Me Quiero Ir

[internationalguy]

The expat experience tends to run along these lines:

Arrival: OMG I love this place! It is so fantastic! The people are so warm (wahahaha of course because you're only interacting with tourism staff)! I could live here FOREVER!!!

3 months: Hmmm this place isn't as cheap as I thought it would be, I mean the price of X has gone up X amount since I got here. And cabs, their expensive, how do people even get around this city?

6months: WTF they're raising my rent AND they want me to pay another commission even though they've done NOTHING but print out another copy of the contract?!?! These people are total a-holes! Stab you in the back, and when you're walking down the street no respect, and when I ask for something they treat me like crap because I don't speak much Spanish. At least I'm not spending so much on cabs since I figured out public transport.

1 year (if you make it that far): Ok so I went home for a visit and you know, it was nice, but.... boring. I went out for lunch with some friends and it was like in and out -- as if they couldn't wait to get out of there, I don't even think we were there for 2hrs. And everything so ORGANISED, I can't just call them and do something last minute, we have to book for Saturday on Tuesday and then these crazy people want to meet for dinner at 6:30. Customer service back home is FANTASTIC but life... well it's just...boring.

2 years: So most of my friends who I met when I first got here are gone, but I dunno, I just can't seem to get out of this place. Might be that I've met this great guy/girl and you know their family is nice. And it's great, maybe I don't have a tonne of friends here but the few I know are sort of in the same experience as me, and it's great that I can just go over there or for lunch on a weekend at 1 and suddenly it's 10pm and the times just gone by shooting the shit. Sure I still can't stand going to microcentro, the dogshit outside my front door is driving me crazy, and my neighbours are effing insane, but you know, there's something about this place.

5 years: So man, wtf? I'm still here. It's nice and all but christ those flights are killing me. I'd be happier to go home but the prices. And now it's me + my other half and they need a visa and I'll be footing the trip. Forget it, easier to just take a holiday in Brasil.

7 years: Christ, what the hell is wrong with me? I feel like we've been talking about leaving for years but just can't get it together. My friends back home are all getting fantastic jobs, half of them managed to get a mortgage, we're here struggling to pay our rent. But we went home for the first time in 18months and it's like wow, so CLEAN. So we've made a big decision, no, we're not leaving, we're just moving to another barrio.

9 years: Ok, I'm obviously a sick twisted motherf--er. What the hell is wrong with me? This country is a mess but now I'm in so deep, and I'm stuck on a local salary now, saving to get out of here is killing me. And I couldn't believe my friends were complaining about the prices on things there. I mean, most of the stuff is soooo much cheaper than Argentina. They don't know how good they have it.

10 years: We're leaving, that's it! We're LEAVING.

15 years: Yup, still here.

I really don't think ARBound wanted to read that.

 

[Gringoboy]

Syngirl that was brilliant.
You got it in a nutshell.

 

[nicoenarg]

Ha, I didn't think of it as depressing when I wrote it. Maybe dark humour yes. But hey, that's what you need if you're going to make it through here (to be clear, I'm only on 8, but now I've got a bit of a "c'mon let's go for 10!!" feeling. And now my husband is talking of leaving, I'll be kind of disappointed if I don't make it to my "Decada Ganada" wahahahahahaha ganada? Si, I've gained a big whole in my finances).

Hahaha. Ouch!

I laughed so hard, woke up the baby upstairs!

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

ARbound-san, go and find a clean " Turkish Bath place " that houses super hot steam room and large jaccuzzi pool with strong hydro-jet pump. Stay there for most time you can endure in the sauna room or steam,see and feel swet pouring down all over your body and then move into the jaccuzzi. Do this as daily routine and then feel the stress and tension dissipating of your mind/body by the days. You will be a new man soon enough,then more happier times ahead of you in order to take on the rigorous Buenos Aires living.. It works womders, trust me on this approach, go and try, also lay off the strong coffee or Te Mate and try the "Matcha green tea" very spiritual and soothing also pure and healthy for you.
I hoping you become yourself again soon.

