Hallo all! At long last, I can finally re-open this blog. However, I have to make sure that I have some control over who has access, therefore the improvised password protection through my website, and the new URL. Therefore, one request: If you pass on the site to others, please DON'T pass on the blog URL directly, just the URL of my personal site, and my email to ask for the password. Thanks!

Below, you find all the old posts. I will resume blogging regularily from now. Welcome back! :-)

---

[ Fri Jan 16, 04:09:15 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
Dear all, it has been a while since I wrote, which in fact has less to do with stress than with the absence of it. I have been in Bariloche at Marianas house for more than 2 weeks now, and I am thoroughly enjoying myself.

San Carlos de Bariloche...

...is probably the most important city in northern Patagonia, yet it is a rather small, cozy town, right by an enormous lake (Lago Nahuel Huapi), and surrounded by two mountain chains (pre-cordillera and Cordillera de los Andes), with snow-capped peaks and forrests, a bit like Switzerland, though much more open and with lots more wide space. It is a truly amazing place. The city itself is full of cute little hotels and chocolate stores and fondue-restaurants, regional sweets and all the trappings you might know from the alps, very touristy yet very agreeable. Life is slow compared to Buenos Aires, even now in high season when the place is literally overrun by tourists and student groups. Thanks to the good exchange rate, prices are reasonable enough to enjoy the occasional good dinner out, or some other trappings. I am taking it slow with endulging myself, though, everything has to be consumed with modesty, or it will loose it's special appeal! Anyway, I am not really living a tourist life, since I have been taken in by...

Mariana's family...

...who have been amazing hosts and I really feel like home. Staying with someone who lives in a town is just so different from being a backpacker! For my part, I don't miss backpacking at all. I see the roaming Lonelyplanet hordes, and I feel very much like 30, as in "10 years too old", and I'd rather not be in a hostal full of drunk 18-year old Australian and Dutch kids on a self-discovery journey, having a constant 24h party. Sitting here in the garden of Mariana's house with my laptop in my, aehm, lap, writing this, is so much preferable. I've had the chance to get to know some families from here, mostly from the Sailplane-Club, where Mariana's father is a member and where much of the social connections of the family are. We've had a load of Patagonian Lamb, roasted to perfection by affectionados, good wine (an excellent bottle of red wine will cost you not more than 5€), even Champaign with the food. The quality of life in this place is so much higher than in the big city. There are no 1hr commuting trips anywhere, distances are short, everything is in walking distance. The house is on the hilltop, from the dirtroad out front you can see a good part of the town from above. The air is clean, it is sunny (well, at least this time of the year), and there is always a breeze (which, of course, often becomes a rather stiff wind, for which all of Patagonia is famous). There is little traffic, so there is little noise (right now, the only noise I hear is the neightbours lawnmover and the windchime over the door here. Tranquilo!

Patagonia...

...is in general a great place. The space is wide open, the quality of the light is different (very intense, it's easy to sunburn, even though it can be very cold). We went hiking and camping for a few days already, with a nice little canoe-trip included. The views from up the mountains are amazing, a chain of dark blue lakes, wooded islands, much of it very sparsely populated (if at all). One night, we climbed up into the high mountain, sleeping in a refugio, or better, outside the refugio, on matrasses in sleepingbags under the stars. The place has a view that you can't describe, almost airplane quality, you can almost see the whole of Patagonia ;-) , and the sunset and moonrise... We had candles burning outside, which is really unusual because at that altitude there is almost always wind, but "our" night was just soo quiet and calm. And the sunrise over the montana and the lagos, with the red light reflecting in the snow of the peaks behind the refugio - you should have been there!
Of couse, there is no good thing without a downside, and in this case the downside is about 2 cm big, extremely affectionate, very noisy, and with an unfortunate inclination to bite: the common Patagonian Tàbana. This meat-eating fly can truly ruin your trip, especially when a group of them circle your head so you don't hear your neightbor talking for the buzz, to then sit down on you and take a hearty bite out of you. Fortunately the bites don't itch, and the bugs are slow and stupid, so you'll have a killfest; unfortunately, they are attracted by sweat and the hearty testosterone smell of agitation, so waving your hands around wildly and killing them will just get you more company. Patagonia without them would be a dream - but well, guess you just can't have everything. Anyway, the winter was hard this year, so there are fewer than usual, and we are not suffering much.
Anyway, I am planning to do a bit more hiking in the high Andes, staying in refugios, once I find some nice group to go with, as well as a boat trip. Gotta be a bit touristy, after all!

