Interviews & Puerto Madero

With this entry, I have now written more blog posts in 2 1/2 weeks here in Argentina than in 8 weeks in Chile last summer – haha!

I have not been spending all my time blog writing though, or at least, not lately. This past week, I did one or two interviews daily with domestic workers, which means that I am up to 6 interviews with domestic workers and 5 or so interviews with other people (government workers, organizations, union workers, professors, etc). I'm hoping to have 20-30 worker interviews by the end of my time here, so I'm making good progress. The interviews themselves are interesting, although I still don't feel fully prepared doing them. Listening to the recordings is the worst: my Spanish sounds twice as bad as it feels, and I always think of additional questions that I wish I had asked. On the whole though, I feel like they are going well enough (or at least, I hope so!). I've also had a few interesting interview experiences, including one interview that lasted 2+ hours yesterday – I had to go to the bathroom SO bad by the end!

I have gotten pretty lucky finding interview subjects so far. The union that I mentioned in an earlier blog post has a few offices less than 5 minutes from where I live, and there are always workers around for various reasons, so in the afternoons I stand outside and accost people as they are leaving. I've been surprised at how easy it is to find people to talk to – I usually only have to ask 2 or 3 people before I get someone who is willing and has time to talk to me. I am hoping to move beyond this method pretty soon, as I am especially interested in talking to workers who are working in the black market (none of whom would be in the union), but for now it's been a close to ideal situation for me.

Above are my business cards. Official, right? Except for putting my gmail address – I debated about it, and in the end decided that @college.harvard.edu was too complicated and long for the card. Only problem is that it kind of looks like I'm making up the Harvard affiliation. So far, I haven't gotten any calls or emails from people I hand them out to (people too busy to do an interview when I talk to them, or people that I interview), but they are nice to have anyway.

Today, I met up with the mother of one of the tutors in Dunster house, Marina, who lives in Buenos Aires (Marina is the name of both the mother and tutor, for those who know tutor-Marina). She works taking care of an elderly man and his even more elderly mother-in-law (she will be 103 years old on July 3rd!) on the weekends, so I visited them all and then went out with Marina. Carlos, the gentleman she takes care of, talked just about non-stop all through lunch – literally hard to get a word in edgewise. But he was very nice.

Marina and I walked around Puerto Madero, the old port area of Buenos Aires that has been made into a very touristy locale. We explored a boat-museum (seen here) and had coffee at a restaurant along the river. Marina also gave me a bunch of Argentine goodies, including ingredients for mate! I have yet to try mate here, so I am super excited to use all my new supplies.

Tomorrow I plan to check out the weekend fair in San Telmo, I've heard that it's one of the things you have to go to while in Buenos Aires, although the stuff sold there is supposedly quite expensive. Other than that, don't have too many more plans for the weekend – might go out tonight with some of the Harvard students here for the Argentina internship program; I went to dinner and a tango class with them earlier this week and had a lot of fun. It's been good hanging out with people I know lately (also had a group dinner at my friend Nico Maffey's house earlier this week), as life can get kind of lonely just here by myself and out interviewing. Have been ruminating on a possible blog post about it.. we'll see if I can figure out how to express myself adequately on the subject.

I am finalizing plans to visit my cousin Melissa in Córdoba the first weekend of July. Really looking forward to the trip, and to finally meeting her (Melissa lives in Jamaica, so I've never actually met her, although we have been on and off pen-pals for years). Other than that, don't have any more trips planned, although I have ideas for some others if I have the money for more.

Hope that everyone is doing well. I am already looking forward to being back in the States, summer, and seeing you all again!

Brianna

Things I Am Glad I Brought

From my time in Spain, France, Panama, and Chile the past few years, I have learned a few things about what to and not to bring abroad. In no particular order, what TO bring:

1) US candy. I supposedly brought it to give to people here, but sometimes you just have to have one yourself.

2) sweatpants & sweatshirt. Doesn't matter what the climate you're traveling to is, when you just want to be comfortable at night, you gotta have your sweats (learned this the hard way in Panama)

3) pajama pants. In past years, I have opted to save space and sleep in shorts or leggings instead. pajama pants are 100% better.

4) peanut butter

5) my own shower stuff. Cheaper & nicer to bring your own shampoo/soap/etc. Plus, gives you some guaranteed extra weight room in your suitcase coming back

6) Benadryl & ibuprofen. Haven't needed the Benadryl yet here, but I make sure to bring a ton with me ever since I had bad allergies in Spain and couldn't find any good allergy medicine.

