(Inter)Viewing

Today I went for my first interview in Buenos Aires, taking a long trip to the neighborhood of Caballito. Caballito is a large neighborhood in the center of the city. After a combination of taking the bus, the subway, walking, and then taking a taxi, I finally got to the place of the interview. It took over an hour and I was thinking that things would have to be perfect for me to be able to make this trip 2 or 3 times a week.

The job would be part time, 12 hours a week, helping out as an administrative assistant for a marketing lecturer. Though he is currently in Australia on business, I met with two of his other assistants and had a 30 minute interview. Because the advertisement had been in English and my correspondence had been as well, I was under the impression that I was going to be speaking in my native language today, and I prepared as so. But when I got there I immediately saw that we were to be speaking in Spanish the whole time. But it wasn't a problem and I actually was asked to write a short review of a proposal in Spanish in about 10 minutes. I did the best I could until the short time frame, and I think it went okay.

There was another applicant waiting to be seen after me, so I'm definitely not the only person being considered. I think this job would be interesting, and though it's far away from where I'm living right now, the money offered was competitive and would make the trip worth it. Though I'd have to consider finding a place closer if I was offered the position, because in the end I'd spend too much on transportation.

After the interview I decided to try walking back in some way or another, so I walked a few miles, checking my little map every so often to make sure I was on the right track. This city is huge, but fortunately there are large avenues that run close to the length of the city, or intersect with other large streets at the very least, so you can use those large roads to guide you. I kept my eyes out for Avenida Corrientes, a famous street that runs almost entirely across the city, and eventually got on it. From there I took a subway farther down the street to avoid going down 20 blocks or so on foot. The subway here costs $1.10 pesos, which is very cheap. Cheaper in fact than the bus, which generally costs $1.20 pesos.

Back out on Corrientes again, I walked around the street that reminded me of 42nd Street in New York. Very built up with huge stores and expensive restaurants, it also intersects Avenida 9 de julio, one of the biggest streets in the world. On one side alone there are 10 lanes of traffic. In the center there is a large Obelisk monument, which looks like a mini-Washington Monument. By now it was getting closer to 5 pm, and I wanted to get back on the bus to get home before being stuck in rush hour traffic. I got mixed up a few times and had to backtrack several times to find the bus stop, but at the same time was able to get more familiar with the area.

When I got home I saw that I'd been emailed for an interview with an English language institute tomorrow afternoon. I was thinking of going back to the Registro de las Personas in the morning, but it turns out the interview is right down the street, so I might just stop in quickly in the afternoon before the interview to see if there was a mistake yesterday. Hopefully it was.

I'm looking forward to my friend Kristine, another volunteer from Ecuador, coming to visit tomorrow. It's a bit early for visitors, and I barely know the city, but Kristine is returning to Ecuador for another year and before she goes she is coming here for a couple of weeks. Our plan is to eat steak, drink wine, and tango on a repeat. Also, we want to try to visit Mendoza and Cordoba before we both have to get busy working again. So once she gets here I'll start really touring the city.