One Month In (Again)

I sometimes have trouble deciding if I am continuing the same study abroad in Buenos Aires or if I should consider my second semester its own separate experience.  After being here for a little over five months, I went to Brazil, home, and then came back.  As I began the new semester, a lot had changed – my good American friends were gone (how much I miss my Quilombos), the classes I had become accustomed to had changed, my schedule was all over the place, and much more.  I wasn’t learning the city again, but I was facing the same bureaucratic nightmares from both sides of the equator and assisting a new set of lost sheep (read: new exchange students). 

The gang from last semester (minus one, Katie) all together.  

I’m happy to help the new students, but I think there’s a value to having to struggle and learn by oneself.  I’ll say something if it’s a serious situation – I told someone not to buy a boat ticket to Uruguay with her credit card (currency exchange fees plus the bad exchange rate), explained that metro cards can go into debt, helped show the dangers of taking the wrong rama, or branch, of the bus, and shared the value of getting coke light at the supermarket instead of a kiosk.  But I kept my mouth shut when someone unwittingly joined the priciest and most chic gym in the city or when another person went to a restaurant I knew had bad food.

Some of my challenges remain the same too.  I am constantly dealing with silly bureaucratic rules, and I can successfully say I know how to navigate the Argentine system better than IU’s now.  I was able to get exceptions made to get the classes I needed as well as schedule two classes at effectively the same time.  I just now await IU’s response on syllabi to complete my course schedule.  Likewise, just like last semester, I still am having difficulty finding my readings at the Catholic University.  I’ll post about my experience in my class in the future. 

But after one month here (again), I am truly starting to appreciate the improvement in Spanish I have made.  I understand a good deal of what is going on in class and am able to resolve problems with a good grasp of Spanish.  I have already spoken to more students in my UCA class than I did all last semester.  My speaking abilities, which still aren’t great, are coming along—my speed is a lot better and I have to consciously think less about how to conjugate a verb or phrase a sentence.  The other night, my Argentine boyfriend told me that I sounded really Argentine when we spoke on the phone, which might be the biggest compliment I’ve gotten since arriving in July. 

I’m excited to see what the next (or final) four months of my adventure bring.  I hope that I can keep exploring new parts of South America and continue being amazed with my life in Buenos Aires.  And maybe, just maybe, I’ll finally learn to roll my rs. 

Hoping for more moments of happiness and beauty in my final four months abroad.

Precios Cuidados

Argentina always seems to be going through some sort of economic trouble, and my time here has been no exception.  Inflation is rampant, there’s a black market exchange for dollars, and the price of imports is through the roof.  The government’s response to the financial problems is comical at best, damaging at worst.

Without going into the specifics, international investors (with reason) don’t have much faith in the Argentine peso, so Argentina needs dollars to back up its currency.  However, every time someone buys something from outside the country, the banks (Argentina) have to send some of their dollars out of the country to pay for it.  This causes an imbalance of payments (more dollars going out than in), so the Argentine government is desperately trying to keep all of the dollars it can in its bank to back up the peso; the reserves are dwindling quickly, further adding to the trouble.  The government has imposed some quick fixes, including but not limited to: putting a 35% tax on all purchases made with a credit card for products outside the country, placing a huge tax on flights to the United States, limiting the number of credit card purchases one can make with a credit card outside the country to 2 (otherwise one must register as an importer)… the list goes on.

Inflation is both a cause and effect of the economic problems.  Inflation goes up when the peso devalues, so you have to use more pesos to buy the same product.  When I arrived in Argentina, the official exchange rate was 5.5 pesos to the dollar, and now it is 7.89 pesos to the dollar (black market rate is between 10-12).  But inflation is also something psychological, as many businesses raise their prices to make up for inflation that will happen in the next few months.  It’s a defense mechanism that is an unfortunate reality of life in Argentina.  In July, a bottle of Coke Light (the regrettable Diet Coke substitute I survive on here) was 7 or 8 pesos—now it’s 10 to 12.  Inflation is tricky because we can only measure it after it happens.  If you’re a business, waiting until the end of the month to deal with inflation is too late, so you raise your prices as you go to account for anticipated inflation.

However, the Argentine government’s response to the inflation is the most mind-boggling to me.  They have a Precios Cuidados (Cared-for prices) campaign to keep prices fixed on certain products at many grocery stores.  Basically, it’s a list of official prices that the government sets for basic products, and all grocery stores have to comply with the prices or face the risk of being closed (temporarily or permanently).  There’s a website where you can check how much items should be, and report if something does not comply with the price list.

Screenshot from the Precios Cuidados website.  These prices are supposed to be fixed across the country for lettuce, apples, and black potatoes (a potato that has not been cleaned and is black from the dirt).  I use the rate of ten pesos the dollar to calculate how much items cost.