Which, after all, brings us to

The Future...


...which is still very unclear. My situation with my job in Germany is still open, though I expect it to be resolved in the coming weeks. Depending on that, my plans for Argentina can change at short notice. I will post once I have real news. At the moment I am hoping for the goodwill of my company to resolve things without tension, hope I will be confirmed in my belief that everything can be resolved with honesty and fairness.

So far from here, yours always, your correspondent from La Argentina!
[ Tue Dec 16, 06:51:21 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
Hallo everybody! It's been a while that I have written anything, I guess routine has me in it's claws. I have been busy trying to advance things at my project at CIPPEC, and even though they are moving ahead, the speed is so slow that I fear that I will have to work into April or May next year to get anything online to show for my efforts. The decison on how to implement the online donations has been postponed until next year, and the online petition project, though resurrected, will also not start before February. So, I hope that I can hang on until at least spring next year, which would have the nice side-effect that I would avoid the Berlin winter. ;-) Unfortunately, it is all still unpaid, with little chance to change, so unless a miracle happens, money will run out sometime next year, at which point only God knows what will happen. I have little inclination to start commercial jobsearch, not with the salaries they are paying here, and would rather continue saving the world starting with Argentina, but if it doesn't pay the bills...

Life in BsAs has been routine lately, I have not been either depressed nor terrible elated. I have been cruising on autopilot, pretty much, and looking forward to getting myself down to Bariloche, to stay with Mariana and her family for the summer. At last I will leave the noise and pollution of lovely Once and swap it for the supposedly most pretty area of all Argentina, which has been likened more than once to Switzerland. I hope to do some good hiking and trekking stuff, and fully plan to drag Mariana along, if under protests. *grin*

Not much else is new, all decions regarding the long-term perspective are still open. Good news is that I managed to obtain several kilos of Swiss chocolate at reasonable prices, which raises my quality of life significantly! Also, I am continuing my rows with Argentinas lovely cellphone industry, whose CTI member has decided to quit my services, and is inaccesible via phone or web. At least, my broken Nokia is at last in service, and one full hour of shouting netted a replacement fone for the durantion of the repairs. Mariana knows how to handle service issues the Argentinien way... ;-)

In holiday news, the recent weekend at the beach was nice, if not all too relaxing considering the 3 (!) construction sites next to our lovely little hotel, which provided early morning acoustic entertainment of the unwanted kind, plus sweaty, half-naked construction workers as spectators for our garden breakfast. Guess you can't have it all. In contrast, my recent little trip to Colonia in Uruguay was so very relaxing I could hardly get my arse up to leave that lovely little colonial town again. No traffic, no stress, just Harry Potter 5 and a mate listo. That's life, dude! :-)

So much for today, I expect to be in touch, in a while, from the lovely south!

[ Thu Nov 06, 06:49:43 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
Ok, so here are, finally, some pictures:


So that is me, in the sun, in the Tigre Delta, near Buenos Aires.



Bushwacking in the delta.



Just before taking off to Paraglide near Mendoza. The first flight lasted almost 40 minutes! Pity that the second time I was hanging OUTSIDE of my seat for all the flight. Can you spell SCARY? ;-)



Some ice down south in Patagonia.



At a Halloween party. Guess who I am :-)
[ Thu Nov 06, 06:22:32 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
I am finally gonne get to set a foot outside the city! Next weekend, if all goes well, I'm off to the beach down south for a long weekend. It's been about time. *phew* I am still thinking about taking a week-long trip to Tierra del Fuego, but this is still out in the open. Anyway, it will be good get get some fresh air.

In other news, there has been quite a bit of culture! Saw Julio Bocca dance - he's the most famous Argentine ballet dancer, and the show was really brilliant! I am staying on track with the "culture thing". I also am going for some more green space, more often, down in the Palermo parks. When I moaned about the lack of grass in the city, that is generally true, but these parks are quite nice, and since I am not THAT far from them, I get some green views more often!

In general, I feel that time is running. December is approaching fast, when I will go down south to Bariloche to stay with Mariana, so if I still wanna see some other stuff I will almost have to hurry. At work, slowly but surely some stuff is moving. I hope we'll get started to build some of my proposed stuff (online donations are the thing they picked out from the whole) before the holidays, and maybe that gives them some motivation to support me somehow, to extend my stay. A ver.

