Now this is a story all about how,
my life got flipped turned upside down,
and I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there,
to tell you how I worked as an intern in Ciudad Juárez.
Sorry to startle you all with the whole reverse Bel-Air routine there, but bear with me please, the story actually gets interesting as you read on. To get going with the thrust of it, I can absolutely positively advise everyone to spend time working abroad. I got a neatly wrapped package of the warmest, most educational, and most useful experiences I’ve had in a good while, and, remarkably, ran across all of those in a year I spent in the most dangerous city in the world.
About three months after I enrolled into AIESEC and went through the entry procedure, I managed to obtain an acceptance note for a 12-month internship in the Intercompanies department of the automotive branch of Johnson Controls, Inc. (JCI) in Ciudad Juárez, a Mexican bordertown with El Paso, TX. My title there was ‘Intercompanies Analyst’, which in this case meant I was assigned some plants acting as buyers and suppliers in the automotive industry of Northern America, the bookkeeping of which I had to maintain. On a monthly basis books had to be closed, meaning they had to balance out as closely to 0 as possible. My department had made a reputation as the closest community in the Shared Service Center (SSC) it was part of, even though 8 of its 35 employees were AIESEC trainees. All this was as good as it sounds in theory. All members of my department were genuinely interested in, and ready to help and cooperate with, the trainees (which, incidently, came from Greece, the Czech Republic, Iran, Brazil, Sweden, France, Colombia and Chile), whether they came to Juárez Spanish-speaking and well integrated in Mexican culture, or new to all of that and shy. In the various departments in the SSC, 14 interns enjoyed the same warmness.
The same applied for AIESEC Cd. Juárez, our intermediary for all official business with JCI. Right from the start, I think I speak for all of the interns there if I say AIESEC made us feel welcome, at ease, and at home, even though most of us travelled half way around the world to get there. On some occasions we noticed that the LC members were learning new things about their functions as they went along, especially in issues with migration and the red tape which is usually associated with that. Even though the major part of the issues was not their fault, nor their responsibility, they went to great lengths to solve all of them.
What were the aspects of working and living in Mexico I noticed the most about? Well, they work like horses, to begin with. 10 Hours a day, 5 or 6 days a week, tardiness not accepted & personal phone calls seriously frowned upon, we were completely theirs until the workday was over. Seeing as we were all in the same boat, it didn’t bother me to be honest. After all, gaining experience in my field of study was one of the reasons I came there. But, coming from a reasonably cold country with quite the uninteresting landscape, every day after work felt like going on holidays to me. Get off work, go to the gym, work on your sun tan, drive your Cadillac around spilling cheap gasoline, and pick up some friends to go drink in the park, or in one of the cheap rooftop-bars the city had to offer. Sounds like an apt compensation for the time and energy lost at work during the day, don’t you agree?
As time progressed, the work vs. holiday ration became even better. I got experienced and learned to work more smoothly, created some teams to work on various projects aimed at simplifying, improving, and speeding up our department’s processes, and all my colleagues became warm friends I hung out with after work too. This had to be it: the AIESEC dream. Working a job which is as interesting and challenging as you choose make it yourself, with people you appreciate and who appreciate you back, knowing you’ll leave your imprint on their work after you leave, and combining all that with a constant feeling of being on holidays after work, getting an in-depth view of a culture which is as unusual as it is interesting. Oh, and did I mention that the salary I received was twice as much as I needed to survive aptly?
Specific elements of the culture which were unusual to me? Women and relationships was one I got involved in on a personal level. Women were to be treated as princesses constantly, which meant I roamed the city holding open doors, paying for food and drinks, and waiting for the third date (hehe, I’m kidding. I never did ;-)). Dating there was a hasty game, as a non-negligible share of the girls my age was engaged or married and / or had children. Another group of people to treat differently from what I was used to, was the government and governing organs. I drove my Cadillac without licence plates, I didn’t have a driver’s licence, nor car insurance, and yet, somehow, a mere 20 dollars managed to get me through the 5 time the traffic police stopped me. You do the math. A little clue: any health insurance pass can be used as a driver’s licence if it’s in Dutch.
In all seriousness, I had a fantastic year there. I figured the best way to prepare up front for its culture was to realize that perfect preparation wasn’t possible and that I had to be open for whatever was going to happen. I spent as little time as possible in my comfort zone, said yes to every proposition, and tried my hardest to insult no one in the process. I came back with loads of experience in my field of work and in my life, I learned to speak Spanish, to drive a car, to teach piano and I gave a piano concert at the end of my internship which was visited by over 200 people. I embrace Ciudad Juárez, its people, AIESEC, and the whole experience of doing an internship. As a fact, I’m looking for another AIESEC internship in Latin America now because I haven’t nearly had enough of this. Time to get to it!
Servaas Frissen from Tilburg, Holland
Servaas.Frissen@gmail.com
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