Desert Girl To Tango Girl

[citygirl]

Visiting here doesn't equal living here. And even being here for several years doesn't equal living here.

My advice FWIW - put your stuff in storage, come here with your dog, work remotely as much as possible and see if you like it. Understand that the norm is your first year, everything will be wonderful/amazing/new. Your second year, everything will suck, you will miss everything that you left behind. Your third year, you'll start to have an idea if this is the place for you.

But whatever you do, I wouldn't make it impossible to return to the US. There are many wonderful things about living here and your desire to work to live but not live to work is the norm here I find. There are of course lots of not so great things about living here and the biggest thing is the cost of living if you're earning in pesos.

Try it out and see if you like it.

 

[robwerwe]

Strange - my perception has been somewhat the opposite - especially among those Argentines who speak some English. Although I do now have said gf (wife), so maybe that makes me biased. But over time my perception of the locals is that being social is basically their 1st priority in life. They certainly place far far far more time and energy in being social than I ever have or would dream of, and I don't notice them excluding outsiders, strangers, foreigners, etc. Only thing is you do have to encounter them in an accepted social setting - accept an invitation to some kind of get-together and take it from there.

I think you must be really lucky. Most of my friends here can't for the hell of trying make friends with a local unless its in a romantic way. Every time we invite a porteño out they say yes then cancel at the last minute with an excuse like they have a cold or have to go to an asado of their brothers friends second uncle.

 

[jbeas176]

az girl. I live in phx and have a furnished apt Palermo. mail me if interested. whats up with the Arizona connections and ba. been going for 7 years.

 

[EricLovesBA]

I think you must be really lucky. Most of my friends here can't for the hell of trying make friends with a local unless its in a romantic way. Every time we invite a porteño out they say yes then cancel at the last minute with an excuse like they have a cold or have to go to an asado of their brothers friends second uncle.

jaja - too funny. It's like we live in two different Argentinas. I'm gonna have to look at the map and make sure I'm really where I think I am.

 

[Montauk_Project]

If you want to make friends, one of the best ways is to take a class or join a group. Porteños LOVE taking classes, from getting a degree to studying weird stuff, like "Classical Chinese Dancing with Parasol" (yes, in San Telmo there is a center that offers that) Spanish Bagpipe (free), etc. Especially late night acting classes, people tend to take them to meet people and to try something new.
Offer to take down everyones name for the email list if the professor doesn´t do so and invite people for beer.
Instead of making a night or a day out of it, invite a bunch of people for "after office" or "tomar algo".
Going to get a coffee or drink mate is actually seen as intimate, like you want to discuss something serious or you are already friends. Same with going to the movies together, etc. Invite 5 people so if two don´t show up it is no big deal.

 

[StuckLikeGlue]

I recently read a blog post about volunteering here, it seems helpful!

http://buenoseye.wordpress.com/2013/06/29/how-to-find-volunteer-work-in-buenos-aires/

 

[internationalguy]

Welcome. I'm really new myself but I hope you like it here. So far I can't complain. Still haven't met anyone from these forums but I'm looking forward to meeting the nice people around here. Best advice is to bring no furniture at all, you're probably going to have to rent furnished for a while, bring your dog, your personal stuff and focus on buying as much of the stuff you normally use and won't find here (by that I mean toiletries, candy, peanut butter, hot sauce (if you like that stuff)... After a while you'll figure out if you really want this long term.

 

[iffitheking]

Well, IMHO don't come here if you are not blond, if you are blond you will have extra respect from guyz and girls, and it will be easier for you. If you have six packs then you will find lots of girls willing to go out with you
I have seen lots of people came here for living, but this country is one of the hardest (at least for me) it seems everyone is suffering from bipolar syndrome, people changee their mind like anything.

 

[nlaruccia]

I think you must be really lucky. Most of my friends here can't for the hell of trying make friends with a local unless its in a romantic way. Every time we invite a porteño out they say yes then cancel at the last minute with an excuse like they have a cold or have to go to an asado of their brothers friends second uncle.

That's so typical of portenos to lie or make up a sudden excuse when a better opportunity comes up at the last moment. It's also typical for them to simply not show up. Or show up two hours late after you've already prepared and eaten the asado. Hahaha. No seriously. Buenos Aires is like the Bermuda Triangle.

 

[EricLovesBA]

I wonder if spontaneity could be another key ingredient. I might agree with what some of what you guys are saying about people ducking out of planned events, though it had not especially caught my attention. However, I do notice people, even people you barely know or total strangers, people you've only been introduced to recently, etc, being very willing to spend social time at the drop of a hat. And the other thing that is hard for me to get used to is the amount of time people are willing to spend just hanging out and talking, drinking beer or mate, etc for hours and hours. Going to a friend's house seems to turn into an all-day affair. Where in the US it seemed normal to go hang out with a friend for a short visit - an hour or two, it seems like that almost never happens here. Parties, even more so - of course they are all night, and invariably I'm half asleep in my chair, carefully metering equal amounts of beer and caffeine to keep my eyes open, having mentally left hours before my wife is actually ready to go home.