Second Weekend in Buenos Aires!

My second weekend in Buenos Aires started off with brunch at a restaurant that is near my hotel/apartment with one of my coworkers and his wife. As I've mentioned in an earlier post, the idea of breakfast is not a big deal here in Buenos Aires. They typically will eat a small pastry and/or coffee for breakfast while eating a bigger lunch and dinner. It's been a bit of an adjustment for me being that breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and that I normally prefer a hot breakfast. I have been eating bread with peanut butter for breakfast☺ So I was excited when my coworker invited me to a place that serves brunch. The cafe is so quaint and charming. It also operates as a bakery, so it has bread and pastries as well. I have loved the bread and pastries here in BA. They definitely know how to do it right. 

On Saturdays, Grand Cafe has a brunch menu that they label as an American brunch. You get to choose two drinks and an entree. I ordered a water and a lemonade for drink. The lemonade was freshly squeezed. That's another thing I appreciate about being here in BA, most of the juices I have tried have all been freshly squeezed. For my entree I ordered the "Egg Grand Toast" that is a piece of toast with eggs, ham, and spinach. The most common meat choice for breakfast that I have seen (if served at all) is ham, I very rarely see bacon as an option and haven't seen sausage served at all.

On Sunday I went to "Barrio Chino" or Chinatown with another one of my coworkers. I decided to take a train there. It was my first time getting on the train and it was hysterical to say the least..lol. The train station by my apartment has two separate areas for the trains. I went into the first one and couldn't understand how to figure out which train I was supposed to get on so I asked one of the attendants. He didn't really speak English and I don't speak much Spanish, so in the limited words I was able to gather from him, he told me that I needed to go to the other location, so I walked to the other location. When I got there, I was still confused so I asked the attendant there. He spoke a little more English than the other attendant and told me I needed to go back to the other location. When I went back to the other location, I asked a couple for help. They spoke no English at all. So through the very very limited Spanish I know I tried to explain to them that I was trying to go to Barrio Chino. They told me which train to get on, which happened to be the same train they were getting on. I get on the train and sit down and wait to leave (the train leaves every 15- 20 minutes). While sitting, they motioned for me to come to them. I came over and then we looked at the map together. They were trying to tell me where to get off when we all realized that I was actually on the wrong train. At this point I was beginning to get really frustrated and could feel tears in my eyes starting to swell from being frustrated. What was supposed to be an easy train ride had turned pretty tricky for me. I was about 20 minutes into this and it was raining outside. I wanted to give up, but because I don't give up that easily I decide to try to figure it out again. So I go to another attendant and let him know where I was trying to go. He points me in the direction of another train. As I walk to the train, he says something to me, but of course I can't understand since I don't speak Spanish. I begin walking to the train and a sweet couple that saw me walking starts motioning to me and pointing that I needed to go to the other side to get on. They don't speak English either. I let them know that I was trying to get to Barrio Chino and they say "dos estaciones" and I understood that I needed to get off of the train at the second station. They were very confident, so that gave me a sigh of relief that I was finally going the right direction. So I darted to the other side and got on the train. As the couple noted, I got off at the second station which landed me right near the front entrance of Barrio Chino where my coworker asked me to meet her.

Entrance of Barrio Chino

Angela and I at the entrance of Barrio Chino

To my surprise Barrio Chino is actually really small. It is only about 2 blocks long. Angela and I walked past several souvenir shops. We ended up going to a grocery store since she had to pick up a few items. The grocery stores in Barrio Chino are an expat haven since they carry items that many expats cannot find in regular supermarkets, such as peanut butter. From all of my travels around the world I have learned that peanut butter is really only an American thing. The rest of the world is not as crazy about peanut butter as we are. I grabbed some peanut butter to eat with bread for breakfast and some ramen noodles to have on hand for convenience. (Note - the $ on the shelves are in Argentine pesos, which has a ratio of about 17-18 pesos for every $1 USD. I would be out of my mind to pay $84 for some peanut butter! lol )

I was pretty hungry so we decided to get some lunch while we were there. We decided on a random Chinese restaurant and hoped for the best. Thankfully it turned out to be really delicious. I got a dish with chicken, rice and vegetables. Angela got teriyaki salmon and rice and she was very happy with her choice too.