I am hoping to post some photos soon, as soon as I have figured out how. I have some of a recent Halloween party here, so expect to be scared! :-)
[ Thu Oct 23, 02:41:52 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
Well, so I am 30 now. :-) Wonder if anyone is gonna call me old. Or make jokes if they can help me across the street, etc. A ver. Is was a really good birthday, anyway. Woke up with a great cake, baked by Mariana, who claims she can't bake but I tell you, that cheesecake...light, fluffy, a happy cake indeed, with a Bosqueberrysauce...*sigh*

We found out in the morning that the milk was sour, but of course a birthday-breakfast cannot lack coffee, so we called the café across the street, and they brought us some cool beandrinks right up to the appartment (of course without extra charge - there are always mozos (waiters) running around here delivering stuff. I guess I could survive easily without living the appartment and have all brought there, sooo cheap!). So, great way to start a birthday.

Then I went off to Spanish school and CIPPEC, bagged some birthday songs, and when I came home, Mariana has loaded the whole appartment with orange and starry BALLONS. All is yelling HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I could have cried, I love that kind of surprise!! So the we went off the the Palermo park to skate, but ended up drinking mates under the palms by the little lake, because nobody rented out skates during the week, and I didn't bring mine from Berlin. Ah, great nonetheless.

Afterwards, we went to see some great Klezmer (Jiddish) music, two BRILLIANT musicians, you should have heard them, so virtuous and imaginative, the I like Klezmer anyway, so I tell you, we had a blast. Oh, and the Bariloche Chamber Orchestra played the Four Seasons, which was pretty good, as well.

Finally, we strolled down to Porto Madeiro to blow some money on really good food and wine, and finally around 2:30am we fell into bed. Add to that the calls and emails and e-cards and Mom's present, you have indeed a --- Happy Birthday!

Considering that it is a round number, I have also decided to have a party, the first big one in my life, rented a place and all, this Saturday, so that will be another day when they have to carry me home. :-)

In other news, I have discovered BsAs culture. Went to a 2 Peso (60 cent) showing at the Colón the other day, some great Tango Nuevo by Piazzola played by a wicked crew, and afterwards Chucho Valdéz, a great pianist from Cuba. Not exactly expensive at 4€ either. After yesterdays show I have decided that if I have to live with the noise and smog of the city, I might as well dive into what it is famous for - culture. That I didn't think of that earlier...
[ Thu Oct 16, 04:46:58 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
After all the whining of yesterday, I have to correct myself. Mariana took me to --TATAAA-- Buenos Aires' CHINATOWN yesterday! Granted, it's not as big as the one in NYC, but a real little cozy neightborhood, complete with red lanterns, shops with exotic ingredients, funky smells and grumpy Chinese shopowners. I had a great time strolling, looking for wicked sauces and plumwine, trying Katana swords, and finishing it all up with a nice Chinese dinner. Mariana had a bunch of stories to tell, since she spent half a year doing a photo project in the area and actually got some of the old folks to be friendly with her and get all emotional! *grin* Makes such a diffence to have a knowledgeable guide!

So, BsAs is still good for some surprises. Now I am on an ethnic food quest, I'll keep you posted on my findings...
[ Tue Oct 14, 04:57:09 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
Well, so it's the beginning of the week, again. After a long weekend, spent between mountains of flowers and rivers of people in between (at the local flower fair), and drinking mates with the family of my girlfriend, I am quite relaxed and ready to be
productive again.

I had a rather interesting, if slightly disturbing experience on the way the the fair. The town where the fair was held is situated a bit outside the city of BsAs, so we went there by train. Besides taking twice as long as the bus service and being at times in a pitiful state of maintenance, the train passed a villa (as they call the slums here). When you are in the relative prosperity of Buenos Aires, it is easy to forget that, in Argentina, more than half of the people live below the poverty line. I got reminded when the train passed that ramshackle assembly of huts made of anything the inhabitants could find. To my astonishment, when we got on the train, some people pointed out that the windows were open that that that was dangerous. A few minutes later we found out why – a stone hit the train, fortunately bouncing off the outside. It had been thrown by someone from the villa, a practice apparently on the increase in recent years with the crisis. My girlfriend told me a story of someone being hit by one of those while traveling on the train, and since it was fired from a slingshot, it had enough power to shatter his skull and send the poor boy off to the hospital for a long while.

