bricklayer/musician goes to argentina

Hi amanobrick,

Welcome to Expat-Blog

I suggest you post your resume in the Bricklayer job offers in Argentina please

Best of luck !

Thank you

Maximilien
Expat-blog Team

I really don't think this work would be enough for you to get by. I almost think that you couldn't be serious!

well it was only a question.....im sure the world is a rather large place..do you work in construction..or is your response to the question..because you know what is actually going with the construction there...never mind anyway....im sure ill find out....its not anyway such a huge issue...was just an idea...i dont actually need to work there.

maximilien....it s been some time since i worked as a brickie..and i dont have a resume..in reality...in the Uk one just has ones CSCS and CIS(tax) cards...then you turn up with your tools..and if your good you stay if not you go....the company or onsite foreman etc etc ask where you worked before.....then they watch how much you sweat in the induction hah hah..theres always a chancer exposed rather quickly..and brickies on site usually ask what companies you worked for before and what and how was the site atmosphere....there are only a few good bricklayer firms in london..and its like a private club where the best brickies get passed round....Im ok on the trowel...I had the good fortune of  for some time  learning with master bricklayers with a firm that worked in bristol and other places nr there,,,,....but ultimately the way the bricks or blocks are laid is the resume..i never kept a resume or cv..if i go on a site....and i can do the job and get along ok whosever i am working with then fairplay....i cant recall many bricklayers that i learnt or worked with having any CV..its all about how you use your trowel...and how many times you need to refer to the  level..anybody who knows can see if youre good or not.within split seconds...so if I feel ill have look around and see what goes on....it not like a do or die situation anyway..  london is better for brickies..but who knows....  moment to moment´

I also have this idea of working for free...i.e to help south american native people build houses.....in thier villages..in exchange for a bit of artwork or some kind of instrument that they play......its not so much about money...and more about the love...this was my feeling to do that also...rather than getting how to say exchanging one rat race for another

"I really don't think this work would be enough for you to get by. I almost think that you couldn't be serious!"
um ingrid you are of course entilted to your opinion....but I was actually wanting to hear from people in mendoza who work in construction...experienced people....I am curious to know once again if your comment in particular reflects what you know about construction going on there..if there is indeed any worth knowing about....one thing is for sure..im definitely not stuck...or in need...but I do always like to plan my things rather than chancing along the way of life...planning...timing awareness...intuition..and Im quite sure also that thinking in any way other than positively will not breed great results you see.....
I am not saying that you are being negative..but i do tend to have enough experience in life and what i do to know what i am talking about with my tools as well as my words...so the point being here...is that i am interested to know if there is any interesting construction....going on in mendoza...because thats what i like to do...up some old victorian brick wall face repairing it..or repointing the  old crusty mortar....or bulding apartment block walls.or whatever..you see-...its not so much money being the concern..but ways to occupy my time with things that I enjoy to do....while i am there...whats the point of going somewhere and being bored?

Okay, I'll take you seriously. I am remodeling a home in Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza. I was just speaking to my own foreman who tells me that there is work for brick layers particularly the ones with a greater amount of experience.  He can get you a job. Also, if you don't care about making any money at all he says needs help with a project in his own home. (He has a young family and is always struggling.) There's a lot of construction going on, as you'll see if you check out real estate ads for this area. Pay is between 250 and 500 Argentine pesos per day, or 70 pesos per square meter of brick laid. We have no indigenous populations in this province. There are barely any indigenous tribes anywhere in Argentina. There may be some people who need help building their houses. The government provides needy people with houses at no cost, but some people want to build their own houses in other places.

thats really great.....thankyou so much....it means alot to me....this is avery big step for me..but I am very clear in this....and so i have to plan....ill pm you the rest as its private

i will be happy to help your foreman.....I  will also be happy to work for money..500.00 ARS    =    63.8273 EUR thats sounds ok.... the pay is more in the UK as i said in pm...but yes that sounds good...its more about energy moving....i love bricklaying..its also  a kind of meditation and art for me...the silence that happens at the end of a working day.. in that sense of working nothing compares to that...so when i have actually booked my ticket....and as i explained to you in PM...that i am fully prepared....I am feeling to come in november..i want to go for my birthday..which is on halloween..but that itself might not be possible if i am also working in london for sometime...i always travel when the intuition guides me...i just know exactly when its time ..the right time.but also practicality holds sway in this case..hah hah..so ok ingrid thanks alot and in the next moment wel speak again...i have some photos of my wild boar friends lots and some videos.i hang out alot with wild boars in the forest near my house..i  sometimes feed them  fresh meat and fruit which supermarkets throw out...they also sleep just dopwn from my house..and honk at me every time they come home..which so cute..i am friends with three different wild boar families..mothers and children and also of this project iam doing fixing up this broken down house im lving in..im fixing la fachada..the front face of the house in an english garden wall bond pattern.uits kind of half done right now...pero hay cosas mas improtant ahora...dental work etc..Im not sure if i can share photos here but ill look into later..have to go back to the forest now...its time thanks alot

thats me in the middle of my masters of flute hariprasad chaurasia..and harsh wardahna..they have websites...this was after a really stunning performance of rag hamsawdhani in delhi university some years ago by harirpasad...you can find alot of his music on youtube
hariprasadchaurasia.com ...harirpasad

wardhan.com harsh wardhan who makes my flutes and for the toher students his and the students of hariprasad

i have.intense dental pain so ill be back here after a few ddays antibiotics y ibuprofen..thats one of my freinds from the forest in my profile pic..tried to share photos on the other page it didnt work