My chicken, rice and vegetable dish at Budda BA in Barrio Chino

La Boca & Puerto Madero

On my first weekend in Buenos Aires, one of my coworkers invited me to check out part of the city. So nice right?! He met me at my hotel and then we rode the bus to a really popular neighborhood called "La Boca".  La Boca is most known for its colorful streets and houses and the "La Bombonera Stadium" which is a football (soccer) stadium, which is home of the Boca Juniors, one of Argentina's top football clubs. It's a tourist area for sure, so there was lots of street vendors and markets to buy things from. There were also restaurants where you could order a meal and watch a tango dance. Tango is super popular here in Buenos Aires and it is one of the things they are most known for.

Colorful streets of La Boca

The Pope was everywhere!

I was taking a picture of this corner (see the Pope again!) and my coworker told me that this was the most popular photo opp

As we were walking through the markets, there were restaurants that had tango shows for the customers to watch while they ate their meals. As I have previously said, Tango is very popular here in Argentina and what the country is most known for. Check out the video of a couple doing the tango that I was able to get below!

Then we took a walk around the neighborhood. The area around La Boca is somewhat sketchy, so we had to be careful where we walked. There is also a lot of graffiti art that I think is actually pretty good. 

After we were done at La Boca, we went to Puerto Madero. It's another popular neighborhood in the city. It is probably most known for its waterfront. So being the tourist I am I definitely decided to get a few pics. 

As we were walking around, we ran into a guy that was performing the popular song "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi. I actually had not heard it until I heard him sing and I feel like I hear it all the time now! 

            We watched him perform for a little while and then we decided to keep walking. As we were walking past the crowd he yelled "Ayy chica!" to me as I was walking by....the whole crowd looked at me and laughed. My coworker told me it meant "hey baby!" and I was so embarrassed. I'm sure my face showed it too! It made for great laughs though.

Puerto Madero sign

Afterwards we went to McDonald's for dinner. My goal has been to try a McDonald's outside of the US, so I was finally able to try it! I got a quarter pounder with cheese and fries. I had to ask for ketchup (and also extra ketchup too!) The Argentines don't care about ketchup the way us Americans do. My burger tasted exactly how it does in the states! The fries did too, although I feel like they give a smaller portion of fries here. I also got a coke zero for drink (which I love). They serve what we consider to be "small" cups as a medium drink here. There is also an option to upsize as well. The whole meal was about $11-$12 USD, which is more expensive than it is in the states. That's one thing I've been most surprised about being here. Before I was told that things were cheap here, but so far I feel things seem to be more expensive than things in the states.

On Sunday, I wasn't feeling well, so I laid in bed and slept for most of the day. I was also starting to get homesick, which was only a few days after my arrival. I began to have second thoughts on why I decided it was a good idea to come to a non-English speaking country to live for two months. I'm so thankful for my little sister who let me call her to vent about it for a few minutes. After I got off the call with her, I finally decided to go and get some food and to a pharmacy to get some medicine (felt like my uterus was trying to kill me...lol). So I bared the painful walk to the pharmacy, which is about a 5-10 minute walk from my hotel/apartment. Thankfully the pharmacies are on every 2-3 blocks it seems and they are also open 24 hours, which is so nice. 

I was expecting to be able to talk to an English speaking person in the pharmacy, but they did not speak English. So I tried as best as I could with the Spanish knowledge I do have to let the lady know I needed Tylenol or something else for stomach pains. She came back with medicine for gas pain, which I did not need. So I ended up pulling out my handy dandy best friend "google translate" and typed what I needed. She and the guy who was standing by her both let out a loud sigh that they understood and she gave me the medicine that I needed. She told me they did not sell Tylenol. I purchased my medicine and then decided to go across the street to the Dandy restaurant to get some food since I had not eaten anything all day. I decided on a burger and fries. All I wanted was carbs to "help" me feel better lol. 

