am a bit sad but excited to be ending this chapter in my life and heading out to Great Britain for a vacation with my mom. I’m nervous about coming back to California in August, fully knowing that if I don’t find a job by October, it’s going to be a long and cold winter for me. Although I do have the shining light that if nothing happens, I am going to use my Southwest flight credit and fly out to North Carolina and help (more like crash or sponge on) my dad with his marketing and sales plan for his brewery, if all the permits come in on time. Might not be a bad idea, but I would love to find that perfect job in sunny Southern California, I am not one for harsh winters, if it’s under 65 for too long I start hibernating. In my last blog I talked about all the good-byes to my Buenos Aires friends, but with good-byes come hellos as you encounter new people. Connect 123, the company who found my internship, has 8 new interns, mostly university students or fresh graduates, but its 8 new personalities, experiences, lessons and additions to my network.

Since I am one of the “oldest”, that’s relative in age and time, spent here, when I met the bright-eyed, optimistic new people, I was immediately happy at their energy level but also a bit nervous because they already knew so much about me and were looking for recommendations right away. It was weird since I have never met them, but exciting as well.  I will get to share my knowledge and love of the city with them before I leave, be able to share my employment history and lessons as well as be renewed by their sheer enthusiasms and optimism. Exciting!

To get on to a bit of the fun in my life, Tuesday I went to “happy hour”, they don’t have a term for this here; they just use English, with my friends from California and a friend from school. It was fun conversation and since they are like me, a few years out of college and stranded in careers, we had a pretty good conversation session on happiness in work and life, as a note all 4 of us have NO idea what we want after this, and it’s comforting to have a group just like you. Wednesday, I went to Bar Seis in Palermo to meet the new Connect 123 crew, like I said they were wonderful and I am really looking forward to getting to know them better on our city bike tour Saturday. Thursday I went to the Recoleta Cultural Center for Festival Ciudad Emergente, an art, film and music show, all for free, with VOS. It’s a four day event spanning the weekend, where you can view new art styles (including graffiti), short films and an array of rock, indie, electronic, fusion artists. I would say the festival was fun, but we spent most our time drinking beer and talking in Spanish at a café nearby, while we were waiting for a “good” band to perform. It was interesting to say the least.

Friday night, was Sexy and the City 2, Porteño style! We ordered Empanadas in, had wine and beer, got dressed up and headed to the movies. Fun! I do have to say that, a lot is lost in translation! The movie was in English with Spanish subtitles, and as with the other movie I watched, I tried reading the subtitles and there are so many things they say in the movie that don’t really translate over quite right, a shame, but everyone seemed to love it and be laughing hard none-the-less.

Saturday, I went on a bike tour of Palermo and Recoleta with my internship company, Connect 123 and Bicicleta Niranja, it was nice to be on a bike although it was the first time in my life I voluntarily wore a bike helmet (the Porteños are known as bad drivers, especially the bus and taxis, I have to pray when I use those, which is everyday). It was a fun tour, and I convinced the group (well hunger did) to eat at my favorite Parilla (street vendor); everyone was content with my recommendation, which was awesome to hear. That evening I went out to dinner with some of the girls from the program to an Italian Mafia restaurant (or a restaurant that bastardizes American Mafia) but the gnocchi’s were incredible. Now you may wonder why I am eating Gnocchi or Italian for that matter in BsAs, but along with casserole dishes (from the north), empanadas, carne, and milanesa; Gnocchi is a main dish of BsAs, due to their heavy Italian influence. Sunday, I would like to say was relaxing, but was not. I hate shopping and decided to get my entire souvenir shopping done this day, so I can enjoy the rest of my time here without thinking about it. I am proud to say, I attained everything for very cheap, but that’s because I staked out all the markets in my time here. This shopping trip led me from the street market in Plaza Serrano, Palermo, to Defensa in San Telmo, down Florida Street and all the way over to the Recoleta Fair, whew; I probably accomplished 15 miles. But, I am done, exhausted, because I am not really a shopper (would love to be one, but I hate spending money and traveling from store to store when I am on a mission, to meander is another thing). When I got home I headed back out to see the free bands at the Recoleta Cultural Center, but there were so many people, and I was so tired of people from shopping all day, I headed to the supermarket to grab dinner and had to wait in a 35 minute long line! Ugh, such my luck. I did get to see the final product of the graffiti art at the Cultural Center, which was fascinating, especially since some of the artists weren’t completed even after working for 4 days, good graffiti can take ages. I have a new appreciation for mural graffiti and would welcome more graffiti if it was mural graffiti; it makes ugly places more colorful and interesting. But I am digressing, after my LONG wait at the supermarket I came home to cook, only to have all the lights go out. In an apartment, that’s dark, and at least we are on the top floor but still when the whole block goes out, it’s dark. At least we have gas appliances and I could continue cooking. It wasn’t all bad tough, because my roommate cooked too and we had dinner together and a great conversation, in Spanish, of course. The silver lining to the power outage actually was the best part of my day. I am grateful for it.

