So after lurking for almost a year (since first moving to BA) here is my first post, and it aint pretty, but I figured I could use the advise of expats, and to be honest, I have avoided expats since arriving, not necessarily because I wanted to, but because I moved for a boyfriend and a job and was immediately immersed into the porteño circle--Alas, none of that has lasted. So, I will cry you guys a river (Sorry) in hopes of getting some advise.
I have tried to make it work out for me in BA, and I am by no means a sheltered, closed gal, I hold 2 nationalities (US and European) and have lived abroad for most of my life (IE: ¨home¨ is nowhere, basically)
But I am soooo ¨challenged¨ ---yes, that would be the best word, with Buenos Aires. I have tried fervently to make it work, and tonight, after a shouting match with a client who swears she knows more English than I do although it´s my native language, has refused to pay me for for some work I did for her NGO, while I had been thinking, oh it´s an NGO, she´s nice, she will pay. I will give her time. BIG MISTAKE. It makes me think that I've hit the end of the road with BA.
When I first arrived, it was all rose coloured and peachy. My job and BF were both wonderful, I met many many new friends (his) and I kind of chuckled at the ¨Porteño ways¨, even when I had the diamond bracelet my deceased parents got me on graduation stolen out of my LOCKED locker at the gym of the spa of one of the ¨top three¨ hotels in the city, I took it in stride!!! (Makes me cry now, however)
Now that I´m out on my own, the outright snobbishness, government corruption which trickles down to the citizens, and way that I am looked down on here (this holding 2 ¨important¨ nationalities, a doctorate from a prominent European university, and generally being well-mannered) has been one of the very few things in my life and travels that has brought me to tears.
I feel like there's an attitude that, ¨well, this is just how it IS here, and you need to accept it¨ for just about everything, when, anyone who has lived elsewhere knows that this is not the case. I can buy imported goods in both the US and the UK without feeling like I´m being robbed (peanut butter for 45 pesos??? Mexican chip salsa for 30 pesos???) or ¨cheating¨ on my country.
The fact of the matter is that part of the reason that I have tried to make it work is because I cannot really afford to go back home, having been earning in pesos for almost a year, and the peso continuing to get devalued, it makes it impossible for me to fly to just about anywhere.
Does anyone know if there is any type of consular/embassy assistance when you have overstayed your visa in regards to voluntary deportation? Obviously if you over stay you always run the risk of getting deported, but is there a way to put the wheels in motion voluntarily?
I have tried to make it work out for me in BA, and I am by no means a sheltered, closed gal, I hold 2 nationalities (US and European) and have lived abroad for most of my life (IE: ¨home¨ is nowhere, basically)
But I am soooo ¨challenged¨ ---yes, that would be the best word, with Buenos Aires. I have tried fervently to make it work, and tonight, after a shouting match with a client who swears she knows more English than I do although it´s my native language, has refused to pay me for for some work I did for her NGO, while I had been thinking, oh it´s an NGO, she´s nice, she will pay. I will give her time. BIG MISTAKE. It makes me think that I've hit the end of the road with BA.
When I first arrived, it was all rose coloured and peachy. My job and BF were both wonderful, I met many many new friends (his) and I kind of chuckled at the ¨Porteño ways¨, even when I had the diamond bracelet my deceased parents got me on graduation stolen out of my LOCKED locker at the gym of the spa of one of the ¨top three¨ hotels in the city, I took it in stride!!! (Makes me cry now, however)
Now that I´m out on my own, the outright snobbishness, government corruption which trickles down to the citizens, and way that I am looked down on here (this holding 2 ¨important¨ nationalities, a doctorate from a prominent European university, and generally being well-mannered) has been one of the very few things in my life and travels that has brought me to tears.
I feel like there's an attitude that, ¨well, this is just how it IS here, and you need to accept it¨ for just about everything, when, anyone who has lived elsewhere knows that this is not the case. I can buy imported goods in both the US and the UK without feeling like I´m being robbed (peanut butter for 45 pesos??? Mexican chip salsa for 30 pesos???) or ¨cheating¨ on my country.
The fact of the matter is that part of the reason that I have tried to make it work is because I cannot really afford to go back home, having been earning in pesos for almost a year, and the peso continuing to get devalued, it makes it impossible for me to fly to just about anywhere.
Does anyone know if there is any type of consular/embassy assistance when you have overstayed your visa in regards to voluntary deportation? Obviously if you over stay you always run the risk of getting deported, but is there a way to put the wheels in motion voluntarily?