 

[etoile]

Ha, I didn't think of it as depressing when I wrote it. Maybe dark humour yes. But hey, that's what you need if you're going to make it through here (to be clear, I'm only on 8, but now I've got a bit of a "c'mon let's go for 10!!" feeling. And now my husband is talking of leaving, I'll be kind of disappointed if I don't make it to my "Decada Ganada" wahahahahahaha ganada? Si, I've gained a big whole in my finances).

That was not depressing, it was entertaining to read :lol:

 

[citygirl]

Syngirl - you made me laugh out loud!

To the OP - your feelings are totally normal. Everyone has given you great advice so I don't want to repeat ad nauseum. Just remember, Jan will come, the city will empty and honestly, it's so much better to be here than packed into 1 cm of sand in MDP along with every other porteño.

If you don't have a hobby - find one. Not only will it allow you to blow off steam (which you need to do on the regular!), you'll meet people. And having friends, even conocidos is essential here to keep you sane.

Sorry you are going through a rough patch - we've all been there.

 

[ARbound]

Wow guys, I'm actually really impressed with the different spectrum of responses.

I guess to try and answer a few questions:

I have some hobbies but at the moment I don't have enough cash yet. I've decided to pay back my friends that I borrowed money
from first because I said I would.

I really love to travel, so Argentina is a mixed bag. It's cheap to travel in here and right near by but I won't be able to see my friends
for a while. I can't justify spending 10,000 ARS to go to Canada to see people and place I've already seen/been. I'd rather spend the
money elsewhere.

Sometimes I think it could be the heat. I really need AC. We have it at work but it's never high enough and at home I don't even
have a fan. $300 ARS for a fan is a bit crazy in my opinion when I can buy an AC for a couple thousand.

I don't think it's Christmas that's getting to me. I have a very strained relationship with my mother and brother though I pretend
it is fine because I've realized I need to be the bigger person as my mother in her 40's won't change. There's no real Christmas
spirit here so I ofter forget it's December or 6days till Christmas.

I often do want to strangle certain people I see. The people who are a sterotypically Argentine. Sipping Mate, not working, talking
loud, being dramatic and egotistical, etc. It's people like them, the people in the grocery store who stand in the way, the people
who sell shit on the subte, the campora, the protesters, the police, the beggers, the thieves, etc.

When I look at Argentina the thought that comes to mind is this: You have a country that is realativley empty, full of natural
resources, is not threatened by climate/weather, and is not neighboring a rogue/failed/insane/warmongering state that
was stolen from the natives only to be completely fucked over by the Europeans who moved here. It's like the whole collective
people just said "fuck this" and let things crumble around them. Instead of looking at eachother/themselves for the cause
it's always illegal immigrants (non white of course), legal immigrants (non-white of course), Clarín, the US Embassy, The UK,
the dictatorship, the rich and the very poor, Cristina, Macri, etc. No one ever takes responsibility and everyone's ego is the
size of a football stadium.

I'm hoping things will improve, I guess time will tell. All your guy's ideas are rally helpfull and it's nice to know I'm not the only
one who is going/went through this.

 

[PhilipDT]

You dont have air conditioning? Aren't you from Canada? I'd have already turned into a mass murderer if I had to go even 1 minute without my (as my girlfriend calls my apartment) personal igloo.

 

[Ferf]

Don't equate mate sipping with not working...that is just not true. I work and study my ass off, and mate has always been a companion while doing those two things.

 

[khairyexpat]

Maybe it was one of those joke threads, just trying to test people's reactions. Joke threads like the one involving the Ferrari I just lolled thinking about the guy taking the Ferrari to Retiro at 1 am.

It's funny, I used to (and still) bitch and moan about Toronto and Canada in general but since moving here I think both aren't as shitty as I once thought.

Would I really have time for Argentina's/other countries' BIG problems, if I narrow down my problems to 2 ? :

1. The heat.
2. Cash to buy a fan or an air ticket out of a trap.