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I’m Lucky to Have the Opportunity to Take This Journey

So I have found writing this blog a bit therapeutic, and I know you guys are now getting to know me better, which is good for me because I feel like I am still in your lives even though I am so far away, and though chatting with everyone I feel like I am still in yours. It’s been great knowing that I have such a great network of family, friends and acquaintances back home supporting me. This blog post has nothing really to do with Buenos Aires so I understand if you want to stop reading, I won’t even know!

But like I said writing is helping me. Since I have 3 weeks left here in Buenos Aires and then a month of travel after (yes I am very very lucky), I have starting thinking about the “real world” and starting analyzing my time here to see if I have figured “it” out, or at least have a better idea on what I want to do in life; and as of now, I still have no idea and that has been depressing me. Especially since the eternal worrier and accountant in me has just done a check of the finances, and while I am secure for awhile(although donations are accepted); I know that I’m going to break down when I come home and have to start using my safety net (aka. my grandmother’s will money). This hurts a bit because I know she would rather have had me spend that money on a wedding (not any time soon) or on a home (that won’t happen either because I don’t even know where I want to settle down). But I also know deep down inside that my Nana (on my mom’s side, I luckily still have my dad’s mom) was adventurous and would be happy to know that I left and tried to figure “it” out and travel the world, learning new languages, and  discovering myself. She had those opportunities twice in her life, first, when she traveled half the world with her mom (her father died mid-trip and her mother couldn’t go alone) and when she traveled the world a second time with my Papa who was in the military and film industry. She may not have seemed like the most adventurous person later in life, but she was full of stories and I know she would think the money well spent in the end, even if she did give me a hard time at first.

I also have something to get off my chest and that is my intense jealousy, but also extreme elation for my friends who have been able to move to the places they always wanted to like (aka all you SLO guys) and those of you who have attained that “perfect” for the time being job. You guys have all worked hard in jobs you hated, extra schooling, and living apart from your loved ones to get to where you are today, and although I am green with envy, I am so proud of you guys for sticking with “it” and ending up in your dream life. I hope to one day (soon, please God, soon) get there too, at least with a job, since that’s my biggest demon right now. I am, however; very excited to have so many houses to stay at when I am in SLO or the Bay Area, so you all better watch out; I may never leave your guest-rooms!

Everyone has different paths, and I know that, and as envious as I am, I know that many are envious of my path. It’s tough to quit your job, lose your income and general security to head to another country without a backup or return plan, you have to be a bit crazy, and well,  I think I’m a bit crazy, the accountant on my shoulder tells me every day, but deep down I know I needed this. I needed to leave to figure “it” out, see the world, see different perspectives, meet new people, be alone and most importantly learn a new language, something I have wanted to do for many years, ever since my babysitter, Elva, planted the seed at a young age, and then it took Mrs. Charnow in High School to start the growing process, and now this trip and VOS to help me realize my dream of speaking Spanish. And as crazy as I think I am, I am really glad I am doing this. I may worry day to day about what will happen in two months; will I get a job quickly?, will I spend all my savings and go into debt?, what’s going to happen?, but I am learning to let it go. I know that my loving parents and family will never let me starve (they may not let me go on another trip until I find a job and pay them back) but they will always be there for me, no matter what. I am lucky for that. I am lucky for Nick who has great patience to let me come and figure “it” out. I am lucky for all my caring friends who send messages just to say hi, and all my new friends. I know I have no right to be jealous of my friends who moved and got great jobs, one day I will have that too, but right now I’m on a different path, and I think, no, I KNOW, it’s a great one. Who gets to just drop everything to live in another country? Not many and then who gets to come home to a vacation? Even less. Every path is different, I chose the less traveled one, and it’s scary (because it’s different from the rest) but I know will be worth “it” in the long run. I’m lucky to be on my path.

As a last note, I know I told you all the books I have been reading, well the Happiness Project has been wonderful and I am going to start applying some of those principles to this blog. You will still get fun trip updates but I am also going to start applying my “soul searching” to the blog in separate posts. I hope you all don’t mind. Much love and thank you everyone for your love and support, and a huge congratulation to all my friends living and doing what you love, you have worked hard and deserve it!

*It is in quotes because I don’t know what it is, yet.