Sure, I have seen expressions of the discontent of the poor in Argentina before. There is a seemingly endless series of demonstrations in front of congress, almost every day, to the point that you don't consciously notice them much anymore (which makes ýou wonder how much of a point there is to making them). And of course, there are the “Savers” who regularly assemble with hammers and other instruments in front of banks in downtown, demanding their dollars deposits back that were forcefully disappropriated during the crisis, and who are hammering the facades. The banks look like fortresses, all walled in behind corrugated iron sheets and protective barriers, all of them nicely banged up and reshaped by the savers. But all in all, while noisy, this goes on without much violence. The attack on innocent people's lives with the stone throwing though is a very different business altogether. Makes you think, and gave me unpleasant memories of the violence in South Africa. I still think this is not “the third world”, as portenos always claim, but “2,5th world” would unfortunately seem an appropriate label.

In other news. I have reduced my pensum of Spanish lessons to two a day, to get more time for other stuff, and relax my day a little bit. I feel quite confident with conversation - I actually talked about the politics of German reunification with Mariana's tia this weekend and it went quite well, so I am confident and progressing. The two hours I gain every day I will invest in doing some more things again, like learning guitar or something like this.

After almost 6 weeks here, I feel that the routine is pulling me down a little bit. After
all, I have complete liberty in regard to what to do, and I have chosen a 9-5 approach
with school in the morning and CIPPEC in the evening, "normal life" if you want. Progress
at CIPPEC is slow, so at the moment this is not exactly swiping me off my feet yet, and the
prospect of them hiring me is not very close either with developments at this speed.

So, I could be anywhere in the world and I chose to be here, for good reasons, but as they
say, "the grass is always greener on the other side" and I find myself wondering if I
should not be trekking the Andes instead of sitting in this office here. Then again, a
touristic trip was exactly what I did NOT want this time, what I wanted I have -
integration into the normal life of the people in the country of my choice, learning to
understand life from their perspective, rather than from the perspective of a tourist.

Which, coming to think of it, may be a reason for the little blues I am sining. Because
Argentinean life, from the day-to-day perspective, is not exactly a dream-come-true. It is
a fact that, as I have been ranting about in previous posts, the economic situation here is
a mess, and it is even difficult finding the kind of job and living arrangement that will
allow you to live comfortably here -- never mind a job with an income that will NOT force
you to cut contact with the rest of the world because you cannot afford to travel. I am
kind-of pushing away this concern for now, I refuse to think long-term, I think in terms of
months and finishing my CIPPEC project, but eventually I will have to come to terms with
that.

Also, as culturally attractive as Buenos Aires is, it has a number of rather significant
downturns. Compared with, for example, Berlin, there are quite a few things missing, and
the longer I am here, the more I notice them.

One think that really bothers me is the lack of larger green spaces in the city. I mean,
yes, there are parks, but they are usually quite small, nothing like Tiergarten in Berlin,
for example, and they are packed with people as soon as the sun gets out, so it's not
exactly a nature experience being there. The city traffic is heavy on virtually all streets
equally, with a load of traffic lights on each block causing a constant stop-and-go, and
since catalytic converters are by no means mandatory, and there are over 200 bus lines in
the city with buses that have surprisingly reached a rather veritable age, you can imagine
the air quality. Also, all streets are lined by rather large buildings, as a closed street
front, the the noise from the many multi-lane streets is quite a nuisance. I can only
imagine what this will be like in summer, with 35 degrees heat and high humidity, but there
must be a good reason why virtually the whole city flees to the countryside in
December/January.

Now, yes, there are green spaces, and there are city barrios (districts) that are less
dense, more quiet, greener. The unfortunate fact is that
a) I don't live there (which is of course my fault and not the city's, but has to do with
the very limited number of available apartments that a foreigner can rent without being
flooded in bureaucratic requirements and long-term inflexible leases) and
b) that the majority of the require a rather long commute into downtown, where I work now.
Spending an hour in a bus each way or 30 minutes in a subway full to Japanese rush hour
standards is not exactly a great life-enhancing option either.
I guess that, if an opportunity for a longer stay opens up, I will have to re-enter the
flat-hunting circuit. Now I have a better idea of where there best areas are, and since I
will only stay with a somewhat adequate salary, I should be able to rent something there
should I spend more time here. If you can get away from the noise and pollution of
downtown, yet live close enough to get there easily, Buenos Aires can be a great city to
life in. But if not, it can go on your nerves quite quickly, as I am finding out.