Ingrid I had an inclin today..that the argentian style of bricklaying is different from the english....i saw this video on youtube just now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2CaWrt … 4230F444D8 and my experience has been in the Uk not much with hollow blocks and the steel rods in them...i al most always worked with solid concrete blocks..specified by different colour dots,...red dot yellow dot etc..meaning the density and load bearing...light blocks or super heavy ones...for below ground or lightish blocks for internal walls or super heavy ones for exterior structural walls  ....I am of course good at english style bricklaying...but wouldnt want to walk on site in mendoza thinking that I know it all..and make an ass of myself...therefore I am looking at enrolling on a bricklaying course right now....as far as the laying is concerened ok no problem to brush up on the argentinian style...but the possibility is there that the whole style of construction is totally different.its still ten mill joints with the blocks...but I dont want to waste anyones time....so as far as the flight....thats taken care of i have to book it....its muchy much cheaper like four times as cheap to fly from the UK ....so Ill keep you posted....but also i will porbably order some stuff here..the hollow blocks and rods....and have a practice...just to get used to laying on super thin beds that they have..the bed joint ..the horizontal are on brick or block where the mortar is laid with trowel...http://www.cursos.aabh.org.ar/#!bloques ..its not a problem for me to work there..that Iam sure of..i know my stuff..no problem with confidence in these hands.but I only need to learn the different style that is used there..argentina is not the UK...see i cant gop onsite and say to your foreman "I say can you teach me your style of laying".....so ill practice here..i anyway have to build a boudary wall....ill video it..and then if you have an email...then ill send you one or two videos of me in action...i can talk and talk but ultimately i dont want to waste anyones time here neither mine as the proof is always in the pudding...in spain i have observed that a blunt nosed or rectangular style trowel is used....and I wonder what tyope of trowel is used there..is the mortar taken by trwoel from a bucket..or is it taken by trwoel from a mortar board..which is what i am used to....I dont mind learning new styles and adjusting....but i would not want to waste anyones time you see

I have no problem either working as an apprentice under a master bricklayer there...for how ever many years that would take...bricklayers are a particular breed of highly intelligent creative but quiet people..and theres just no room for chancers in the trade..my feeling is that I have alot to learn ..even though i am good at english style....I am very good with my hands ..i am also musician and artist...I make didjeridoos...in time ....I will have booked a flight there..but that will be after about six weeks from the Uk...and I would like at some point to send you a video of me at work.for the purposes of which i tell you my email which is sriflute75@gmail.com    and you are welcome to email me at your leisure..which you could show to your foreman...I am feeling to come to mendoza end of october or end of november...not sure...depends if theres work in the UK..there might be there might not be...works a funny old bird

theres an easier way..i still have an account on myspace.com so in time i will post photos and videos of my work there....then we can all have our privacy..i had loads of photos before of some private jobs i did in north london before..of some repointing and rebuilding garden wall porjects that I did alone....with those lovely old yellow stock bricks...but alas myspace has become ultra moden and the photos are no more

here it is so myspace.com/singhbrickwork/photos thios is from about ten years or so ago  after three weeks i imgaine there will be lots of photos..step by step of the faxchada and the boundary wall..with beginning foundations of super strong concrete etc...

im a good bricklayer..but one thing that really bothers me...being of colour....is the issue of racism.....i look at the UK....and how  lighter coloured people respond to me in a different way..in which often the end result...is not good..then I look at argentina and how like many south american countries perhaps 90%...of the indigenous population have been wiped out ..
                and then i wonder is argentinia just another backwash of colonialism..indeed ..yet another racist structure....in which white people...or lighter coloured skin people....do tend to fair better economically etc etc....one does has this feeling ..and it is inescapable of going from the frying pan into the fire.....so perhpas i will give mendoza a miss.....then.....i have to be bluntly honest that throughout my life as a person of a different skin colour....it has not always been the most pleasant experience ..in white society in different countries.. since 46 years.and then i wonder ...just what the hell am i doing....dreaming of a new start in another white country....i am not meaning to offend anyone on this forum..but one does tend to get a touch long in the tooth with it all.....its tiresome......and then i just want to,avoid these kinds of difficult situations and just go somehere....far awaye from the insanity of what is european mentality and culture...

Hi amanobrick,

Please note that all countries have their good and their bad side and maybe it is better not to generalise.

Expat.com team and the other members are here to help you in the best way possible.

Please tell us if you still searching for a job in Argentina? Or otherwise what are you planning to do? Are you planning to move to an another country? How can we help you?

Thank you,

Priscilla
Expat.com team

thankyou priscilla...i will take the risk and go despite my reservation..life is made for adventure after all