7) book(s) in English. Even with having a Kindle now, I appreciate having a real book in English to read as well. You can gift it to some other ex pat when done (another space saver!)

8) Kleenex. would have thought it would be universal, but most countries I have traveled to do not commonly have it, and the stuff in stores is expensive and sometimes weird quality.

9) ditto with Q-tips.

10) mirror. especially if sharing bathrooms, having your own mirror can make getting ready in the morning/night much easier (wish I could bring a full length one with me :P)

11) purses/bags of varying sizes, preferably zippered. traveling = a lot of walking around with stuff, so having a few bags to choose from can make your experience easier & more comfortable

That concludes my list. There are, of course, more (the obvious ones: copies of your passport, extra credit & debit cards, medical info, etc.,), but the ones above I only learned through experience.

Return to Chile

This past weekend, I took a side trip from Buenos Aires to revisit Santiago and Valparaíso, Chile. I spent 8 weeks last summer in Santiago in the Harvard Summer Internship Program (SIP).

[if interested, you can check out my blog from my time there].

I realized a bit before I left that it would be my first international flight without the US as either the origin or destination. I have traveled between countries before (Spain-France), but never by plane.

(picture: view of the Andes coming in to the Santiago airport)


It was easy enough though (and less total time in customs without a US side!). I took LAN airlines and was very impressed – for a 2 hour flight I got a croissant with ham and cheese, coffee, AND orange juice. Maybe it was because it was international, but I am definitely not used to actually getting fed on non-overnight trips...

After negotiating the airport and public transportation, I met up with my supervisor from last summer, Andrea. We had coffee and then she took me shopping for an alpaca sweater, something I regretted not buying last year (the trip was successful! One more comfy sweater to wear during my time in the cold).

Here's a picture of the two of us together. Unfortunately, this is the only person I actually managed to get a photo with during my time in Chile, as I'm usually too nervous to just hand out my iPhone to anyone.



That night, I stayed with my friend Winnie's boss from last summer, Carolina, and her husband Tomi. Winnie and I had gone on a wine tour with them last summer, and they had visited Harvard last fall, so it was fun to see them again.

We went to Ica, a Peruvian restaurant, where I had a wonderful dish of Ají de Gallina (apparently a typical Peruvian dish, made up of chicken, potatoes, rice, and a slightly spicy sauce) and this drink. Yummmm.

Staying with them that night was my first really cold experience of the summer. Reminder #1 why I chose Argentina over Chile this summer!

The next day, I went to the Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT), as I had read a very informative book on domestic work in Latin America put out by them and the editor works in their headquarters, which is their Chilean office. I unfortunately wasn't able to actually talk with her, but interviewed her assistant and was given lots of books and pamphlets. Amazing how I can just show up somewhere and be able to do so much (although, if people would reply to their emails more often, I wouldn't have to just show up unannounced...). Also glad that I thought to visit them while I was in Chile, as it wasn't part of my initial plan.

Around noon, I made my way to Valparaíso, where my cousin Patrick is working for a year teaching English at a university there. I spent a lovely afternoon and evening with him and his friend Leah, who is studying abroad there for a semester (she will be a senior at Colorado College this fall). Leah and I made "apple crisp" without having any idea how to actually make apple crisp, or how to work the oven – it turned out edible despite it all! Patrick lives in a house with a mixture of US and Chilean roommates, so I met a variety of interesting characters while there.

Patrick and I split a Choriana for dinner (the food on the first line, not the porn star or the dogs), although when I say "split", it was definitely more of a 70-30 or 80-20 kind of deal :P The Choriana was much better than the one I had the last time I was in Valpo last year, less like the Google images and more like an actual semi-healthy meal. Very good.

We walked around Cerro Alegre (happy hill? although it sounds kind of silly in English) for a while, then went to bed, as I had to catch an early bus to Santiago in the morning and Patrick had class to teach.

(pictures are from the coast of Valparaíso/Viña del Mar)


The next day I spent with my host family. Their extended family all came over to see me for Saturday lunch, and it was great spending time with them again, but was also reminder #2 for why I chose not to return for the summer (for those of you not familiar with the situation: host mom uses me as a therapist, host dad hits on me, host sister has mental issues).

That evening, I met up with two of my former English students. It was great to see them again, and they gave me lovely presents (knitted hat & socks from one because he knew I was always cold in Chile, and chocolate from another). I reciprocated with peanut butter, US candy, and Harvard clothing.
(picture: typical Santiago: gray, polluted, and cold)

Sunday I had breakfast with my host family (quesillo! I had forgotten how much I love that stuff! It's this semi-firm white cheese that is soooo good with toast & jam), then made my way back to Buenos Aires without event.