Since I am at bitching, I will lay on a little more, regarding food. I am lucky that Mariana
is cooking the occasional vegetarian meal for me, otherwise I would drown in a mountain of
Pizza/Pasta/Carne. The ethnic cousine options we have gotten used to in Berlin or New York
have not really arrived here yet. Which may have to do with the fact that Buenos Aires, for
all its cultural flair and size, is by no means a multicultural city. The number of
tourists in the last ten years has been negligible, because the country was so expensive
(thanks to 1:1exchange with the dollar), and the economic opportunities were not bountiful either, so very few Europeans and US Americans, never mind Asians, came here, became enchanted with the city, and stayed. With the cheap exchange rate, this is changing now, but only slowly...

Besides the fact that one sees very few "other faces" in the street (virtually no blacks, a
few Asian, but very few and far between), this manifests itself in the food options. For a
city of 5 million people to have a full 2 (yes, two!) Thai restaurants is pitiful, and the
few more (that is, maybe 5) Chinese places, two Indian places and another 3 Japanese
restaurants don't exactly salvage the situation.
I am not saying that there aren't more - I am sure if you travel by taxi or bus through
greater Buenos Aires you will discover a few more, but if I compare the situation with my
barrio Friedrichshain in Berlin, where I have some 30 different ethnic restaurants within
10 minutes walk of my apartment, I am not impressed with BsAs. Having said that, it is
easy to find great pizza, excellent pasta, and good grilled meat, at virtually every corner
here. And the coffee is divine - EVERY restaurant, and be it the most derelict corner pub,
has an espresso machine the size of the Titanic, and they know how to use it. Compare that
with Central America, where Guatemala and Costa Rica produce some of the worlds best coffee
beans, and they serve you bloody instant Nescafé in every restaurant, and espresso machines
are unheard of. It really is Italy/Spain here, it really is.

So, for the time being, I have given up sophisticated food (especially vegetarian: a salad
different from the omnipresent lettuce/tomato/onion variety counts as sophistication here,
and what is that term, "dressing" again?). The good side of this is that you learn to
appreciate it again if you eventually DO discover an ethnic gourmet treat. We went to an
Armenian restaurant on Saturday, complete with Armenian dancing and pretty decent food, and had a great time, and it didn't cost much at all (payed some 6 Euros for a 3-course meal).
Add to that the involuntarily cool retro ambiente of the Armenian Cultural Center it was
in, all so very 70ish in decoration that I felt like I was back in East Germany, in its
finest hospitality institutions of the golden days gone by, and you have a wicked evening.
:-) I will keep on scouting for the food options for the gourmet tongue, and the good thing
is that, if I find them, I will invariably be able to afford them, with the prices being
what they are...

As for another good points, transport is cheap as hell, so even though I spend more time in buses than I would like it, at least it doesn't break my wallet. Taxis are cheap and bountiful as well, so I can indulge in that luxury, as well. And when I do go out, I rarely have to look much at prices. Even with the fact that the guy virtually always pays here when you go out, I have not yet have to forgo anything for a lack of money. With the little money I get per month, I earn as much as upper middle management here, so life is good in that sense...

What all that money cannot buy you, though, is decent customer service. After jumping through a number of loops to obtain a mobile phone, I went through customer service hell. First, the company, after me having payed with my VISA, calls a few days later to tell me that they have discovered that they don't accept “foreign” credit cards. And that I should pay them in cash, instead (again?). I waited for a while just to make sure the bill doesn't appear regardless on my statement. In the meantime, my NEW phone broke (well, the display is missing a line). I want to change it. But they tell me that I cannot change it before I have legally payed for it. OK, I see that makes sense, so I pay the agent where I bought it. Receipt in hand, I march to Nokia's service center where, so has assured me my service agent, they would now change the phone without problem. Well, no. They tell me they don't “have the phone in stock” (never mind it is new, and promoted at a million billboards all over the city) and the only thing they can do is send it it to Nokia Central, with a wait of 2 weeks at least. And of course, no. They cannot give me a phone in the meantime. Thanks a lot. I should ask my agent. Which I did. Only to hear that, miraculously, she doesn't have it “in stock” either, even though the promotion is all over the place... Mhm. To top up the bill, yesterday I get my first call charges statement from them, and what is on there: a full charge for the phone. God bless them, they really made my day!

