Buenos Aires, Week Nine

Last week was incredibly cold here. For a couple of days, it couldn't have been more than 35 degrees and it rained the entire time. I didn't wind up doing that much outside of the office on those days, but I did get to catch up on some much-needed rest. It hasn't rained lately, but it has still been freezing outside. The summer sun is definitely one of the things I'm looking forward to most about going home. Other than that, I'm not ready to leave. The time has really flown by, and I can't believe that I've got just over two weeks of work left. With that said, I'm really pleased with the way my trip has gone thus far. I've learned a lot at work and I'm having a great time with all of my new friends.

My workload has picked up considerably since the middle of last week. I've begun work on another application for funding from INADI (el instituto nacional conttra la discriminacion, el xenofobia, y el racismo). This application is entirely in Spanish, so it has been more of a challenge. I've also been contacting scores of other organizations and embassies (the Japanese Embassy, the British Embassy, a Spanish organization called MAPFRE, and the Italian Embassy, to name a few)and researching new potential supporters as always. It definitely feels good to be working hard and accomplishing a lot.

Outside of work, I haven't been too terribly busy. I've finally started to buy souvenirs for myself and my family, so that has kept me occupied. I'm not sure if I'm going to be traveling outside of Buenos Aires anymore because I've got such a short amount of time left to spend in the city, but I still hope to continue exploring the great expanse that is Buenos Aires. The city has really grown on me over the past few weeks, and I'm starting to see exactly why everyone here loves it so much. A lot of my friends have left recently, and I'm not quite sure how I'm going to deal with it in two and a half weeks. I'm excited to get back to the States and to start school again, but I feel like I'm going to miss this place for a long while after I come home...

In other news, I got the internship with GIEU that I had applied for a couple of weeks ago. My interview (via a poor Skype connection with no video) must have gone well, and I signed a contract for the job yesterday. My job will basically be to help GIEU in their recruitment process until applications for the program are due in November. I'm excited about the opportunity, and I think it will be a good experience for me as far as work goes.