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!