The fries were good, but this was probably the worst burger I have ever had in my entire life. The burger patty was extremely dry and tough. I don't even know how that is even possible. I managed to eat as much as I could to take with my medicine. I just can't believe they even call that a burger, it was so terrible. Then after I took my medicine, I went back home and began to feel like a human again, finally. I also began prepping for my first full work week in Buenos Aires. 

National Friendship Day!

Felize Dia Del Amigo! (Happy Friendship Day!)

July 20th is friendship day for the Argentines and its significance is comparable to how we celebrate Valentine's Day in the US. Friendship is something I noticed that is highly valued and treasured here in Argentina. Although it is not a public holiday it is still celebrated in the evening at bars and restaurants. I live right by a bar and restaurant and heard people hanging out and talking outside of my hotel window into the wee hours of the night.

To celebrate Friendship Day, my work peer buddy and I went and picked up some lunch at Piccadely. It's basically a place that sells "picada" which is "antipasto" or what I call "finger food" for us back in the states.

We ordered a platter to share together. The platter included different types of deli meats & cheeses and some tomatoes and olives. We also had bread and mayonnaise on the side. One thing I've learned about Argentines is that they looovvveee mayo. They eat tons of it on things. We took our platter back to the office and shared it with some of our other office mates. Our platter was supposed to be enough to feed two people, but we ended up having enough to share with others too. I'm so thankful for my peer buddy, she has done a really good job at making me feel welcomed.

Our platter from Piccadely

A little more history on friendship day! Enrique Ernesto Febbraro, an Argentine professor came up with the idea when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. Febbraro was inspired by Neil's famous words "One small step for man, a giant leap for mankind" and became promoting Friend's Day every since that day. Febbraro is quoted as saying, "I heard it being said that the landing on the moon was a grand gesture of friendship between humanity and the universe, the day was already decided!"

First Day of Work in the BA Office

On my first day of work in the BA office I asked if I was supposed to arrive at the office at 9am since the BA office hours are from 9am - 6pm. I was told that I didn't have to arrive at 9am sharp and could take my time and stop by a cafe and grab some coffee on the way to work. I knew the Argentine had a laid back culture and this statement definitely shows that. The EY BA office is nestled in the middle of downtown and is about a 20 minute walk from my hotel room, but I decided to take an uber to work the first day since I was new to the city.  I requested an uber and walked down to the hotel lobby to wait on the uber. The uber app said the uber was outside. I walked outside and waited for it to come....and waited...waited some more. It was very cold and windy that morning, so I was pacing around trying to stay warm as I waited. I finally received a text from the driver (in Spanish) that he was waiting for me. I looked around and saw no uber. I walked in to ask the hotel security guard (who speaks a little bit of English) where my uber could be, but he wasn't really helpful. I don't think he understood my question. So I walked back outside and started to walk around a little bit to find the uber car. After a few minutes of walking around I received a message on my uber app that the driver had cancelled the ride. I contemplated walking to work, but at this point it was already after 9am and I didn't want to risk the chance of getting lost and getting to work even later. Plus when I researched BA I heard about people snatching phones and purses from people, especially people who looked like tourists. So I didn't feel comfortable walking around without knowing exactly where I was going. I went back in the hotel to ask the security guard if there were cabs that come to the area and he said that I should be able to find one in either the front or behind the hotel. I was previously told there are two types of taxi's, one that looked like a normal taxi car and one that said "Radio Taxi". I was told I needed to always take the "Radio Taxi". It's a taxi that has a sign that says "Radio Taxi" on it. The difference between the two is that the Radio taxi registers all of its drivers and every ride, therefore reducing the chance that the driver will try to scam you. I didn't really know how to call a taxi, but I thought I would try to see if I was able to flag one down as they drove past. I waved at a couple, but they didn't stop and I saw they were full as they passed. I waved at a third and he pulled over. I hopped in and asked him if he spoke English. He said no, so I pulled up the address on my phone and pointed to it. He understood and drove me straight to a building with the EY logo on the outside (see below).

EY Local Office

I walk inside and asked for my contacts. They told me I had the wrong building. I needed to go to the other building across the street. What I later learned is that we have 3 offices all in the same area. The building that I walked into was the local office (above picture). I needed to go to the international office. So I walked across the street and saw another EY building entrance (see below).