In all, a very fun weekend. Looking forward to more trips in the six weekends I have remaining, one of which will definitely be to visit my other cousin currently in South America – my dad's cousin Melissa who is currently studying abroad in Córdoba.

Brianna

En Todo Estás Vos

This weekend, Buenos Aires hosted a rock music festival, free to the public with tons of artists performing. I unfortunately did not realize this when booking my trip to Chile, but I managed to catch the bookends of the festival, Wednesday night before I left and Sunday night after I got back.

Domestic Worker Swag

Today, I did my first real interview!! Exciting!

Except, not QUITE as exciting as it sounds, because I was lost for half of it (luckily it's recorded).

The problem was mostly that I had no idea what the organization I was talking to was, because I just randomly walked into the building when I saw the "domestic service" sign. Turns out that "sindicato" means "union," which makes a lot of the interview make a lot more sense now.

It was a funny experience though --

I walk in, the office is full of domestic workers waiting in line (to get referrals for services, I think... also, domestic workers! tons of them! right there! = future interviews!!), but after explaining to the receptionist that I'm a student researching domestic labor and would like to arrange an interview at some point in the next week or so, I am ushered immediately into the director's office, where I proceed to spend the next hour and a half. I am led around the entire establishment, introduced to everyone [people clearly in meetings in offices: "Everyone! This girl is from Boston! She's writing a paper on domestic workers! Isn't she just the sweetest?!" (which, by the way, I have no way how she could even judge, as I barely got a word in edgewise)].

No worries that I didn't have any specific questions prepared for their organization. Although I did have an outline of basic questions to ask, I barely had time to bring any of them up. (I probably would have tried harder to fit them in if I felt like I was actually understanding everything that was being said to me...)

I was given a bunch of swag, shown here (except not the purse, although I did get that in Buenos Aires). Some of the papers and pamphlets are about domestic labor laws and the union, but most of them are about different diseases, like HIV and cancer, and how to prevent them – which I really had no interest in, and said so, but was given anyway.

I have a meeting with one of their lawyers scheduled for next Tuesday at 10 AM* and was told that I was more than welcome to solicit interviews from the workers there.

In all – I am satisfied. Now off for a weekend in Chile!

Brianna

*Why I decided to schedule the meeting directly conflicting with yoga when I could literally choose any time is a little beyond me.

Week One ✔

I have, to the day, 8 weeks in Argentina. 1/8th of that time is now complete.

I would probably feel better about that if I thought that I was 1/8th done with my work here – I'm not. But, everyone tells me that things pick up pace after the first week or so.

And hey, today I hit a milestone: I ordered business cards for myself. "Brianna K. Beswick, Investigadora, Harvard University," along with my cellphone number and email address. Very exciting.

I also finally dove in to creating some sort of workable interview guide. It's hard, because I don't feel like I quite understand the intricacies of the laws I am asking about yet, and I know that my questions won't be perfectly worded and eloquent in Spanish, and I'm sure that I will forget to ask about important things, and ask about some things in the wrong way or from the wrong angle. Thoughts like that keep me from actually just DOING it. Without a list of ask-able questions, I can't possibly go out and start finding people to talk to, and so I can't make the mistakes I know I am going to make. But, as one of my graduated Social Studies friends told me, "You will never feel all the way prepared. And you can't write a perfect thesis." With that in mind, my goal is to just get started doing SOMETHING. I can always alter my questions as I go along, or even re-interview people if necessary (well, I tell myself that – the likelihood that I would actually re-interview someone is probably pretty low).

So, I am spending the rest of my week here before I head to Chile this weekend making interview guides that will be enough to get started with first thing next week. Starting next Monday, I am making appointments with people, going to offices, standing in front of schools at lunchtime and talking to the domestic workers there to pick up their employer's kids, handing out my business cards, and hoping for calls.

Not that this past week has been a waste. I've done some good reading on domestic labor in Argentina, gotten to know the neighborhood, practiced my Argentine Spanish*, and had informal conversations with people about domestic work and the laws surrounding it to gauge general knowledge. But I also haven't gotten any data from all that. So, wish me luck! I begin the real stuff soon...

Brianna

*My current preoccupation: should I use Argentine-specific Spanish when doing my interviews, when my interviewees will all be from Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru? I've come to the conclusion that I shouldn't worry too much about it, because if the way I speak now is any indication, it'll probably end up being a mixture of both no matter what my intentions.

What's New, Buenos Aires?