Saturday, September 25, 2010

One month down, one to go

As of September 24th, I have been at my position for one month. I am funded for 1 more month, though I think that it might be possible to extend the funding and appointment. Overall, I have enjoyed both my job and my life in this country. The job market back at home is not exactly beckoning with possibilities, so it is entirely possible that The Escape Archivist will continue to find work abroad. I have received many emails regarding my "escapes" and how to create them. My general advice for finding work abroad is to RESEARCH, RESEARCH and do more RESEARCH. If you are a librarian, doing complete and thorough research should be a natural reflex, though it surprises me how many terrible researchers I have met in library school and in practice at various New York library reference desks. Of course it also helps to be able to read (even better to speak AND read) foreign languages. I can read 7, which I guess helps increase my job possibilities. Moreover, be openminded about foreign cultures. Not everywhere is America, and not everybody speaks or understands English. And sadly, there are plenty of people who will judge you harshly at the outset simply for being American. It is your job as the expat to be respectful of your host culture and to go with the native flow (it´s MUCH harder if you try and impose your standards to the ones in your host country) and just.be.cool. I´m currently funded by the US Embassy, and I take that fact seriously. While some Bolivians may dislike certain American international policies, they are open to respecting our personal and cultural contributions to their country. Likewise, I love learning more about their rich culture and history.

Friday, September 17, 2010

TPS Reports, otherwise known as a Day in the Life

The Archivist´s version of TPS reports
TGIF, TGIF! Yeah it is Friday and I´ve got a 3 day weekend ahead of me. My family and I are traveling to Coroico, a town in the Yungas Region, which is down the mountain from where we are now. It will be tropical and jungle-like, and we are staying in a little bungalow at the top of a mountain. The road that leads to the Yungas used to be known as the Most Dangerous Road in the World, but we are being lame and taking the new safe(er) road.

Since it´s Friday and I am thinking of really Office Space/The Office type things, I´m going to give you a run down of how my weekdays usually go. My work/life schedule is quite different from the way it was at home.
8 AM - Awaken, put on coffee, dress
8:30 - M. and El Sueco usually wake up at this point. I help El Sueco get M. ready for pre-school.

8:45 - Take a Trufi (shared PaceƱo) taxi from outside our home to work. Cost in USD about 20 cents.

9 AM- Arrive at work usually huffing and puffing after running a steep hill up from main avenue to Plaza Murillo and then hurtling up 2 flights of Andean Baroque (read:steep) stairs. Why do I run? Well because it´s great exercise and because although I no longer live in New York, the NYC pace is vestigial.

9 - 12:30 Work, work and more work (and some internet too of course!)

12:30 Descend from Plaza Murillo to Prado to find a trufi home. It is lunch time! SIESTA. Boom shakalaka!

12:30 - 3 PM At home, I meet up with El Sueco and M. who is usually sleeping after pre-school. We heat up the lunch that our housekeeper has prepared the night before. After lunch we relax and do things that we cannot do when toddler M. is up and about.

3 PM - Back at work. Sometimes there is a musical event on the patio (Planta Baja) in the evenings, so I always hope that a good classical music act will be practicing and providing me with a pleasant afternoon soundtrack. And more work. And work. And no, this work is not in English so I need to pay extra attention to what I am doing!

5:30- 6 Tea/coffee break. A group of us from the office head down to the museum´s cafe where we drink tea, chat and eat a pastry.  I love these dulce de leche layered ones. Sometimes we have empanadas or cake. It is very pleasant to have this little break, and I am once again reminded that I am not in the USA (especially when my group of friends all talk fast at once and I feel like a mute because I am not fast enough in Spanish convo at this point. I talk very fast in English and even in Swedish so this is a big change!)

6-7 - Wrap up whatever I am doing at work. At 7, I head down to El Prado to find my last trufi of the day.

7:20 - Arrive at home to a clean home with a tasty warm meal on the table for us (our housekeeper is amazing). I then turn on the hot water for a shower (hot water is not a given in Bolivia, and one needs to turn on the boiler manually when it is needed. We must save a ton of energy doing this) and take a shower. Post shower until 9 PM, it is family time, and this usually involves herbal tea, chocolate and the estufa (Bolivian space heater cos 95% of Bolivian homes do not have central heating- again, not convenient but Ecofriendly). ¡Buenas Noches!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Unplugged but Tuned In

Yesterday I went to the Museum of Ethnography and Folklore. What an amazing place! I met the director of the museum and the chief librarian who gave me a tour of the research library and the archives. This woman was an ALA fellow and has worked in research libraries in the United States, so we had a lot to chat about, particularly regarding the profession and the challenges in each country, comparitively. Overall, I´d say that while Bolivians are more meticulous about preserving their history in myriad ways, the Americans have better technological resources to do so. I sense a collaboration here. For example, yesterday, the MUSEF´s Opac system had gone down, and the researchers at the library had to approach the reference desk to find materials. And there was limited or zero access to the online research databases.

While I am most defnitely online at work, I do not have internet at home,and this gives me an odd sense of peace. Generally people here are significantly less "plugged in" than in the US (or in New York at least) and here I don´t constantly dodge the text zombies who SMS furiously whilst walking quickly down busy city streets. Nor do you see many people speaking on cell phones on the street or (personal pet peeve) leaving their phones on the table while dining. I have your full attention and you have mine. We are living in real time. And though slower internet and prohibitively expensive cellular service have drawbacks, I like living in real time. Call me old fashioned.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Archivista Superstar

I am aghast (in a good way!) that the general public knows what an archivist does in Bolivia. Seriously. Back in the States, I was often met with clueless expressions when asked my profession. Hemming and hawing, I often have to explain that archiving has nothing to do with architecture (although I am married to an architect, so in my case, the 2 professions share a tax return) and is a branch of librarianship. And that it requires a Master´s degree.  At which point, the clueless person has disengaged and informed me that librarians "just read books" all day. And then I get annoyed and consider telling these sorts of folk in the future that I actually make my money as a Real Housewife on Bravo.

In a pleasant  contrast, seemingly everybody I have met in La Paz actually knows and understands what an archivist does. I think that this has to do with the Bolivian respect for cogent cultural history. With a combination of the history of post colonialism plus various political regimes plus the plurality of native cultures, Bolivians understand the need to be aware of their national and political identity both of the past and going forward.

And who knows if this has anything to do with it, but overall Bolivians are not a people heavily involved in celebrity worship (either their own or imported ones). As a result, people seem to be less impressed with seemingly glamorous lines of work, and more impressed with hard work regardless of the title. This in turn impresses me a great deal!