EY International Office

EY International Office

I went inside and asked the receptionist for my contacts. She called them and then gave me a visitor badge. I sat and waited for my contacts to come get me from the lobby. 

Receptionist/Security Guard Desk

Poster  I saw in the lobby. I thought this was an interesting choice of picture for a professional firm, but think it shows how progressive EY's culture is becoming. 

Lobby Area

There were two people who came and met me in the lobby. I was fully expecting them to greet me with a kiss, but to my surprise they greeted me with a hand shake. They were both apart of our southwest region and one of them was my peer buddy. (For non EY folks, a peer buddy is basically someone who helps you get acclimated to the office when you are new to it.) We walked to the elevator bank and then rode up to our floor. I was introduced to the rest of the team in the southwest region. They were all so nice and greeted me very warmly. Then my peer buddy walked me around the floor to meet other folks. Again I was expecting some kisses, but they all greeted me with handshakes. There were so many people so it was a bit overwhelming, but they all greeted me so warmly and made me feel very welcomed. The floor seating is arranged by the various regions. One interesting thing I noticed is that they have clocks up that give the time for all of the various regions associated with our US tax practice. 

My peer buddy showed me around the office and then I went to my desk and we began trying to set it up. As I was setting my desk up a cart with pastries and other goodies came around. The cart comes around daily at 10am in the morning and around 4pm in the afternoon with different goodies and snacks on it. I didn't get to eat breakfast that morning, so I grabbed a medialuna (means half-moon in English because of the shape). It's basically a glazed croissant and it is sooo delicious. You can find these pieces of deliciousness in pretty much all cafe's, corner stores, McDonalds, etc. They are a popular breakfast item or snack and so they are pretty much everywhere.

Daily Breakfast/Snack Cart

Daily Breakfast/Snack Cart

First of MANY medialunas ☺

The southwest team had reserved a team lunch for 12p that day. I was told the Argentines eat later lunches and dinners, so was expecting to eat lunch around 1 or 2pm. They told me they reserved lunch for 12p because they know Americans generally eat lunch around that time (so thoughtful!) What's funny is I actually don't eat lunch until 1 or 2pm in the states. I really appreciated their thoughtfulness though. So we all walked to the restaurant for lunch. I ordered spaghetti bolognese, which was pretty good. There was also bread with some type of cream cheese that was served as an appetizer before the entree came out.

Spaghetti Bolognese

The Italians have a heavy influence on the Argentine culture due to a large number of Italians immigrating to Argentina in the late 1800s and early 1900s. About 62.5% of Argentina's population has at least one Italian immigrant ancestor. So there is plenty of pasta, pizza, bread and ice cream here. It's also funny because I've noticed that some of the Argentine's have the Italian accents and do Italian hand gestures. I also feel the laid back and relaxed culture reminds me of the Italian culture as well. 

We also ordered dessert. There was a choice of flan or ice cream. I chose to go with flan since it came with the Argentines' beloved dulce de leche. Dulce de leche literally means "candy made of milk." The Argentines put it in soooo many of their dessert items. It reminds me of caramel, but I think it's actually better. I was expecting not to like dulce de leche because I heard so many others saying they don't like it. I tried it with the flan and actually really liked it alot. I was actually surprised by the way they make their flan though. The flan I've had before was really creamy and milk or cream based. This flan tasted pretty much like a sweet poached egg. It wasn't bad, it was just not what I was expecting and the texture was different than what I'm used to as well. 

After lunch we went back to the office and worked. By 6pm that day I was starving. I didn't bring any snacks with me that day and didn't get any snacks when the snack cart came by. I was about ready to eat my arm..haha. Funny thing is that the Argentines don't eat dinner until about 9pm. Some restaurants may open at 8p, but you will not get as good of service since they just opened and so it's better to go at 9p or later. After I got off of work, I walked back to my hotel and relaxed a little bit before going to dinner. Based on a dinner recommendation, I decided to try the restaurant by my hotel. I walked into the hotel around 9p and the host asked me if I had a reservation. I didn't know it was reservation only and he told me he was fully booked, but that I could either sit at the bar or at a small table near the bar. I decided to sit at the bar. By this time I was soo hungry and decided to order a a rib eye steak since steak is one of the things that Argentina is known for. I ordered a side of fries which was also previously recommended. While I waited for my steak, I was served bread. It was really good bread too. My steak came out with a slightly fried egg yolk on top (that I previously requested not to have.) I tried to move it off and it split open on top of my steak, which was pretty gross, but I just used a napkin to wipe the yolk off and dove in. 