So, with all the whining in this post, you may have come to think that I am having a horrible time here, which is of course not the case. I am still working on a project exactly of the type I have always wanted to do, I am with my girlfriend, it is spring at 20 degrees vs. cold, wet, dark fall in Berlin, and I am learning a new language and aspects of a new culture -- you know that a situation like that is bound to see me content. The only thing is that I have to discover that in Argentina, which I had idolized a little recently, not all is gold that shines.

Besos y abrazos a ustedes todos!

Ingo
[ Fri Oct 03, 05:03:39 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
Hi everyone!

A busy week at CIPPEC is nearing its end, I will just send off this quick update, then I am off for my second tango class (yes, I am learning TANGOOOOOO! :-) ) and afterwards we'll go "Travel by food" to France with my friends from the "Grupo Ingles" (a bunch of Argentineans who meet every Friday to practice English).

I am involved in three projects now, and I feel all loved and wanted because I am all over the place giving help and advice on IT / Webstuff, and writing proposals, and the people here really appreciate it. I hope we can get a few of these projects going and online, so we'll have something real to show!

I am getting used quickly to my new lifestyle with the new apartment. Mariana has practically moved in, so it's like having a real home, and at times she even cooks vegetarian for me so I don't get meat/pizza/pasta overload. :-)

Buenos Aires with it's endless Maelstrom of traffic and the air pollution is beginning to get on my nerves a little, especially since I live almost downtown and am right in the middle of it. But I don't feel like commuting an hour each way from the suburbs (which are low density, quieter and leafy), so I'll stay put for now. At least my place is quiet, because it goes out back, and nicely furnished and decorated.

The rent of 950 pesos (a real gringo price, a little over 300 US$) a month is a fortune here, though, especially considering it's just a 35sqm studio in a mediocre part of town. Many people have to live on as little as 400 pesos, an average job pays some 1000-1500, a good one for highly qualified people who were lucky enough to get a position is between 2000-3000 pesos (1 US$ = 3 pesos). For anything approaching European salaries you would have to be an executive in a large company, or own your own business. For someone like me, who likes to travel (and perhaps see friends and family in Germany once in a while) this is not exactly a great perspective, but I would like the idea of at least completing a few of the projects we have started now. Right now CIPPEC is not paying me, but come time, come a solution to that issue. At least that's my hope. A ver ("let's see"), as they would say here.

My Spanish is coming on well, with 4 hrs a day it should, so next post you'll read will be castellano! *grin* I will probably take another week of 4hrs a day, and then cut back a little, because the 200 pesos a week are quite an expense. Then I will make everyone speak Spanish with me, and I will try their patience...

Un beso de BsAs!
Ingo
[ Sat Sep 27, 05:35:52 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
Saturday afternoon. It is raining cats and dogs outside, which is ok after a week of crisp sunshine weather, a bit chilly still at night but warm in daytime. I am sitting in the hostal, too lazy to set a foot outside.

Last night, we pulled the first all-nighter since my arrival, in a Karaoke bar, very 80s, with all-you-can-eat Pizza and Pasta and a drink included, all for 4 Euros. :-) The good life is cheap in Argentina! And guess what, they even gave me a free ticket to come back, because they liked my Louis Armstrong and my Frank Sinatra! Good, ear-shattering fun, indeed!

Tomorrow, I am off to see my first Boca game in the famous Bomboniera stadium - the home games are said to be a truly exiting event, even if good old Diego Maradona is hanging with his adolescent girlfriend in Havanna, instead of playing!

Personally, a change is on the horizon as well -- I will move out of the hostal tomorrow night, into my own place. A fairly nice studio apartment a bit more central in town, will cost me about the same money as the hostal, but I will finally have some privacy with Mariana, and shorter way to work - I can actually walk to both places. So I expect that to be quite good.

Spanish classes are going strong, I can have conversations pretty fluidly by now, and if people speak reasonably clearly and without slang, all is well. The 4 hrs a day are pretty tiring, and I am sinking quite a bit of money into them (some 80 US$ per week) but they pay off. I will do one more week and than see how things go. I am encouraging people to speak Spanish with me, so I expect that my progress should continue.

