well, almost?

In the local paper today, Chris found Passover described as "Jewish Easter". How can you do that in one of the largest Jewish populations in the world?

ah, the life of the traveler

Last night Cathy, who is from Ohio, and I stayed up all night with some provosts drinking BOLS Advockaat (which is a liqueur made from distilled omelets), smoking hash, and watching the sun come up over the canals. It later turned out not to be the sun but an orange floating by in the water, and the provosts turned out not to be provosts, who are European university teachers, but provos, who are unemployed bicycle thieves who live in tents on garbage scows.

A Girl's Letters from Europe

away from home

I'd like to write here more. I really would. Work has kept me away from the computer, and except for checking email and posting pictures on the photoblog, I've been quite Internet deficient lately.

Work here is not an easy schedule. Realistically, I suppose it's not terribly different from some friends' back home, and at times it's nothing to complain about. I start the week heavy, being out of the house for 13 hours (though only working between 7 and 10 hours of that), then returning to eat dinner around nine in the evening*. Thursdays and Fridays are a little easier - I don't start until noon on Thursdays, it's my day to get non-work stuff done, and Friday is a bit of a break, starting at 10 - but the work-to-being-out ratio is not as great as I'd like it to be (though it's the best it can be right now). Luckily, the work itself is generally pretty easy (though does require some prep outside of all this time, eating away at my weekends).

All in all, I generally end up being out of the house 'working' and traveling for 60 hours a week, though I really only work 39 hours if no one cancels their class, and that's a big if. How big? I've been teaching here for five months and no two weeks have been the same. Students get busy and cancel one week, go on vacation, don't show up, get sick, quit, start, change, and anything else you could do to play with someone's schedule.

I've been fairly lucky in terms of regularity, consistency, and loyalty, though Chris has gotten screwed over by a few students. We've both had weeks where we're only actually getting paid for 15 hours, though students don't bother to cancel ahead of time, so we still have to show up. As we're teaching adults, these classes are not mandated by anyone and are generally paid for by the company (when we teach at a company). Therefore, they're secondary to other things. These other things can be as major as a visit by the president of the company or as minor as a massage appointment scheduled at the same time as English class (yes, it's happened).

Is it frustrating? Sometimes, it is a little bit. Waking up before seven, going out for 13 hours, trekking all over the city, coming home, eating, and finally being able to sit down to read or take care of things and finding that it's already 10 in the evening is hard, especially when I realize it was all for no more than a maximum of $60US (my best day). I know people who make that in less than two hours. Of course, the cost of living here is much cheaper, I'm not paying taxes, and I'm living in Buenos Aires, but still.

Is it rewarding? You bet. Teaching adults is so different than kids. Stimulating conversation, (usually) a desire to actually learn (as opposed to being forced, though there are times that attitude appears), and a much deeper range of experience to draw from makes for fun, interesting classes. On Thursday, I spent an hour swapping jokes with a guy who is interested in humour and shared a cigar over conversation with a guy who had worked in Washington. For a while, I was teaching the president of Tupperware's representative company down here, and I do teach many managers. Talking with them about one thing or another, I often learn things myself: Spanish idioms, Argentine historical quirks, personal experiences from important times (the start of the Malvinas War, the start of the economic crisis, and so on). Of course, not all classes go this well, but in general it's fun.

Teaching down here is not done for the money, and that's why you don't find a lot of people doing it. I've only met a few doing it, and they are usually travelers looking to make some money while they hang out in Buenos Aires for a little bit. I think we've met exactly two people who have taught here long term like us or who have plans to do so, and they're both gone. That said, I've enjoyed what I'm doing here so far and am going to make the most of it while I'm here. I'd just like to find the time to share all that with you. And not go crazy trying to do it all! Here's hoping, anyway.

*Have I mentioned the dining habits of Argentimes? Possibly, but it's worth another mention. They eat late. Like 9:00 is early. On the weekends, it's entire possible to go out with friends for dinner at midnight and not be able to get a seat at your favourite restaurant. I've gotten used to it, though it is a little crazy (they've adapted tea time here, having a snack/sandwich/whatever after work, as there would be no way to make it from lunch to dinner otherwise). It's not the healthiest - eating at 10 at night, there's just no way that you can get rid of all that food. And it's tradition to eat a big, heavy dinner. It's hard to avoid, though, when a lot of (fancier, at least) restaurants aren't even open before seven in the evening. Argentimes have a hard time adjusting when they go anywhere else as well. Another 'you only know it once you've been there' experience, that's for sure!

case in point

With reference to my last entry on my schedule here, before my week even started I had 10% of my classes cancelled this week, which moved up to 20% by the end of yesterday. I managed to fill one slot and am getting paid for some of the cancellations, but days like Monday get me frustrated - I was out of the house for 11 hours, but worked for 4 (and got paid for 5.5). That's a lot of wasted time.

Teaching (amongst many other things) is really difficult when there's no continuity.

UPDATE: On the upside, generally my time gets respected, and when classes are cancelled on short notice, I get paid. Today I worked a grand total of 4 hours, yet I got paid for 9. Unfortunately, days like these are less common than I'd like...

documented

[Ira] Glass and his team of producers, writers, and interns set about the exhausting task of gathering all available information on a range of subjects from minor skirmishes with the law to the rewards of occasionally talking to poor people. The raw data was then analyzed, deconstructed, reconstructed, re-deconstructed, organized under a broad philosophical title, and interspliced with musical interludes by rock duo They Might Be Giants.

If you're a fan of This American Life (it's a terrific show, folks!), then you'll love this story from The Onion.