micheleandtom.com

It’s time to talk about our new apartment…our new very retro apartment. This bad boy was state of the art — in 1969!!

Each floor of this building has two apartments, an A and a B side. Each side has it’s own elevator, which opens into a sort of private entry chamber that leads to the front door of your apartment. (It is essentially a private elevator that opens directly outside your front door.) We have dubbed our entry area the “Bamboo Decompression Chamber” because the tiny little room has a low ceiling, and is outfitted floor and ceiling with a bamboo print wallpaper, which you can see below.

Lest you think that having an elevator opening into your pad is kind of cool, I will have to continue my story. Today, Ian and I were trapped in the apartment because the elevator wasn’t functioning and the one set of back door keys (which leads to the stairs) were across the city with Tom. (To get in and out of all doors you MUST use multiple keys from the inside. If this place goes up in a fire, we are in trouble!)

To further give you a sense of the retro-ness of our apartment, I have taken a picture of the upholstered walls and ceiling of the master bedroom for your viewing enjoyment. Please do enlarge the photo so that you can get a real feel for it!

Perhaps my favorite feature of the upholstered walls and ceiling (there are so many features, it’s very difficult to resist listing them all), is the fact that every surface manages to hold a generation’s worth of strange odors!

Having said all of that, the living and dining room are quite spacious, the WIFI coverage is great, and the move was easy because it is located in the building next door to our last apartment (the one with the dishwasher we are mourning)!

Renting a temporary apartment, with little lead time, during high season, is a bitch!

When I worked for an aerospace corporation in Fort Walton Beach, FL, there were many transplants from the NE United States working there. Said transplants were constantly complaining about how long it took to get things done in NW Florida, which has much more in common with its Southern neighbors than with Miami. (Me, I didn’t complain at all. I was just happy that they gave me my first real job out of college and that I had my own office!)

My uptight co-workers estimated that it took 3 times longer to close out projects than they felt it should, and dubbed this delaying effect the “Florida Factor.”

Well, Tom and I are encountered the Florida Factor here in that it takes us about 3 times longer to complete any task than the amount of time we initially allot for that task. *Sigh*

For instance, we went out to find a temporary gym the other day, and were going to “grab” a bite at a cafe. The “grab” took nearly two hours, start to finish. I love that, as a people, the Argentines take the time to enjoy their dining experiences, whether they are taking a cup of coffee or a whole meal.

But, in this instance, it meant that we looked at one gym (the one by the cafe) and had to blow off the rest to go pick up Zelda!

Grocery shopping is another good example. The lines are horrendous, so if you shop at the wrong time and compound that error by picking the wrong line, which we have an uncanny knack for doing, it takes about 5 times longer to check out than it does to shop.

Suffice to say, we are not a well oiled machine at this point!! But, we bury our sorrows in massive amounts of gelato and move on…tomorrow is a new day.

Our experiences with store credit illustrate that context is king when it comes to language comprehension.

For instance, Tom and I were buying a USB cable for around $15-$20 US when the store clerks asked us something that I didn’t understand. After a big group discussion, with nearly everyone in the store participating, we finally realized that they were asking us if we wanted to use store credit to buy the cables on a payment plan.

Without the context of knowing that a payment plan was available for such a small purchase, it made it hard to understand what they were proposing!

Shortly after the USB cable incident, we were at the Disco buying groceries, obviously not that many because we have to carry them, and the check out guy asked, “Un pago?” I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about…it turns out that you can buy your groceries on a payment plan. Who knew?

I’ve got to get the hang of this store credit thing!!! I figure that the next time I buy empanadas on the street, they’ll ask if I want them on a payment plan and I’ll be as unprepared as ever. *sigh*

Trying to obtain a cell phone here as a foreigner without a DNI (national ID number) is a bit farcical. (As you read this, remember, I was figuring all of this out with my imperfect Spanish.)

“Sin abono” is the crux phrase. That means, “without a plan.” If you do not have a DNI, you must purchase a pay-as-you-go cell phone. This also translates to, “you pay a fortune for your telephone calls.”