As for work, the office of Consciencia, my initial project, still has no Internet connection, so things have ground to a pretty solid halt that side. Fortunately, I am having other options, so I am spending more of time at CIPPEC instead, the public policy think tank I wrote about earlier (www.cippec.org). I have started spec-ing a project proposal for an extension of their two sites, one to extend their NGO directory site with a community section and rating functions (www.directoriodeongs.org), the other to use their second site (www.refomaspoliticas.org) to propose concrete reform proposals to the Argentinian public, collect their feedback and "virtual votes", and thus create pressure on Congress to implement the measures. This promises to be very interesting...

All in all, thus, I am pretty content, I feel fairly integrated and my projects are progressing. Life is good! Bezos y abrazos from Buenos Aires to wherever you may read this!
[ Tue Sep 23, 11:16:02 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
Not much new to tell yet, just that the appartment search is going on. I will likely move into my own place this weekend, so no more hostelling for me.

I am quite tired of taking Spanish classes in the morning, horsing around for appartments later, and doing prep stuff for my two organizations as well. I just hope that, once a bit of routine comes around, things will calm down and I will get more relaxed.
[ Wed Sep 17, 07:33:36 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
Just came from CIPPEC, a public policy think tank that I will also spend some time with. I was very impressed. A very young NGO (4 years), very organized and professional. They sit right next to the Congreso (Argentinas parliament) so I think at least geographically they are close to power. :-) They are developing policy recommendations for state systems on health, finances, transparency, justice, and others, i.e. try to make Argentina a better working and juster society. Very fascinating subject, and from my initial talk with them, we will be able to use the web for some pretty cool citizen participation stuff. As always, it seems that I will have lots of freedom to recommend and form ideas. Nothing pre-fab in this city, my friends!

Things are still going slow with the other NGO, Associacion Consciencia. Their project has not really started yet, and it has different content from what I was originally told, as well. I will have to see how things move on on this one.

Other than that, I am appartment - hunting. It is surprisingly difficult to rent a flat as a non-Argentinean, and furnished places (which I was hoping to rent) are easily 3 times more expensive than unfurnished ones. Sure, I can get a furnished place for the same money I rent out mine in Berlin, but 300 US$ is a breathtaking rent here, and I am reluctant to spent that much, especially since I don´t know how stable my finances will be. All a bit more tricky that I had thought, but I am in good spirit and certain that things will work out!
[ Wed Sep 10, 07:53:45 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
Hey Guys - if you read this here and you feel like sending me a comment, please do! Just click on the blue "comments" link under each post! Hope to hear from you!

Hallo Leute - wenn ihr das hier lest, und ihr wollt mir was dazu schreiben, dann koennt ihr das gleich hier tun! Einfach auf den blauen "comments" Link unter jedem Eintrag klicken! Ich hoer von euch?
[ Wed Sep 10, 07:32:54 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
Met the organization I will work with today. Seem a bit chaotic, nothing is organized, everything in creation. They are also doing something different from what was stated initially. Still, interesting people, and I will have all liberties to do what I want, pretty much.

I have also been contacted by another NGO that deals with public policy. Very interesting, as well, and I may get to share my time between the two.

In other news, I may get a shot at sharing a nice house with some folks from the NGO, and I have found a reasonable Spanish school. So far things are going well, if slowly. But that´s the way it is here... ;-)
[ Sun Sep 07, 03:25:45 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
Two days after arrival in Buenos Aires. Just recovered from 48hrs without sleep. The first day was brilliant, sunshine, a breeze, it felt like BsAs was saying hallo to me, welcoming me back. Funny enough, Berlin said good-bye the same way; the last two days we had brilliant autumn weather, still warm, sunny, breeze as well. Only the day of my departure it was cold and rainy - as if Berlin wanted to make it easier for me to leave. Saturday and Sunday have been cold and rainy here, a reminder that it is still late winter / early spring here - but it can only get better.

Emotionally, I am a bit in a funny state. All those 3 months I spent in Berlin since coming back from BsAs, I was never really fully there. I knew that I wanted to go back, so I did not want to engage into anything long-term, because I expected to leave possibly soon. All my energy was focused on getting back here, on picking up the threads where I had dropped them, and continuing what felt so much like the right thing to do at that time.