I find the price list humorous and ironic for several reasons.  First, they had a more limited precios cuidados campaign back in September, with much lower prices.  I used to buy this specific tea brand because it was 2 pesos for a box of twenty-five bags of tea, but now that they have raised the price to 7 pesos (which is still advertised as a guarded price), I am less likely to pick that brand since its price isn’t so outrageously low.  Second, some of the prices just don’t make sense.  For example, a generic carton of six eggs is a guarded price at 8.55 pesos, but a dozen eggs is not and 20 pesos.

The whole uproar with the price is just the government’s way of doing something, but it’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation.  Price controls have been proven not to work, and it is going to take a large restructuring of the Argentine economy to make any lasting change.  This Peronist government cannot make those changes without alienating its base, and so no change will happen until the next election in two years. 

Let's Get Physical

I had always intended to join a gym, or at least I had told myself I would join a gym.  Last August, I went and checked out a few gyms near my apartment, but never quite finished the transaction.  However, after eating my way through South America for almost six months, the time had come to finally commit.  I ended up just picking the place closest to me, a smallish gym that has a good mix of classes and the basic machines.  The motivating factor for me was the proximity-- half a block away.  It takes me longer to brush my teeth than to walk to the gym.  

To join a gym in Argentina, you need a physician to prove that you are apt for physical activity.  Apparently there is a law about this, but I think it might just be for liability issues.  However, I was told that I could try the gym for two weeks before getting the physical, which seemed odd to me (what if I'm not physically fit and something happens?).  Not too sure what "physical fit" meant in the Argentine sense (That I don't smoke?  That I've consumed a vegetable in the past week?), I wanted to complete the physical before I paid any money.  

Some gyms have a doctor that comes in a few days a week to do the exams, but the gym that I wanted to join did not have this service.  The receptionist recommended another gym that gave the exams for $15, and after a disastrous phone call (in which my phone cut off because I ran out of credit and the woman struggled to understand my accent), I had my "turno," or appointment.  I arrived just on time to my appointment at a posh gym in Recoleta.  

My main concern was not understanding the questions the doctor asked me.  I do not know my height in centimeters nor my weight in kilograms, and my medical vocabulary is basic at best.  I entered the exam room nervous, but Dr. Pablo put me at ease.  He knew a little English, and the only place he had been in the United States was Indianapolis-- the American College of Sports Medicine is located there, and he had been to a conference a few years back.  I understood more of the questions than I anticipated, and he went ahead and put my height and weight in the U.S. system.  

I then had to get my first EKG.  Dr. Pablo thought it was odd that we did not do these in the United States, because Argentine doctors follow the recommendations from the States.  As he affixed rubber things to my body, he asked me about baseball and politics.  He wanted to know who I thought was going to win the presidency in 2016, and then started asking about someone named Michelle, "the wife of the president."  I asked if he meant Michelle Obama, and then almost panicked at the thought that people outside of the United States knew about Michelle Bachman.  Thankfully, he meant Hilary Clinton and wanted to know my thoughts about her.  

It ended up taking Dr. Pablo longer to print my results ("all great," he said), than to give me the actual exam.  I paid, and he wished me well and was able to get out a heavily-accented "Good luck" in English as I left.  

The next day I was ready to join the gym.  As I waited for the receptionist to get paperwork for me to fill out, I looked over my apt for fitness report.  Everything looked fine, although my height was recorded as five feet, one inch-- a comical error that no one in Argentina was going to notice.  I got the 21 and under discount and went ahead and paid to me a member for my entire stay in Argentina.  This will hopefully encourage me to go regularly, as I already paid.

I've now been a few times, always right after the gym opens.  The first day I went, I watched the other gym-goers to see where the spray bottles and towels to wipe down the machines were; it appears that this hygiene practice is not common here.  I have made it a commitment to go as early in the day as I can.  Today I watched the man on the treadmill next to mine drip sweat all over the control panel, and then walk away.  I am still trying to determine if it would be strange to bring paper towels and wipe down the machines before I use them.  For now, I am trying to arrive within as close to opening as possible.

The gym has also been great practice in my mile-to-kilometer conversion.  My first time on the treadmill, I was shocked to see that I could amp the thing up to six ("Wow, I am more fit than I thought!"), before I realized that it meant 6 kilometers an hour instead of miles per hour.   

Another cultural difference that I should have known would carry over the gym is greetings.  In Argentina (as I often forget), it is very rude not to greet everyone when you enter a room.  When I go in the gym, I have to greet the receptionist, which I can handle.  However, I was quite surprised when a man entered the gym area upstairs and went around to greet all of us ("Hola, señoritas, como están?").  Though I wanted to say, "Hey, buddy, can't you see I'm sweating and have headphones in?", I mustered a noise that appeared to pass for "Hola!"  My next personal goal is to try a yoga class, although I'll need to research the names of the poses in Spanish first.