Five Days...

In five days I will set foot on a plane to begin, what I hope, is a long, fruitful and enriching journey.  I will have, in two suitcases, all the necessities to begin a new life as an expatriate (expat) in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires, Argentina.  I have never been to Argentina, so this will certainly be a leap-of-faith for me to take.  I visited Brasil on a mission trip last June and have a friend from middle-school who lives in Chile, but those are my only connections to the entire continent.

I have done as much research as I possibly can do regarding this move.  With the support of friends and family (some of whom are more excited about this than me!), this transition has been made relatively easy for me.  The vast resources of the internet have made this possible.  I have already contacted many people such as myself already living in Buenos Aires.  It is a very international city, and many foreigners make their home in BA (or BsAs as the locals tend to write).  Several of these people have been integral in facilitating my move and helping me answer all of my questions (or at least tell me where to apprehend these answers), and I have had dozens, if not hundreds, of questions.

I am disappointed in one aspect of my move at this point: I am leaving the States in the spring and will be entering Argentina in the fall.  My last summer ended around September 2008, and I will not experience another summer until around November of 2009.  That means I will, by that time, have experienced 14 straight months of relatively cold weather.  Now, when I say "cold" I don't mean Alaska cold, so I'm really nit-picking here.  BA's climate bottoms out at 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the coldest of winter, which is not exactly winter to most Americans.  However, this could be better for me.  Since it won't be hot when I move, I can become accustomed to the layout of the city when the temperature isn't a humid 90 degrees F.  Plus, can it really get that cold in a place with palm tree-lined avenues?

Anyway, I still need to finish packing up my apartment to move tomorrow (Sunday).  I also need to continue working on my English language teaching certification (TESOL Cert., or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Certification).  I don't believe I will be finished when I leave, but I hope to be close to the end.