A different view of Buenos Aires
Now having been in Buenos Aires for a couple of days, I’m still getting adjusted and trying to learn as much as I can. Getting here wasn’t exactly easy (flight trouble), but I’m here now and trying to set up a new life again.
With WorldTeach, even though we still had to deal with our own share of bureaucracy on our own throughout the year, most of the important paperwork and difficult processes with the government were taken care of by our directors in the beginning. Now I’m on my own, and although I have been previously approved for dual citizenship, I need to get myself a DNI citizenship card. It’s like a national ID that everyone must have, and if I don’t get one I’ll have to hop over to Uruguay every three months, something that the government is apparently trying to make harder now.
It’s overwhelming coming to a new country where you don’t speak the language perfectly, especially when the city you’re in is Buenos Aires. The city is huge and there are literally thousands of bus routes. Just trying to figure it all out is daunting, but at the very least I now know that the 24 bus runs by my apartment on both sides of the street and can get me to the center. Yesterday I went with one of my roommates to explore the center a bit and find the DNI office I needed to go to at 6 a.m. today.
I arrived on time, a little over three hours before the building opened, and already there were about 400 people wrapping around the building to the other side. I stood outside the main gate for a while, watching the guards giving some people tickets and turning away others. We waited in the cold for over an hour until two men came around saying they were full already and we would have to come back in mid-October. It’s so confusing trying to figure out what’s going on and how I’ll get my paperwork, and the employees had no interest in explaining anything, especially slowly for a foreigner.
It’s draining and scary to be doing it all on your own, especially without a job. Making that transition from being part of an organization to being out as a freelancer is definitely doable, and will just take some time on my part to get used to. But for the time being, I feel lost and need to navigate on my own.
But throughout all of this, there are a series of mixed emotions running through me in these first few days. The center is very built up and modern, and you can easily see why people will refer to it as “European” or even “Americanized.” But get outside the center just a bit and it just seems like a regular city. Where I live right now, on the border of three neighborhoods, is pretty blue collar and seems a bit poor. It’s not the Buenos Aires that you’ll see advertised on TV or in brochures, but it’s also a place that has its own character. The further away from the center you get, the more you see. Yet from this angle, it appears to be a city similar to those I’ve seen throughout South America. I’m eager to see how the first impression changes and what I eventually believe.
I missed an interview because of missing my flight, but I will be able to make it up tomorrow. I’m also expecting to be contacted about some teaching jobs soon, and will also be pursuing other leads I’ve made. These first few days find me still unemployed, but active and hopeful.
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