We were okay with that, we figured we wouldn’t be making that many calls anyway.

Now, many people who go sin abono buy an unlocked phone, in other words, a phone that can be used with any of the three cell phone carriers in Buenos Aires. Translation: you not only pay a fortune for your calls, but you get the additional pleasure of paying a fortune for the telephone itself.

(There is a thriving grey market where unlocked telephones — probably stolen — are sold at a discount price.)

Anyway, we didn’t feel like paying a fortune for a cell phone, so we bought a subsidized telephone, sin abono, which means that we are locked into one carrier from which we must purchase our telephone cards to recharge our telephone account. It also means that we have the cheapest phone ever (pictured above).

We thought obtaining our phones would be the hard part, but we still had a few lessons remaining.

It turns out, in Baires, it is the initiator of the call who pays. And, if you call from a cell phone to a land line, that call is billed at an astronomical charge…I used up about $7.50 US making three telephone calls to land lines in the space of 15 or 20 minutes. (Oopsy!)

I am now going native and use text whenever possible (much cheaper), happily answer my phone (no charge) and am loathe to call people back!

And, don’t think that we’re totally home free. Tom needs to overcome his language barrier and set up his phone (he has a totally disco ring tone that had Ian and I on the floor laughing). And, Tom’s voice mail doesn’t work either. We’ve been depending upon the big guns (that would be Ian’s Spanish) to try and correct the problem…to no avail thus far.

I am afraid that I can no longer suppress my strong feelings about granite.

Why in God’s name does everyone use this as a kitchen surface?

I hadn’t had any experience with granite until we moved into our rented condo last year. We had black granite tile on the counter surfaces. It was impossible to clean and showed every streak, drip, or speck of dust. And, tile as a kitchen surface??? What were they thinking — every grout line becomes a sinkhole for detritus!?!

Here in our temporary rental apartment in Buenos Aires, we have a solid slab of granite in the pattern shown above. This counter is still impossible to keep clean, and with the busy pattern, it’s infeasible to determine if it is wet or dry, sullied or unsullied, etc.

And, in relation to our aforementioned recurring ant problem, we can’t spot those little bastards on the counter to save our life. The buggers basically need to be engaged in the equivalent of a manifest destiny ant migration before we can locate them for the paper towel kill.

I hate granite. I’ll stick with boring old Formica (it will become retro chic any day now).

One easy step to help Americans lose weight — don’t take the car to the grocery store. (Or, if you live in the country, park 1/4 to 1/2 mile away from the grocery store.)

I’ve been thinking about why I always seem to lose weight when I live overseas, and I have come up with two main reasons: 1) I walk more; and 2) I can only buy as much from the grocery store as I can comfortably carry over a distance of about 1/4 to a 1/2 mile.

Because we can’t carry very much, we have to shop every day, which means we get at least a mile of walking in on a daily basis just through the act of buying food!! On top of that, we are very picky about what we actually purchase because we have to carry it, so lunch food for the girls and dinner fixings take precedence.

Bottom line, there’s just a lot less food in the house.

Now, I’m heading to the table to eat some Oreos (I never said I was a saint)!!!

Big surprise, Zelda broke her glasses about a week ago. (She went to bed with them on…’nuff said.)

Anyhow, Tom and I would carry them around with us, ready to dash into an eye glass store whenever we happened upon one. A few days ago, we spotted a store, did the dash, but the very nice gentleman wasn’t really able to fix them. *double sigh*

Then, on Halloween, with blonde Zelda dressed up as a devil (wearing a red covering over her head with black horns sprouting out), we moseyed into the eyeglass store near her school. Needless to say, the American family walking in with their daughter dressed as a devil really caused an uproar. After several devil jokes, they took her glasses into the back for a technician to fix.

By the time we left, we had a pair of beautifully repaired glasses (free of charge), and a host of technicians and sales people gathered together waving a fond farewell to us as we strode out the door.

Buenos Aires is one of the friendliest big cities I have ever had the pleasure of visiting!

