restaurant choice

[igor]

(anonymous user comment reposted for discussion)

Who chooses these restaurants? I don't understand why there is this obsession about having everything AMERICAN. It seems like BOWLING is the only group activity ever chosen. (How god-awful! I wouldn't even go bowling in the US!) The restaurants are chosen because they have American-type food (why not just choose a cheaper option and eat at McDonald's or Burger King?). I guess the next big activity will be watching the Superbowl (or has that already happened? shows how in touch I am!)
If everyone is so nostalgic for the States, why not just move back?
I would really like to interact with some people who are LIVING here as ex-pats. Not ex-pat wanna-be's, not folks with a romantic notion of what BsAs is (ah, San Telmo!), not folks who live here and want to try to turn Argentina into America, not folks who are here to party and get laid (ideally with a local girlfriend/boyfriend who can also serve as a free Spanish tutor) and buy buy buy because everything is SO MUCH CHEAPER here.
Are there any real ex-pats who participate in this group?

 

[syngirl]

I would really like to interact with some people who are
LIVING here as ex-pats. Not ex-pat wanna-be's, not folks with a
romantic notion of what BsAs is (ah, San Telmo!), not folks who live
here and want to try to turn Argentina into America, not folks who are
here to party and get laid (ideally with a local girlfriend/boyfriend
who can also serve as a free Spanish tutor) and buy buy buy because
everything is SO MUCH CHEAPER here.
Are there any real ex-pats who participate in this group?

Yes I agree the profile of the average user of this forum seems to be changing... On
the other hand organising a monthly dinner for an unknown group of
people is tough, and if you've been living down here for awhile you do occasionally crave the tastes of home (I know I go on hunts for spicey food fairly regularly, as well as being guilty of peanut butter purchases at Jumbo). I
haven't been to any of the dinners, but I would be more apt to go
if it was more of a drinks/appys meet-up where you could actually
circulate a bit rather than sit down at a long table. Unfortunately off
the top of my head I can't suggest a better place, but maybe it's
possible to just reserve an area in a patio bar or something?

 

[igor]

Who choses these restaurants?

Well, we used to be on about 3 weeks schedule for our dinner meetings - one week for everybody to suggest a place, one week to vote for it and one week to notify people about the event. Sometimes there is a bit more than 3 weeks between dinners, because we are trying to accommodate our schedule for people who usually attend dinners but are out of the country. This time we decided to skip the voting procedure because about 5 weeks have passed since our last meeting. There is an article on this site about restaurant recommendations. Please, post your suggestions there and we will take them into account next time.

... why there is this obsession about having everything AMERICAN?

Kansas is the very first place we had a dinner at about 8 month ago. Since then we have had dinners in various places suggested by many people. You can also say that it is about being obsessed about everything GREEK or INDIAN.

It seems like BOWLING is the only group activity ever chosen.

We have never organized any bowling events so far.

I would really like to interact with some people who are LIVING here as ex-pats.

It is not our intention to make this group to be an exclusive club for "real expats" rejecting people who are just passing by. On Friday you will have an opportunity to meet some people who have lived here for years. You are welcome to use this site to create your own events and invite only people you like. There is also an option to send private notes to users rather them criticizing them in public forums.