A lot of advice needed

[Kaminoge]

There's been positives and negatives. I'm not sorry I came but I'm not sure that I'll spend more than 2 years here either. Time will tell.

The inflation is definitely a big issue if you will be paid in pesos (which I am). If you're being paid in some other currency it's far less of a concern obviously. It's certainly been a unique experience for me. It's the first time in my life I've really had to think hard about money. Not in the sense of wondering if I'll be able to afford to eat (a real concern for plenty of people I'm sure) but just trying to figure out how to deal with it. As soon as I'm paid I try to sell some of my pesos to someone who will pay me outside of the country - but how many? Depends on who I can find to buy it but also I don't want to sell too many and have none left at the end of the month. Then I try to buy some $US (just within my peso bank account) because that way if the peso takes a huge dive I'll have hedged against it. Then I hope that I make it to the end of the month without running out of pesos.

I've only been here 2 months so I'm definitely still getting the hang of it.

 

[perry]

There's been positives and negatives. I'm not sorry I came but I'm not sure that I'll spend more than 2 years here either. Time will tell.

The inflation is definitely a big issue if you will be paid in pesos (which I am). If you're being paid in some other currency it's far less of a concern obviously. It's certainly been a unique experience for me. It's the first time in my life I've really had to think hard about money. Not in the sense of wondering if I'll be able to afford to eat (a real concern for plenty of people I'm sure) but just trying to figure out how to deal with it. As soon as I'm paid I try to sell some of my pesos to someone who will pay me outside of the country - but how many? Depends on who I can find to buy it but also I don't want to sell too many and have none left at the end of the month. Then I try to buy some $US (just within my peso bank account) because that way if the peso takes a huge dive I'll have hedged against it. Then I hope that I make it to the end of the month without running out of pesos.

I've only been here 2 months so I'm definitely still getting the hang of it.

Nice update Kaminoge . I remembering reading your posts with a lot of interest and wondered if you would ever take that job . Please advise me what will you do if the peso goes to 60 or more will you finish your two years here or will you bail out?

 

[sts7049]

yep, as soon as i get paid every month i buy as many dollars as i can as a hedge. keep some pesos to live off of.

 

[Kaminoge]

perry I would be unlikely to break contract over money - I signed a contract knowing the risk and so as long as they're still upholding their end of the deal I can't see myself quitting. To break contract I think I'd have to feel the country was too unsafe to remain in sensibly. That would be the only reason I could imagine feeling ethically ok with not keeping my side of the bargain.

And honestly there are lots of positives to being here - I'm oddly fond of Quilmes

 

[effa]

There's been positives and negatives. I'm not sorry I came but I'm not sure that I'll spend more than 2 years here either. Time will tell.

The inflation is definitely a big issue if you will be paid in pesos (which I am). If you're being paid in some other currency it's far less of a concern obviously. It's certainly been a unique experience for me. It's the first time in my life I've really had to think hard about money. Not in the sense of wondering if I'll be able to afford to eat (a real concern for plenty of people I'm sure) but just trying to figure out how to deal with it. As soon as I'm paid I try to sell some of my pesos to someone who will pay me outside of the country - but how many? Depends on who I can find to buy it but also I don't want to sell too many and have none left at the end of the month. Then I try to buy some $US (just within my peso bank account) because that way if the peso takes a huge dive I'll have hedged against it. Then I hope that I make it to the end of the month without running out of pesos.

I've only been here 2 months so I'm definitely still getting the hang of it.

Thanks for the update. I will definitely know the whole package of this job offer soon and decide if I'm going to take it. I do believe that if you earn USD, Euros or other currency then you'll be safe from this inflation issue. But I don't know if that's a thing now that they offer a salary in other currency so that foreign worker will actually accept the job given the economic crisis right now.

 

[Kaminoge]

Thanks for the update. I will definitely know the whole package of this job offer soon and decide if I'm going to take it. I do believe that if you earn USD, Euros or other currency then you'll be safe from this inflation issue. But I don't know if that's a thing now that they offer a salary in other currency so that foreign worker will actually accept the job given the economic crisis right now.

Good luck with the decision.

 

[Seni]

Good luck with the decision.