The steak was pretty good and the fries were really tasty. As I ate my food, the restaurant played some old school r&b 90's music which was fun to listen to and see the other patrons nodding and singing along to as well. After dinner I was completely stuffed and walked home to call it a night. First day was a success!

Bienvenidos a Buenos Aires! (Welcome to Buenos Aires!)

Upon landing in Buenos Aires, the pilot told us the current temperature was 33 degrees. I checked the weather before I left and saw 50s and 60s, so I was really shocked for the 30s! When I left Dallas, it was almost 100 degrees. Argentina is in the southern hemisphere and so they have opposite seasons than us in North America. It's currently summer in the US and so it is winter time for the folks in Argentina. The EY team in the Buenos Aires office was so awesome and organized a driver for my airport departure. After the flight landed, I got my bags and headed to meet my driver where they told me he would be standing and holding a sign with my name. Upon meeting my driver, Nicolas, he greeted me with a kiss on the cheek. That's a major difference from how we greet each other in the US. The Argentine's greet each other with a kiss, even if they just met you. It's equivalent to our handshake in the US.

Nicolas was so awesome and is the perfect person to greet people coming from the airport. He made the drive over to my hotel/apartment very pleasant. Our ride from the airport was about 45 minutes and we mainly talked about culture. I also learned that he was actually from Colombia, but met and married a woman from Argentina and so now he lives here too. We arrived at the hotel and he helped me unload my bags. Some EY folks gave him my room key to give to me with some additional information. Also, Nicolas gave me a tour of the hotel/apartment. The hotel has a gym, laundry, and a pool. When we walked into my room, my refrigerator was in the bathroom and there were dishes around the sink. When I decided to come to Argentina, I decided that I will try my best to just go with the flow of things, have an open mind, and be ready to adapt as best as I can as the situation arises. So I didn't think too much into the fact of how things were arranged, but Nicolas called the hotel to ask them to come check on my room. He then showed me around my room and then he left. Then about 10 minutes later a lady walked into my room. When she saw that I was in the room she was totally startled. She wasn't expecting me to already be in the room. She started cleaning and putting away the dishes and as she was doing so her hands were shaking. I felt so bad that I had startled her that bad. It made sense though, I had on all black and I'm really tall. I would have been startled too! Anyways after she finished I took the below video of my room!

Hotel Pool

Hotel Gym

Hotel Sauna 

There is a person that comes to tidy up my room every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Funny thing is that I didn't even realize that my bed wasn't even made until the end of the week. All that was on the bed was two sheets. I wondered why a blanket wasn't on the bed, especially considering how cold it was, but thought maybe it was a cultural thing and just turned my heat up really high. I was so tired and cold and so took a nap. After my nap, I was so hungry and decided to go get something to eat. I went to this placed called "Dandy" that was suggested by one of the EY folks and is about a 5-10 minute walk from my hotel. Upon leaving my hotel is when "culture shock" started setting in for me, I will talk more about this in a later post though. When I entered the restaurant I was greeted by a guy who later told me he was Haitian. I was thankful he spoke English and he patiently helped me through the menu items. I decided to get spaghetti with salmon. It was really good.

On my walk back home I walked by a nail salon and decided to stop in to get a manicure. There was only one English speaking person there and she barely spoke English although she understood it more than she spoke. The lady who ultimately did my manicure spoke no English at all, although she was super nice. We ended up using a lot of hand gestures to communicate with each other and I ended up having to use my Google Translate app alot. I thought I knew alot of Spanish, but being here has made me realize how much I actually do not know and how terrible my Spanish speaking abilities actually are ☺ On top of that, their Spanish is slightly different from the Mexican Spanish I have learned for majority of my life. Anyways, I ended up getting my nails done exactly the way I wanted! My nail lady took the below picture of my nails for me.

