Working in a Hostel

    After about a month here in Buenos Aires, I got the opportunity to work in a hostel. Finding something to do where I could get closer to the culture of Argentina besides volunteering was one of my goals before I arrived in Argentina, and I wanted to do something where I got the opportunity to meet a lot of people. I had an interview to work at a bar owned by an American here, however I turned down the job because it paid like 30 pesos per hour, which roughly translates to absolutely nothing. One day, a friend who had been staying in the hostel after he volunteering trip was over told me they were looking for a bilingual receptionist who could work the night shift, and i figured that would be perfect since my volunteering was later during the day. I had an interview and got the job. I moved out of the house I was living in, and moved into the hostel as a permanent member of their staff.         

  
Never in my life have I met such an incredibly diverse, enthusiastic, or strange group of people that not only stay in the hostel, but work there as well. However, despite this diversity and these differences, everyone who steps foot in the door is after the same thing; to have a good time, and to experience what Buenos Aires, and the world have to offer. And let me tell you, do these people know how to have a good time.                          

   Essentially, I am an adult babysitter, where i replace feeding a baby with a bottle, for grown men and women with beer. Since I work the night shift, most of what I have to do includes just making sure nobody hurts themselves or breaks anything, make sure they pay for everything they are eating or drinking, and then clean up after its all. I work from 12 am to 8 am, so in the morning hours I have to wake up the guests who are leaving, and make sure they are ready for checkout at 10, or if they are too tired, to extend their reservation. Then, around 7, I start preparing the breakfast, which includes setting out all the cups and silverware, making coffee and boiling water, and picking up the croissants and fresh bread that arrive from the bakery every morning. I also have to count the stock, and make sure my register is correct and is in accordance with what is coming in and out of the hostels inventory.   

  I have noticed a lot of interesting things since I have worked there, not only  enhancing my personal skills, but learning a lot about people of different parts of the world themselves. First, Americans drink about 1/1000 the amount of tea that the rest of the world drinks. Since I am in charge of the stock, I can see with my own eyes how much tea the people in the hostel drink, and it is ridiculous. Each are of the world has its own types of personalities as well. Australians and Americans for example, are usually the hardest to control, and drink the most by far, whereas people from countries like Germany or the Netherlands are more low key, and would prefer reading books on their voyage instead of pickling their livers and running up their hostel bar tab. Then there are the French, who for the most part speak pretty good Spanish, but they usually all always speak English. No matter how poor their Spanish is, they almost always refuse to speak to me in English, no matter how much easier the situation would be if they could communicate with me better. I don’t know why that is, but I also don’t want to make any assumptions either, it’s just something I have noticed.       

Another thing I have noticed about language skills, is that interestingly enough, Brazilians for the most part have a hard time understanding Spanish, despite being surrounded by 19 spanish speaking countries. I can understand and read portuguese because of it’s closeness to Spanish, but it is hard for me to speak it. The crazy thing is that they can all usually speak English pretty well. The reason for this, which I was explained to by another employee who was from Rio de Janeiro, is the same reason why Americans (for the most part) don’t really speak Spanish. Its because Brazil itself is so big in comparison with the rest of the countries in South America, that it is unlikely that they will ever really NEED to speak Spanish. The effect is similar to that of the borders of the United States like Texas, New Mexico, and California, where a higher percentage of the population can speak Spanish. Those parts of Brazil that are closer to Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, or Bolivia, have a higher percentage of either bilingual or trilingual speakers because of the cultural exchange across borders. The reason why Brazilians are for the most part pretty good in English is because of the international business they exchange with the United States and the rest of the English speaking world. Most of our coffee we drink, cotton, soybeans, wheat, and apparently 80% of the world’s supply of orange juice come from Brazil. Globalization is amazing, especially when you can see it and hear it with your own eyes and ears.                           

The last part i’d like to point out about working at Hostel Estoril, is that even though most of the people are happy and seem to be enjoying themselves while traveling the world, there are always a side of people that shows a different meaning for traveling. A lot of the people that I meet, are just lost. When I say lost, I mean it in almost every sense of the word too. A lot of people don’t know where they are going, and lack all direction at all. A lot of people as well had something traumatic happen to them, or just decided one day that the things weren't going the way they wanted in their life and they up and left. Most of them too, are college graduates, who had jobs that they quit or finished school and weren’t ready yet for the real world. The amazing thing is that they know they are lost, nobody knows what they are going to do next, and everyone is completely fine with it. Its an aspect of the backpacker and traveler culture that is really incredible to me. Like when I ask someone what are you doing here, a good percentage of them will just say, “ I don't know”, then we’ll both smile and leave it at that. I like these kinds of people, because they are probably the most daring and carefree of anyone else in the world. They literally just toss their lives in a suitcase and just see where their bank accounts will take them!