Hi Kaminoge,
I have followed this thread and found that we have quite a few things in common. I'm 40, from Germany, have lived in Australia for the last 15 years, have been working as a teacher and would now be ready for a new challenge.
I have been looking into moving to BA for a while now and am considering contacting the German international schools there. I was wondering, if you'd be able to give me a bit of advice on the following topics:
1.How has your experience in your school, living area and BA in general been so far?
2.Has not knowing much Spanish been an issue?
3.Are you working at an international school and do the international schools generally have a good reputation? Are there massive differences in the pay?
4.Did you apply for an advertised position or did you just send a blind application?

I'd greatly appreciate your input.

 

[Kaminoge]

Hi Seni,

You’re a lot more familiar with Australia than me by the sounds of it!

Happy to try and answer your questions.

1.How has your experience in your school, living area and BA in general been so far?

First of all it’s important to understand that while Quilmes is theoretically part of BA the lifestyle I lead is very different to that of someone living in BA. It’s only about a 35min bus from here to Plaza de Mayo so it’s very easy for us to head into BA on a weekend and when we do we notice just how different it feels to Quilmes. So my lifestyle (which is fine for me) is not indicative of what someone else would expect. I live within the school campus and usually only leave once a week (in the working week) for Spanish class. Weekends I often head into BA for the day but rarely am up there in the evenings. So a lot of things people love about BA I’m not seeing at all. (This is all my choice- just explaining why I’m a lousy person to ask about lifestyle in BA).

The school is ok. There have been quite a lot of challenges and a lot of that is on me. I have spent my life being spoiled by working in good international schools. I knew this wasn’t an international school when I took the job. I didn’t really understand how different that would feel. The attitude in Argentina is also a LOT less academic than I’m used to and so that has been “interesting”. There are a lot of laws that have to be followed (many of which seem counterintuitive if you actually want to end up with a well educated population- maybe that’s not the point) and I have a long way to go before I really understand that side of things. But I feel they were honest with me about the job it’s just I didn’t understand things until I arrived. Can’t really blame the school for that.

2.Has not knowing much Spanish been an issue?

At work it is quite an issue for me when dealing with colleagues. (Students are all bilingual-colleagues aren’t). Outside of work it isn’t too terrible. I find most people are patient with my horrible attempts at Spanish. I’ve spent most of my adult life in places where I don’t speak the language and I find this easier in many ways (because Spanish is much closer to English than Bulgarian, Japanese or Chinese which are the other countries I’ve lived in). BUT if I hadn’t had my school taking care of all the paperwork side of things (and getting me a bank account) I would have been screwed. So short answer is no Spanish is fine because someone else did all the hard stuff for me!


3.Are you working at an international school and do the international schools generally have a good reputation? Are there massive differences in the pay?

No and no. I’m in a local bilingual school. But I don’t think any of the international schools here have a particularly great reputation. At least not by international standards. I’ve known people at the international schools and a lot of the issues I have they had too. Basically most students stay in Argentina for university. Argentine universities don’t care at all about results in international exams so no surprise it’s hard to get great results. I can’t really speak to the pay - my research on South America suggests no schools in this part of the world pay particularly well.

4.Did you apply for an advertised position or did you just send a blind application?

Advertised position. Blind application can’t hurt but chances of success are generally pretty low. We’re always getting sent resumes here but if a job appears there’s no way I’d bother to go back through months of resumes. If a job appeared and I’d recently seen someone who looked perfect of course I’d contact them and ask them to apply but their timing would have to be pretty lucky.

And of course if you’re familiar with international schools you’ll know you definitely don’t want to get hired when you’re already in country because in the vast majority of cases if you do then you’ll end up with a much much lower package than if you’re hired from overseas.

Good luck with finding a job if you do decide you want to move here. While there have been challenges I’m glad I came and (as yet) all the horrific warnings I was given about civil unrest and hyperinflation have not yet come to pass.

 

[Seni]

Kaminoge, thank you so much for your very prompt and detailed response. I truly appreciate your feedback and am finding it very helpful.
My plan is to visit BA and Uruguay this coming December/January to get a bit of a glimpse first. My recent experience was that I travelled to great, sought after cities and generally liked them but got the feeling at the same time that I wouldn't want to live there. I will test out and see what BA does to me. I'm a massive tango fan so I can imagine that I will fall in love with it but who knows? Could be a disappointment as well.
Many thanks again!

 

[Kaminoge]

You’re welcome. By Dec/Jan the election will have happened so who knows - things might have completely gone to pieces or nothing much might have changed. You’ll be able to wait and see.

One thing to keep in mind though is that at that point you’re likely to have missed the boat on teaching jobs.