Newcomer beginning to have doubts

[suesba2002]

Hi

My dream has been to live in a foreign country for at least two years and the time has come for me to live my dream. My plan is to find a job (after the TEFL certification course in BA) to find a job teaching English. I'm a native speaker, with a background in business. I've 65 and will be bring my three cats. I don't speak Spanish yet. As I'm working on getting rid of my stuff in Arizona, researching the pet import regs, and searching for an apartment that takes cats, I'm beginning to have second thoughts about moving so far away to BA.

I'd like to hear from anyone who might have had similar experiences that could give me some pointers or tell me I'M Nuts. Will I be able to navigate BA in the first few months with sign language?

Sue

 

[garygrunson]

It is an adventure for sure. Do it. You will never know until you try. You can always go back...

Cats should not be a big concern. Working might be harder. You can learn enough Spanish while you are here. Lots of expats here that barely speak Spanish.

 

[nicoenarg]

I've 65 and will be bring my three cats. I don't speak Spanish yet...

I'd like to hear from anyone who might have had similar experiences that could give me some pointers or tell me I'M Nuts. Will I be able to navigate BA in the first few months with sign language?

Sue

Hey, you're a native speaker of English? Because I don't get it. You have 65 of what? Or did you mean to say, "I'm 65"?

As for sign language, just make sure when you do use sign language to get around, you don't have anything expensive or expensive-looking on you because you are more likely than not to get robbed. And they're not going to care whether you're 65 or 5. (Sorry, don't mean to scare you off, its just that new people come here and make really stupid mistakes sometimes. If you're street smart however, you might manage to survive here.)

I would like to know why you picked BsAs as your destination. Why not a saner place?

 

[KevinD]

I suggest that you do much research and have a clear set of expectations in your mind before moving. Do you know the city well? I recommend you spend time here beforehand.

What do you sign, even that is different here...

 

[ghost]

If you are 65 and think this is a place to retire you are wrong. Especially if you need to work! pulling your money out of the States via ATM is costly and sometimes dangerous. Moving your money to BA is crazy. Better do one hell of allot of research. Come for a short trip and then think about it.

 

[Davidglen77]

I don't mean to hurt anybody's feelings, however there is huge age discriminiation problem here when it comes to employment. Take a look at the employment ads, even for professional positions such as lawyers, accountants, etc. They all list an age range. Here when you are over 45 it's very difficult to find employnent While being an english teacher is probably more flexible with age since you probably will be working independently, don't be surprised if you get turned down by institutes for employment.

 

[surfing]

Hi

My dream has been to live in a foreign country for at least two years and the time has come for me to live my dream. My plan is to find a job (after the TEFL certification course in BA) to find a job teaching English. I'm a native speaker, with a background in business. I've 65 and will be bring my three cats. I don't speak Spanish yet. As I'm working on getting rid of my stuff in Arizona, researching the pet import regs, and searching for an apartment that takes cats, I'm beginning to have second thoughts about moving so far away to BA.

I'd like to hear from anyone who might have had similar experiences that could give me some pointers or tell me I'M Nuts. Will I be able to navigate BA in the first few months with sign language?

Sue

Sue, I think your intuition is very perceptive; I would pay attention to it if I were you. You don't mention why you have chosen BA. Have you been here before? Are you aware of what's going on here right now with the economy?

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

Sue, all of these are great suggestions. Here is my summary - if you do your homework, you educate yourself on the plus' and minus' of BsAs, and have some experience travelling and/or living outside of the US you can have an AWSOME time here! If not, you could end up having a bad experience and that would be a shame.

 

[pompeygazza]

Sue, where are you doing your TEFL Cert course and will they be able to help you find work? If it's someone like International House they'll have lots of schools and companies approaching them for teachers.

However what worries me most of all is that you already have doubt. BsAs isn't the sort of place which will dispel any doubt you already have. Are you able, financially, to do the course, stay on for 2 or 3 weeks but go home if it doesn't work out or you don't like it here?

 

[OutLaw]

Sue, dont listen to those loosers who had talked to you. Argentina gives employ to the citizens, but it is allwise proportional to your knowledges and capacitys. Thats a situation wich who many americans (mostly) crash up here, because they come from a country where any ignorant could get a job handlyng a powe station or whatever in many cases. And here is quite different: you got to earn your employ. There are rich peopleo and poor too... And the culture and knowledges are mostly the key.