I have decided that I'm going to continue to go there at least every week or every other week, so I can continue to practice my Spanish with them. My goal is to be able to go in there at the end of my time here and not have to use google translate at all and speak only Spanish the entire time. After I got my nails done, I decided to stop by the grocery store that is right by my hotel to pick up a few things. I bought some fruit and bath soap and then headed back to my room for the evening to get prepared for my first day of work in the BA office.

Farewell USA!

The time leading up to my flight was a bit of a whirlwind in getting prepared for my two month stay in Argentina since I had such a short time frame to prepare. So I didn't really have much time to plan or mentally prepare for the fact that I was going to be away from home for the longest I've ever been. My last meal was my beloved Chick Fil A and it was every bit of glorious as it usually is ☺

I took uber to the airport and had a really nice driver who was has a military background and so has been all over the world. I told him I was going to Argentina and he gave me a lot of advice for my time there and for my possible travels to Brazil. I actually really enjoy taking taxi's and uber's to and from the airport, I almost always meet some of the coolest people with such amazing life stories.

Soooo I have to talk about my first plane trip via business class. It was really great and I will probably never be able to view coach/economy the same way again. I was really trying to keep my cool and not act like a little kid in a candy shop :) My flight was non stop from Dallas/Fort Worth to Buenos Aires. It was a red eye flight, we left around 7pm central standard time and arrived in Buenos Aires around 7am, which was 2 hours ahead of central standard time. The flight was about 10 - 11 hours.  As soon as I sat in my seat there was a flight attendant that came around to ask if we wanted orange juice, champagne, or water/soda. Both the orange juice and champagne sounded good, so I asked for a mimosa. It was pretty delicious. 

As the plane got ready for take off, I checked out some of the gadgets in my seat. They had Bose headphones for us to use during the trip. They also had a bag that included some essentials such as toothpaste, mouth wash, ear plugs, socks, tissues, etc. 

A lady came by and introduced herself. She was going to be the flight attendant for my section. I told her it was my first time flying business class and so she said she would look out for me. She asked what I wanted for dinner and to my surprise she pointed out there was a whole menu to choose from. I ordered the "Surf and Turf". 

Flight Menu

Flight Menu (notice there are many drink options 😉) 

If you ever go on an international business class flight, just make sure you come hungry. They feed you so much food! They first gave us hot towels to wipe our hands off with. Then they brought out an assortment of warm toasted almonds, pistachios, pecans, cashews, and peanuts that were so good. 

Then they brought out the dinner. To be completely honest, I've never been a big fan of plane food. I've been told I'm a food snob and I fully accept that. I took a bite of all of the things on my plate and just couldn't eat it. The food did not have much flavor and tasted very processed and seemed like it had been sitting in the refrigerator for a long time. The salad was good, but it looked like it had been sitting in the dressing too long and so was wilted. To be fair though, my neighbors seemed to really enjoy their food. Like I said earlier, I've never been a big fan of plane food on any of the international flights I've been on, so I'm sure it's just my taste buds and my food snobbishness ☺ They brought us hot bread rolls. I asked for two and was really satisfied with those. I love just about any bread.

The flight attendant realized I didn't really touch much of my food. She felt bad and asked if I wanted two desserts. I of course said yes and she brought me an ice cream sundae and a chocolate mousse cake. I really enjoyed those ☺

After dinner I decided to go to sleep. I purposely only had a little sleep the night before so that I would be really tired on the flight. What's interesting is I normally don't have much problem sleeping on a plane. I normally sleep for majority of the flight, even when I sat in coach seats on other international flights I've done before. For some reason on this flight I was not able to sleep well. I slept a few hours, but I was restless for the most part. The seats reclined all the way back. I had a pillow and a soft blanket. There was so much room to be comfortable, but I was not able to sleep well. Around 5:30ish in the morning, the flight attendant woke me up for breakfast. I did eat quite a bit of the breakfast (even though it still wasn't that great to me), but I think I was just hungry at that time and wanted something of substance. I was a served a quiche, fruit, chicken sausage, and a biscuit. 

After we finished breakfast the flight was close to landing and we landed safely!