aprendí más paciencia y flexibilidad / i learned more patience & flexibility

The word "quilombo" in Argentina is slang for chaotic, a mess, etc. Sometimes things just don't work in Argentina. They say Argentina can be quite a quilombo. Blackouts all over the city during the summer because people turn on their air conditioning (this should not happen), text messages arriving one hour or one day later than when they were sent, waiting in line at the supermarket for thirty minutes to checkout, twenty to thirty percent inflation as a norm each year, looking down when walking to make sure you don't step in a hole or dog poop, the dollar to peso exchange rate abruptly spiking for a day, subway not working for days at a time, meetings getting cancelled for world cup games, etc. 

But also timing in general is different in Argentine culture. Dinners not starting until at least 9pm (although I have met for dinner many times at midnight), meeting for drinks at someone's house at midnight (but no one would really show up until 12:30/1:00am), meetings scheduled for a certain time start when the other person is ready (usually meaning late), and when they start you can expect thirty minutes to an hour of small talk before you get down to business, asking someone to do something ASAP seems to mean whenever they have time even if it ends up being a week later, etc. 

Through all of this I have learned patience and to be more flexible. In the US, I come from a culture of get it done efficiently and as quickly as possible. Things generally work and when they don't they tend to get fixed much quicker than in Buenos Aires. Between the culture of Argentinians and the fact that not everything functions all the time, this city and culture has a different rhythm. At first I had trouble getting used to it: when someone would show up an hour and a half late for a meeting, when dinners lasted until 2am, when something did not work so I had to think of an alternative quickly on the spot, when the exchange rate skyrockets so I rush to exchange cash, etc. But what I have learned through all of this is patience. To take things as they come, when they come, and to deal with whatever comes. A lot of times things happen slower than I tend to work but now I am much more patient while waiting. When things do not function properly, I am much more flexible and generate multiple solutions before settling on one. This year I have learned much more patience and flexibility; I will definitely carry these into my future personal and professional lives.

Gracias al quilombo que es Buenos Aires por enseñarme más paciencia y flexibilidad. Thank you to the chaos that is Buenos Aires for teaching me more patience and flexibility!