Now I am back, in "my" hostal, I met many of my friends the night of my arrival (we went to a folkloric dance - really funny, we danced outselves, should have seen the mess! :-) ). I will meet the NGO people on Wednesday, until then the "new thing" hasn't started yet, and I am almost seamlessly picking up "the old thing" where I left. It is a funny in-between state of mind. Like I've dropped into a time-hole and fallen out at the other side in the past. Like if Berlin didn't really happen since. Funky.

Right now I am looking for a good living arrangement, I will either rent an appartment or share a house with some guys from the NGO, I am not sure yet. I will also sign up for Spanish classes somewhere on Monday. I want to get a bit of structure into my day as fast as I can - after all, I don't know yet how long I will have the priviledge of being here.

Overall, I feel a bit of the exhaustion of someone who has worked hard towards a goal, and when he finally reaches it, he loses a lot of steam and has to re-built his momentum.

[ Sat Aug 30, 05:42:20 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
All set. Insurances picked, appartment rented. All organizational stuff bagged. Seems like I really made it.
[ Sun Aug 24, 07:21:22 AM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
Today is a good day. I am happy.
[ Fri Aug 22, 08:38:07 AM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
Yeesssss! This is a good day - luck continues to be with me! My finances are secure for now, my appartment is as good as sublet, and I just got confirmation that I will be able to work on the project of my choicein Buenos Aires!! I feel like hugging the world! :-)
[ Wed Aug 20, 07:55:41 AM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
Just got word from one of the German organizations who were supposed to help me find an unpaid NGO internship (for a hefty 600 € fee, mind you). They figure they can't "because of the difficult economic situation in Argentina".

I mean, hey! If you can't make use (and money off) the FREE services of an industrial engineer with 3 years work experience, how are you EVER gonna succeed when you actually have to PAY your staff? But I actually suspect that the organization wasn't to eager to look, because I had not payed them yet and it was only a 'preliminary query'. Ah well, I'll go polish doorhandles myself then.
[ Mon Aug 18, 05:56:23 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
A good day in the preparation! I found a friend to sublet my appartment to, and I finally sent out all those applications to the UN's offices in Buenos Aires. Now it's wait and pray.
[ Sun Aug 17, 06:43:27 AM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
When I think of the possibility of actually not going to Argentina again, like this morning when I woke up, a rush of emotion surges through my head that makes me dizzy. Laying in bed like a junkie on a hit, flooded with something that almost borders panic. The only way to calm it down is to reaffirm my inner resolve to go anyway, somehow, to relegate events at my firm to the realm of the insignificant.

The funny aspect of that is that as long as all was set and clear, I was quite blasé about my venture. Worrying about little things maybe, or about long-term 'what-afters' but not more. Now, suddenly, I realize just how important this really is to me. I had forgotten, a false sense of safety had dulled me. Now I am wide awake and on edge again.
[ Sat Aug 16, 02:11:12 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
I am swinging back and forth between worry and a grim resolution to "do it anyway, no matter what". But perhaps I should just stop worrying about things I cannot control now, anyway, and keep on working in Plan A?
[ Sat Aug 16, 12:46:38 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
I am fucking nervous. There is a possibility that the financial foundation for my Argentina trip will vanish before my eyes. If that happens, the only chance for me to go down will be to find a paying position. Fat chance of that with the current economic situation down there. Not to say I would not try. I am so committed now to this course, I have passed by so many opportunities, I just HAVE to try everything in my power to get there, anyway. If my funding source explodes, all I can do is pick up the rubble, hope to collect some scraps, ride down to Buenos Aires on these scraps, and try my luck on finding a decent job until the money runs out.

If I fail to get a job, what am I gonna do? I can't live off thin air, so do I have another choice than to go back here? Shit. In the last weeks I have immersed myself so deeply into the expectation of reuniting with my girlfriend, of picking up the thread where we left, that the mere idea of NOT being able to do that now scares me endlessly. The disappointment would be so immense. I am running full steam towards a gate of potential happiness and there is trickster fate holding a hand at the lever that closes it, grinning away. Please, trickster, be kind! I NEED to go, I cannot turn back now!
[ Fri Aug 15, 10:07:42 AM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
Let's see. Now the comment facility should work, as well...
[ Wed Aug 13, 07:58:37 PM | Ingo Boltz | edit ]
So there we go. Ingo in Argentina is online. Even though I'm not even gone yet. Well, better be early than late...