ArcGIS Training and Karaoke!

Right now I'm working in the Catastro office (equivalent to Cadastre in the states?) because they need people to help get it organized by the end of the year. I'm not quite sure of the whole story, but I think they had an old office that was very disorganized and so wasn't recognized by the government as official. Now they're working to organize everything and have even brought in several high school students working sort of like interns, but I'm pretty sure they get school credit. Because I can type super fast and can pick up on things quickly, like how to use computer programs, they enlisted my help and are going to have me train other people. I'm also helping to input some information into ArcGIS, one of the computer databases.


I woke up bright and early at 5:30 one Friday to get ready to head to an aldea about an hour and a half from here for training. My municipality is super large and extends even as far as that aldea, which surprises me. I walked to the Alcaldia only to find that it was locked and nobody had arrived yet, so the cleaning people let me in and I sat and read my book (The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton, already done with it!) and listened to music for half an hour until the trainer called and said he was outside. Got into the truck with him and one of the other guys that works in the Catastro office and we headed off. We passed through one of the larger cities and they went through the drive-through at Burger King (which is like a treat here) and they got me coffee and a small croissant sandwich even though I had said I already ate breakfast, but they insisted! People here are really nice when they invite you to places =]. We finally arrived at the aldea, which also has a Catastro office that is smaller and in worse condition than ours. There were four guys there who were going to be trained. I sat in on the training and learned how to fill out a form called a ficha, which people use to collect information on residential buildings, empty lots, and other pieces of real estate to calculate taxes. The office already had forms filled out for certain areas but we were making new ones based off the old information because this needs to be done every 5 years. We filled several of the fichas out and I also received some training in ArcGIS. Even though the offices here have the program, it doesn't necessarily mean that they understand how to use it and even if they have a general idea, the areas they map out aren't accurate. They don't seem to care about the incorrect numbers anyway. The main thing I guess is to have the areas plotted and the information relating to each in the system.


The guys ended up treating me to lunch as well at Tio Dolmo, which is a pretty decent restaurant. The set up is kind of like you choose whatever you want to eat and they put it on your plate but every food item has its own cost. After being in the aldea all day, we headed back to my site and the two stopped by a gas station to buy beer. They drove back drinking and blasting music and singing and I was just like ohhhh great. Please don't let us get into an accident >_<. This one song called "Chupa tu Paleta" came on and it was pretty much the Spanish version of Lil' Wayne's "Lollipop". Translated, it means "suck your lollipop" (paleta could also mean popsicle or ice-cream). I thought that was pretty funny. Then I got a text from Amanda that she had just passed a pulperia called "Hung Wang". Anyway, the guys and I went to a karaoke bar/restaurant, had dinner, and I taught them how to play Texas Hold 'Em. They picked up pretty quickly but I think it's because they already had an idea of how to play a different kind of poker. They then taught me 31, which is pretty much exactly like Black Jack except you try to get 31 instead of 21. We headed upstairs to the large karaoke room and it was empty except for us, so we put on some songs and took turns singing. I didn't know any of the Spanish songs that they had, and the ones that I wanted were too new so I ended up only singing American songs. A couple other groups trickled in and started singing as well. I was surprised myself that I didn't mind singing in front of other people, because I am super shy when it comes to that, but I figured these are all people I don't know and they didn't know that I used to not sing in public sooooo why not, give it a shot. It was kind of fun too.

Training in the other Catastro office

That was the end of a good Friday and I got to know a couple people I work with better. The karaoke place is super nice too. It's free to sing as long as someone at your table orders something, be it a drink or whatever. I can't wait to have visitors!