On my first day of work in Buenos Aires , Marcello picks me up at 8:15am. I think he drives his personal car – it’s a Toyota . I see mostly Japanese cars here, some Renaults and Peugeots, very few American cars. Most are small cars. I haven’t seen any large SUV’s or pick up trucks – very different from Texas! I try not to watch as Marcello drives. Lane markings appear to be only “suggestions” here! I arrive at the office after about a 20 minute drive to a suburb of Buenos Aires called Nunes. I have to show my company ID badge and my laptop. They note the serial number of the laptop and give me a temporary badge to let me in and out of the building. At night, I have to give back the temporary badge and show my laptop again, I assume to ensure that I am taking the same one out that I brought in. Even company headquarters doesn’t have that kind of security.
The people I am to train show up around 9:00. We’re in a tiny room with five computers, my laptop and no windows! It gets very hot in here and there’s no privacy whatsoever. I get started with the training. I start with the most complicated application, which fortunately is the one I’m most familiar with. I expect to spend two days training them on this, one day on two smaller applications, then the final two days on the application for creating help desk tickets, which is the one they will use most often.
I am training four girls and one guy. They are very young, from what I can tell – one for certain is only 19 and most if not all are under 25. They are very bright and pick up the application very quickly – almost scarily quickly. They speak English very well with only a slight accent. They’re very polite and for the most part, when they speak Spanish to each other, they tell me what they are talking about. When we take a break, the girls go out for a smoke and I go with them. Some young men seem to arrange to meet them outside and a lot of flirting goes on. It’s cute to watch. One other thing that I find very endearing about them, and maybe it’s Argentines as a whole who do this, but they cheek-kiss each other when the first time they see each other in the morning and again as they leave for the night. They even do it to me, and both men and women do it. You would never find that in the United States for fear of being accused of sexual harassment!
At lunch (which I discover later, I have taken too early), we go to the company cafeteria. The girls get salads and I follow suit, thinking of the huge meals I’ve been eating since I got here. We talk a bit, then I excuse myself to go back to our little room and let the girls do their thing. The single male of our group, Ivan, has gone to workout instead of eating with us.
The afternoon drags a bit. Someone comes in to give us new coffee, but the girls ask for hot water instead so they can make mate. Fortunately, my ex-husband had given me a lesson in this so I didn’t look completely stupid. Mate is sort of a tea, with more caffeine than tea but less than coffee. It is prepared in a small gourd, mixing hot water and the herb. 
When it is ready, a special straw with a filter at the end is inserted into the gourd – the leaves are not removed. The first person sips through the straw until the tea is gone. More water is added, then the gourd is passed to the next person, and so one until everyone has their fill. It’s very much a ritual, and I don’t dare even think about the fact that everyone has used the same straw. The “gourds” are often made out of gourds, but I have seen them in stores made with silver trimming or made completely out of sliver. The “straws”, or bombillas, are metal and are sold with the gourds, and the set is very beautiful. I think I may have to buy one to bring home, even though I don’t actually like the mate very much.
When it is ready, a special straw with a filter at the end is inserted into the gourd – the leaves are not removed. The first person sips through the straw until the tea is gone. More water is added, then the gourd is passed to the next person, and so one until everyone has their fill. It’s very much a ritual, and I don’t dare even think about the fact that everyone has used the same straw. The “gourds” are often made out of gourds, but I have seen them in stores made with silver trimming or made completely out of sliver. The “straws”, or bombillas, are metal and are sold with the gourds, and the set is very beautiful. I think I may have to buy one to bring home, even though I don’t actually like the mate very much.We dismiss around 5:30 at a natural stopping place. Marcello is waiting for me at the curb after I turn in my pass. He takes a slightly different route home to the hotel, which gets me back around 6:20. I’m tired. I slept badly on Sunday night, probably from excitement about the coming days. I have turned down an offer from my ex-husband to meet for drinks tonight, but actually, that sounds pretty good. 
I head down to the Plaza Bar, which I have heard is rated one of the top nine hotel bars in the world by Forbes magazine. I ask for Jim Beam and diet Coke. When the bartender brings my drink to the comfortable corner table I have chosen, he places a dish of salted almonds on my table, then a dish of homemade potato chips, and finally a plate of cracker and cheese canapés. He then places an open bottle of diet Coke on the table, and from his tray, pours the Jim Beam from the bottle he has brought into a shot glass. He then pours about a half shot more into a glass with ice, and empties the shot glass into the ice as well, and presents me with the whole thing! I was wowed, I admit it! The bar is very English looking with wood panels and there is classical music playing. Later, a pianist plays some more classical and pop music. I have two drinks, eat most of the food, and realize about 9:45 that I haven’t had dinner and am quite drunk (my ex tells me that 10:00 is quite proper for dinner in Buenos Aires, but I’m certainly not used to eating at that time). Instead I head back to my room and drop into bed, but not before drunk-calling Casey and telling him what a great time I had.
I head down to the Plaza Bar, which I have heard is rated one of the top nine hotel bars in the world by Forbes magazine. I ask for Jim Beam and diet Coke. When the bartender brings my drink to the comfortable corner table I have chosen, he places a dish of salted almonds on my table, then a dish of homemade potato chips, and finally a plate of cracker and cheese canapés. He then places an open bottle of diet Coke on the table, and from his tray, pours the Jim Beam from the bottle he has brought into a shot glass. He then pours about a half shot more into a glass with ice, and empties the shot glass into the ice as well, and presents me with the whole thing! I was wowed, I admit it! The bar is very English looking with wood panels and there is classical music playing. Later, a pianist plays some more classical and pop music. I have two drinks, eat most of the food, and realize about 9:45 that I haven’t had dinner and am quite drunk (my ex tells me that 10:00 is quite proper for dinner in Buenos Aires, but I’m certainly not used to eating at that time). Instead I head back to my room and drop into bed, but not before drunk-calling Casey and telling him what a great time I had. 
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