Christmas in Mar del Plata was a nice change of pace.
I would never go to Mar del Plata during January or February, when the city is full of folks from Buenos Aires. But even during Christmastime, a week before the crazy madness is at 100%, it is relatively tranquil.
Will write more later when I put pictures up.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
End of December is the worst time of year to live in Buenos Aires
We've been having a ridiculous amount of power outages recently, as well as internet outages. It's driving me up a wall. And it seems to fit the same experiences I've had at the end of my previous two Decembers here.
Summer arrives here around mid-December, and people start using their air conditioners so energy usage spikes. The school year also ends in mid-December, so kids are all in their houses full-time. That means that not only are commercial properties hitting full blast with AC, but all residential properties are likewise being air conditioned or at least using multiple fans (as air conditioning is far from 100%, even in stores).
Everyone goes on vacation January 2nd though, so the infrastructure isn't nearly as taxed for the month of January. Though the temperature is hotter, many businesses close and from an American perspective, it's just amazing how many people leave the city. I've written about this in previous years, so I won't repeat it. But both years so far, it has been kinda mindblowing.
School doesn't start until mid-February, so the infrastructure isn't taxed because there are still a surprising percent of the city on vacation. I guess the people who don't have kids but want a slightly cheaper vacation go on vacation in late February. A few people go on vacation in early March, as well.
But yeah, like 95% of Buenos Aires vacations happen in a very small timeframe...which we are about to arrive at, but haven't yet. So until then, the infrastructure is just overwhelmed. That's my theory.
And that means that I continue being super annoyed every few hours when my electricity and/or internet cut off. It's something like low 90s, so it can be annoying to be both hot and with nothing to do.
Summer arrives here around mid-December, and people start using their air conditioners so energy usage spikes. The school year also ends in mid-December, so kids are all in their houses full-time. That means that not only are commercial properties hitting full blast with AC, but all residential properties are likewise being air conditioned or at least using multiple fans (as air conditioning is far from 100%, even in stores).
Everyone goes on vacation January 2nd though, so the infrastructure isn't nearly as taxed for the month of January. Though the temperature is hotter, many businesses close and from an American perspective, it's just amazing how many people leave the city. I've written about this in previous years, so I won't repeat it. But both years so far, it has been kinda mindblowing.
School doesn't start until mid-February, so the infrastructure isn't taxed because there are still a surprising percent of the city on vacation. I guess the people who don't have kids but want a slightly cheaper vacation go on vacation in late February. A few people go on vacation in early March, as well.
But yeah, like 95% of Buenos Aires vacations happen in a very small timeframe...which we are about to arrive at, but haven't yet. So until then, the infrastructure is just overwhelmed. That's my theory.
And that means that I continue being super annoyed every few hours when my electricity and/or internet cut off. It's something like low 90s, so it can be annoying to be both hot and with nothing to do.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving. We are celebrating by going to a dinner in Capital held by an American, although I expect it will be mostly Argentines.
Monday, October 25, 2010
As the holidays approach, I increasingly think Jennifer Noronha is morally bankrupt
Yeah, Jennifer Noronha is a pretty bad person. I can't visit my family this holiday season because of her involvement in rejecting my wife for a tourist visa.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Happenings
1. I'm not going to talk about MBA applications right now. I haven't done it so much here, but I'm just exhausted by it. It's so much work, when all the while you are essentially presenting your life for inspection. Do they like you? After days and days of work, do you get a rejection anyway?*
Despite politics and Christianity being important parts of my life (and the former a huge part of my leadership experiences), I largely left them out of my application. I know for sure I have been discriminated against in similar circumstances previously. I won't make the same mistake again.
2. I have to go give presentations in English tomorrow. I'm pretty sure they won't even pay me half of my hourly dollar rate in pesos. In other words, they'll pay me about 10% of what I'd normally accept to wake up on a Saturday morning. When we're talking 10%, I'd generally rather that they not pay me at all, but I think I will have no choice.
Surprisingly, now that I speak Spanish reasonably well, some of my most awkward moments are when respected people want to speak English with me, because I feel pressured to understand. Tomorrow I have to understand the director when she speaks English. It might be easy...it might not be, and I'm sympathetic to her feelings if I don't understand her.
3. I am finishing a fantastic champagne as I write this. This is my favorite champagne in the world -- Argentine, of course. Por supuesto, che.
* Given that my GMAT score is above the median for every school, this is arguably worse when I get rejected.
Despite politics and Christianity being important parts of my life (and the former a huge part of my leadership experiences), I largely left them out of my application. I know for sure I have been discriminated against in similar circumstances previously. I won't make the same mistake again.
2. I have to go give presentations in English tomorrow. I'm pretty sure they won't even pay me half of my hourly dollar rate in pesos. In other words, they'll pay me about 10% of what I'd normally accept to wake up on a Saturday morning. When we're talking 10%, I'd generally rather that they not pay me at all, but I think I will have no choice.
Surprisingly, now that I speak Spanish reasonably well, some of my most awkward moments are when respected people want to speak English with me, because I feel pressured to understand. Tomorrow I have to understand the director when she speaks English. It might be easy...it might not be, and I'm sympathetic to her feelings if I don't understand her.
3. I am finishing a fantastic champagne as I write this. This is my favorite champagne in the world -- Argentine, of course. Por supuesto, che.
* Given that my GMAT score is above the median for every school, this is arguably worse when I get rejected.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Life is more expensive in Argentina
Before they devalued the peso after the 2001/2002 crisis, Buenos Aires was considered one of the most expensive cities in the world.
A data point: I recently looked into buying a domain name in Argentina (.com.ar). Considering it costs $10 in the US, I figured it'd be about something similar...when really it should only be about 10 pesos (or about $2.5USD).
You know how much it was? $50. There was a cheaper registrant, I think, but it looked rather fly by night. So, 200 argentine pesos to register something that really has no good reason to cost more than about 10 pesos.
I laughed and said forget it. The government controls domain names, and the Kirchners are corrupt wannabe Hugo Chavezes. No reason to expose any business to that sort of risk, especially when it costs 500% more.
A data point: I recently looked into buying a domain name in Argentina (.com.ar). Considering it costs $10 in the US, I figured it'd be about something similar...when really it should only be about 10 pesos (or about $2.5USD).
You know how much it was? $50. There was a cheaper registrant, I think, but it looked rather fly by night. So, 200 argentine pesos to register something that really has no good reason to cost more than about 10 pesos.
I laughed and said forget it. The government controls domain names, and the Kirchners are corrupt wannabe Hugo Chavezes. No reason to expose any business to that sort of risk, especially when it costs 500% more.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Sitting here at home very late into the wee hours of a Saturday night writing MBA essays. Good times, amirite?
I'm sparked to write because I still get freaked out when I see the siren lights reflecting off my walls late at night from the private security in our neighborhood slowly patrolling the streets. It always takes me a second to relax after tensing up.
Just got back from a trip to Brazil. Always good times. <3 Brazil, aside from getting a visa to go there, as "everyone has a Brazilian visa story." It's hard to dislike a place that has a reputation for being happy and liking to party.
I'm sparked to write because I still get freaked out when I see the siren lights reflecting off my walls late at night from the private security in our neighborhood slowly patrolling the streets. It always takes me a second to relax after tensing up.
Just got back from a trip to Brazil. Always good times. <3 Brazil, aside from getting a visa to go there, as "everyone has a Brazilian visa story." It's hard to dislike a place that has a reputation for being happy and liking to party.
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