One of the things that I found the most frustrating prior to my move was trying to obtain information on schools while still in the United States. So, here’s a breakdown, with links, on what I know, to help those planning an international move to Buenos Aires with kids:

• I posted a list of school tips based on our search at the BaExpats forum, which can be found here. I would recommend starting with my observations on the BaExpats forum before diving into the schools.

• A good place to begin your school search is to go to the International Baccalaureate site for schools in Argentina, which can be found here. Many of the bilingual schools in Buenos Aires are combined primary through secondary programs, and although they don’t all offer IB at the primary level, it is a good indicator of their commitment to academics if the school offers it at the high school level.

• Schools mentioned to us by friends/family are: (there may be some overlap with the IB schools) Belgrano Day School , Nuevos Rumbos, Belgrano Uno, Colegio Buenos Aires, Felix Bernasconi, Palermo Chico, Escuela del Renacimiento, Uriarte School, Sworn Junior College, St. Patrick’s School, St. Brendan’s School, Escuela Septiembre.

• For a rough idea of tuition and fees, the schools we toured in Belgrano ran about $US 400 to $US 700 per student in initiation fees per year and about $US 300 to $US 500 per month for 10 months in tuition. There is usually a discount for 2nd and 3rd children. The 2nd child discount is 15-25%. I can’t recall the third child discount because, well, I don’t have a third child!

• Remember, by mid-December, you won’t be able to get in contact with any school as they will be GONE for summer break. Schools recommence activities sometime in mid-February.

DISCLAIMER:I am not personally recommending any of these schools, nor have I checked out every one of these schools. I am merely sharing the information from which I began my search. Good Luck!

This is dedicated to those of you contemplating a move to Argentina, or those of you who want a reason to appreciate Craigslist rental listings in the United States.

Here in Buenos Aires, if you don’t have a great personal network and a native command of the language, you will have to use an agent to gain access to rental apartments. If you want to secure a furnished apartment (temporary rental), then the need for an agent increases.

When you call an agent, they will pretty much show you only their listings. So, you need to contact as many different agents within your market area as you can. If you want a long-term rental, walk the neighborhood you are interested in and write down sign names and numbers for buildings you like and then contact those agents. If you want a temporary rental, search for furnished apartments online and email them with your interest.

Here comes the confusing part…rental listings often are not exclusive. That means that the agent you contact will not know the status of the apartment until they talk to the owner…it could be rented by someone else for all they know.

And, the final kicker, the renter pays commission.

(Note, all the agents we have talked to and worked with as we search for a temporary apartment have been wonderful.)

This will make me horribly unpopular in Portland, but I’ve grown to dislike many of Bridge City’s dog denizens (and their owners).

Why? Well, my daughters have been bitten by dogs, blind-sided, knocked over and tackled by dogs (especially scary when my girls were first learning how to walk), they have had their toys and balls stolen and destroyed by dogs while at various parks, I’ve watched dog owners let their pets trample through newly planted beds in my front yard with nary a word…I could go on and on. Anyway, in every case, the dog owner couldn’t have cared less. If I had let my kids run amok in the same way, they would be in child protective services instead of Argentina right now!!

Needless to say, our experiences in Portland have made me grow to dislike the city dog immensely. Until Buenos Aires, that is.

There are a zillion dog walkers trolling around the city, each holding 8 to 16 dogs at a time. The dogs don’t bark. The dogs don’t pull on their leashes. The dogs don’t run after kids, cars, or cats. The dogs don’t fight with each other. They are a rather happy, well-behaved lot.

Tom and I agree with this Atlantic Monthly article — in-breeding and puppy mills are producing genetically screwed up dogs with myriad problems, and Americans are obsessed with them. I’ve got to tell you, the gorgeous, and often mixed-breed, canines around here have really restored my faith in the city dog. (I grew up with mutt dogs in the country — which colors my perceptions.)

And, a last comment on the ubiquitous dog poop in the street. I have, gasp, seen some dog owners picking up (which is unheard of here), and, at the very least, they try to doody out of the way along the edges of the sidewalk!

Photo by Flickr user vtveen used under a Creative Commons license.