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Published: July 26th 2012
This is not a surprise for many of you...but it might be a surprise for many others...we are making Buenos Aires our home for the next 11 months. Why? Because...easy answer. After 16 years living in Asia, Buenos Aires had always been very high on my agenda. For info, this is only my fifth time in Argentina.
This entry is not much about Buenos Aires itself, as many more blogs will come over the next few months, its more about the why and the how of our little move.
My Mum has had the chance to live in Argentina for 6 years between the age of 12 and 18 years old. Put it simply, she is Argentian by heart. So I grew up with the love of this country, without ever actually visiting it. My first visit dated 7 years back for my 31st birthday....and from that day, I knew one day I would spend extended time here.
I actually made my decision sometime around 2 years ago. I spend lately nearly 2 months per year in Africa for my work...and doing Bangkok-Africa, or Buenos Aires-Africa is pretty much the same. So
living in Buenos Aires, will still mean frequent visits to Africa for me over the next few months.
For many, moving like this for a year mean quitting your job...for me, thanks to internet, it won't be...I'll just have to go to Africa on a regular basis, and Asia will see me twice over the next 10 months. So it's not bye bye Asia....it's just welcome Argentina, even if I won't be here all the time.
Moving if you are single is pretty easy...you just have to make the move...say bye to your friends, and hope for the best. Well, being a single Dad with two great tweens...it's a little different...timing and planning is way more important to consider.
I don't hold the key...I just try to listen to those who know better, and with those informations, try to make the best "aware choice". It's not that we are not use to move...Saigon, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Bangkok....Asia is a my home today...but moving to another continent with tweens is something else.
First, you can move when the kids haven't reached full time schooling....that has never really been a
choice for me...if you know my past, you'll understand... Than there are the very important years of high school, just before reaching University. Those years (14-18 years old) do require some stability in the school curriculum to garantee the best choices when it comes to University. Than you have everything in between....
Leslie and Tiffany being just 11 and 10, what is great is that they will remember this experience for life. This is an in-print that will follow them and hopefully enrich them for life.
We could have move to South Africa...being Belgians, learning Afrikaans wouldn't have been a bad thing...but isn't it half of a challenge? We could have even thought of moving to Europe...I would never say moving back to Belgium, as I never lived there officially....but that's a no-no...I just don't have the right attitude to live in Europe...my motto is not shared by many back in my "home" country...
Argentina....
The language....they will both study in a top-school....but here, it will be Spanish in the morning, and English in the afternoon....after a year, we all expect them to be fluent in Spanish. Argentinians
make their life long friends at school....ask my Mum, she knows...so hopefully, they won't learn only a language, but make new great friends, and with today social networks, it should be pretty easy to keep them! On my side, I've never learn Spanish at school, but with the years, I've grabbed some of it...so I will pretty soon be back to school too....because I need, and want to be able to make proper sentences pretty soon...
The food, the wine...well....how to explain it, and this doesn't limit itself to the food. Thailand and Argentina are the two faces of a same coin...what we miss in Thailand, they have it in Argentina, cheap and high quality...speaking of the meat, the cheese, the wine, and the list goes on....we won't be much on seafood the next 12 months....but that's ok! As this is a coin...what they miss in Argentina, we have plenty of it in Bangkok....for us, end of 2013....
Hopefully this time, after learning my basics in Spanish, I'll have some time to play golf...and I will be able to play golf on week-ends with Leslie and Tiffany....hopefully...
The kids have lost
half of their summer holidays (snif)....back to school is 30th July here...and they are joining school middle of the year...but early December, they will have a huge bonus...Christmas Holidays being Summer Holidays...they are hitting the jackpot with close to 12 weeks off....and on the road...we will be...
Not everything is great in Argentina....the world crisis has hit here too. I won't explain everything here being a public blog. Some info will come...in 12 months...about how the economics go on here...the good and the not so good.
This being South America, we leave the peace and safety of Asia...for a daily behavior where we need to be a little more careful...Saying that, having witnessed the floods and the unrest in Bangkok...I'm careful about what the medias are reporting everyday...
The food...well...we've been here one week, and trust me...it is and will be amazing...
Our home....that was tricky...and stressful...I use the past...as a roof, we now have!
I took few months on the internet to look...and look and search for few things....the two main ones were the school, and a flat. I found a great school few
weeks before we arrived here...visit was organised weeks ahead for... 24 hours after landing. I can garantee you, that's a great school...
The flat...well...that's another story. Have we decided to live here for 24 months, things would have been way easier. Argentinians do rent for 24 motnhs....you need a month deposit...to pay the rip-off of 2 months to the real estate agent, and to provide a local guarantor....for this, you've got a stove, but no fridge or washing machine, and obviously, no furniture...and if you leave after a year, you lose your month deposit...you see me coming...big rip-off!
Than you get the "short -term lease"...aka...long term tourist...and here, it's either Palermo or Recoleta...two over-priced barrios downtown....and price are in USd...and up they go...up they go...only advantage, you can rent month by month...
Next stressful issue to deal with...all the top schools are way away in the suburbs...and there...no renting for less than 24 months? I knew all this before landing in Buenos Aires. You may now understand that I was slighty stressed before landing in Buenos Aires!
End result...after 27 hours in Buenos Aires...school...done! Flat...reserved...yes...you read it well....got
a lease in pesos, for 4 motnhs and a week...till the summer holidays...in a non-tourist area. What does he mean by non-tourist area? Well...there is not much to do or see in the middle class area where we live...but we have a big supermarket next door...and a bus bringing us safely where we need....less than 200 meters away from home. This simply means I will not blog on our "barrio"...but we have a huge terrace...a nice flat...even a swimming pool...that's for November weather...
So what the negative after 2 nights in Buenos Aires...well...Leslie and Tiffany will have to do a 40 minutes drive every morning to go to school...and that's going to cost me in a private car...but there is nothing available for less than 2 years closer to school....and I did my homework!
After 3 days, I'm still unable to provide any local mobile phone number to anybody...I can negociate a rent in spanish, book a bus, order a meal....but getting connected....it's either my spanish...or the mess of the local providers...and I would bet on the second...got internet...and hopefully a mobile number...and fully connected soon...
These few lines are written
from 1200km away from Buenos Aires...it's Winter school holidays here...so we are doing as the local do....guess!
Next entry coming soon....but after a week in Argentina, I can tell you only one thing...actually two....Argentinans are amazing people...and second...the kids love the place!
Le bonheur, c'est maintenant......(and that's not spanish!)....
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Those look like two happy kids
A beautiful city. A beautiful sunset. Can't wait to hear about your continued explorations. I'm glad your mums love of the city, country had an influence on you.